This was put on facebook by Sue Parkes wife of Chris Parkes. Hope this answers a few questions
Charlton Lane Closure - Please Don't Blame CAFC!! All supporters who were inconvenienced after Millwall game due to the unannounced closure of Charlton Lane please don't blame The Club. Chris & I were very late leaving the Valley after the game and therefore didn't know about the problems until I read the postings on FB late Saturday evening, I had even suggested the route via the crossing to a couple of friends in cars. Having read about the problems supporters encountered I asked Chris to try to find out why Charlton Lane was closed, firstly he checked his own copy of the Matchday briefing notes, then he spoke to Senior Safety Staff both sources confirmed that the road wasn't scheduled to be closed but more to the point CAFC Safety Staff were not aware that the road had been closed until Chris told them about it this morning. They hadn't been informed of the closure nor had they been party to it, therefore I'm saying the Club shouldn't shoulder the blame. Hopefully now they know what happened the problem will be looked into to prevent similar treatment of Home supporters in future.
Can't believe this is still being talked about three days later!!
Because what happened on Saturday, should never happen again. It should not be underestimated how much of an spark this will be for long standing season tickets not to renew next season. All of those who don't think that it is too much of a problems thats fine, but the club should not underestimate the bad feeling that this has created amongst many supporters. There was many empty seats at the game, and a lot of people did not attend, of which these arrangements were a contributory factor
Over the last few pages, I have read that Millwall fans were held back because that the stewards could not manage the Millwall fans and the fans were going to smash the Jimmy Seed up (don't buy this one, due to the cctv) that Charlton home fans inconvenienced is their own fault due to events at Crystal Palace and Millwall from a few Charlton fans (its our fault, stop complaining).
After the Crystal Palace home game, the area where Floyd rd was minorly dicey. I saw Rick Everritts response above, but it didn't say way the Millwall fans were not held back. The line about police intel about millwall revenge attacks doesn't wash either because why would police be happy to have a line of police separating the crowds and have us leaving together.
It is either that the club does not respect its own supporters or it is so skint it is trying to save money on the stewarding inside the ground. Neither is good. It should never happen again.
There are various strands of opinion on this. Put crudely:
1. It didn't affect me, can't see the problem
2. The club did nothing much wrong. The post match arrangements were understandable in the the circumstances. If you want to blame someone blame the OB
3. The arrangements were irritating but if motivated by a desire to avoid violence then understandable. There were problems with execution of the plan but again no big deal. However the club's communications were inept at best and at worst reflect a complete lack of respect for paying customers
4. The arrangements were wrong in principle. Millwall fans should have been held back etc.
I'm in the third camp. I'm happy to give the club the benefit of the doubt. However if the club don't make amends as far as the communication side of things is concerned then I won't renew my ST until we've got new owners.
I know that no-one really cares what I do, but at least I'll be true to myself.
So what on the communication side of things could the club do, sufficiently for you to change your mind on the season ticket renewal ? Given Drinking During the Games excellent 'Fear and Loathing' and the boards lack of communication with the supporters since the beginning are the chances that will communicate anything at all ?
So tell me, on that basis, why were Charlton kept behind at the toolbox?
Someone from your club has confirmed that's the reasons why, did nobody read the email response from Everitt? Only seems like WSS did.
Charlton had numerous complaints from fans about the handling of the Palace game and they seeked to avoid that occuring again.
As for why you were held after the 4-0, it's generally to do with the congestion at SB station. With smaller away followings they'll restrict Millwall fans for 15 minutes or so to let them get their trains, for bigger away followings they can't hold Millwall back for 30+ minutes as 2,500 Charlton wait for trains.
SLL
"the toolbox" is of course the New Den. It is the home of the Spanners. Geddit? see, we do humour too.
We were held back at the Toolbox. That was clearly a pre-arranged decision. Nothing to do with the regrettable behaviour that day of a few chavs that have latched on to us. Therefore it was for our safety, as doubtless the tannoy announcer said, as they say all over the world when they tell away fans this. So if they were concerned for your safety on Saturday they'd have held you back too.
Some of my fellow CL'ers may think you are being serious, but I'm not having it. You are taking the piss. Good luck to you. My beef is with the police.
Personally I think the only solution to ensure normal fans can go about their normal football business, is to ban all Millwall fans from all away games.
