[cfcblues]

A couple of things I have noticed re: the pitch invasions and alleged assaults on the goalkeepers and security in general.

Firstly, I have watched a video of a few town fans who ran on the pitch to celebrate with the players at Oxford last week and read the messages which have condemned their behaviour and say there’s no place for them at the club and the usual comments about scum and hooligans etc. I would like to know why the same town fans haven’t been condemning the Bury supporters who invaded the pitch en masse after the final whistle as well as after every goal Bury scored...? Surely it’s not the same thing regardless as to who has done it and should be equally condemned and have people jump on their back regardless, yet i’ve not read one post condemning them, yet there were at least five or six times as many of them on the pitch at the end of the game as there were town fans at Oxford.

Secondly the incident with Burys goalkeeper. Shouldn’t have happened there’s taking the mickey, banter etc but for someone to run on the pitch and have a go at them then it’s not right. In defence of the kid who did it, there was a lot of emotion yesterday and him goading and enticing the fans to the extent he did certainly won’t have helped matters. Will the Bury goalie have mentioned in his reports how he was motioning for the home fans behind the goal to kiss his rear and perform oral sex on him, I somehow doubt it. As the people on this message board are quick to point out, there are so many Burberry clad thugs in our kop, maybe he should think himself lucky one of them didn’t decide to run on and clout him giving him serious grounds for complaint.

People are also having a go at the parents of these kids who had a go at the Bury goalkeeper saying how they should have done this, they should have done that. Has it crossed peoples minds that the said parents probably weren’t even at the game? I started going to games around the same age as these guys without my parents as i’m sure many more on here probably did and the kids will probably get dealt with pretty severely in light of this. Notice how I keep saying KIDS?

Similarly on the flipside of the goalie assault debate I haven’t read anything having a go at the Bury fans who ran on and had a go at Tommy Lee and other Chesterfield players down the other end of the pitch nor have I read anything about the Bury Officials running on the pitch when they scored the third goal... Can some of the message board police please tell me why??

If the club had more than half a dozen overweight stewards and a scrawny young lady on the home end then I am sure the kids wouldn’t have had a go at the goalie after the second Chesterfield goal as they wouldn’t have been able to get near. It’s ok lambasting the supporters but there’s an old saying, a stitch in time saves nine. If we had the home end covered in the slightest then these problems wouldn’t occur in the first place or would somewhat be reduced if not eradicated.

It seems to me that some people on this message board seem to think that they are bigger/better town supporters for the fact that they come on here with their holier than thou attitudes make me feel pretty sick at times and maybe people should look at the bigger picture before having a go. It seems that many are touting for a points deduction as well as a fine, is this to cover the players who for the last five games haven’t turned up thinking we’ve already won the league?

Will the same people be boasting of the luxury about being able not to need supporters be saying the same things when we get found out in the league above next season and crowds start heading towards a more accurate reflection of what our average gates will be? Because if you ask me I would say the club needs every supporter it can get bearing in mind all the bigger clubs around us. Maybe some supporter management and crowd control training could go a long way here Mr Nellist?

I hope we do manage to sort these problems and I also hope we win the league, but right now after yesterday and the last five games overall this year is starting to seem like a relegation, not a promotion season and that Chesterfield in my opinion have been transformed from front runners into also-rans and has left me feeling very disappointed.

[Blueprint]

I do think that the Bury keeper could be charged with inciting our fans, didn't see exactly what he did but it certainly does rub fans up the wrong way when a player celebrates towards opposing fans like he did.

Can't recall the order of the events that occured yesterday but he didn't help himself with his behaviour.

Not sure the point of most of the above post though.

