Discussing treatment of Blades fans after the match

[Foxy]

In first class as well!!!!

I grabbed the one an hour earlier and sat working my way through 6 cans of lager in 1st.

Went back to London Bridge/Borough Market after drinks in Bermondsey.

We've still got 3 freebies left from the brewery, currently northern soul karaoke in coach G. Just got rid of Leicester, who soon stopped being mouthy.

 

[Deleted member 875]

I'm 10 mins out of Sheffield. I'd loved to have seen the northern soul kareoke. Have you got the ratings up yet, I need something to vent my spleen on

 

[Grey Blade]

Just got back from my first and almost certainly my last visit to Millwall. There can't be many grounds in this country where they have deemed it necessary to have a dedicated walkway from the station to the stadium for away fans - or is there? Anyway I want no part of it.

Before I bought rail tickets I had read that we were likely to be kept in after the game, so I loitered at the back and missed all the action other than seeing the helmet incident from a distance. I was probably one of the last people to get on the train, and maybe with hindsight it would have been better to wait 15 mins for the next train, but I got the impression the police were keen to get rid of us as soon as possible. Dread to think what it would have been like if there had been 4000 away fans

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Went back to London Bridge/Borough Market after drinks in Bermondsey.

We've still got 3 freebies left from the brewery, currently northern soul karaoke in coach G. Just got rid of Leicester, who soon stopped being mouthy.

Linz had a word?

 

[Foxy]

Linz had a word?

Funnily enough.... With one group yes

 

[Tyler Durden]

Let's face it, if the SYP had that sort of set up they'd kettle everyone in then shove you in front of the train for good measure.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

The fact he was black was irrelevant, just making that clear, in case anyone gets on their high horse.

IMO it's totally relevant.
Why?
Because the poor guy was just trying to open the gate so we could move and he was just battered by some scum Blades - no white policeman got the same treatment.

The "fans" that perpetrated this racist attack were also goading a white copper because he was a bit ginger.

There is an element of our fans who are utter scum and I ashamed and sickened by their neanderthal outlook on life.

 

[Angef1Blade]

We had some 'neardenthals in front of us -not long into the first half they disappeared but returned at the beginning of the second half and seemed more interested in smashing up seats than paying attention to owt happening on the pitch (admittedly that was pretty much shite). I never do the early leaving thing but we decided, in view of the overall mood, to make our way out with about 5/6 minutes to go. Tried to leave, walking past the coaches when the guy in front breached one of the heras fences round a small building site and we followed only to be turned back (and I quote) "for our own safety". we told the coppers we were neither on the train or the coaches & just wanted to get back to our car, but it was a no go and we were herded back inside only to wait about 20 minutes and it was freezing cold, until they deemed it safe enough to open the gates and we were 'released'. All of us waiting were just yer normal football fans, no knobheads, no-one feeling the need to feyt. Shambles - both on and off the pitch. I've always loved going to away games but after some of the instances this season , that love is diminishing, and I'm sure there's many more like me. Sad times.

 

[Blade82]

IMO it's totally relevant.
Why?
Because the poor guy was just trying to open the gate so we could move and he was just battered by some scum Blades - no white policeman got the same treatment.

The "fans" that perpetrated this racist attack were also goading a white copper because he was a bit ginger.

There is an element of our fans who are utter scum and I ashamed and sickened by their neanderthal outlook on life.

He was the one opening in the gate and that was the sole reason not the fact he was black. If it had been a white policeman the same would have happened. Don't make it into a racist attack. It was a scuffle with the police because of the ridiculous treatment of a set of people wanting to get away from a game. I was close by and didn't hear any racial comments made to this policeman or to any of the black blades fans close by to the incident either.

 

[1980]

I know it's a shitter to held back, especially after a defeat...but, as said earlier...the Met simply will not allow fans out if there's been trouble during the course of the day. Whether that's the main bulk of away fans, or just individuals who want to get back to their car etc early.

Millwall have around 1,000 fans on banning orders or who are banned by the club. For fixtures where there might be aggro some will still come, even if it's to be in local pubs etc.

