MIKE STRUTTER wrote...

Spot on. It wouldn't suprise me to hear that the police took enjoyment out of it. How else can you explain the delay in acting on the situation?
I was thrown out last year for exactly the thing!

Posted by: MIKE STRUTTER  | October 1, 2007 3:17 PM

sean wrote...

my brother went on my ticket and told me about this and said the stewarding was poor before that. When he told me i was amazed the next day that no papers or anything are mentioning it even the echo. i bet if it was us there would have been widespread media coverage.

Posted by: sean  | October 1, 2007 6:09 PM

Touchline Dad wrote...

Of course, only last week Wigan chairman Dave Whelan gave the Tories a £1m cash gift to help their election campaign.

That's small change when your company's just forked out £5.5m in fines to the Office of Fair Trading for fixing the price of Man Utd shirts.

Ironically, he says he's angry the government has 'failed' to adequately deal with law and order. Cameron will be tougher on these chaps, apparently, when he's not hugging them.

Well, here's 50 yobs Mr Whelan can adequately deal with himself by imposing banning orders unless he's too busy taking cash from them to bankroll the Tories?

What odds against reading New Year headlines proclaiming: 'Ecky Thump! Arise Sir David?'

Posted by: Touchline Dad  | October 1, 2007 9:59 PM

Dave.Sq wrote...

For the last two seasons reds fans have been evicted from that section of the east stand when we scored so this year I think the thugs had something else planned and carried out that attack. The stewards where blocked off from getting in to stop it but didnt make much of an effort anyway while the police just watched. It wasnt just a couple of punches thrown as you say Tony it could have ended up with a bad injury, and then what might have happened if the traveling reds had seen their own carried out on stretches beggers belief. All I can say is maybe they should'nt have been in there and maybe they should have kept it quite but because they never is no excuse to give them a hiding like that. I don't know of another team that has its main vocal support right next to the away fans not a good idea if anything went off it would be hard to stop with them being right next to each other, and nothing to stop you clashing after the match. Wigan want to move their lot behind the home goal like everyone else and keep violence out off football but it does seem to be around the smaller clubs in England.

Posted by: Dave.Sq  | October 2, 2007 10:27 AM

Is this betting wrote...

As you say there is no law against being in the wrong part of the ground but common sense would suggest you don't make it obvious to the home fans. Whether they wound up some Wigan fans is unclear.

There was an incident at Chelsea against Rosenborg the other week (not widely reported) that the club officials had to ask to be removed from their seats because of intimidation from the Chelsea fans.

I'm quite happy to wind up other supporters because it adds to the general atmosphere but violence is another matter and all should be done to prevent these fans from attending Premiership matches in the future.

Posted by: Is this betting  | October 2, 2007 1:27 PM

Wiggin wrote...

You're right, there is no excuse for violence at a football match but this article is an example of trying to shift the blame from your own supporters.
They weren't nice scenes to watch, & the reporter is right their are fans of other teams who get into the home sections for certain games without this trouble. Does the reporter stop to ask himself why that is??? No he doesn't, but I will tell you why.
Because the supporters of the other teams in the area don't show colours, they don't wave flags, they don't try & antagonise the home support & they don't (if they score) celebrate in the provocative manner that the Liverpool fans did on Saturday. I was sat in the stand opposite & a number were swiftly ejected (unharmed & nobody tried to hit them I might add) for doing just that. That is something that we've rarely had before.
So, for once, try looking at things from both sides of the fence

Posted by: Wiggin  | October 2, 2007 3:36 PM

Stu wrote...

Unfortunately Liverpool fans dotted around the stadium did not help the situation, continually goading home supporters who had to bite their lip and try to ignore them.

The Liverpool fans attacked were asked to keep quiet or leave, they chose to stand and chant along with the away supporters.

Posted by: Stu  | October 2, 2007 3:36 PM

TD wrote...

Yet again, the Liverpool fans being portrayed as the victims. But then again, they are perfect aren't they. I was there, with my 9 year old brother. The Liverpool fans just took the piss all match and to be honest, deserved what they got and acctualy, there was about 20, not 3.