[cfcscott153]

I'm a Chesterfield supporter and I want my club to have a good name in football, I don't really care about Burys reputation. I think it is understandable that they ran on the pitch (at the end of the game) because they got promoted. We didn't win and had no right to go onto the pitch

This post has been edited by cfcscott153: 26 April 2011 - 10:15 AM

[Nassau_board]

Obviously what the Bury fans did was wrong, but its far more important to us as a club to get our problem sorted, our fans are the clubs responsibility and when incidents like this occur we as a club look terrible. I hope the crowd will name and shame the people, get them banned and turn this massive negative story into a positive action story for the club. I also hope they are liaising with Bury to put bans in place for their fans who did the same. I personally think both clubs should do a joint announcement saying they are working together to ban those who went onto the pitch.

[S18Spireite]

cfcblues, on 26 April 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

A couple of things I have noticed re: the pitch invasions and alleged assaults on the goalkeepers and security in general.

Firstly, I have watched a video of a few town fans who ran on the pitch to celebrate with the players at Oxford last week and read the messages which have condemned their behaviour and say there’s no place for them at the club and the usual comments about scum and hooligans etc. I would like to know why the same town fans haven’t been condemning the Bury supporters who invaded the pitch en masse after the final whistle as well as after every goal Bury scored...? Surely it’s not the same thing regardless as to who has done it and should be equally condemned and have people jump on their back regardless, yet i’ve not read one post condemning them, yet there were at least five or six times as many of them on the pitch at the end of the game as there were town fans at Oxford.

Secondly the incident with Burys goalkeeper. Shouldn’t have happened there’s taking the mickey, banter etc but for someone to run on the pitch and have a go at them then it’s not right. In defence of the kid who did it, there was a lot of emotion yesterday and him goading and enticing the fans to the extent he did certainly won’t have helped matters. Will the Bury goalie have mentioned in his reports how he was motioning for the home fans behind the goal to kiss his rear and perform oral sex on him, I somehow doubt it. As the people on this message board are quick to point out, there are so many Burberry clad thugs in our kop, maybe he should think himself lucky one of them didn’t decide to run on and clout him giving him serious grounds for complaint.

People are also having a go at the parents of these kids who had a go at the Bury goalkeeper saying how they should have done this, they should have done that. Has it crossed peoples minds that the said parents probably weren’t even at the game? I started going to games around the same age as these guys without my parents as i’m sure many more on here probably did and the kids will probably get dealt with pretty severely in light of this. Notice how I keep saying KIDS?

Similarly on the flipside of the goalie assault debate I haven’t read anything having a go at the Bury fans who ran on and had a go at Tommy Lee and other Chesterfield players down the other end of the pitch nor have I read anything about the Bury Officials running on the pitch when they scored the third goal... Can some of the message board police please tell me why??

If the club had more than half a dozen overweight stewards and a scrawny young lady on the home end then I am sure the kids wouldn’t have had a go at the goalie after the second Chesterfield goal as they wouldn’t have been able to get near. It’s ok lambasting the supporters but there’s an old saying, a stitch in time saves nine. If we had the home end covered in the slightest then these problems wouldn’t occur in the first place or would somewhat be reduced if not eradicated.

It seems to me that some people on this message board seem to think that they are bigger/better town supporters for the fact that they come on here with their holier than thou attitudes make me feel pretty sick at times and maybe people should look at the bigger picture before having a go. It seems that many are touting for a points deduction as well as a fine, is this to cover the players who for the last five games haven’t turned up thinking we’ve already won the league?

Will the same people be boasting of the luxury about being able not to need supporters be saying the same things when we get found out in the league above next season and crowds start heading towards a more accurate reflection of what our average gates will be? Because if you ask me I would say the club needs every supporter it can get bearing in mind all the bigger clubs around us. Maybe some supporter management and crowd control training could go a long way here Mr Nellist?

I hope we do manage to sort these problems and I also hope we win the league, but right now after yesterday and the last five games overall this year is starting to seem like a relegation, not a promotion season and that Chesterfield in my opinion have been transformed from front runners into also-rans and has left me feeling very disappointed.

Well I will for sure. I would certainly rather have a smaller attendance if it means we can guarantee football players aren't assaulted.

