do deserve some sympathy.

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/news.php?NewsID=37

Poor buggers.

at least the aldershot fans are going to have a wipround very nice jesture

Thats a bit shiity that like.

Thank god pools have a bit more common sense

Total jobsworth stewards, i know it's darlo, but that's shocking.

I'd be writing to the club to complain about that.

'Health and safety', i fuckin hate that term sometimes, what a load of shat, how could it effect the health of safety of fans by letting in another 4 into a terraced area?

Idiots.

If I was them I would have went to the club shop, players and managers entrance and demanded to see the chairman or an offical from the club, they would have got their money back then

The problem is, give some people a little bit of responsibility, and they turn into Little Hitlers. I work with a bloke who has been a steward at Bristol City and Rovers and he's the reasonable type. His attitude was 'why shouldn't I?' rather than 'why should I??'

He tells me that he's been put in some quite embarrassing situations by the rules these fookers dream up, like making an 82 year old female 45 year season ticket holder miss the kick off while they waited for a female steward to come and search the old ladies hand bag. He says they simply aren't allowed any discretion.

If I was the Darlo fans I'd be sending a bill for travel, sustenace and discomfort along with a request for a full explanation of where H&S comes into it and if nothing comes of it, I'd have them in the County Court, just for the rank publicity and embarrassment it will generate for Aldershot.

Speaking of Little Hitlers, was it just me who thought when watching the BBC League 1 stuff at the weekend that Bryan Gunn is the spitting image of Eddie Hitler?

It did not occur to me at the time, but its true

Exactly what i thought, with them thick black glasses, double of him!

And if it wasn't for Southampton's points deduction his team would be...


































... BOTTOM!

mr loughlin will have a little bit of sympathy as he nearly found himself in this situation at torquay several seasons ago.
we left at daft oclock and only got to plainmoor at half time and it took some persuasion to be allowed in
http://www.inthemadcrowd.co.uk/cgi-bin/ ... p?oid=3430

the bloke is clearly an idiot the m3 takes you to aldershot or the A3 not the m4 i live 20 minutes from aldershott and have never used the m4 in my life

You'd be pretty stupid to have tackled the M25 on Saturday too, there were 'M25 closed' signs all the way down.

It was not as prominent as his vitiligo - poor bugger.

Fair play to Aldershot, they certainly know how to carry out a thorough review :


Statement On Darlington Supporters - Refused Entry On Saturday 8th August

Following the return from holiday of the club's own Senior Safety Officer who was not on duty on the day in question a thorough investigation has now been carried out into the circumstances surrounding the decision to deny access to four Darlington supporters who arrived late for the game.

This investigation included detailed interviews with all the stewards concerned and with the control room staff on duty at the time. It also included more crucially detailed examination of CCTV footage which covered the whole of the incident from start to finish and fully supports the reports from the stewards and the control room especially with regard to the previously disputed matter of the four being joined by two other Darlington supporters.

At approximately 4.15 four Darlington supporters having had a delayed journey arrived at the ground and requested entry to the game. In order to try and accommodate the four supporters the Steward on the gate contacted the control room for guidance. They were instructed to hold the four at the gate whilst tickets were made available to allow them entry.

At the same time as the four arrived at the ground two other Darlington supporters who had previously been denied entry for inappropriate behaviour were leaving the area. The four supporters who were now waiting patiently for entry then called these two over and greeted them giving the impression to all concerned that they were acquainted with one another.

The addition of the two other supporters resulted in them now being included in the request for entry, there was also a reported change of attitude and demeanour from the four original supporters following the inclusion of the two other supporters.

The decision was therefore taken by the Senior Safety Officer on duty that it was no longer appropriate to allow entry as the two groups had by now become one group of six containing the two previously refused supporters.

It should be noted that in an earlier statement it was mentioned that two further Darlington supporters were leaving early and were thought to be the additional two referred to above. It has now become clear from the CCTV footage that these were not the two supporters that got involved and the club wish to make it clear they had no involvement in this incident whatsoever.

Following the decision to not allow them entry the four original supporters then left the area leaving the other two behind who continued to try and gain entry to the ground and did not leave the area until shortly before the end of the game.

Richard Petty (General Manager) speaking on behalf of the club has stated how sad he is that this incident occurred and has the utmost sympathy for the original four supporters and wishes to assure all concerned that had they not got involved with the other two supporters they would most certainly have been granted entry into the game once tickets for entry had been made available.

He further added "However, following this more detailed investigation, I was concerned to find out how readily the Senior Safety Officer (SSO) who was on duty on the day made the decision to treat the group of four plus the other two as one group. I am satisfied that had our own SSO been on duty the two groups would have been separated and treated individually.

"The SSO that was on duty on the day is not part of our team and is unlikely to be working for the club on future occasions.

"Although I do feel that overall procedure was correctly followed, and that our own stewards acted appropriately and professionally a certain lack of common sense in the instruction issued to the stewards on the gate by the SSO once the Darlington supporters became the group of six to treat them as one group created a situation where the four Darlington supporters became victims of circumstance.

"I therefore intend to make contact with the four Darlington Supporters concerned and will be personally offering them fuel costs and match tickets to an away match of their choice as a goodwill gesture for the awful day they had.
I was one of a number of supporters who got locked out of a very important cup game years ago, so I can understand their frustration, but can I say to any supporters reading this whether it's our supporters or supporters of other clubs coming to visit us we do operate a zero policy with regards to any verbal or physical abuse of any of our staff whatever the provocation.

"Aldershot Town Football Club is about the supporters, but it's also about trying to make the experience of coming to the EBB stadium a better one for everyone concerned, especially families, and our control on the behaviour of all who come in and who we allow in plays a big part in doing that."

Richard also stated that following this incident changes in late entry procedure have already been put in place in time for the next home game on the 22nd that will ensure that late entry tickets for both home and away supporters will be available on the gates for the duration of the whole game and not just until half-time which has been the previous practice. This will allow for immediate access once the Senior Safety Officer in the control room has been contacted and approved entry.