Posted by: TD  | October 2, 2007 3:51 PM

Liam wrote...

the most biased blog i've read in a while!

up the latics!

Posted by: Liam  | October 2, 2007 6:58 PM

john wrote...

the wigan fans can try and justify their actions all they like the fact remains that a small number of Liverpool fans were attacked by a huge mob of hooligans. One fella who took a right beating was there with his lad. Wherever home teams can't sell out their stadiums you get away fans in the home sections, it happens up and down the country every week. There is NO excuse for a group of 50 lads attacking such a small number of people, complete and utter cowards. And to the lad who said its Liverpool fans playing the victim again - when it's 50 on 5 then they are the victims, no amount of myopic justification or lame excuses can make up for that. I was in the annie rd end for LFC vs Wigan last season in the league, halftime there were a couple of Latics fans (in colours i may add) on the concourse in our section - couldn't move for people trying to buy them drinks.

Posted by: john  | October 2, 2007 8:21 PM

Flagpole Corner wrote...

Absolutely spot on once again, Tony. This isn't the first time that our supporters have been rounded upon by rival supporters whilst Greater Manchester Police stand idly by.

The day before the anniversary of Hillsborough this year we played Manchester City away and whilst leaving the ground, those supporters making their way back to Picadilly station were forced to endure insults from the City supporters about the disaster as well as chants about their love of a certain Kelvin MacKenzie. Naturally, some Liverpool fans reacted verbally to these insults and rightly so in my opinion.

Greater Manchester Police's response to all this? Grab any Liverpool supporter within arms length of them and enforce brutality on them, completely ignoring the City fans and their actions despite them being similar to those of the Liverpool fans but all in complete bad taste by comparison.

You only have to go on YouTube to see the lack of action by GMP in the stand as Wigan supporters openly rounded in on the Liverpool supporters.

While I can’t condone their method of gaining access to the ground, I will say in their defence that it’s not something that hasn’t already happened before. If you go into most bookshops and look at those publications written by supporters, you’ll see that going into the opposing section isn’t a new thing, in fact it’s been part and parcel of the game since the late 50s. I can recall a story one supporter told me of how standing in the home section at the likes of Elland Road, Old Trafford and even Burnley in the 60s always saw him and his friend pelted with coins by the home supporters but it was a risk they were prepared to take just to watch their team.

There's a lesser-known saying of 'if you cut one of us, we all bleed'. I can't help but think that this is the mentality of Greater Manchester Police but it's more apt for the entire population of Wigan in more ways than one.

Posted by: Flagpole Corner  | October 2, 2007 8:35 PM

Ste wrote...

Greater Manchester Police.... enough said

Posted by: Ste  | October 3, 2007 10:33 AM

Brock wrote...

It looks like the entire Wigan supporters club has responded there Tony, must be a good blog! ...S**t Bags!

Posted by: Brock  | October 3, 2007 2:17 PM

Stu wrote...

What do they expect when they go into one of the home stands and start antagonizing opposition supporters?

I'm not by any means saying the beating they got is deserved, that would be a cowardly thing to say, but it certainly must have been expected? They would have been naive to think that there would be no consequences.

The guy sat next to me was a Liverpool fan. It was obvious. He did however keep quiet and was respectful of the fact that he was sat in the wrong part of the ground. No problem there.

The ones involved in the fight weren't respectful of where they were. They started cheering as their team scored and were quickly told to keep quiet as they were in the Wigan end. They continued to chant and verbally abuse Latics supporters and ended up getting in a scrap. It could have been avoided if they'd kept quiet.

All this trouble that just seems to follow Liverpool supporters around, it's never a possibility that it just might be their own fault for once, is it?

Just accept that some of your supporters acted irresponsibly at the game, as did some of ours who reacted to their taunting.

Nice job on the biased article, Tony Barrett. Just a tip to save yourself any further embarrassment: try to be a bit more impartial when writing about subjects you don't know the full story of.

Stu

Posted by: Stu  | October 4, 2007 12:01 AM