Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Mar 6, 2009 16:29:10 GMT
Firstly many thanks to Steve for taking the time to not only listen to our views, but also post replies and keeping us up todate with developments.
I'm very pleased the club has now made a statement on .com. as I said in another post, the message needed to come from the club, to prevent it looking like this was action just being taken by the stewards.
I trust this will be handled in the correct way by our stewards and not heavy handed, my main objection was only against the c word song and just wanted to try and find a way to get it from being sung in our ground.
It may well be the case that one or two end up being removed from the ground on Saturday, I really hope that does not happen and the group will take the common sense approach to all this. I really do not think that what is being asked is too much, we all go to football games for enjoyment and it should never be the case that a few should be allowed to spoil the day for everyone else.
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 6, 2009 19:06:36 GMT
God to see that the club have said that they will not tolerate the dim-witted and nauseating behaviour of that particular "chant"(I think the FGR match was the first time I have heard it).
I hope that this applies to away fans as well......
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Post by steve2009 on Mar 6, 2009 21:00:21 GMT
hi there to you all,
i will be addressing this issue in the team brief before the match, and i hope to be able to see Dave pre match to let him know of the action we will have been told to take prior to any action being taken, lets hope the warning to the offenders will be heeded first time as, i along with the other fans forum members want a happy resolve to this, and i will re-iterate here that i will not hesitate personally from removing those persistent offenders from Plainmoor. however this all hinges on the information we receive at the pre match briefing
see you all tomorrow afternoon
Steve 004
if any one wants to say hi then please do so
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Post by aussie on Mar 7, 2009 18:03:38 GMT
Good job Steve! Didn`t hear the "c" song or word once, hope you get some positive feed back from today mate. Is there any chance we could maybe gagg Mr.Pimm, just out of embarasments sake, please?
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 7, 2009 18:51:41 GMT
Aussie, I had the misforune to be stood within a few feet of him in the second half - I don't doubt that he is TUFC through and through but the sh*te that comes out of his mouth........ It really did my head-in.
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Post by aussie on Mar 7, 2009 19:10:30 GMT
The bloke would give asprin a head ache mate!
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Post by steve2009 on Mar 7, 2009 19:20:01 GMT
good result all around i think today went really well, and i was pleased the club made the tannoy announcement before the match, so it did not look (as DaveR had mentioned) that it was coming from the stewards, great to put faces to names too and thank you to all of those who took the time to come and say hello. I will strive to improve our operational issues alongside your comments and look forward to hearing feedback from todays game.
Aussie cheers, our line of work rarely gets any praise, but yours made me feel really chuffed that someone had taken time to respond so quickly after todays game
many thanks to you all
Steve 004
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Post by khilllegend on Mar 7, 2009 20:07:58 GMT
good result all around i think today went really well, and i was pleased the club made the tannoy announcement before the match, so it did not look (as DaveR had mentioned) that it was coming from the stewards, great to put faces to names too and thank you to all of those who took the time to come and say hello. I will strive to improve our operational issues alongside your comments and look forward to hearing feedback from todays game. Aussie cheers, our line of work rarely gets any praise, but yours made me feel really chuffed that someone had taken time to respond so quickly after todays game many thanks to you all Steve 004 well i for one am not singing your praises, just realised who you are the one that folllowed me to the toilet today annd 003 and 31 that spoke to me and my 4 yr old in a very bad manner with 20-30 witness's too all over a bottle lid! very upset and i will be making a full complaint especially against 31 as he grabbed me and swore and threatned me thanks for making me miss half the game today  |
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Mar 7, 2009 20:30:51 GMT
Aussie, I had the misforune to be stood within a few feet of him in the second half - I don't doubt that he is TUFC through and through but the sh*te that comes out of his mouth........ It really did my head-in. Well you were the lucky one then Aussie, because we were treated to it again today, but I would stress it was not the fault of Steve 004 or the excellent steward 054. The popside gate was over ten minutes late opening, I expect this was down to a briefing being given to the stewards. I was stood outside next to a group of young lads, they were soon joined by a few more. One starting talking about the swearing announcement on .com and how he felt if was not anything that could be dealt with inside a football ground. One very sensible young man quickly pointed out it was against the law as such and they could be arrested inside the ground for swearing. They soon forgot the subject and went on to talk about something else. Once inside the ground I had a chat with Steve, he told me that the club had given instructions that all swearing had to be dealt with in the ground, but Steve then told me he had spoken to the stewards under his control. He said that he wanted them to ignore the odd emotional outburst and only deal and clamp down on the organised singing that contained swear words. The club rightly put out an announcement on the PA system, as I said in a post on Friday it needs to seen as the wish of the club and not some action the stewards were taking on their own. Twenty minutes before the start of the game, Steve came to talk with me again, it was because the club(maybe Colin Lee?) had held another meeting and had changed their view point. They then gave the instruction to the stewards that they were now only required to take a softly softly approach. Sorry TUFC but if you are serious about cleaning up the ground and for the families you want to mention in the PA announcement, then you