If we ever become reliant on idiots to boost our numbers (which I don't think we are incidentally) then that's a sad state of affairs - let's not forget the numbers of people who will be put off coming following scenes like yesterday. And yes, I mean Chesterfield fans at the north ends of the ground as much as those at the south.

I think the reason people haven't been condemning Bury fans as much (and they were equally breaking the law) is just through sheer shock, frustration and anger of the behaviour of our own whose actions we can do more to control. In respect of those posters coming over as "holier than though" - then perhaps they are just trying to do their little bit to ensure the club come out of this in as good a light as possible. Perhaps you also need to look at the bigger picture and realise that too.

I daresay that the vast majority of us are doing all we can to condemn everything unlawful that went on yesterday and that reflects the same vast majority who stayed in their place.

This post has been edited by S18Spireite: 26 April 2011 - 10:28 AM

[JonB]

cfcscott153, on 26 April 2011 - 10:12 AM, said:

We didn't win and had no right to go onto the pitch

Technically no fan has a right to go on the pitch whether they've won, lost or drawn.

[Spire Power]

Nassau_board, on 26 April 2011 - 10:17 AM, said:

Obviously what the Bury fans did was wrong, but its far more important to us as a club to get our problem sorted, our fans are the clubs responsibility and when incidents like this occur we as a club look terrible. I hope the crowd will name and shame the people, get them banned and turn this massive negative story into a positive action story for the club. I also hope they are liaising with Bury to put bans in place for their fans who did the same. I personally think both clubs should do a joint announcement saying they are working together to ban those who went onto the pitch.

I think it goes without saying that any Bury fans seen confronting Tommy Lee or attempting to cause damage in the stadium should also be dealt with and I would hope Bury FC would co-operate with that. Idiots have to be sorted, regardless of who they support.

[philly8mt]

S18Spireite, on 26 April 2011 - 10:18 AM, said:

Well I will for sure. I would certainly rather have a smaller attendance if it means we can guarantee football players aren't assaulted.

If we ever become reliant on idiots to boost our numbers (which I don't think we are incidentally) then that's a sad state of affairs - let's not forget the numbers of people who will be put off coming following scenes like yesterday. And
yes, I mean Chesterfield fans at the north ends of the ground as much as those at the south.

I think the reason people haven't been condemning Bury
fans as much (and they were equally breaking the law) is just through sheer shock, frustration and anger of the behaviour of our own whose actions we can do more to control. In respect of those posters coming over as "holier than though" - then perhaps they are just trying to do their little bit to ensure the club come out of this in as good a
light as possible. Perhaps you also need to look at the bigger picture and realise that too.

I daresay that the vast majority of us are doing all we can to condemn everything unlawful that went on yesterday and that reflects the same vast majority who stayed in their place.

Correct!

At the risk of upsetting certain posters .. I DON'T CARE ABOUT BURY! .. They & the Football League can sort their own problems.

What I do care about is being sat in the kop with my 12 year old and watching the disgraceful scenes unfold before us. I care about us losing fans through this, I care about the damage to our improving reputation.

Spoke to a mate this morning (lapsed fan), came to match yesterday with wife and grandkids, really looking forward to the game and thinking of coming back to the fold. I've been on at him for ages to try the new ground, atmosphere etc etc ..

Guess what?

He ain't coming back ...

[rs1978]

cfcscott153, on 26 April 2011 - 10:12 AM, said:

I'm a Chesterfield supporter and I want my club to have a good name in football, I don't really care about Burys reputation. I think it is understandable that they ran on the pitch (at the end of the game) because they got promoted. We didn't win and had no right to go onto the pitch

I totally agree with this. If Bury fans get a reputation for being trouble makers/pitch invaders etc, so what? If our fans do it will have a negative impact on my club and harm the undoubted progress we have made of late. There's no reason for any fans (of either side) to leave the stand during the game. I personally think Bury fans can be excused for spilling on to the pitch at the final whistle and celebrating with their players - most of them did so in a fairly reasonable way apart from swinging from the crossbar and the few who tried to break through the line of stewards/Police (as always, this was a minority).

