[Albion] Response from Mr Barber re Palace stewarding and Police intervention

Bozza said:

Interested about this bit:

"I’m sorry to hear your evening was spoiled by the mindless behaviour of a small number of Crystal Palace fans letting off some small flares and fireworks"

I don't know anything about these things, but there are many reports that suggest the flares are tiny and as such, I don't doubt that they could be hidden sufficiently well to get them into a ground.

However, those really loud bangs can't have been produced by something so small, can they? It must be something of a fair old size to make that kind of noise, surely?

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Bozza said:

Interested about this bit:

"I’m sorry to hear your evening was spoiled by the mindless behaviour of a small number of Crystal Palace fans letting off some small flares and fireworks"

I don't know anything about these things, but there are many reports that suggest the flares are tiny and as such, I don't doubt that they could be hidden sufficiently well to get them into a ground.

However, those really loud bangs can't have been produced by something so small, can they? It must be something of a fair old size to make that kind of noise, surely?

Click to expand...

chunky44 said:

Thanks Mr Barber for responding within 30 minutes of my email this morning, he is nothing if not focused on the fans.

May also debunk some of the myths being shared on this forum last night.

*******************************************************

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your email.

I’m sorry to hear your evening was spoiled by the mindless behaviour of a small number of Crystal Palace fans letting off some small flares and fireworks. I will however address each of your points in turn - and also correct a number of misperceptions:

Unfortunately, the type of flares let off last night are absolutely tiny and virtually impossible to detect without a full body search of every supporter which I’m afraid is neither practical nor possible - and isn’t at any football stadium in the country.


We were well aware of the likelihood of some Crystal Palace fans bringing flares to the stadium and we deployed pyrotechnic dogs, as well as additional turnstile stewards (from both clubs). However, such is the nature of the devices not all will be detected.

The flares are dropped on to the ground. Short of standing next to the person, there is very little chance for stewards or police to identify the culprits. Where individuals are identified, they are removed from the stadium discreetly to avoid disorder.

With regard to delays leaving the stadium, the first point to make is that the club does not control parking at Virgin Active. Neither does the club have 50 places in its directors’ car park so I can assure you that 50 cars at a time were not leaving this area.

Our priority after this match was to move as many supporters away from the stadium as quickly as possible - by train and by buses. This meant ALL traffic was held - as is usual - until this operation was as complete as possible. This was to ensure safe egress for as many people as possible.

I’m afraid that delays leaving football matches, particularly by car, are a fact of life. Some people leaving Old Trafford took 2 hours leaving the car park areas last Saturday. Moving nearly 30,000 from a confined area is difficult enough. When that is combined with major police and club operation, it is even harder.

Far from there being poor stewarding or poor policing at last night’s game, the safety of close to 30,000 people was ensured because of excellent stewarding and first class policing. A number of stewards were injured doing their jobs and protecting fans last night. 2 remain in hospital.

In summary, for very obvious reasons, this was always going to be a challenging evening. Months of planning went in to it and our staff were forced to deal with some very unpleasant individuals and circumstances. They did exceptionally well and no members of the public were hurt.

I’m very sorry that some fans, including some elderly, younger or disabled fans were disturbed by the flares let off by Crystal Palace fans but, as I have explained, the club could not possibly have prevented such items from being brought in to the stadium and each situation was managed on the night to the best of everyone’s ability.

Thank you for offering your opinions.

Regards, Paul

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kennyb said:

I know this might sound bit harsh on the genuine palace supporters however surely the club has a duty of care to its supporters .

what would have happened if serious injuries or potentially a fire had broken out .

Personally i believe Palace supporters should be banned from the Amex if the club cant guarantee our safety which is what PB seems to be saying in that there is nothing they can do .

These explosions shook me and i was in the North Stand!

Furthermore what if terrorists has wanted to kill people they could bring in a small device undetected ?

These so called "Ultras" mainly wear black clothing to identify within their group i fail to see how difficult it would be to stop and search these people and check if they have tickets

this could be done at any point it seems ridiculous that police escorted these so called supporters up Queens Road without checking they had valid tickets this could of been done at the station.

I actually do feel sympathy for those genuine palace supporters who turned up with valid tickets and were turned away.its time to get tough with these idiots and yes it might mean banning all palace supporters however safety of all supporters has to be the clubs priority.

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clippedgull said:

Yes, Palace fans could be barred from the Amex (although that wouldn't be fair on those that didn't cause any trouble), but if we barred Palace fans then our fans would also be barred from the return fixture. Why should a few idiots from both sides ruin it for everybody?

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Stat Brother said:

Esp when the idiots in question stand out a mile.

Parrish is paying the price for ingratiating these idiots, he now needs to put an end to them.
The question is will he have the bollox to do it?

