The General C. Krulak Thread XVI

[Dave Cooper please]

  There were some flashes of brilliance

Must have missed them!
It was turgid. (I like that word, must use it more often)

[lovejoy]

I think today of all days you can forgive the stewards for being a bit jumpy and officious.

General I am taking my 4 year old boy to Fulham next week (for his first game) and the chap that I dealt with in the ticket office gave me exemplary service (I have emailed the club on this directly). With service like that I'm surprised we don't sell out every week(!)

[Marlon From Bearwood]

It was outragous behaviour by the stewards. We all commented at the time that that was the best entertainment of the day then we all looked on in disbelief at what happened next. Disgusting and embarressing.

[Lambert and Payne]

General - there was an incident today that really wound me and a lot of other people in the ground up.

I think it was towards the end of the first half, a ball was played out near the half way line.  A fella in the Witton Lane Stand jumped to head the ball and fell over the advertising boards to a loud cheer and general good humour from the crowd.  He got up, clearly pretty embarrassed, a punched the air with his fists before climbing back over the advertising boards to take his place again.

At this point about four massively over-zealous stewards barged over, grabbed him, and dragged him off to the concourse area, presumably to throw him out.  I was viewing all this from the Lower Holte so don't know if they followed through with this.  There was a huge reaction from the people in the stand around the incident who also thought the stewards were out of order.

The guy was doing no harm and just having a bit of fun.  He didn't enter the playing area (which I know is a criminal offence) and the fact he ended up the wrong side of the advertising boards was an accident which gave everyone a giggle.  I can't believe that in any other scenario it would be appropriate for staff to treat customers (as we all are) in such a way.  A bit of common sense on the stewards behalf was all that was needed.

Is this something you could flag with the head steward (if there is such a person?!) please?

General,

I too witnessed this incident from the "Doug Ellis Upper Stand" and was disgusted by the actions of the stewards.If this is the way supporters are to be treated it is not surprising we struggle to fill our stadium.

General, i witnessed from the north lower and even some of the Birmingham fans were booing the stewarding! It was an accident and was funny, until they turned it sour. Also, whats the views on locking away supporters in? Because there was some scrapping after the game outside the north stand which could have turned very nasty and a little girl was hit in the face with a coin and an old lady hit on the head. Villa fans were chucking fag butts. My little brother, mum and friend were actually really scared because flares were lit, punches were thrown and objects were thrown. Surely you can avoid it by clearing the home fans then taking the away fans away?

[MarkM]

I also saw the incident with the fan and the stewards.

Come on, he simply fell over the advertising boards while heading the board.

The reaction from the tango men was really over the top.

If some of our players commited themselves to win the ball like he did we might score some more goals!!

Mark

[TheTimVilla]

General, it was a cracking header. We can probably sign him before the transfer window reopens.

[The Situation]

General; why did we play conservative against Birmingham City? They are not a very good team so I have no idea why we played more defensively. If we'd played with more of an attacking attitude we would of beaten them comfortably. Even with injuries and suspensions we should have still won - Birmingham were content with a point.

And yeah, I'm sick of Gestapo Stewards down at the Villa. Too heavy handed who act like they're the FBI at times. This female steward had a go at me today because I called Stephen Carr a swearword that begins with W...

P.S. Can the club sue the police thugs outside the ground for attacking innocent fans with weapons?

[DeKuip]

General - there was an incident today that really wound me and a lot of other people in the ground up.

I think it was towards the end of the first half, a ball was played out near the half way line.  A fella in the Witton Lane Stand jumped to head the ball and fell over the advertising boards to a loud cheer and general good humour from the crowd.  He got up, clearly pretty embarrassed, a punched the air with his fists before climbing back over the advertising boards to take his place again.

At this point about four massively over-zealous stewards barged over, grabbed him, and dragged him off to the concourse area, presumably to throw him out.  I was viewing all this from the Lower Holte so don't know if they followed through with this.  There was a huge reaction from the people in the stand around the incident who also thought the stewards were out of order.

The guy was doing no harm and just having a bit of fun.  He didn't enter the playing area (which I know is a criminal offence) and the fact he ended up the wrong side of the advertising boards was an accident which gave everyone a giggle.  I can't believe that in any other scenario it would be appropriate for staff to treat customers (as we all are) in such a way.  A bit of common sense on the stewards behalf was all that was needed.

Is this something you could flag with the head steward (if there is such a person?!) please?

General

I hope the club will be issuing a full apology to the supporter mentioned, and refunding his entrance money. To say that i, and those around me, who witnessed this incident from the opposite side of the ground, were disgusted by the stewarding of this incident is an understatement.
All the guy did was add a bit of fun to an afternoon that had already been spoilt by the two teams and their managers' negative tactics. In heading the ball back he fell over the boards - we all had a laugh at it, all except the jobsworth stewards/s who viewed it as a throwing out offence.
Disgraceful behaviour by the stewards and an embarrassment to our club.
If anyone knows who the guy was it would be interesting to know what went on with the stewards when they took him out and whether he is getting any further punishment thrown at him.
If he doesn't get at the very least an apology from the club then it's a disgrace.
General - can you please give us some assurance that the club is following this up and dealing with the stewards involved. And please don't come back with "he was encroaching on the pitch" because that won't wash with anyone who saw it.
We, the club's supporters, cannot sit back and let stewards get away with this. People pay good money to come and enjoy a football match, yet are treated like this.

[Lizz]

I didn't see the incident, but was aware of some kind of contretemps with some stewards and a fan at half time in the Witton Lane stand, in as much as a fan had been 'asked to leave' . If it hadn't been for the various 'fuck off' shouts, don't think I'd have noticed, one of the stewards did seem particularly angry.

[CJ]

Hi General
We also witnessed the incident from the Upper Holte. The guy was walking along  - where he is allowed to do so - and the ball came at him.  He headed it back and fell over the hoarding, getting up again with some embarrassment.  We also could not believe the stewards were ejecting him from the ground for inadvertently falling over the hoarding.  Over zealous stewarding would be an under statement.  I hope the club will not compound this over reaction by penalising the fan any further - an apology would be more in order

[Shrek]

That wound me up aswell.

[levico]

me too. We don't want this type of stewarding in our club.

[BC54 VFC]

Yes, just along from where I sit and astounded at the heavy handedness of the stewarding. Anyway, with this guys heading ability he should be invited to Bodymoor Heath to give some one-to-one heading training to Steve Sidwell; he could certainly do with some.   

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

General.

In light of the poblems before and after the game today have the club considered doing a 'bubble match' for the cup game at Sty Andrews?

Sorry if you're not aware of this, but what it means is every away fan only gets given their match ticket as they arrive at the ground after travelling by official travel to the game. In light of the fact it is an evening midweek kick off and idiots from both sides can spend the afternoon drinking surely this would show Villa are trying to do something to limit the possibility of trouble.

[Risso]

This is a unique opportunity to speak directly with a shareholder of a Premier League Club.

The Man did not have to volunteer for the "stocks". (he might not understand that) and be subjected to the vegetable or verbal-  detritus thrown by the masses whilst tied on a wooden cross as in previous centuries.

I am sure does understand now.

Please respect the fact that a Director of our Club allowed himself to be as open as he can within the confines of legal fudiciary obligations. Cannot we please direct questions on a level cognisent with his station. Ie: the guy cannot give us the comparitive price of pies or beer.

IMHO some questions are fine but on this particular thread: keep it mature.

The General isn't a shareholder, he's a non-executive director.  He also doesn't have any fiduciary responsibilities.