Block 544

[GOATERS HEAD GROOVES]

Bee Smith and her gang were getting a bit edgy throughout the match, down in Cell Block H!

 

[supermario]

So along come some sunderland fans they get told there in a neutral section for both sets of fans and this is why they have colours on

Surely they can't be that naive once they get in the ground....fairly obvious it is the City end and its not difficult to work out that it will get hostile if you jump up

 

[Dubai Blue]

how many tickets did bobby " the tout " charlton get ?

I heard he had quite a few allocated to Block 544. Good to see normal service resume so quickly!

Seems more likely we have our own Bobby Charlton......

I'm not buying this ticket agency shite. Ticket agencies don't just get given tickets slap bang in the middle of our end. They may get a few on the sides which are not part of the main allocation but right in the middle of 15000 city fans.....no chance.

This is an inside job.

City give lots of tickets to official club sponsors to distribute as they see fit. These seats aren't in special corporate 'zones', they're slap bang in the middle of City's main allocation and they are blocks of seats, not individuals. I know this for a fact as I've previously been the beneficiary of these tickets at Wembley.

This is where these tickets will have originated from - not from supporters clubs, greedy ticket office staff, or groups of season ticket holders, but from the club's official sponsors. It should be fairly easy for them to identify the culprits.

 

[East Level 2]

Neutral section?
I know all London grounds look the same but the only one with a neutral section is Fulham.
Wembley has always been split roughly 50:50 for domestic cup finals. The only areas considered "neutral" are the Club Wembley seats in the middle tier.
Whatever; each side of the segregation had several thousand tickets more than the allocation to each club. The stewards know where the trouble occurred so they can easily see who those tickets were allocated to. I'd expect City to sack any employee if they were skimmed off and sold. I'd also expect City to review their contract with Viagra-Go and any other ticket agencies if these agencies allowed tickets to be bought by Sunderland fans.
And if you bought a ticket and sold it to a tout then you're a total twat as you are potentially responsible for the trouble on Sunday.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Neutral section?
I know all London grounds look the same but the only one with a neutral section is Fulham.
Wembley has always been split roughly 50:50 for domestic cup finals. The only areas considered "neutral" are the Club Wembley seats in the middle tier.
Whatever; each side of the segregation had several thousand tickets more than the allocation to each club. The stewards know where the trouble occurred so they can easily see who those tickets were allocated to. I'd expect City to sack any employee if they were skimmed off and sold. I'd also expect City to review their contract with Viagra-Go and any other ticket agencies if these agencies allowed tickets to be bought by Sunderland fans.
And if you bought a ticket and sold it to a tout then you're a total twat as you are potentially responsible for the trouble on Sunday.

Well said EL2. 206 leading the way again!!

 

[warpig]

I was in 544 and just across the aisle from where the trouble with the celebrating Sunderland fans broke out. Stewards next to us just stood and watched - my mate and I went to ask them to go and help sort things out, they refused saying it wasn't their responsibility. On their backs in large letters were the words 'SAFETY STEWARD.' They may as well have had the words 'USHER' on their backs and got the ice creams out to sell. This was a nasty situation with the potential for fans to have fallen onto people below - including children - causing injury. A friend I took to the Shield match against the Rags had 2 ribs broken by drunk celebrating Blues falling onto her when City scored. Even when their supervisor arrived he just looked over at the brawling and went away.
This complete lack of concern towards the people they were paid to protect was appalling - still, let's hope they enjoyed the match.

anyone else find it weird when swyen posts with a serious comment. i read all of that expecting some sort of punch line at the end.

 

[dronefromsector7g]

I was in 544 and just across the aisle from where the trouble with the celebrating Sunderland fans broke out. Stewards next to us just stood and watched - my mate and I went to ask them to go and help sort things out, they refused saying it wasn't their responsibility. On their backs in large letters were the words 'SAFETY STEWARD.' They may as well have had the words 'USHER' on their backs and got the ice creams out to sell. This was a nasty situation with the potential for fans to have fallen onto people below - including children - causing injury. A friend I took to the Shield match against the Rags had 2 ribs broken by drunk celebrating Blues falling onto her when City scored. Even when their supervisor arrived he just looked over at the brawling and went away.
This complete lack of concern towards the people they were paid to protect was appalling - still, let's hope they enjoyed the match.

anyone else find it weird when swyen posts with a serious comment. i read all of that expecting some sort of punch line at the end.

Me too. Fuck ,WW3 is on!

 

[I Live In A Blue House]

I was sat just a few rows in front of where it all kicked off.. Before kick-off on the concourse i was surprised at just how many mackems there were, in colours, just standing around as if they were in their own end.
Wasn't at all shocked when it all came to blows, as when the city team was read out they were booing, and when the Sunderland team was read out they were clapping and cheering.

I can fully understand and somewhat justify sitting in the 'away' end if you can't get tickets for whatever reason in your own end, but to wear colours on full show AND celebrate? Not on!

I was in 544 row 8 seat 145. I know we are in 2014 BUT call me old fashioned (or just out of touch) BUT sitting/standing in the oppositions part of the ground in your own teams colours is simply a disaster waiting to happen! Ok there's all this friendly talk & disgraceful comments BUT iT WAS a CUP FINAL! ffs, how the hell Sunderland fans wearing team shirts GOT IN passed stewards etc is still beyond me IMO.

 

[gloryhuntersince85]

personally think Wembley are responsible for all this, Sunday was my 6th visit to the new stadium ive sat in blocks 128,130,147,544,535 & on Sunday sat in 548 i've noticed same thing for every game , no stewards outside turnstiles & none on the turnstile every time you see people without tickets getting in so its no surprise Sunderland fans got in City end so easily, the whole stewarding at Wembley is absolutely awful personally i think they should get rid of them and replace them with the stewards from the respective clubs of the teams competing as for the Sunderland fans i dont blame them getting in as we know anybody who struggles to get tickets will take them wherever they are but you do have to keep quiet (something i did but found difficult at the New Den in 2001), remembering last May before FA Cup Final there was a Wigan fan selling tickets in Wigan end to City fans for £150 each just makes you think the allocations should be decided on average attendances

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I was in 544 and just across the aisle from where the trouble with the celebrating Sunderland fans broke out. Stewards next to us just stood and watched - my mate and I went to ask them to go and help sort things out, they refused saying it wasn't their responsibility. On their backs in large letters were the words 'SAFETY STEWARD.' They may as well have had the words 'USHER' on their backs and got the ice creams out to sell. This was a nasty situation with the potential for fans to have fallen onto people below - including children - causing injury. A friend I took to the Shield match against the Rags had 2 ribs broken by drunk celebrating Blues falling onto her when City scored. Even when their supervisor arrived he just looked over at the brawling and went away.
This complete lack of concern towards the people they were paid to protect was appalling - still, let's hope they enjoyed the match.

At the rags semi I was sat in Tier 5 on the Royal box side (551?) and two sets of blues kicked off over standing about halfway through the first half.

We were sat by the stewards and urged them to sort it out but they just shrugged their shoulders and said it was a job for the blue-jacketed stewards. So we asked if they were on the way but got another shrug and the reply that they were busy. My son went mad and took a photo of the steward with a view to complaining.

About 5 minutes into the second half the blue-jacketed stewards arrived but it was my son they wanted to chuck out for taking the photo. Fortunately Yaya scored as we were arguing and the people around us mobbed the stewards and got us away. We decided not to complain under the circumstances but it was clear that the stewarding there is inadequate.