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chunky44 said:

Thanks Mr Barber for responding within 30 minutes of my email this morning, he is nothing if not focused on the fans.

May also debunk some of the myths being shared on this forum last night.

*******************************************************

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your email.

I’m sorry to hear your evening was spoiled by the mindless behaviour of a small number of Crystal Palace fans letting off some small flares and fireworks. I will however address each of your points in turn - and also correct a number of misperceptions:

Unfortunately, the type of flares let off last night are absolutely tiny and virtually impossible to detect without a full body search of every supporter which I’m afraid is neither practical nor possible - and isn’t at any football stadium in the country.


We were well aware of the likelihood of some Crystal Palace fans bringing flares to the stadium and we deployed pyrotechnic dogs, as well as additional turnstile stewards (from both clubs). However, such is the nature of the devices not all will be detected.

The flares are dropped on to the ground. Short of standing next to the person, there is very little chance for stewards or police to identify the culprits. Where individuals are identified, they are removed from the stadium discreetly to avoid disorder.

With regard to delays leaving the stadium, the first point to make is that the club does not control parking at Virgin Active. Neither does the club have 50 places in its directors’ car park so I can assure you that 50 cars at a time were not leaving this area.

Our priority after this match was to move as many supporters away from the stadium as quickly as possible - by train and by buses. This meant ALL traffic was held - as is usual - until this operation was as complete as possible. This was to ensure safe egress for as many people as possible.

I’m afraid that delays leaving football matches, particularly by car, are a fact of life. Some people leaving Old Trafford took 2 hours leaving the car park areas last Saturday. Moving nearly 30,000 from a confined area is difficult enough. When that is combined with major police and club operation, it is even harder.

Far from there being poor stewarding or poor policing at last night’s game, the safety of close to 30,000 people was ensured because of excellent stewarding and first class policing. A number of stewards were injured doing their jobs and protecting fans last night. 2 remain in hospital.

In summary, for very obvious reasons, this was always going to be a challenging evening. Months of planning went in to it and our staff were forced to deal with some very unpleasant individuals and circumstances. They did exceptionally well and no members of the public were hurt.

I’m very sorry that some fans, including some elderly, younger or disabled fans were disturbed by the flares let off by Crystal Palace fans but, as I have explained, the club could not possibly have prevented such items from being brought in to the stadium and each situation was managed on the night to the best of everyone’s ability.

Thank you for offering your opinions.

Regards, Paul

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Eddiespearritt said:

What a dreadful e-mail - dealing with all the minutiae and not the big picture. "Some small fireworks" - God help us. Paul Barber, last night was a disgrace, shocking, and your brushing off of the incidents is part of the problem. I want to hear about a serious disagreement between the clubs - points deductions from the FA and Premier League - promises that action will be taken to stop such behaviour in the age that we are living. The reality is that Oumar Niasse's dive gets bigger headlines than this stuff, which is really serious.

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mothy said:

It seriously is pathetic that people email the ceo about this kind of thing. As if he hasnt got enough to deal with - surely there are forums & channels to organise a joined up response rather than him getting individuals whining into his inbox

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mothy said:

It seriously is pathetic that people email the ceo about this kind of thing. As if he hasnt got enough to deal with - surely there are forums & channels to organise a joined up response rather than him getting individuals whining into his inbox

Click to expand...

kennyb said:

I know this might sound bit harsh on the genuine palace supporters however surely the club has a duty of care to its supporters .

what would have happened if serious injuries or potentially a fire had broken out .

Personally i believe Palace supporters should be banned from the Amex if the club cant guarantee our safety which is what PB seems to be saying in that there is nothing they can do .

These explosions shook me and i was in the North Stand!

Furthermore what if terrorists has wanted to kill people they could bring in a small device undetected ?

These so called "Ultras" mainly wear black clothing to identify within their group i fail to see how difficult it would be to stop and search these people and check if they have tickets

this could be done at any point it seems ridiculous that police escorted these so called supporters up Queens Road without checking they had valid tickets this could of been done at the station.

I actually do feel sympathy for those genuine palace supporters who turned up with valid tickets and were turned away.its time to get tough with these idiots and yes it might mean banning all palace supporters however safety of all supporters has to be the clubs priority.

Click to expand...

Se20 said:

The HF let themselves down big time last night, and they will have to take the consequences.
The Palace rank and file are getting a tad pissed off with their " you can't touch us" approach to fellow Palace fans.
Stick to the singing boys.

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Simontheseagull said:

I also feel sorry for the innocent Palace fans who were turfed out of their seats by HF while the stewards just stood by and watched this happen. I appreciate the stewards had a difficult job, but sureley they have a duty of care towards innocent fans being bullied inside the stadium by hooligans wearing black clothing with scarves over their faces.

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