A Portsmouth fan was hospitalised a few years back, after he & his mates left a game early & decided to walk down Idlerton Road...getting into a confrontation with Millwall fans / trouble makers not at game. There had been disorder early in the evening at Waterloo, where Millwall hooligans had attack a pub full of Portsmouth hooligans.

Ever since the police have simply locked away fans in if a game has had incidents of disorder, either in, around or away from the ground.

Sad, but true. But, like most things in life it's a minority impacting the majority. I think if you follow a club with an active hooligan element (which the Blades do) , you may have to prepare for ott policing at some fixtures. Not saying it's right...but as an ordinary Millwall fan I've had to swallow some truly odious policing if I've wanted to attend certain games.

As an aside - when the regeneration around the ground is completed I have no idea what the Met will do...as the walkway will be gone. I imagine it'll go back to the days of any away support with a reputation will be held in ground until entire area is cleared.

Anyways, as I said, have soft spot for the Blades, hope things improve for you.

 

[Millwall SE16]

IMO it's totally relevant.
Why?
Because the poor guy was just trying to open the gate so we could move and he was just battered by some scum Blades - no white policeman got the same treatment.

The "fans" that perpetrated this racist attack were also goading a white copper because he was a bit ginger.

There is an element of our fans who are utter scum and I ashamed and sickened by their neanderthal outlook on life.

My life, when did we get so sensitive in this country?

Goading OB because he is ginger, whatever next!

Calling an attack "racist" just because the bloke was black, had it been the other way round, would you have used the word racist? thought not. It was plod being their usual obnoxious self and got a clump. Fact he was black would have been absolutely nothing to do with it.

Couple of OB got their dues - so what, who cares

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

My life, when did we get so sensitive in this country?

Goading OB because he is ginger, whatever next!

Calling an attack "racist" just because the bloke was black, had it been the other way round, would you have used the word racist? thought not. It was plod being their usual obnoxious self and got a clump. Fact he was black would have been absolutely nothing to do with it.

Couple of OB got their dues - so what, who cares

Right, you've done your troll-shit. Now kindly piss off, or relocate to the "Twats" thread under General Chat.

 

[west_yorks_blade]

Just got back from my first and almost certainly my last visit to Millwall. There can't be many grounds in this country where they have deemed it necessary to have a dedicated walkway from the station to the stadium for away fans - or is there? Anyway I want no part of it.

Before I bought rail tickets I had read that we were likely to be kept in after the game, so I loitered at the back and missed all the action other than seeing the helmet incident from a distance. I was probably one of the last people to get on the train, and maybe with hindsight it would have been better to wait 15 mins for the next train, but I got the impression the police were keen to get rid of us as soon as possible. Dread to think what it would have been like if there had been 4000 away fans

Trouble is Grey, you and a thousand other decent people from Sheffield put another £20-30k into the coffers of that scummy club. They should be boycotted by anyone who just wants to go to a match to watch football, with the possibly vain, hope that one day they will cease to exist.

No other club in the country attracts so many thugs, as a proportion of their fan base intent just on causing trouble. The decent Millwall supporters turn this shame into a virtue with chants about how no one likes them, instead of making the neanderthals that besmirch their names pariahs. They are therefore also part of the problem.

No one really wants to have to play them at home, even less want to play them away, from fans, to clubs, to the authorities. They are always just trouble waiting to happen and have the added drawback that they also attract any thug elements from the opposition, which then just makes the club they are playing look bad too when it kicks off.

Do the world a favour and never go back.

 

[Deleted member 875]

I think that was my 6th visit to the New Den, and because i have been there before i know how to approach it and stay out of trouble. I remember going back a few years ago before they had the walkway and you used to have to walk out of the ground, under a railway tunnel and round to South Bermondsey station, and totally left to your own devices.

Was that a new walkway that they have got in there now, as I'm sure you used to have to take a different direction walking out of the ground, that new walkway seemed to be longer and wider than its predecessor.

I always get the sense there is trouble there if you want to go looking for it at Millwall, but then Millwall always seem to be to be Londons true blue collar club, as their support is generally drawn from the working class areas from South-East London, rather than drawn from the wide open spaces of home counties

Most of the problems stemmed from the old bill yesterday not managing the situation very well, and seemingly wanting to behave towards the United fans in a way that would antagonise rather than help. Yesterday was always going to be a day where there would be trouble around, and it wasn't entirely surprised we was subjected to the measures we was, but the police didn't help themselves. If you are going to police a few hundred fans, a lot of whom will have had a few beers, by deliberately being heavy handed it is hardly surprising that one or two will turn round and give it back.

