Policing of football is an interesting subject. My grandfather was a police officer and shortly after the War and the old Molineux was part of his patch (he was Staffs constabulary and used to alternate between Wolves and Stoke). He used to talk of the post-war period policing the Molineux with a Sergeant and '5-6 robustly built constables'. For a big local derby they would call on support from 2 mounted officers. Quite different times, regular crowds of 40000 with no phones, radios, back-up or squad cars / paddy wagons!
I guess the point I am trying to make is that for whatever reason, it is harder for these scumbags to get their perverted kicks at games considered high risk due to the extra resources. It is a lot easier for them to get them against teams such as ours who are low risk, with less police about and fans who (with some exceptions) are more civilised. Sitting ducks.
Don't tell me.... MI5 were in covert surveillance in the local pubs.... I'm far too fookin' angry about the plethora of ill-informed, knee-jerk reactions to this incident that are neither insightful, helpful, or witness-driven. Call The Midwife is on in 5 mins. I'm going to watch it, calm down, re-group and then (when I have had a good night's sleep), let rip, randomly where there is a post that makes me want to punch the next door neighbour (who also cannot stick me because I happen to have been born North of Watford Gap... which appears to be an emergent theme in respect of this incident). Where's that bottle of wine?.... .... Oh THERE you are, lovely! Layturz, innit
Cowardly, insecure, failed pond life scum who assault a man for football reasons. If two sets of morons wish to arrange a meet at a waste ground or industrial park and knock seven shades out of each other, then its up to them(as long as they don't expect the NHS to set their broken skulls afterwards) and is a good example of Darwinism. However, when pathetic little turds blindside a family man, minding his own business after a football match, as seems to be the case here, and put his life into jeopardy, I hope they get what's coming to them.
did you read the pretext to the quote? Or just quote and rant, out of context? If you think the UK isn't sleepwalking into deep societal problems then you're mistaken. Social conditions are now very similar to the 1980s when we shifted from a heavy manufacturing industry to a predominately light industry & service industry. We're now seeing another evolution of British society - it will be a terrible day if this disaffection manifests in football violence once again... It's no coincidence that the late 1920s/30s and 1970/80s saw the biggest recorded, and longest sustained runs on football related violence...
At the moment I tend to agree with you. The attacker may have issues and a poor background etc, etc, but he is, as matters stand, a worthless individual who is of no benefit to society. This type of situation angers and saddens me deeply. I am hoping so much that the victim makes a full recovery and a family can strive to get their lives back to normal. Not really focused on the promotion chase after hearing this news.
Does anyone on here know him at all? All the best, just hope he makes a 100% recovery, thoughts with wife a family and the West Midlands Police to catch this ScumBag, wonder if he even went to the bloody game? Really could have been anyone of us on here, really does bring you down to earth with a bump, we spent hours this morning the importance of one of our player actions, this really puts it into prospective.
It's absolutely pathetic that in this day and age that people should feel they have to cover their colours to go to an away game. That someone should get lamped & put in hospital because of the actions of some ******s winding each other up is even worse.
Agreed. For the same reason that I walk around Tesco in town in my uniform; I didn't fight four wars overseas to be intimidated in my own country.
Speaking as someone who used to be part ( both overtly and covertly) of the police operation in the 80's every week, when hundreds of police would cover each game in London, it doesn't matter where the police are. A determined group can easily find a victim just out of sight of a police officer, you would need thousands of officers to cover the area. If there was a police presence where the attack happened, it would have happened around the corner. But you will not be alone in trying to blame the police. It is a common symptom trait.
ZZ I wonder how that has changed now with unmanned surveillance platforms and greater connectivity? I expect its reduced the risk, a bit, but still boils down to boots on the ground and intelligence?
To be honest, I am not that sure. But I think it is generally acknowledged that the cost of heavily policing a football match is money that a club or local authority cannot afford. How can it be shown to be a justified cost? It is not easy to prove that an incident was prevented by a police presence, is it! So the emphasis is on cameras which can at least demonstrate convictions or reduced crime over a period of time.
Don't patronise me. It would not take thousand of coppers to escort Watford fans 800m to the train station or nearby car parks. This was not an isolated incident either. Yobbos had free reign on Saturday. It was a total **** up.
if it was that easy it would have been done. A couple of mates are coppers, we the tax-paying public, are largely kept in the dark of just how thin the thin blue line is.... http://www.itv.com/news/2015-02-17/police-warn-there-just-isnt-enough-of-us-to-cope/ edited to add, i expect to give the relative concentration of boots on the ground would have required about 150 officers, a mix of posting them at key points, likely flash points (in sufficient numbers) and enough held to be a meaningful mobile reserve (20 or so?)...a fair commitment esp. given the WBA & Villa game.
