[Albion] Bbc1 - Paul Barber

[chaileyjem]

Everytime there is an incident that nationals show interest Barbers profile continues to rise. Sure his aim is as a big wig with FA

Or perhaps he's rightfully angry that female doctors and stewards in his team have been assaulted and abused and he's taking action in response because Albion have a duty of care to their staff. And so they should. And speaking publicly about it is part of that. I'd think there are easier ways of "raising your profile". Honestly.

 

[chaileyjem]

Shame you didn't highlight the first half of my post instead.

Yes. You're very clear. He's to blame.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We really are through the looking glass now. Isn't it fans who according to the statement, unprovoked, attacked West Brom fans, assaulted a female steward and threatened to stab her in front of kids, and assaulted and abused a female crowd doctor trying to help that particular steward, who have made parents think twice.

Read back through the thread. An older poster has been told by his daughter, he can't take his grandchild again. That's directly from the publicity this week.

 

[Stat Brother]

As soon as I read Barbers missive on this, I was reminded of the bottle top email - which I shouldn’t have been given how different the subject matter is.

I don’t know the stats of how many arrests there are per game at grounds but it’s not as if no one gets arrested, ever, when going to a game. Fan behaves like a dickhead, fan gets arrested. Move on.

I am thoroughly sick of being treated like a naughty schoolboy by Barber through the patronising and condescending tone he uses in his communications. It started with threatening of season ticket holders with death for letting someone else use their ticket, moved on to saying bottle tops were deadly crime weapons and now tarring us all with the same brush as three idiots who got themselves arrested at the ground.

Barber is obviously a good CEO in many ways - but we as fans are people, not a bunch of itinerants waiting for our next telling off.


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That's odd as I've never been treated like a naughty itinerant schoolboy waiting for my next telling off.

Maybe that has something to do with me not abusing the club, system or opposition.
Therefore Barber-outs missives have no impact on me, my enjoyment of the football and love for the club.

Were it not for NSC collectively clutching their pearls and writing their objections before swooning to the floor I wouldn't have a clue about Babs and what he does.

I feel sorry for you and your inability to enjoy Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yes. You're very clear. He's to blame.

Look, I'm really sorry that I triggered your Barber Criticism Detector and woke you up so early on a saturday morning and all that. Do you even know what throwing fuel on the fire means? By going on the BBC where he's got little or no editorial control, we're now linked with scenes of mass football violence. He's helped the original offences, very nasty as they were, to be magnified out of all proportion. Is the Amex some kind of war zone where its unsafe to take your kids? Of course not. But that's how some people will now be seeing it. How is that helpful to the club?

 

[chaileyjem]

Read back through the thread. An older poster has been told by his daughter, he can't take his grandchild again. That's directly from the publicity this week.

I've read the whole thread. We'll see if there's any short or longer term impact on attendances. These stories quickly become forgotten and most casual fans won't even be aware this incident happened , let alone read or see coverage about it or remember it for more than a day or two.
As for arguing that Barber is contributing to that by banning fans, taking prompt action and doing a 2 minute phone interview with Radio Sussex and a 30 second hit for BBC news (amongst other things) - hardly a publicity tour - then i guess thats a view, repeated on several threads now, but i disagree.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Saw a couple of orcs in handcuffs by the bandstand just before kick off. I assume it's related to this.

 

[chaileyjem]

Look, I'm really sorry that I triggered your Barber Criticism Detector and woke you up so early on a saturday morning and all that. Do you even know what throwing fuel on the fire means? By going on the BBC where he's got little or no editorial control, we're now linked with scenes of mass football violence. He's helped the original offences, very nasty as they were, to be magnified out of all proportion. Is the Amex some kind of war zone where its unsafe to take your kids? Of course not. But that's how some people will now be seeing it. How is that helpful to the club?

If you worked for the club and were a steward, or doctor, served on the concourse or in the ticket office, or paid to search fans going in the stadium etc then i'd suggest that Barber's zero tolerance approach, duty of care to his colleagues and seeing your boss standing up for you in public , whilst stressing it was tiny tiny minority of miscreants , was very very helpful to the club, its staff and ultimately fans who don't want to see or be involved in the incidents last week.
And yes. I've some idea of how the media works. I'm guessing Barber has too.

 

[Mackenzie]

I can’t help but think that this publicity is counterproductive. 26,998/27,001 people are perfectly aware of their responsibilities, the other three would be ****wits in every situation in life meaning these announcements are completely lost on them.

Own goal Paul.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Somebody did post on Nsc about trouble at the station.

I saw that and I'm sure what I read mentioned a fight just before kick off at Falmer Station.
Didn't see any other mention anywhere, and I'm not sure if that was one of the incidents that a fan has been banned for.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I've read the whole thread. We'll see if there's any short or longer term impact on attendances. These stories quickly become forgotten and most casual fans won't even be aware this incident happened , let alone read or see coverage about it or remember it for more than a day or two.
As for arguing that Barber is contributing to that by banning fans, taking prompt action and doing a 2 minute phone interview with Radio Sussex and a 30 second hit for BBC news (amongst other things) - hardly a publicity tour - then i guess thats a view, repeated on several threads now, but i disagree.