Behave, you seriously believe what you are saying?! The big reason why we were kept behind on Saturday is because of the trouble at both the Millwall and Crystal Palace games. Imagine if they let out both sets of fans at the same time heading towards the station and it kicked off? Imagine what freedom of speech nonsense you would be asking for then?!
So banning Milwall fans from away games is the way forward ok fair enough but what about OUR fans who are starting to misbehave at certain games? It only takes a few idiots to bring down a football club and at the moment we have got plenty at our club trying to make CAFC into something it's not.
I think sparrow lane lions is right in what he says, instead of blaming the police like certain people do all the time how about the fans who have kicked off during the season surely they are to blame?
No doubt I am a spanner too now I agree with sparrows lane lion!
This was put on facebook by Sue Parkes wife of Chris Parkes. Hope this answers a few questions
Charlton Lane Closure - Please Don't Blame CAFC!! All supporters who were inconvenienced after Millwall game due to the unannounced closure of Charlton Lane please don't blame The Club. Chris & I were very late leaving the Valley after the game and therefore didn't know about the problems until I read the postings on FB late Saturday evening, I had even suggested the route via the crossing to a couple of friends in cars. Having read about the problems supporters encountered I asked Chris to try to find out why Charlton Lane was closed, firstly he checked his own copy of the Matchday briefing notes, then he spoke to Senior Safety Staff both sources confirmed that the road wasn't scheduled to be closed but more to the point CAFC Safety Staff were not aware that the road had been closed until Chris told them about it this morning. They hadn't been informed of the closure nor had they been party to it, therefore I'm saying the Club shouldn't shoulder the blame. Hopefully now they know what happened the problem will be looked into to prevent similar treatment of Home supporters in future.
Is this going to be the club's explanation? The wife of the club sec, who admits she was not there at the time,of the closure and confirms that the 'CAFC Safety staff were not aware that the road had been closed, until Chris told them about it this morning'. I am not sure ignorance of the event happening is an appropriate response?. Still nothing on the club website, which seems to be the method that the club inform fan's. Still not had a reply from Mick, and forwarded the URL to the supporters federation , who I am sure will be contacting the club to ask for clarification?. If as the facebook poster claims CAFC knew nothing of the event, Quite what is the point of meeting the police to discuss these arrangements in the first place, perhaps Jason Evans,( cafc police liason oficer) if that is his real name, needs to explain the reasons behind this mismanaged situation?, because obviously the arrangements had not been adhered to, or were not clear, at least to CAFC if the posting above is correct.
SLL was taking the pee, and lo and behold, Addicks on here give him even more reason to laugh.
What we can recognise though is that this has never happened before at the Valley as far as I know and it has happened following recent examples of bad behaviour by a few alleged Charlton followers. But this was vandalism not violence, so no reason to make my elderly and disabled friend have to walk so far. If Addicks were going to tear up seats, lob a flare or break wing mirrors I can see nowt in Saturdays arrangements to prevent it. As far as I know the is no evidence of Charlton fans attacking Millwall in the last 30 years.
There is (still) no justifiable reason for not holding back the Millwall hordes. They were not all psychotic murderous villains after all.
Typical. I took two friends to their first ever football match, even getting them to wear Charlton shirts. We parked in Macros but got totally lost ending up in Charlton High St as the police couldnt direct us. What was worse, my friends were treated by the police as though they were hooligans and all we wanted was directions. Charlton have lost two new potential fans and this has left me with a sour taste so I wont be back for a while
SLL was taking the pee, and lo and behold, Addicks on here give him even more reason to laugh.
What we can recognise though is that this has never happened before at the Valley as far as I know and it has happened following recent examples of bad behaviour by a few alleged Charlton followers. But this was vandalism not violence, so no reason to make my elderly and disabled friend have to walk so far. If Addicks were going to tear up seats, lob a flare or break wing mirrors I can see nowt in Saturdays arrangements to prevent it. As far as I know the is no evidence of Charlton fans attacking Millwall in the last 30 years.
There is (still) no justifiable reason for not holding back the Millwall hordes. They were not all psychotic murderous villains after all.
CAFC, laughing stock. Learn and move on.
He certainly was taking the piss,just keep them fuckers in after the game and be done with it any damaged caused deemed to be over the top no tickets for future games.
Typical. I took two friends to their first ever football match, even getting them to wear Charlton shirts. We parked in Macros but got totally lost ending up in Charlton High St as the police couldnt direct us. What was worse, my friends were treated by the police as though they were hooligans and all we wanted was directions. Charlton have lost two new potential fans and this has left me with a sour taste so I wont be back for a while
A local derby against Millwall is the last game I'd bring potential new fans to, as there's always extra aggro and tension, and an atmosphere outside the ground untypical from the usual friendly rivalry.
