Embarrassment.

[Santa]

What we had today was a good number of Vale fans and a good number of Wolves fans who both wanted to kick off, and a local Police force who were incompetent enough to allow them to oblige each other.

 

At the home game in August the 'wall' that they forced on us did it's job only as far as until the car park ended, then both sets of fans mingled freely. Today exactly the same thing happened - as soon as we had walked up the hill on Camp Street, past the University of Wolverhampton building, we were mixing freely again. Vale fans got on to the A449 and headed right, towards the ring road. A load of Wolves fans leaving the ground past the other Uni building headed left, and very easily, both sets of fans met head on. It was that simple.

 

The other flashpoint I saw was near the Canal Club - Vale fans walking round the ring road towards the station clashed with Wolves fans who had walked into town and then down Broad Street. Again, they met head on.

 

The whole Police operation was completely pointless, which was a shame because the Police who escorted us from the station to the ground before the game were (on the whole) good natured and had dealt with the Vale fans really well. But after the game a lack of proper organisation meant they were reacting to a situation, trying to put the genie back in the bottle, rather than being proactive enough to see the bleeding obvious before it happened.

 

As for Vale's following, about once a year you get the nutters who come for the day out and the aggro - you can just tell from the faces - today was one of those days. My mate half-joked before the game that there were two queues in the pub toilet - one to go for a **** and another for those who were doing coke. He wasn't wrong. I saw someone else do a key of coke on the train. Plenty of people who I don't really class as regulars came today and were clearly geared up for some mither.

 

Pretty much a shambolic day all round.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

I have no answer to the troubles we find our selves in, there seems to be a culture of blaming everyone but ourselves, if it isn't the opposing fans daring to have a drink in Burslem it's the police or the police dogs, we have a fan sent to prison for running over a police car but it isn't his fault it's the police we have another who gets off with throwing a bottle at Plymouth fans, every away game we go to in numbers there is trouble but again it is the fault of the police or the stewards for daring to try and impose a semblance of civilised behaviour,last week against Crewe there were idiots quite clearly there for one thing, but once again any trouble was the fault of the police/ Stewards or away fans daring to support their club. We are I am afraid finding ourselves in the same position as Stoke did a few years ago, wether or not the police will or are capable of ridding us of this problem remains to be seen but if they do it will be painfull with membership cards, police checks and increased police at every game but to be honest I for one can't see this type of behaviour being allowed to go on it is like being transported back to 1984 !

[valiant_593]

See your above post "vale fans started everything" but ur not saying its all one way!?!

 

From where I wish sitting yes vale fans certainly started it all, that's not saying wolves fans weren't involved.

[B&W Blood]

Always the fault of the Police, stewards and other fans hey Melv

 

I think you are misunderstanding what is being said for some reason.The throwing of hot/ cold drinks,bottles,cans and spitting is a disgrace.The police and stewards seem to do nothing about it.So some questions need to be asked to the stewards and police.The FA need to be informed.There are H&S issues which need to be addressed.Not using the first two or three rows would help sort it out.

 

No where has it been suggested that Vale fans are angels.

 

Here is another post that might interest you.

 

I've not read all of this thread only a few posts. But don't really agree with this post as it wasn't Vale fans who started it.

 

First half there was no trouble where is was sitting, but second half as soon as they scored the Wolves fans started with their antics. People around me were spat at, had bottles and hot drinks thrown at us, then a coin hit me on the shoulder. Once this started that's when all hell broke loose and Vale fans then retaliated.

 

Now I have supported Vale for over 30 years, been to numerous away games and never experienced behavior like that from both sets of fans. But the stewards were next to useless. Once I had been hit with the coin I spoke to a steward who did nothing, then I spoke to his supervisor who actually also witnessed a Wolves fan throw another coin but he just said to me "what do you expect me to do, this sort of thing goes on most weeks". I then missed the second goal as I speaking to his superior, who advised that I should (and I will) complain to Steve Sutton the stadium manager.

