Shrimpsvoices

How easy did you find it to get away from the stadium after the game?

It was a nightmare. Torrential rain and strong winds didn’t help. When we came out we were told we had to turn left and walk a complete circuit of the stadium to arrive at the front. Asked a policeman what that was all about and he said “it’s stupid but not something we (Lancashire Police) implemented.”
I can only assume it was to avoid mingling with fans and the away coaches were there but it makes no sense for people who have come in a car.

This was a comment from a Stockport County fan earlier this season BUT the same practice was in place v Wrexham. Note the observation of the Policeman.

Agreed it is a daft policy. I assume the same thing was in place last season against Bolton because on leaving the Halo Terrace there were quite a few idiots from Bolton walking past who were verbally abusive and seemed to be looking to provoke something. It was a long way to walk round if they hadn't been sent that way?

The fixture against Wrexham was also a strange one. For some reason half the BW was closed. That left 250 maximum home supporters on there. At the conclusion of the game we stopped behind on the Halo Terrace to applaud the players and roughly five minutes after the game had finished we made our way to the far end of the terrace to exit and use the loo (just around the corner), before we set off for an hour and a half drive home. However that exit had been barricaded off (never seen this before) and two stewards were manning the barricades. The BW was now totally empty and we tried to leave only to be refused exit. I explained that we required access to the loos to no avail, over their dead bodies. Total jobsworths devoid of common sense. Incidentally the other end of the Halo was very busy with folk trying to get out of the one narrow exit available. The situation wasn't helped by the small steward in a red jacket who came rushing over, generally throwing his weight about and getting in our faces with a very condescending attitude.

All we are asking as regular paying customers is that a little more common sense and proper customer service is applied. We live in hope.

It will happen again when Barrow play at our ground on Easter Monday. Can fans mingle safely ? Perhaps they can but can we rely on it? With the away coaches parking round the back of the Berlin Wall can those in cars (on the gravel), walk past them safely.
I’m sure just with one incident, the opposite argument would come to light from someone along the line and you can be sure the Club would be castigated for not marshalling the ground properly. To Club land and they don’t want trouble on it.
Out on the road back over the railway bridge to Regents Park it a general disturbance. Its one of those, annoying but somewhat reluctantly understandable.

The same policy was implemented versus Stockport earlier this season. There were some grumblers by the time they'd done the full circuit, but that's football fans for you. It was a minority moaning on both occasions. It may have wasted a few minutes of their lives, the main thing was there was no trouble on the Stadium Footprint. You never know how febrile an atmosphere may end up as a result of the match itself. Better no drama, no one gets hurt and everyone gets home safely than pandering to a few whining arseholes.