I've probably been to Wolves half a dozen times in my life and it's one of those places you know the same crap happens over and over: cars vandalised, gangs starting on people... I can't believe its just Watford supporters. So based on this being a regular occurrence I'd say the police do have some explaining to do. I'd hate to be there when Millwall visit on the last day, based on it being Millwall's last game in the championship and no doubt wanting to go out with a bang if that is what the police call adequate protection of the public.
A quick read of other fans forums and you get the same story of gangs at Wolves and the same location near the subway, the cowards picked an easy target.
Hearing of incidents like this is always horrid...but as a bloke who has recently become a father for the first time I find it even more sickening. I just cannot comprehend it. Getting into a scrap is one thing (it's not right and I'm not condoning it) but to give a bloke a kicking to the extent he might not ever wake up? I'm lost for words. As somebody mentioned earlier, if two groups want to have a scrap on wasteland with likeminded people then fill your boots. To attack innocent blokes strolling to the station is moronic. I hope the bloke pulls through, I hope he doesn't have any long lasting effects and I hope the cowards who did it get found, sent down and get exactly what they deserve.
I'm not patronising you, just stating the obvious. It is, however, sad that you are taking this tragic event as an opportunity for a bit of political police bashing.
On another note, Wolves is the only place I've ever had trouble. In March 1995 I was walking away from the ground with my dad and out of nowhere I got a punch in the cheek, as it caught me by surprise I was knocked over. Police came over within seconds and was helped up by decent wolves fans, who quite rightly were pissed off that someone could do such a thing and brought the name of their club and city down.
Hi Wolves fan here, just registered to say that all of the wolves fans I have spoken to are as disgusted with what has happened as all of you Watford fans any many (like myself) have given information to the police to help try to get those responsible caught. We saw this develop as we were walking back along the ring road to the station, as we got level with the street where this took place we heard a lot of shouting and turned to see two groups of youths (with a few other people in the same area) squaring up to each other and posturing then all of a sudden punches started being thrown for about a minute or so, we were quite concerned in case it spilled over to where we were walking so backed off a little until it died down and then we saw the guy on the floor and a group of the youths that had been involved in the initial stand off came running across the grass back to the ring road to get away from the scene. When they got right in front of us we recognised the one guy who was wearing a dark red jacket as he had been in the Watford end during the game right at the end near to the Jack Harris stand trying to wind up wolves fans for most of the game (obviously I know there were wolves fans doing the same back to this guy and his group during the game) but this group left before the end of the game. Sounds like the injured guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time after this group of Watford youths had gone looking for trouble and then legged it when they found trouble (unfortunately we do seem to have a number of 'fans' that will happily oblige anyone looking for trouble). Please don't read any of this as anyone condoning what has happened, we do not want these people associated with our club and are all hoping the injured guy makes a full recovery.
It's been happening for years, especially with the "subway army" (as I believe they were once called) - Bit shocked to read earlier that Wolves are in control of the amount of police around on matchday. The club should have to take full liability and should be punished if that is the case.
Just donated. I still feel deeply unsettled. It could have been any of us (my group must have been 30 seconds ahead). I haven't felt an atmosphere like that for decades. It wasn't just small group of wolves either. This sh@t will not go away until everyone grows up. It disgusts most of us but how many of us stand up to our own little tw@ts who go somewhere like Molineaux and spend their time goading the opposition? I didn't. Support your team by having a drink, a (positive) sing and a bit of a bounce. Maybe it's time for us grow ups to be more proactive about it.
A man with a wife and young children could die. I don't care about your pathetic nonsense about who wound up whom. It's not a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time you idiot. We live in a civilised country. No one should expect to be killed by other people. You're defending a potential murderer. And talking about a serious crime you witnessed on an Internet forum If you saw what happened then you need to go to police and tell them. your IP will be traceable
There were no police anywhere on Saturday. Why is it political to suggest incompetent policing? I suspect this is personal. Anyway that's it for me. Goodbye.
I 100% agree. I've made my comments well known about the Slav & Serbia song and also the "shoot some Luton Scum"...most of us are old enough and ugly enough to realise that these songs are rhetoric, but i've noticed too many "Youufs" getting too excited by these 2 particular chants; it was particularly evident at the Brentford game. If we consider ourselves a mature, decent family, fan-base perhaps its time to look at the image we present? On the train yesterday it was cringeworthy at times, particularly watching those families and older people (non-football) going about their business quietly being intimidated by the WFC traveling cohort.
Very sad news. Becoming a father recently for the first time makes me even more disgusted, not for myself, but the position it would put my little boy in if it happened to me. I wish the guy a speedy and healthy recovery and send thoughts to his family.
I've read this twice because it seemed the first time like you were trying to blame Watford fans Yep still reads that way
As I said in my original post I have already spoken to the police, I am not defending anyone, sorry if it came across like that