 

Now I don't condone what either set of fans did, as I like many are just a genuine football fan and just go to watch a football match, but until the Wolves fans started there was no trouble and I'm sorry to say but I carnt really blame people for losing their cool, just some sets of fans on both side decided to take it too far.

[valiant_593]

That's what happened where you sat. Now where I sat it was certainly vale fans no started it.

[onestepatatime]

For what it's worth here's my take on matters.

 

Yesterday was one of our "big days out" for many true, decent fans. We all should have enough experience to have known there were going to e numpties at the game, certainly from Vale's point of view. Some other posters have said that there were hundreds of people in Vale's ranks that are not genuine fans and only travel when they know there is a chance of trouble. Yet what can we, honest fans who simply want to cheer their favourites do?

 

We cannot choose seats and sit next to people we only want to. It's total pot luck as to where you are allocated a seat on occasions such as sell outs or near sell outs. this causes a whole stack of problems.

 

Families of dads, women and kids who want to watch Vale are now habitually subjected to abuse, irrational behaviour and down right criminal actions...and that is from our own fans! When you are faced with mobs of lads who are tanked/drugged up it's impossible to get any sense and it's now reached the stage that not only are we genuine fans having to watch pathetic excuses of players on the pitch but we are going to matches where violence and thuggery are expected and seem to be the norm.

 

I fully anticipate that the nerds/idiots/culprits who post on here will slate me and call for people like me to stay at home so they can continue their wrecking of our great game. I don't care.

 

I've supported Vale for over 30 years and admittedly have seen times of violence and stupid actions by many. BUT we have to now seriously question where we all want to be in future?

 

Vale set out to be a successful, family club and attract al people to the game, men, women and kids. No way this is going to progress when all we are getting now is sizeable away followings where people are frightened and threatened without any protection from so called stewards and police. I have seen kids and their parents sobbing at what is happening. That cannot be right.

 

These fans and I now unfortunately include my wife(as she has had enough) are drifting away from watching Vale. When it becomes a habit to go and support you club, home and away it keeps people interested in Vale. Over the course of this and last years seasons I have seen may, many families say they are not going again s they fear for their wives/kids safety. Once this happens, due to bad experiences at away games, I becomes nigh on impossible to get those fans back into the fold. That is where I fear for Vale's future.

 

What can be done?? Do we simply shrug our shoulders and say well it's happening everywhere so let it continue? I simply don' know. All I do know is that Vale's genuine support is going to dwindle and dwindle until or unless we all do something. Yes we are pathetic on the pitch but we true fans have to do something off the pitch to save our sanity/health and Club from reaching the very depths of despair.

 

Apologies for the rant but I love football and the Vale and I want to attend all matches in safety and do not wish to sit next to or anywhere near some of these nutters. I want to simply enjoy my match days out. Am I dreaming and wanting the impossible or is there any proper solutions to the problems that Vale are encountering now on a regular basis?

 

My season ticket will be renewed again next season and the ones after that but sadly my wife has now decided to call it a day. I am convinced there are many, many more who feel like her and Vale can ill afford to lose these wholehearted decent fans. Rant over.

[bycars rob]

Where I was ( near to the South Bank), the only trouble I saw was started by our lunatics. Sadly most of these looked like they couldn`t fight their way out of a wet paper bag and need to act "hard" with a gang of others, knowing that the police will sort out any serious trouble should they push the opposition too far. These clowns don`t watch any of the game and I wish they could find something else to do so that the real fans can watch the team( as bad as they are at the moment).

The police have an impossible job and it must be tempting for them just to wade in to give the idiots their just desserts.

[Hagrid]

For what it's worth here's my take on matters.

 

Yesterday was one of our "big days out" for many true, decent fans. We all should have enough experience to have known there were going to e numpties at the game, certainly from Vale's point of view. Some other posters have said that there were hundreds of people in Vale's ranks that are not genuine fans and only travel when they know there is a chance of trouble. Yet what can we, honest fans who simply want to cheer their favourites do?