They were not all psychotic murderous villains after all
Source?
Well, despite being sent all round the houses, I still ended up on a train to London Bridge with them all. Once I got to the station, the police made no attempt to stop me getting on the London-bound side of the platform. And it was absolutely fine. Got no hassle whatsoever. All the expected drama was nowhere to be seen.
Typical. I took two friends to their first ever football match, even getting them to wear Charlton shirts. We parked in Macros but got totally lost ending up in Charlton High St as the police couldnt direct us. What was worse, my friends were treated by the police as though they were hooligans and all we wanted was directions. Charlton have lost two new potential fans and this has left me with a sour taste so I wont be back for a while
A local derby against Millwall is the last game I'd bring potential new fans to, as there's always extra aggro and tension, and an atmosphere outside the ground untypical from the usual friendly rivalry.
I agree but it was one of my friends who got these tickets as a birthday present for me, thinking I would enjoy taking them with me to a match. So the choice of game was decided by date rather than by opponent. Even so, there was no excuse for the abuse they received. Whilst unfortunate, I still blame the club as they rubber stamped the process.
So for those who were not put out by the arrangements after the game, lets move on and grow up. For those who were "kettled" , it turns out it was nothing to do with any Charlton supporters actions anywhere ever.
It was all to do with, the Police and club putting into place a plan, which was not carried out.
The result of that is lots of angry supporters on the day, lots of smart arse comments on here with, the views of both Charlton and Millwall suporters proving beyond doubt it was all our own fault.
Two thoughts, the main problem I had was mounted police, and riot police blocked my route home, when the agreed plan directed me that way. And as I have since been told if I had only spoke nicely to the nice policeman, I would have been let through. So in future police "kettle" 3000 supporters say after Palace, and we all ask very politely to be let through the police let us through. Thats crowd control sorted.
Second thought riot police, and mounted police not friendly local community police blocked a road that was not supposed to be blocked. The road was as far from the away supporters and the station as you could get. Maybe whoever decided to block the road caused the problem.
Then the club the police or both through the safety management system can tell the valued "customer" what happened.
Typical. I took two friends to their first ever football match, even getting them to wear Charlton shirts. We parked in Macros but got totally lost ending up in Charlton High St as the police couldnt direct us. What was worse, my friends were treated by the police as though they were hooligans and all we wanted was directions. Charlton have lost two new potential fans and this has left me with a sour taste so I wont be back for a while
Typical. I took two friends to their first ever football match, even getting them to wear Charlton shirts. We parked in Macros but got totally lost ending up in Charlton High St as the police couldnt direct us. What was worse, my friends were treated by the police as though they were hooligans and all we wanted was directions. Charlton have lost two new potential fans and this has left me with a sour taste so I wont be back for a while
Could you remind me where the High Street is?
and got lost between Makros car park and the ground.....ermm.
But dont worry Rufus - the Club see the whole thing as a great success as no one was hurt during the inconvenience.
Which surely is precisely the point?! Would you prefer an elderly gentleman has to be inconvenienced by walking up a hill, or got attacked and injured?
This is getting stupid now. It was 1 game people. If it happened for every high risk game then fair enough, but there was police intel that suggested this needed to happen, and us be slightly inconvenienced as a result, for 1 game only.
But dont worry Rufus - the Club see the whole thing as a great success as no one was hurt during the inconvenience.
Which surely is precisely the point?! Would you prefer an elderly gentleman has to be inconvenienced by walking up a hill, or got attacked and injured?
This is getting stupid now. It was 1 game people. If it happened for every high risk game then fair enough, but there was police intel that suggested this needed to happen, and us be slightly inconvenienced as a result, for 1 game only.
Its the principle tho really and I will never change my opinion. inconvenience them not us.
Next year I suspect we will not get the lower tier at the Toolbox and if we use the same logic the the Spanners should also have limited numbers at the Valley and held back.
If as we have been told Police intelligence told them that there was a high risk around some of their fans.Why were they sold tickets?