We didn't have anything to celebrate at the end of this particular game so I don't think our fans should have been on the pitch, celebrating/messing around/trying to incite Bury fans or whatever they were doing.

[DIFH]

cfcblues, on 26 April 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

A couple of things I have noticed re: the pitch invasions and alleged assaults on the goalkeepers and security in general.

Firstly, I have watched a video of a few town fans who ran on the pitch to celebrate with the players at Oxford last week and read the messages which have condemned their behaviour and say there’s no place for them at the club and the usual comments about scum and hooligans etc. I would like to know why the same town fans haven’t been condemning the Bury supporters who invaded the pitch en masse after the final whistle as well as after every goal Bury scored...? Surely it’s not the same thing regardless as to who has done it and should be equally condemned and have people jump on their back regardless, yet i’ve not read one post condemning them, yet there were at least five or six times as many of them on the pitch at the end of the game as there were town fans at Oxford.

Secondly the incident with Burys goalkeeper. Shouldn’t have happened there’s taking the mickey, banter etc but for someone to run on the pitch and have a go at them then it’s not right. In defence of the kid who did it, there was a lot of emotion yesterday and him goading and enticing the fans to the extent he did certainly won’t have helped matters. Will the Bury goalie have mentioned in his reports how he was motioning for the home fans behind the goal to kiss his rear and perform oral sex on him, I somehow doubt it. As the people on this message board are quick to point out, there are so many Burberry clad thugs in our kop, maybe he should think himself lucky one of them didn’t decide to run on and clout him giving him serious grounds for complaint.

People are also having a go at the parents of these kids who had a go at the Bury goalkeeper saying how they should have done this, they should have done that. Has it crossed peoples minds that the said parents probably weren’t even at the game? I started going to games around the same age as these guys without my parents as i’m sure many more on here probably did and the kids will probably get dealt with pretty severely in light of this. Notice how I keep saying KIDS?

Similarly on the flipside of the goalie assault debate I haven’t read anything having a go at the Bury fans who ran on and had a go at Tommy Lee and other Chesterfield players down the other end of the pitch nor have I read anything about the Bury Officials running on the pitch when they scored the third goal... Can some of the message board police please tell me why??

If the club had more than half a dozen overweight stewards and a scrawny young lady on the home end then I am sure the kids wouldn’t have had a go at the goalie after the second Chesterfield goal as they wouldn’t have been able to get near. It’s ok lambasting the supporters but there’s an old saying, a stitch in time saves nine. If we had the home end covered in the slightest then these problems wouldn’t occur in the first place or would somewhat be reduced if not eradicated.

It seems to me that some people on this message board seem to think that they are bigger/better town supporters for the fact that they come on here with their holier than thou attitudes make me feel pretty sick at times and maybe people should look at the bigger picture before having a go. It seems that many are touting for a points deduction as well as a fine, is this to cover the players who for the last five games haven’t turned up thinking we’ve already won the league?

Will the same people be boasting of the luxury about being able not to need supporters be saying the same things when we get found out in the league above next season and crowds start heading towards a more accurate reflection of what our average gates will be? Because if you ask me I would say the club needs every supporter it can get bearing in mind all the bigger clubs around us. Maybe some supporter management and crowd control training could go a long way here Mr Nellist?

I hope we do manage to sort these problems and I also hope we win the league, but right now after yesterday and the last five games overall this year is starting to seem like a relegation, not a promotion season and that Chesterfield in my opinion have been transformed from front runners into also-rans and has left me feeling very disappointed.

This is the first post I 've read on yesterday so forgive me if I return at a later occasion. I did not see the Bury goalie actions/incidents and didn't notice the Tommy Lee references, there was a whole lot going on at the time. I'm confused as to the slant of your view and you come across as dissapointed with the teams performance and that we should eradicate any hooliganism at the club. You then comment we will need every supporter we can get.

