Don't start me on Shearer. What gives him the right to pontificate. He's the guy who somehow got away with kicking Neil Lennon in the head when he was on his knees, and the ball nowhere in sight. He only got off because he was leading england, as captain, into the World Cup a few weeks later. Right, that's got that out of the way! Why is a football ground so special when it comes to violence? Why should a fan be hit harder than a bloke who hits you in a pub? Why should the fan be punished for a punch when players regularly punch, kick & head butt each other? If they trot out the old 'heat of the moment in sport', then surely it applies to a fan who is prolly more caught up in supporting his club than the players are? And points deductions? Really? Can you imagine scum needing to win their last game of the season to win the championship? Well, I'd be one of hundreds invading the pitch & clobbering players. Wearing a scum shirt of course (*shudder*). Games behind closed doors? That's like shutting a school down because there was a fight in the playground. We shouldn't be punishing the club for the actions of individuals if all reasonable security measure are in place. And we certainly shouldn't be punishing the other fans. So how do we solve it? Off the top of my head, I can think of 2 measures that should work in tandem. Broadly, : 1. Registration (for life): a rigorous process to licence you to be able to buy a ticket, involving production of passport/driving licence/NI number etc. 2. Every ticket to be printed with your photograph on it. This technology has been widely available cheaply for years. This way, even if someone forged a ticket, the person who it was issued to should get whatever punishment the offender gets. And neither ever allowed to buy another (prolly a 1 year ban for 1st offence, & a short escalator up to a life ban). And once again, all the fcukwit rentamouth pundits should STFU as they clearly know nothing & are really keen make their ignorance public knowledge.
Just watched the 1 o'clock BBC news. Everyone is missing the point and kicking the can down the road and blaming the club. This was one individuals action for which he should pay for personally not the club, sanction the club if necessary if security arrangements were not adequate. A life ban is not enough, in my view he committed a criminal act and should be tried in a criminal court, expecting the sports authorities to do anything is like pissing in the wind as we know to our cost.
I’m only going as penance for having to ‘support’ you useless ****ers for 2 hours a couple of weeks ago
iI went to the ticket office in Bournemouth the day before Leeds were playing them and was told in no uncertain terms they would not sell me a ticket as I came from Leeds and that they considered all Leeds hooligans So I said may I look round your ground and was shown the door!