need to let the stewards have the power to deal with the problem and not take away their powers as you did before the game started. During the first half I never heard one single swear word, even those who stand on their own and swear all game seemed to have got the message and credit to those who did not swear. I will agree that the singers seemed to be having some sort of protest and did not sing hardly at all. My view on this is, if you can only sing songs that have swear words in them and can't sing songs that show support and encourage your team out on the pitch, then why do you go to games. You can run around the streets outside swearing if you like and save yourselves some money. Then ten minutes before the end of the game, the singers decided to chance their luck and maybe wanted to test out the stewards. Unlike the last home game when a steward just laughed when the c song started(this one had been given a new place to stand further down this week) steward 054 went straight into the group and got them to stop. He returned to his post and was joined by a second steward and they then both kept a very close eye on this group. As Steve pointed out during our chat before, it is not all going to happen over night, but today was a big start and now we need to build on what has been achieved today. The singers when they get the message in the end, will soon find their voices again and that will be sooner rather than later. |
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Mar 7, 2009 21:50:02 GMT
One further point I would like to make about todays stewarding. As was promised by Steve we saw the rules relaxed about people stopping for a quick chat. I was able to enjoy what is always a pleasure, a chat with romfordkev and westhamsally, Barton Downs, chelstongull, Jon, tufc01 and chipnicker2 and not forgetting atheringtongull.
If the NVQ accessors need to be in the ground again, or its a game where there is a need to have a police in the ground, then things will need to change just for those game.
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Post by steve2009 on Mar 7, 2009 23:45:39 GMT
khilllegend wrote: well i for one am not singing your praises, just realised who you are the one that folllowed me to the toilet today annd 003 and 31 that spoke to me and my 4 yr old in a very bad manner with 20-30 witness's too all over a bottle lid! very upset and i will be making a full complaint especially against 31 as he grabbed me and swore and threatned me thanks for making me miss half the game today [/quote] good evening to you khillegend, i fully support your complaint and if this is investigated by the club i will back you 100%, however i think you have judged me unfairly, i will explain why, firstly as supervisor i have to approach you and enforce the FA and club rules reference bottle tops, which i agree with you i became involved in this particular problem outside the toilet area, however i feel i approached you both professionally and sympathetically, i understood your issue over your son's health issue and i said to you i would address your particular problem to the ground safety officer. would you agree with me that i did as i said and actually came to see you in half time in boots and laces, to explain the safety officer had taken the decision because of your sons health issue you would be allowed to continue having a bottle top on, and in future games if you were approached then you were to quote my name and send the stewards to me so i could verify to them that you are allowed a bottle top on, i then apologised for the inconvenience caused, which you accepted. so i feel the comment on making you miss half the game was a bit OTT as it took less than five mins by the toilet and the other conversation took place in half time, i am sorry that you feel the stewarding at this game did not deserve any praise, as i for one feel the exclusion of the c word song today, increased everyones enjoyment and pleasure of the game, and i think that as you too have a 4 year old with you, a bit of praise or acknowledgment of the hard work put in by everyone involved including the fans forum members and the spectators at todays match ought to have a big pat on the back. however as i stated at the start i will fully support you and will give any information the club require from me to bring your complaint to a satisfactory conclusion. once again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience, however this is your club's ruling and an FA issue that we are enforcing. however should you ever have any further problems over this issue then please do not hesitate to approach me and i will endeavour to resolve them for you Steve004 |
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Post by steve2009 on Mar 8, 2009 0:04:42 GMT
One further point I would like to make about todays stewarding. As was promised by Steve we saw the rules relaxed about people stopping for a quick chat. I was able to enjoy what is always a pleasure, a chat with romfordkev and westhamsally, Barton Downs, chelstongull, Jon, tufc01 and chipnicker2 and not forgetting atheringtongull. If the NVQ accessors need to be in the ground again, or its a game where there is a need to have a police in the ground, then things will need to change just for those game. in response to this Dave, (and i think you'll agree), if i say something then i will try my hardest to make it happen, today we had NVQ assessors in the ground, however i took the initiative that the people who had stopped to chat were not causing an obstruction, i also felt that we can work together on this, i know that when needed you will understand that at times we do have to move people on, however no problems Dave, if it works then why fix it! lol. it was really good of you to introduce me to the other people, so i can continue to build a good rapport with you all, to bring a happier family atmosphere to the Pop side at Plainmoor, as promised Dave i will continue to work on the forum with a view to making our dreams a reality!!!!! As i have stated before, i am on here to help fix any problems and try to solve things for supporters so please feel free to raise any issues that any of you feel need addressing and i will endeavour to answer and if i don't know, i will find out the answer and get back to you asap Steve004 |
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Mar 8, 2009 0:44:00 GMT
khilllegend I did somehow miss your post and have only just seem it as a result of Steve replying to you. While I do not know steward 31, I have had many talks with Steve 004 and have found him to not only be very approachable but one who has kept to his word.