I didn't see the assualt on the copper(s) in question, but i did the police hat getting thrown around, and a copper trying to manhandle a Blade down the steps at South Bermondsey, and it was very dangerous given the number of people coming the other way up the stairs because all it would have taken was one fall and people would have got seriously injured.

 

[1980]

West Yorks Blade...the trouble is...

Fans of clubs like Ipswich, Yeovil, Watford, Leyton Orient, Fulham, Norwich City etc ect enjoy their trips to Millwall. I know because I've met them while drinking in the Surrey Docks Whetherspoons.

They don't bring any baggage with them.

I agree that our thug to fan ratio is probably highest in country - but they don't ever bother with the above clubs or clubs like them.

I lived in Sheffield, near London Road, so know for a fact that Sheffield United aren't too dissimilar. Most games went off peacefully, but as soon as a club with a rep showed up with a decent following there was trouble.

In fact, Sheffield United are the only club in recent years to bring a firm actively looking for trouble at Millwall - twice now. Even Leeds simply stayed in a pub & had no intention of wandering around. Your hooligans were out & about in New Cross & Deptford yesterday.

As to us attracting other club's thugs like a magnet - true. But, are you going to tell someone who lived near London Road, Sheffield that it's only Millwall that brings out the worse in the usually placid Blades support?! Come on.

While it's true Millwall are probably the most undiluted of all the football league clubs...by that I mean we've not attracted all the middle class families others have in the post Euro 96 / SkyTV boom (they've gone to Palace or Charlton) and so are more likely to respond in a more retro way, eg the attack on the police who pushed an OAP fan for standing in a stairwell, games against the vast majority of clubs go off peacefully.

As for the chant 'no one likes us, we don't care'...that's aimed at the FA & mass media...not opposition fans. Many Millwall fans felt the club's treatment by those two groups was linked to our unique position as being the club closest to Fleet Street and unsuccessful.

That is to say, while it was going off everywhere in the 70s & 80s it was much easier to get your top reporters & photographers to grab a cab to The Den & sensationlise trouble there, than go all the way to Burnley to witness them beating the crap put of Preston etc.

And while Chelsea & West Ham had massive & easily identifiable links to far right groups, they also had lots of fans in the media & are fashionable clubs. Far easier & a better narrative to do documentaries on little old Millwall - that unloved, crap club off the Old Kent Road.

This was once again highlight as recently as 2009. After West Ham fans invaded the pitch numerous times during our League Cup fixture at Upton Park, and assaulted our players, having stabbed a Wall supporting Fireman attending with his sons outside...it was somehow Millwall charged by the FA more than West Ham, and us having our name dragged through the mud, rather than the darlings of the tabloids West Ham (sound familiar Blades?).

Our chairman, being rich & American, fought back and won. But 'no one likes us' was still true.

It's not a hooligan folk song.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Next time we go back, I'd recommend that everyone tries to go by coach or minubus or even official Blades travel (as wank as it is).
I was surprised to hear about the trouble with the coppers because we had no real problems on the coaches, apart from the slight delay getting out of the ground. They parked up right outside the away end as well, so no risk of confrontation either.

The only bad treatment I had yesterday was the steward who grabbed my bollocks whilst doing the search. It probably looked like I was hiding a cosh down there but I wasn't

 

[ourbob]

We were always going to be kept in at least 30 mins plus after the match for safety reasons cos millwall were still at Bermondsey catching their trains out,them gates were opened by a blades when they surged forward,so we actually got out earlier and that's why millwall were still on the platform.

 

[Tyler Durden]

West Yorks Blade...the trouble is...

Fans of clubs like Ipswich, Yeovil, Watford, Leyton Orient, Fulham, Norwich City etc ect enjoy their trips to Millwall. I know because I've met them while drinking in the Surrey Docks Whetherspoons.

They don't bring any baggage with them.

I agree that our thug to fan ratio is probably highest in country - but they don't ever bother with the above clubs or clubs like them.