Comments
Charlton Lane Closure - Please Don't Blame CAFC!! All supporters who were inconvenienced after Millwall game due to the unannounced closure of Charlton Lane please don't blame The Club. Chris & I were very late leaving the Valley after the game and therefore didn't know about the problems until I read the postings on FB late Saturday evening, I had even suggested the route via the crossing to a couple of friends in cars. Having read about the problems supporters encountered I asked Chris to try to find out why Charlton Lane was closed, firstly he checked his own copy of the Matchday briefing notes, then he spoke to Senior Safety Staff both sources confirmed that the road wasn't scheduled to be closed but more to the point CAFC Safety Staff were not aware that the road had been closed until Chris told them about it this morning. They hadn't been informed of the closure nor had they been party to it, therefore I'm saying the Club shouldn't shoulder the blame. Hopefully now they know what happened the problem will be looked into to prevent similar treatment of Home supporters in future.
Over the last few pages, I have read that Millwall fans were held back because that the stewards could not manage the Millwall fans and the fans were going to smash the Jimmy Seed up (don't buy this one, due to the cctv) that Charlton home fans inconvenienced is their own fault due to events at Crystal Palace and Millwall from a few Charlton fans (its our fault, stop complaining).
After the Crystal Palace home game, the area where Floyd rd was minorly dicey. I saw Rick Everritts response above, but it didn't say way the Millwall fans were not held back. The line about police intel about millwall revenge attacks doesn't wash either because why would police be happy to have a line of police separating the crowds and have us leaving together.
It is either that the club does not respect its own supporters or it is so skint it is trying to save money on the stewarding inside the ground. Neither is good. It should never happen again.
So banning Milwall fans from away games is the way forward ok fair enough but what about OUR fans who are starting to misbehave at certain games? It only takes a few idiots to bring down a football club and at the moment we have got plenty at our club trying to make CAFC into something it's not.
I think sparrow lane lions is right in what he says, instead of blaming the police like certain people do all the time how about the fans who have kicked off during the season surely they are to blame?
No doubt I am a spanner too now I agree with sparrows lane lion!
How funny.
South London is ours.
The wife of the club sec, who admits she was not there at the time,of the closure and confirms that the 'CAFC Safety staff were not aware that the road had been closed, until Chris told them about it this morning'.
I am not sure ignorance of the event happening is an appropriate response?.
Still nothing on the club website, which seems to be the method that the club inform fan's.
Still not had a reply from Mick, and forwarded the URL to the supporters federation , who I am sure will be contacting the club to ask for clarification?.
If as the facebook poster claims CAFC knew nothing of the event, Quite what is the point of meeting the police to discuss these arrangements in the first place, perhaps Jason Evans,( cafc police liason oficer) if that is his real name, needs to explain the reasons behind this mismanaged situation?, because obviously the arrangements had not been adhered to, or were not clear, at least to CAFC if the posting above is correct.
What we can recognise though is that this has never happened before at the Valley as far as I know and it has happened following recent examples of bad behaviour by a few alleged Charlton followers. But this was vandalism not violence, so no reason to make my elderly and disabled friend have to walk so far. If Addicks were going to tear up seats, lob a flare or break wing mirrors I can see nowt in Saturdays arrangements to prevent it. As far as I know the is no evidence of Charlton fans attacking Millwall in the last 30 years.
There is (still) no justifiable reason for not holding back the Millwall hordes. They were not all psychotic murderous villains after all.
CAFC, laughing stock. Learn and move on.
Source?
For those who were "kettled" , it turns out it was nothing to do with any Charlton supporters actions anywhere
ever.
It was all to do with, the Police and club putting into place a plan, which was not carried out.
The result of that is lots of angry supporters on the day, lots of smart arse comments on here with, the views of both
Charlton and Millwall suporters proving beyond doubt it was all our own fault.
Two thoughts, the main problem I had was mounted police, and riot police blocked my route home, when the agreed plan
directed me that way.
And as I have since been told if I had only spoke nicely to the nice policeman, I would have been let through.
So in future police "kettle" 3000 supporters say after Palace, and we all ask very politely to be let through the police let us through.
Thats crowd control sorted.
Second thought riot police, and mounted police not friendly local community police blocked a road that was not supposed to be blocked. The road was as far from the away supporters and the station as you could get. Maybe whoever decided to block the road
caused the problem.
Then the club the police or both through the safety management system can tell the valued "customer" what happened.
This is getting stupid now. It was 1 game people. If it happened for every high risk game then fair enough, but there was police intel that suggested this needed to happen, and us be slightly inconvenienced as a result, for 1 game only.
If as we have been told Police intelligence told them that there was a high risk around some of their fans.Why were they sold tickets?