It has become clear to me that Steve is not the sort of steward who wants to strut around and act the big tough man, I would say he has showed a real wiliness to try and work with us the fans, to try and make Plainmoor a better experience for both the fans and the stewards.
Reading Steve's reply he does seem to have kept to his word and got the matter sorted and it also seems you excepted his apologies for any inconvenience caused to you. If you feel that you were grabbed, swore at and threatened by steward 31, then quite rightly you should put in a complaint to the club, but I can't really see that Steve would have stood by and allowed this to happen.
Can I ask if you refused to hand over the bottle top? I only ask as I'm trying to understand just what went on.
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Post by khilllegend on Mar 8, 2009 7:21:15 GMT
right, firstly rant over with from yesterday. 004 spoke to me a kind polite manner and was very righlty so the one to sort things out, and yes came to find me in boot's and laces at half time and explained what had happened. It was more 031 that i will be complaining about in writing as the way i was just strolling past and he grabbed my wrist i felt threatened with the tone and the way he spoke to me telling me if i didnt give him the lids then i would be thrown out of the ground. So i turned to him and quite rightly told him to speak to number 004 as he had sorted it out, with this 004 came walking down as i left for half time and had a word with him.
It was just everything in the day that added to it because at half time i wanted to see kerry to complain about him, and the steward stood at the door said if i went out i couldn't get back in and didnt even know who kerry was he had never heard of her!
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Mar 8, 2009 8:51:48 GMT
khilllegend, the situation with what I see as a totally ridiculous rule having to have bottle tops removed, does upset far more people than maybe the club realises. I know of two people yesterday who were very angry when I spoke with them, they always bring in their own drinks and have the bottles in their pockets.
Yesterday on the way into the ground the bottles were spotted by a steward and they had to give up the tops. Having a top removed firstly makes the drink go flat very quickly and you are then forced to have to hold the bottle during the whole match, or until you have finished drinking the contents. You can't put it down of the floor as it will get knocked over and you can't put it in your pocket as it will spill and get you coat wet and may even stain your clothing.
I talked with Steve about this again yesterday, he said that it is not a club rule, but an FA rule and it is written on the board of rules that can be found as you come into the ground. I did intend to read it on the way out but forgot, but I have no reason not to believe the rule is on there.
No wishing to appear rude or taking any sides here as I was not there where it happened, but your post yesterday made it sound you were close to being assaulted and that you were personally threatened, well thats how I read it. It may well be the case that as you walked past the steward he then noticed the bottle top, put is hand on to your wrist to make you aware he wanted to talk with you. using the word Grabbed makes it sound like some force was used.
You also say you were threatened, once again to me this came across in the way you used the word, that you personally were being threatened, but it now sounds he informed you that if you did not give up the top you would be asked to leave the ground.
Yes such situations make people very angry and as you say all over a bottle top when you have just paid £15 to get into the ground. From the stewards point of view, they have to carry out the instructions that the club require them to do and one of those is to make sure all bottle tops are removed.
We have had no problems in our ground with bottles being thrown and no where other than a football ground will you find that you have to give up a bottle top from a drink and it could be a drink you did not buy in the ground and it is really your property and not for anyone else to touch or demand the top is removed.
The club needs to look again at this rule, yes it seems the FA has made it a ground rule for all clubs, but small clubs who have no history of any problems with bottles being thrown should in my view be allowed to wave the rule and the FA should be contacted and a better solution found to a rule that is not necessary or required and one that causes so much upset and has also lost the club fans, because like it or not people do not like to be treated as children.
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