Are you talking about the supporters that may be put off from attending because of the iditic behaviour or are you talking about eradicating the idiots.

The one person who did stand out on the day was a very tall guy, 40/45 ish, jeans and a light blue check shirt who was allowed to run the full length of the field in a leading type roll without being challenged.

[cfcblues]

So if the club is so concerned with how our fans behave/react etc then why were 95% of the allocated resources in form of stewards and police down on the away end?

Like someone mentioned i'm sure a few dog handlers would keep people off the pitch IF they are that concerned bearing in mind the league positions and wind down, which unfortunately seems to have started at Barnet the other week.....

[Bradley1]

cfcblues, on 26 April 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

Secondly the incident with Burys goalkeeper. Shouldn’t have happened there’s taking the mickey, banter etc but for someone to run on the pitch and have a go at them then it’s not right. In defence of the kid who did it, there was a lot of emotion yesterday and him goading and enticing the fans to the extent he did certainly won’t have helped matters. Will the Bury goalie have mentioned in his reports how he was motioning for the home fans behind the goal to kiss his rear and perform oral sex on him, I somehow doubt it. As the people on this message board are quick to point out, there are so many Burberry clad thugs in our kop, maybe he should think himself lucky one of them didn’t decide to run on and clout him giving him serious grounds for complaint.

Yeah he was asking for it, deary me!

This post has been edited by Bradley1: 26 April 2011 - 03:43 PM

[spireite19926]

You have to remember we were all at a football match, supporting the team we love.... and if you care about something so badly, in our case chesterfield emotions are going to run high ( especially when the goal keeper does things like he did ) so feelings are all magnified... and every1 deals with these feelings in a different way! i.e a goalie taunts you... you score past him... you feel justice is served.. and every1 effected by this will want to celebrate in thier own way. Some people stand by their seat and cheer the goal.. some people run onto the pitch and cheer... and a few taunt the goalie back... Obviously the only correct thing to do is stand and cheer, in the stand... but not every1 can control themselves whilst under such intense emotions! Which is why people will try and do what they did.. im not saying any of it is right... im just saying every club will have these fans who cant help but take it too far.. but not every club gets their goalie assaulted. Therefore it seems obvious to me that these people that take it too far need help and guidance.. i.e a steward, or a barrier to prevent them getting onto the pitch! The only reason people encroach onto the pitch all the time (even if its just behind goal) is because its so damn easy! Stewards almost welcoming them and a few advertising boards with very appealing gaps for people to stroll on! If perhaps it was slightly harder to get onto the pitch (obviously safe enough for emergency)with better stewarding, which it seems at plenty of other grounds have and, these few (and it is a minority) who can't control their emotions to the extent they feel the need to do what they did, would be stopped as soon as they got near the front, which is the case at the majority of other clubs.. There has been plenty of trouble at our new ground... and this isn't because we have a different breed of fans.. all clubs are the same.. its because under the influence of euphoria or depression.. different people will react in different ways, and our club does not have the facility to deal with this! I do not agree or think it acceptable what happened yesterday.

[Sammy Spireite]

The Tommy Lee incident has been mentioned on other threads.

As i was sat towards the north end of the West stand (2nd Row) I had a pretty good view of it. It was nothing in comparison to the incident that is all over the nations press. The Bury fan danced towards Tommy, gestured in his direction and appeared to try to bear hug him, Tommy shrugged him off and attempted to retaliate but the Bury fan just eluded his lunge.

I'm not stinking up for anyone, or detracting from the fact that ANYONE entering the playing surface is breaking the law and should be punished but what happened to Tommy doesn't make the other incident acceptable.

[BlueRover52]

Sammy Spireite, on 26 April 2011 - 06:01 PM, said:

The Tommy Lee incident has been mentioned on other threads.