I lived in Sheffield, near London Road, so know for a fact that Sheffield United aren't too dissimilar. Most games went off peacefully, but as soon as a club with a rep showed up with a decent following there was trouble.

In fact, Sheffield United are the only club in recent years to bring a firm actively looking for trouble at Millwall - twice now. Even Leeds simply stayed in a pub & had no intention of wandering around. Your hooligans were out & about in New Cross & Deptford yesterday.

As to us attracting other club's thugs like a magnet - true. But, are you going to tell someone who lived near London Road, Sheffield that it's only Millwall that brings out the worse in the usually placid Blades support?! Come on.

While it's true Millwall are probably the most undiluted of all the football league clubs...by that I mean we've not attracted all the middle class families others have in the post Euro 96 / SkyTV boom (they've gone to Palace or Charlton) and so are more likely to respond in a more retro way, eg the attack on the police who pushed an OAP fan for standing in a stairwell, games against the vast majority of clubs go off peacefully.

As for the chant 'no one likes us, we don't care'...that's aimed at the FA & mass media...not opposition fans. Many Millwall fans felt the club's treatment by those two groups was linked to our unique position as being the club closest to Fleet Street and unsuccessful.

That is to say, while it was going off everywhere in the 70s & 80s it was much easier to get your top reporters & photographers to grab a cab to The Den & sensationlise trouble there, than go all the way to Burnley to witness them beating the crap put of Preston etc.

And while Chelsea & West Ham had massive & easily identifiable links to far right groups, they also had lots of fans in the media & are fashionable clubs. Far easier & a better narrative to do documentaries on little old Millwall - that unloved, crap club off the Old Kent Road.

This was once again highlight as recently as 2009. After West Ham fans invaded the pitch numerous times during our League Cup fixture at Upton Park, and assaulted our players, having stabbed a Wall supporting Fireman attending with his sons outside...it was somehow Millwall charged by the FA more than West Ham, and us having our name dragged through the mud, rather than the darlings of the tabloids West Ham (sound familiar Blades?).

Our chairman, being rich & American, fought back and won. But 'no one likes us' was still true.

It's not a hooligan folk song.

I think that's a pretty fair assesment to be honest.
I've never had any problems with Millwall fans, home or away, because I go for the right reasons. If you look for trouble anywhere you'll find it. Unfortunately, Millwall built a reputation 30/40 years which has stuck.
I imagine that a lot of the trouble these days comes from others wanting to have a pop at you because of that reputation. You can't entirely be blamed for giving them some back in that case.

And it's true, we can't honestly say that we're whiter than white either. Some of the behaviour from United fans this season has been beyond shameful, even against clubs that carry little to no threat.

Leave the dickheads to go at it with each other, I don't judge clubs on those elements, I judge them on what the ordinary fans are like, and most of them are alright.

 

[Chezzy Blades]

First time i've ever got a train to a football match yesterday, and fuck me it was the last too.

Coming in was fine, drove down and parked up near London Bridge, got the train in around 1:45. Totally missed the walkway for away fans (is it signposted??) and walked down the the ground with the Millwall fans with absolutely no problems.

Game was dog shit, less said about that the better.

Then what happened after was even worse. We hung around at the back whilst we were waiting for the gates to be opened so didn't see the argy bargy at the front, but when they finally let us through the first gate they locked us behind another. We we still near the back but it looked like a crush at the front with the coppers trying to make people go back whilst those at the back were pushing forward.

When we finally got onto the station we decided to give the first train a swerve as it was packed, and around 15-20 Blades stayed and waited for the next one..

The second the first train pulled out, all the Old Bill fucked off and let us, allowing the remaining Millwall fans to come up and join us on the station. They didn't cause any bother and seemed more concerned with some lairy Leicester fans on the next train.

Finally made it back to the car at 18.50, 2 hours after the end of the game. Didn't get back to the A1 till half 8, and back to Sheffield for 10.

If them fuckers don't go up we're just gonna drive all the way and park up in Bermondsey next year, the police cause more problems than they solve treating away fans like war criminals, it's easier just to mingle and get away unnoticed.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

And while Chelsea & West Ham had massive & easily identifiable links to far right groups, they also had lots of fans in the media & are fashionable clubs. Far easier & a better narrative to do documentaries on little old Millwall - that unloved, crap club off the Old Kent Road.