 

We cannot choose seats and sit next to people we only want to. It's total pot luck as to where you are allocated a seat on occasions such as sell outs or near sell outs. this causes a whole stack of problems.

 

Families of dads, women and kids who want to watch Vale are now habitually subjected to abuse, irrational behaviour and down right criminal actions...and that is from our own fans! When you are faced with mobs of lads who are tanked/drugged up it's impossible to get any sense and it's now reached the stage that not only are we genuine fans having to watch pathetic excuses of players on the pitch but we are going to matches where violence and thuggery are expected and seem to be the norm.

 

I fully anticipate that the nerds/idiots/culprits who post on here will slate me and call for people like me to stay at home so they can continue their wrecking of our great game. I don't care.

 

I've supported Vale for over 30 years and admittedly have seen times of violence and stupid actions by many. BUT we have to now seriously question where we all want to be in future?

 

Vale set out to be a successful, family club and attract al people to the game, men, women and kids. No way this is going to progress when all we are getting now is sizeable away followings where people are frightened and threatened without any protection from so called stewards and police. I have seen kids and their parents sobbing at what is happening. That cannot be right.

 

These fans and I now unfortunately include my wife(as she has had enough) are drifting away from watching Vale. When it becomes a habit to go and support you club, home and away it keeps people interested in Vale. Over the course of this and last years seasons I have seen may, many families say they are not going again s they fear for their wives/kids safety. Once this happens, due to bad experiences at away games, I becomes nigh on impossible to get those fans back into the fold. That is where I fear for Vale's future.

 

What can be done?? Do we simply shrug our shoulders and say well it's happening everywhere so let it continue? I simply don' know. All I do know is that Vale's genuine support is going to dwindle and dwindle until or unless we all do something. Yes we are pathetic on the pitch but we true fans have to do something off the pitch to save our sanity/health and Club from reaching the very depths of despair.

 

Apologies for the rant but I love football and the Vale and I want to attend all matches in safety and do not wish to sit next to or anywhere near some of these nutters. I want to simply enjoy my match days out. Am I dreaming and wanting the impossible or is there any proper solutions to the problems that Vale are encountering now on a regular basis?

 

My season ticket will be renewed again next season and the ones after that but sadly my wife has now decided to call it a day. I am convinced there are many, many more who feel like her and Vale can ill afford to lose these wholehearted decent fans. Rant over.

 

Exactly how I feel. Well said.

 

The more this sort of idiocy occurs the more I am reluctant to travel to away games, especially the traditional 'big' games like Wolves.

 

But, I suppose, when you have people exclaiming 'but-but-but it was the Wolves fans who started it' or 'the Police, BLAME THE POLICE' then we will never rid our club of these utter scumbags.

 

I can't be arsed to carry on with this now. All I can say is I was virtually 10 seats away from the end of the Vale stand on the left hand side, next to the South Bank where the Wolves fans were sitting. At around 5 mins to kick off around 100 20-30 year olds piled in to the area, resulting in many people, including families, being surrounded by swearing, drunk, intimidating men looking for trouble.

 

For most of the first half it was usual fan-to-fan chanting, nothing serious. Then a smoke bomb was thrown. Was that the Wolves' fans fault?

 

As the first half came to a close the Police and Stewards attempted to move people back to their seats, only for some sort of scuffle to break out.

 

When Wolves began to score it got embarrassing. Yes, the Wolves fans above played their part, I agree.

 

Following the game their were idiots sprinting around Wolverhampton, to go where I have no idea.

 

People say that they'd rather have these brain-dead supporting us than not. That's your opinion. In my eyes, however, I would prefer to go to away games, with my family, and feel safe and secure, and not embarrassed/threatened by Vale fans. We can still create a good atmosphere.

[ginginator]

Sorry it has has to be that way onestep (wife not going), yes the nutters will drag us down and its not good.