As i was sat towards the north end of the West stand (2nd Row) I had a pretty good view of it. It was nothing in comparison to the incident that is all over the nations press. The Bury fan danced towards Tommy, gestured in his direction and appeared to try to bear hug him, Tommy shrugged him off and attempted to retaliate but the Bury fan just eluded his lunge.

I'm not stinking up for anyone, or detracting from the fact that ANYONE entering the playing surface is breaking the law and should be punished but what happened to Tommy doesn't make the other incident acceptable.

Don't think that is the case.It's just that the Spireites are getting the bad publicity where as the behaviour of the Bury fans was ,to a point ,just as bad.
The club are going to have to need to rethink their strategy on crowd control in general before next season brings some high profile games.

[toddhopper]

The answer is simple. No fans on the pitch at any time. Self control should be expected of everyone & of course that includes players, who should desist from the rather recent habit of goading opposing fans at every opportunity or face being severely punished.

[Blueprint]

I've always wondered why the club takes the blame and gets fined for the unacceptable behaviour of so called supporters. This is the first time our club have been at the centre of such attention though.

Our stewards could do a better job, but a steward doesn't have the same powers that a police officer has, and many of our stewards are nothing more than supporters who want to do a little extra for the club they devote a lot of time to.

This post has been edited by Blueprint: 26 April 2011 - 08:10 PM

[BlueDay]

Blueprint, on 26 April 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

I've always wondered why the club takes the blame and gets fined for the unacceptable behaviour of so called supporters. This is the first time our club have been at the centre of such attention though.

Our stewards could do a better job, but a steward doesn't have the same powers that a police officer has, and many of our stewards are nothing more than supporters who want to do a little extra for the club they devote a lot of time to.

Over the years, then due to police costs then an increasing reliance has been made more on stewards, which is much in common with other clubs. Simple answer is to have more police around for the forseeable future.

[Arnold Tabbs]

BlueDay, on 26 April 2011 - 09:06 PM, said:

Over the years, then due to police costs then an increasing reliance has been made more on stewards, which is much in common with other clubs. Simple answer is to have more police around for the forseeable future.

I agree. It's a shame but as Stuart said in his match report, in the post-fences and post-Hillsborough era fans are trusted to behave properly, and those who attacked the Bury goalie have let themselves and all of us down. The stewards were obviously in no position to go chasing after people on either end. We don't need dogs inside the stadium (what happens when one of them bites an innocent spectator? Will it be fined, banned from the ground or put down?) but I believe the sight of a handful of human police officers in uniform at either end would have kept everyone off the pitch.

The atmosphere this season at home matches has been the best ever in my long experience but this is not the first time I have been ashamed by a small section of our followers. I bet anything you like that the two lads in the notorious photo were among those hurling ignorant abuse at the home fans at Shrewsbury. They spoiled that afternoon completely.

Ridiculous that some people want to blame Cameron Belford for getting smacked. He is not the first goalkeeper to indulge in a bit of silly repartee with the crowd but none ever got thumped at Saltergate. As for the so-called Tommy Lee incident, I was sitting in the corner at that end and I saw nothing. Some Bury fans invaded the pitch after both their second half goals but the only coming together I saw was when one of them was accidentally flattened by one of his own players, so let's not kid ourselves that there was equivalent hooliganism, because it's not true.

There's no excuse for what happened. More than one fan has referred to people not wanting to come back after Monday, which is a big shame because generally the atmosphere is brilliant and the side well worth watching.

Finally, cheer up. What's all this stuff about feeling like we have been relegated? We are still favourites to win the title. Bury slaughtered us in the first half yesterday but the second half was a cracker with both sides going for the win. Enjoy it; it's been the best season for donkey's years. I might even get a season ticket this summer. Be happy!

[martatcross]

looking at it on tv tonight the sheer volume of people from both ends invading the pitch left the stewards with no chance of stopping them the club really need to re think what security is needed bearing in mind the Gills game could be high staked for both teams and this time they will be nearer due to the allocation of the north stand to town fans another problem if not handled properly