Nobody is disputing the bans are right. It didn't need to go on the radio or television for national coverage.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It doesn't help when fans misread the original announcement and embellish it. A season ticket holder I know was talking about it, on Facebook, saying it happened in the stands, when it clearly said Firstly a small group of so-called supporters initiated a very cowardly attack on unsuspecting West Bromwich Albion supporters as they made their way along Station Approach
That in itself is a big difference. It wasn't actually at the match but the north side of the station.

I saw that and I'm sure what I read mentioned a fight just before kick off at Falmer Station.
Didn't see any other mention anywhere, and I'm not sure if that was one of the incidents that a fan has been banned for.

The club statement said it happened by the station.

 

[Beach Hut]

Nobody is disputing the bans are right. It didn't need to go on the radio or television for national coverage.

Unless you are the chief exec........

Also why was that bit of footage on TV started with an amateur video of what happened pre the Millwall v Everton game, what point was that making ?

 

[Bry Nylon]

Saw a couple of orcs in handcuffs by the bandstand just before kick off. I assume it's related to this.

Bloody whales. Not welcome at my club.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

If you worked for the club and were a steward, or doctor, served on the concourse or in the ticket office, or paid to search fans going in the stadium etc then i'd suggest that Barber's zero tolerance approach, duty of care to his colleagues and seeing your boss standing up for you in public , whilst stressing it was tiny tiny minority of miscreants , was very very helpful to the club, its staff and ultimately fans who don't want to see or be involved in the incidents last week.
And yes. I've some idea of how the media works. I'm guessing Barber has too.

I know that and you know that, but then we've been around football for a long time.

Many people haven't and will take this as a message that going to the Amex isn't safe.
As I pointed out before, one of our own fans has been exaggerating it on Facebook by saying it happened in the stands. It's like Chinese whispers and some people like to be 'important'.

 

[Beach Hut]

Bloody whales. Not welcome at my club.

Also how do you handcuff a whale ?

 

[maffew]

Why oh why publicise the club in this manner? Top besmirching Paul
Deal with it (ban em if you dont wish to do business with them), pass the evidence to the police, job done, thats where the association should end. Or go on national media and blow something out of all proportion and link the club to these idiots on some kind of "look how we do it at zero tolerance to anything at Brighton" crusade.

No idea what the thought process is behind this, but it stinks of attention seeking

 

[chaileyjem]

Nobody is disputing the bans are right. It didn't need to go on the radio or television for national coverage.

Agreed re: bans. There was already considerable national media coverage before 24 hours before Barber did a couple of interviews anyway.
The one way of ensuring there's no coverage is to either not release a statement about it all (although then you risk rumour, extensive coverage anyway if there's a court case further down the line, won't help with deterrence , and perhaps shows that the club aren't taking this seriously ) or of course not have fans who turn up at the Albion and end up, attacking fans or threatening to stab male stewards and assault female doctors who go to their aid.

 

[Dave the OAP]

from the Radio Sussex interview
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06zm3qq

Barber: We’ve worked very hard to make the Amex a very safe and welcoming environment for people who want to enjoy their football. Unfortunately 1-2 people want to spoil that and we’re not prepared to accept that , and we will take very strong action, as we have done.

Presenter: I’ve yet to take my 2 children who are 8 and 10 to a football match, my daughter is particularly keen to come. When you hear of something like this, it makes people nervous even if its a very small minority.

Barber: The vast majority of people who come to the Amex, week in week out are well behaved, love the environment, respect the staff, respect other supporters and simply enjoy the football. But unfortunately there’s a few people who see football as a place to let out their aggression, behave badly towards people and other fans, make threats to our staff and when it gets to assault, then we are simply not prepared to have these people anywhere near the club. And we will do whatever we can to keep them away and we urge the police to take strong action against them criminally as well.
We can only do so much as.a football club to keep these people away from what is an enjoyable environment for most people. We need the authorities to make sure to these people that this kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable in society let alone in a football stadium.

Presenter: Presumably you’re in conversation with Sussex Police but no criminal charges so far ?

Barber: Absolutely and all we can do is hand over the evidence we’ve got . In these cases we have CCTV, we have video evidence, we have witness statements. We don’t take the decision to ban people for life lightly. We’re taking away their enjoyment of football. We don’t do that on a whim. We do that with careful evidence , we do that with witness statements, and then we simply hand over to the police and let them do what they do. We’re not in the position of punishing people for criminal behaviour but what we can do is protect our stadium and keep these people away which is exactly what we are doing.

Presenter We’ve heard about the allegation involving one of your stewards. How are they doing?

Barber: We have a responsibility, we have a duty of care to our staff. They turn up week in week out , to support the football club , but most importantly to keep people safe. And when those people are attacked by the very people that they are there to keep safe then we have to take strong action, and we will , and we will protect our staff. And if this means banning more supporters to keep these [types of] people away then thats exactly what we will do.

Not that I have any sympathy with these people, but the comment above is very odd as it does appear that they put " lifetime bans" on the purpotrators very quickly indeed. And it reads that they speak to the fuzz and hand over evidence then take action....but it doesn't appear that it happened. They were banned first and now the cops are looking at the " evidence"

 

[BN9 BHA]

The club statement said it happened by the station.

Yes you are correct, but the club statement mentioned Station approach but didn't mention if the incident happened before or after the match.
The post on here mentioned a fight at the station just before KO.

I'm just not 100% sure if this was one incident.