[bertiepee]

My son had been asking me for over a month to go with him to wolves I wanted go but told him it had trouble written all over it and the way we were playing it would be a punishment watch my beloved team take a beating, and I didnt fancy it , he said I was making poor excuses, last night having read the reports of the days events he was so glad I got this one right, we have a right hooligan problem and some just dont want to admit this, e.g blaming the police time after time (melv) for one, we have season tickets in railway stand hamil end , the reason we chose this area about 6 year ago was for the atmosphere but this last couple of seasons the language and hatred to away fans has got worse, last week against crewe a bloke in his 40s after letting out a volley of f,ing and blinding jumped over a few seats and fell heavily,on top of a middle aged lady , said sorry to her got up and carried on with his onslaught. Next season I am leaving this area, the language and behaviour is not pleasant , how we get rid of our hooligan problem I really don, t know, I been going vale 40 odd years , and its as bad now as I have known it

[onestepatatime]

Exactly how I feel. Well said.

 

The more this sort of idiocy occurs the more I am reluctant to travel to away games, especially the traditional 'big' games like Wolves.

 

But, I suppose, when you have people exclaiming 'but-but-but it was the Wolves fans who started it' or 'the Police, BLAME THE POLICE' then we will never rid our club of these utter scumbags.

 

I can't be arsed to carry on with this now. All I can say is I was virtually 10 seats away from the end of the Vale stand on the left hand side, next to the South Bank where the Wolves fans were sitting. At around 5 mins to kick off around 100 20-30 year olds piled in to the area, resulting in many people, including families, being surrounded by swearing, drunk, intimidating men looking for trouble.

 

For most of the first half it was usual fan-to-fan chanting, nothing serious. Then a smoke bomb was thrown. Was that the Wolves' fans fault?

 

As the first half came to a close the Police and Stewards attempted to move people back to their seats, only for some sort of scuffle to break out.

 

When Wolves began to score it got embarrassing. Yes, the Wolves fans above played their part, I agree.

 

Following the game their were idiots sprinting around Wolverhampton, to go where I have no idea.

 

People say that they'd rather have these brain-dead supporting us than not. That's your opinion. In my eyes, however, I would prefer to go to away games, with my family, and feel safe and secure, and not embarrassed/threatened by Vale fans. We can still create a good atmosphere.

 

 

Thank god there are others that agree with me. I was starting to question my own sanity.

 

We all need to stand up and be counted.

 

I would prefer to watch Vale home and away, as you, Hagrid with only maybe a few hundred decent fans than to endure thousands of bile who couldn't care a toss about Vale. Cheers mate for giving me some sense of optimism for the future.

[mattpvfc1]

I took 4 friends from work, we were surrounded by idiot Vale fans (JL3), 1 guy trying to break the seat to throw at wolves fans. All 4 of my friends told me not to invite them to another game. They're an embarrassment.

[Bert Llewellyn]

I took 4 friends from work, we were surrounded by idiot Vale fans (JL3), 1 guy trying to break the seat to throw at wolves fans. All 4 of my friends told me not to invite them to another game. They're an embarrassment.

 

Similar comments from my step daughter's partner yesterday. He has followed Liverpool home and away but he was genuinely shocked by some of the behaviour from BOTH sets of 'supporters' (trying to think of another word to use here that isn't obscene). I said to him that this isn't the first time this season I had witnessed scenes like this unfortunately.

[valeblue]

Says on one of the Wolves forums that a young lad has tweeted saying he's out of hospital having been stabbed by Vale fans , ye.t can't see anything in any of the media outlets and they jump on these stories , are the Wolves fans being mischievous ? If they are shame on them , if true then it's very sad indeed.

[Harry]

I came out of the ground after the third goal.

I was in JL3.

I knew as most people did that something would kick off.

So I bought myself a dead dog burger & waited for events to unfold.

 

And hey presto next thing I saw was loads of young vale lads exiting the ground & legging it up the steps I presume looking for a bundle.

 

Then they all came running back being chased by the police

It was like a comedy film.

 

My two friends came out of the ground & we walked to where the coaches were parked.

 

All I saw to be honest was lots of swearing ,shouting gesturing & people generally making fools of them selves.

 

I didn't see anyone throw a punch.

Just people full of lager,**** & wind.