Spot on.

 

[Kenilworth]

I wasn't too fussed about being kept back. It had been announced and I'd expected it. Saw the coppers hat, frisbee session from the back. But just chatted to a few Blades inc Greenwich Blade and waited.
Was packed on the station and then in the train. But I go to London regularly with work so crammed train carriages are a norm (OK a little less than this ws but.....)

One thing I found was amusing was the scrote of a train announcer who piped up with the announcement to all the "Sheffield Wendy" fans on the train. Cue loud noises of indignation and a cascade of expletives. I suspect that was the loudest jeer of the day. The plod on our coach just rolled their eyes.

In his next announcement he mentioned, "Sheffield" fans and his voice was a little shaky for this one.

Tosser

 

[Hartley Hare]

Well by the sound of it we have graduated from trying to steal pitch covers to a policeman's helmet.

All sounds a bit Bertie Wooster to me. A laughing stock on and off the pitch.

HH

 

[Esablade]

only bad treatment I had yesterday was the steward who grabbed my bollocks whilst doing the search. It probably looked like I was hiding a cosh down there but I wasn't

Exciting was it?

 

[Tyler Durden]

Exciting was it?

I'll take what I can get

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

All sounds a bit Bertie Wooster to me.

Only started on Jeeves and Wooster a couple of years ago. Read them all. Reading them all again.

In the latest re-read Bertie's graduated on to cow creamers.

 

[Kenilworth]

Well by the sound of it we have graduated from trying to steal pitch covers to a policeman's helmet.

All sounds a bit Bertie Wooster to me. A laughing stock on and off the pitch.

HH

I'd just like to state, for the record, that I have never touched a policeman's helmet

 

[Ashtonsmashton]

And we all got pushed on a tiny shitty train that was way to small to carry all of us. AND STEWART FFS

 

[Lane Ender]

And we all got pushed on a tiny shitty train that was way to small to carry all of us. AND STEWART FFS

Stewart who?

 

[wimbledon blade]

I've been to the New Den six or seven times (A touchy-feely Disneyland compared to the Take Your Life In Your Own Hands experience which was the old Den), and it's the first time I've experienced such heavy-handed police strategy.

Previously, I've had no trouble entering and leaving the ground. It's Millwall, so you keep your eyes open, and get in and out as quick as possible.

Also, no problems before mingling with Millwall fans on the platform and on trains coming from, and going back to, London Bridge. Any fule kno that these days, the real 'action' occurs nowhere near the ground.

I left the match in the 88th minute, when there was already a crowd of about 30 or so Blades waiting to be let out. I edged myself to the front, as the final whistle went. Mainly light-hearted banter at the beginning, but as the minutes ticked by, more and more anger being expressed (to put it mildly) at being kept in, with no information on how much longer we were going to have to wait.

Just before the gate was opened, the black officer mentioned took off his spectacles and asked his colleague to put them in his pouch, so he/they knew tempers were flaring and a 'situation' was likely. Throughout all this, the half dozen officers standing there, maintained they couldn't open the gate until they'd received instruction.

The gate was opened after I'd been standing there roughly half an hour. I was the second one out, so didn't see what happened behind me, but not surprised in the slightest to hear there was a touch of trouble.

Surprised to see the second gate shut, when I got there, just by the station entrance, as I assumed plenty of time had passed for the home fans to get out. This time there were about a dozen foot police and eight mounted. Similar situation ensured, although this time obviously with much less patience.

Again, no information about how long we were going to have stand there for, until an officer comes bounding over after 10 minutes and says the gates would be open on his command after this train had left and the next one was ready to go.

Anyway, tempers snapped and there was a push/charge on the gates, which led to a panicked push back by all foot police, until the push subsided. The OB were clearly shaken by this push, as if this was the first time they'd ever experienced fans who had the temerity to get pissed off with their little power game.

What happened next was farcical - we were told the gate would now be opened as there was a train on the platform waiting, and they all backed off, until they realised one of them had to come back and actually pull the latch open. Some of them at this point looked like they'd wished they'd thrown a sickie.

