[Brighton] Sussex Police

[Weststander]

When we tried to leave the NS, the NW corner was shut so that everyone surged towards the NE exit.
The NE exit was either shut or restricted so that there was a crush of fans.
When the big shutter was opened, most of the exit was blocked by an anti-bacterial board and there was a flow of people trying to enter the concourse against the flow trying to get out.
When outside we had to try and push our way through the clockwise flow heading towards the buses to get to the station. It was carnage, there were a couple of WPCs telling everyone to 'Keep calm and carry on' but nobody seemed to be in charge or know what was going on.

If only we were treated as intelligent adults instead of moronic blobs on a spreadsheet.

We saw stewards rushing to stop people trying to enter the NS to drink/meet up with mates in the NS concourse.

Normally allowed I thought, or it used to be?

 

[Weststander]

Darren falling asleep again ?

Regards
DF

Still obsessively trying to get people banned for standing up, swearing, gesturing.

 

[London Irish]

I was right by the North Stand when they opened the big shutter and the crush was pretty unpleasant, something went wrong and Barber needs to own that and tell us how it won’t happen again

 

[Winker]

We saw stewards rushing to stop people trying to enter the NS to drink/meet up with mates in the NS concourse.

Normally allowed I thought, or it used to be?

Normally it isn't an issue but on Friday night the fans weren't allowed out of the NW corner so all the NS fans were forced/directed out of the NE exit, causing a crush.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Still obsessively trying to get people banned for standing up, swearing, gesturing.

Good old shorty

Regards
DF

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I was right by the North Stand when they opened the big shutter and the crush was pretty unpleasant, something went wrong and Barber needs to own that and tell us how it won’t happen again

The descriptions of this incident by a number of posters make pretty uncomfortable reading. There needs to be an investigation above Barber’s level. I thought these days had gone in football.

 

[BNthree]

Normally it isn't an issue but on Friday night the fans weren't allowed out of the NW corner so all the NS fans were forced/directed out of the NE exit, causing a crush.

Add in loads from the East stand trying to walk down to the station not knowing there were barriers blocking the way. They then caused a big crowd that the folks leaving the North stand had to try and push their way through. As said before a steward with a loudhailer telling the East stand folks to turn round would have solved it or a couple of stewards stood outside East stand exits directing everyone round towards the south stand. Contrary to the club statement no one seemed to know what was going on for 10/15 minutes.

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

The descriptions of this incident by a number of posters make pretty uncomfortable reading. There needs to be an investigation above Barber’s level. I thought these days had gone in football.

I don't suppose Barber is able to tell the police what to do, and anyone who has seen certain forces in action in dealing with crowds knows to expect mess-ups and appalling lack of communication.

 

[Justice]

For someone who makes a lot of shit up, this is the funniest

Still find it funny and a made up story Maybe you work for Sun

 

[BN9 BHA]

Still find it funny and a made up story Maybe you work for Sun

I don’t know what he was on about, it’s funny how some on this forum suddenly go quiet and never reply when called out.

 

[Springal]

Still find it funny and a made up story Maybe you work for Sun

I didn’t say it was made up, I was in it having left the WSU / NS exit. My point was around apportioning blame when no one knows.

Apportioning blame without facts is a trait of the Sun, are you sure you don’t work for them ?

 

[Originunknown]

I didn’t say it was made up, I was in it having left the WSU / NS exit. My point was around apportioning blame when no one knows.

Apportioning blame without facts is a trait of the Sun, are you sure you don’t work for them ?

Your initial response on this thread was flippant and ill advised.

There is concern around these events for some who were caught up in it and there is no blame to be apportioned to fans.

 

[Springal]

Your initial response on this thread was flippant and ill advised.

There is concern around these events for some who were caught up in it and there is no blame to be apportioned to fans.

Agreed - frustrations of not getting a result against that lot again and what happened after the game I wasn’t in the best frame of mind.

But I still don’t think apportioning blame to individuals straight after the event is helpful

 

[Justice]

Agreed - frustrations of not getting a result against that lot again and what happened after the game I wasn’t in the best frame of mind.

But I still don’t think apportioning blame to individuals straight after the event is helpful

All I said on here was what I was told by a policeman on duty that was it. They followed club instructions. You then somehow found that hilarious

And who did I apportion blame to exactly Saying that a CEO of a business has some explaining to do is not saying they are 100% responsible for the failure Friday night.

 

[Originunknown]

Well from accounts there may have been operational issues and the hope now is that the club and policing engage to identify the shortcomings, rather than issuing further statements playing down events.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

My recommendation:

No more evening Palace games at the Amex.

- All day drinking doesn't help pre-match.

- The pressure to get away from the stadium quickly to catch public transport at a late hour is in conflict with the "go round the stadium this way" strategy and any holding back of fans / barriers to allow Palace supporters to depart.

 

[Justice]

I don’t know what he was on about, it’s funny how some on this forum suddenly go quiet and never reply when called out.

We all take the piss on here I just didn’t find people getting crushed that funny tbh mate.

 

[Bedsex]

Add in loads from the East stand trying to walk down to the station not knowing there were barriers blocking the way. They then caused a big crowd that the folks leaving the North stand had to try and push their way through. As said before a steward with a loudhailer telling the East stand folks to turn round would have solved it or a couple of stewards stood outside East stand exits directing everyone round towards the south stand. Contrary to the club statement no one seemed to know what was going on for 10/15 minutes.

Whilst that might have alleviated the potential crush, it wouldn’t have solved the whole issue. I had seen the pre-match brief, so turned right out of the East stand instead of the usual right turn to get down to the station. I was slightly surprised that the majority were still going anti-clockwise, but I continued on my clockwise route as I am a bit of a ‘rule follower’. However, when I got as far as the south stand I couldn’t get any further than the steps to the coach park as the palace fans were corralled across the entire width of the concourse. At that point we were told to turn around and go the other way.

I realised that w weren’t going to be able to get out for a while, so decided to head back into the East stand concourse to grab some post match pies whilst they let the Palace fans out to the station. Unfortunately they’d run out of pies!

As others have said, it could have been a lot worse and luckily there were no serious issues in the potential crush. But this is down to good fortune rather than proper organisation. The club and the police need to learn some lessons from this.

 

[Justice]

My recommendation:

No more evening Palace games at the Amex.

- All day drinking doesn't help pre-match.

- The pressure to get away from the stadium quickly to catch public transport at a late hour is in conflict with the "go round the stadium this way" strategy and any holding back of fans / barriers to allow Palace supporters to depart.

Or just stop pretending it kicks off like it used to in the 80’s everyone left together at Selhurst even after the McShane 1-0 nothing really happened total over reaction.

 

[BN9 BHA]

We all take the piss on here I just didn’t find people getting crushed that funny tbh mate.

I was confused with the comment that you make a lot of shit up, can’t say I had you down as someone that does this.