In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
There was a tannoy announcement about it
At least one of the announcers is on this forum, perhaps he can confirm if & when there was an announcement or has he also taken the same vow of silence as the Communications team, Board of directors, Fans advocates & Advisory board.
There was 100% an announcement at full time I could hear it leaving the front of the Covered Upper, we left pretty much at the full time whistle with the announcement maybe 2-3 mins after the game finished.
The club sent countless posts on insta before this match hyping it as every notch went up from 20K to 23K, 10am Fan zone opening etc......Yet nothing on post match arrangements on website, insta, email etc as for an announcement where was it on the Big screen before, during, after the match....There was an PA announcement but i could hardly hear it in ES..... Club have had nearly 48hrs to address what happened on Saturday.....if it were a new player, kit, corporate event we would all hear about it multiple times....
Posting the 'plan your trip' msg at 8am on Saturday morning was a piss take, that's literally the only non ticket buying communication that went out over the last week.
In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
There was a tannoy announcement about it
At least one of the announcers is on this forum, perhaps he can confirm if & when there was an announcement or has he also taken the same vow of silence as the Communications team, Board of directors, Fans advocates & Advisory board.
There was 100% an announcement at full time I could hear it leaving the front of the Covered Upper, we left pretty much at the full time whistle with the announcement maybe 2-3 mins after the game finished.
The club sent countless posts on insta before this match hyping it as every notch went up from 20K to 23K, 10am Fan zone opening etc......Yet nothing on post match arrangements on website, insta, email etc as for an announcement where was it on the Big screen before, during, after the match....There was an PA announcement but i could hardly hear it in ES..... Club have had nearly 48hrs to address what happened on Saturday.....if it were a new player, kit, corporate event we would all hear about it multiple times....
It'll be a load of old waffle when/if they do announce anything.
In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
In terms of communication from the club, sitting in the Upper West at a match a few seasons ago an announcement was made with 5 minutes to go that the gate onto Valley Grove that comes out by the away fans was closed post-match.
They may not of known until the day before this time around about police arrangements but still absolutely no announcements.
Even a tannoy announcement would've mitigated some of these issues, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
There was a tannoy announcement about it
At least one of the announcers is on this forum, perhaps he can confirm if & when there was an announcement or has he also taken the same vow of silence as the Communications team, Board of directors, Fans advocates & Advisory board.
There was 100% an announcement at full time I could hear it leaving the front of the Covered Upper, we left pretty much at the full time whistle with the announcement maybe 2-3 mins after the game finished.
The club sent countless posts on insta before this match hyping it as every notch went up from 20K to 23K, 10am Fan zone opening etc......Yet nothing on post match arrangements on website, insta, email etc as for an announcement where was it on the Big screen before, during, after the match....There was an PA announcement but i could hardly hear it in ES..... Club have had nearly 48hrs to address what happened on Saturday.....if it were a new player, kit, corporate event we would all hear about it multiple times....
Think we're on the same page regarding everything that's poor around our club's communication with its fans, dear friend....
For a start, attach some boarding to the gates so the fans can’t see each other, that would stop the goading between them.
My son has a set routine where we go 4 or 5 places at half time every game. We walk first to the memorial garden, then to by that gate to look back down onto the pitch.
We’ve done this every Saturday home game for about 7 years.
On our side you have a few people that visit the memorial garden to pay their respects, and a handful of others by the bottom of the stairs having a sly fag. It’s the furthest point away from the concourse so you are deliberately taking yourselves away from the stand.
On the other side, hardly any away fans, even with a full away end, ever go near that gate area. Only ever for a sly fag or to make a quiet phone call.
There’s only one or sometimes two very junior young stewards positioned there. And they usually looked bored senseless (don’t blame them).
There is never any interaction at all there between opposing fans (friendly or aggressive).
On Saturday it was the first time I’ve ever seen opposing fans up against it. At half time I was only by there a minute or two and through the fence from the away side were a few blokes in the 60s growling, trying to make eye contact, get a response etc. others kept coming over to survey the scene but all they could see were a few norms, OAPs having a fag, chatting and completely oblivious to them. Had there been any form of gob or interaction back from the Charlton side, what happened at full time would have quickly escalated and happened at half time. And probably been a hundred times worse because once they all piled through there would have been a packed concourse with hundreds instead of half a dozen stragglers leaving a little used exit.
Blame the police for a lot of the hassle on the day, but the clubs management was extremely poor. They knew if there were to be any in-game flashpoints it would have been through their fans securing tickets in the AC or West Stands (would never happen in the Covered End). Despite the higher crowd and risk potential, there didn’t seem to be a single extra steward in the AC stand on Saturday than there was when we played L1 midweek games with less than 1k in the stand. There wasn’t a single one of the escalation (bully boy) steward group positioned there nor police, just the usual ones whose role is basically telling people where their seats are or reminding visitors you can’t drink beer in pints. None of them are geared up to deal with any trouble.
I hope the couple of young stewards that took some real aggro isolated on their own by that gate are ok, they were badly let down on Saturday.
Comments
It'll be a load of old waffle when/if they do announce anything.
" Leaves a lot to be desired" I'd say.
There is never any interaction at all there between opposing fans (friendly or aggressive).
Blame the police for a lot of the hassle on the day, but the clubs management was extremely poor. They knew if there were to be any in-game flashpoints it would have been through their fans securing tickets in the AC or West Stands (would never happen in the Covered End). Despite the higher crowd and risk potential, there didn’t seem to be a single extra steward in the AC stand on Saturday than there was when we played L1 midweek games with less than 1k in the stand. There wasn’t a single one of the escalation (bully boy) steward group positioned there nor police, just the usual ones whose role is basically telling people where their seats are or reminding visitors you can’t drink beer in pints. None of them are geared up to deal with any trouble.