Again, I was one of the first out, ran up the steps to the platform, only to see the waiting (virtually empty) train there start to pull out. Great. Only another 15 minutes for the next one back to London Bridge at 17.44.

There was also a line of police who were cordoning off the other end of the platform, advertising the fact that the handful of people still there were Millwall fans. A giant hand saying 'Here Be Millwall fans' couldn't have done the job better.

Of course, the 17.44 was packed to the rafters with Blades (and a few innocent Saturday commuters), and very slow moving because of it. I was now seriously worried I was going to miss my 18.15 train back to Sheffield.

Got back to St.Pancras at 18.17, but found all EMT trains were being cancelled and delayed due to an incident on the line between Leicester and Loughborough, so my ticket was still valid on the next train out at 18.58.

So - very, very lucky - I would have been soooooooo pissed off having to shell out another £75 to get home, just because of Met Police kettling and general fuckwittery.

 

[Greenwich Blade]

I've been to the New Den six or seven times (A touchy-feely Disneyland compared to the Take Your Life In Your Own Hands experience which was the old Den), and it's the first time I've experienced such heavy-handed police strategy.

Previously, I've had no trouble entering and leaving the ground. It's Millwall, so you keep your eyes open, and get in and out as quick as possible.

Also, no problems before mingling with Millwall fans on the platform and on trains coming from, and going back to, London Bridge. Any fule kno that these days, the real 'action' occurs nowhere near the ground.

I left the match in the 88th minute, when there was already a crowd of about 30 or so Blades waiting to be let out. I edged myself to the front, as the final whistle went. Mainly light-hearted banter at the beginning, but as the minutes ticked by, more and more anger being expressed (to put it mildly) at being kept in, with no information on how much longer we were going to have to wait.

Just before the gate was opened, the black officer mentioned took off his spectacles and asked his colleague to put them in his pouch, so he/they knew tempers were flaring and a 'situation' was likely. Throughout all this, the half dozen officers standing there, maintained they couldn't open the gate until they'd received instruction.

The gate was opened after I'd been standing there roughly half an hour. I was the second one out, so didn't see what happened behind me, but not surprised in the slightest to hear there was a touch of trouble.

Surprised to see the second gate shut, when I got there, just by the station entrance, as I assumed plenty of time had passed for the home fans to get out. This time there were about a dozen foot police and eight mounted. Similar situation ensured, although this time obviously with much less patience.

Again, no information about how long we were going to have stand there for, until an officer comes bounding over after 10 minutes and says the gates would be open on his command after this train had left and the next one was ready to go.

Anyway, tempers snapped and there was a push/charge on the gates, which led to a panicked push back by all foot police, until the push subsided. The OB were clearly shaken by this push, as if this was the first time they'd ever experienced fans who had the temerity to get pissed off with their little power game.

What happened next was farcical - we were told the gate would now be opened as there was a train on the platform waiting, and they all backed off, until they realised one of them had to come back and actually pull the latch open. Some of them at this point looked like they'd wished they'd thrown a sickie.

Again, I was one of the first out, ran up the steps to the platform, only to see the waiting (virtually empty) train there start to pull out. Great. Only another 15 minutes for the next one back to London Bridge at 17.44.

There was also a line of police who were cordoning off the other end of the platform, advertising the fact that the handful of people still there were Millwall fans. A giant hand saying 'Here Be Millwall fans' couldn't have done the job better.

Of course, the 17.44 was packed to the rafters with Blades (and a few innocent Saturday commuters), and very slow moving because of it. I was now seriously worried I was going to miss my 18.15 train back to Sheffield.

Got back to St.Pancras at 18.17, but found all EMT trains were being cancelled and delayed due to an incident on the line between Leicester and Loughborough, so my ticket was still valid on the next train out at 18.58.

So - very, very lucky - I would have been soooooooo pissed off having to shell out another £75 to get home, just because of Met Police kettling and general fuckwittery.

So that's what was going on at the second gate; I did wonder. I was a fair way back, so far in fact that one officer confirmed that the old Not The 9 O'clock News sketch with one copper in a riot getting the rank of his colleague wrong and saying, "Sorry sir, I didn't realise I was so far back," was still just as relevant today.