Points of Blue Meeting - Wed 09.11.2011

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Cheers for the report JMW. So would it appear there is a cover-up regarding the Showsec goon who was arrested for throwing punches at fans? Did they refuse to discuss it at all except on a private basis? Or is the matter sub-judice?

no, Peter and Mark seemed genuinely unaware of the situation as Peter made clear that the CCTV was focusing on the man who was receiving treatment after the attempt to eject him.

This is absolute & utter lies & bullshit. I was hoping to get there last night but couldn't make it in the end, which is a pity when I read they said this as I was one of the very few that witnessed the arrest.

The guy I believe was the ShowSec steward was arrested soon after the start of the second half, not while the incident was ongoing. A youngish guy with dark hair and glasses, wearing a suit, waistcoat and tie, came down the steps talking into a walkie-talkie. He has to have been a club employee (one of the safety officers?) and he walked down the aisle between 109 & 110. A couple of minutes later he walked up with another guy (no one else) and handed him over to two or three police officers who were waiting just on the concourse. This guy had distinctively shaved hair. They turned him around and handcuffed him but it was all very gentle and jovial. It all struck me as very strange at the time as almost invariably any fan arrested is taken out of their seat by a posse of police and hauled up the aisle.

This all suggests to me that there's a big cover-up and I can only guess that ShowSec (and the club) have something to hide over this. Who was the guy arrested and what were the circumstances? Tell us Fletcher.

Right ok, to be fair this may be a different incident to the one discussed last night, I'm not sure as I was not in 109 at the time.

The people talked about an incident up in 109, not down where the incident took place, guy threw at least 3 punches on his way up the aisle and people were according to the fans "apparently making statements to police" on the turnstile.

Whether this guy is the same guy that was arrested I don't know, but nobody made any arrests comments last night.

 

[mancmackem]

Cheers for the report JMW. So would it appear there is a cover-up regarding the Showsec goon who was arrested for throwing punches at fans? Did they refuse to discuss it at all except on a private basis? Or is the matter sub-judice?

It was discussed for around 5 minutes, Fletcher was surprised as he has had no reports of assault. The CCTV in the control room was concentrating on the collapsed man and supposedly the stairwell was out of sight where the alleged punches were thrown by the steward (too high up the stairwell from where the collapsed man was). I'm now going to read the JMW's notes as not had chance, but the lad seems to have done a sterling job again.

And yes, I did wink at you :p

 

[mullsy]

This was my first meeting last night & the first time I had met Peter Fletcher & while I thought he put himself across well during the meeting I do belive and this is my personal feeling only , that he puts the Showsec Stewards and what they say before us fans . I had to have a little chuckle to myself when he said that he thought the Youtube video footage had looked like it had been edited to add a steward into it ? So come on own up which one of you out there goes around each home game taking video footage of Showsec security just in case it kicks off :-)

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

As I understand it and could see from the videos, the guy who originally grabbed the 60-yr old was hustled away by his fellow stewards and punches were thrown as he goes up the aisle. You can see other ShowSec stewards dive in.

So presumably there were complaints to the police and the cctv may also have been reviewed at half time. Then having identified the steward involved they quietly asked him to come away from the crowd to avoid any bad publicity or further trouble.

The subsequent statements that they've met with fan and "resolved" the situation suggests to me he's been paid off on condition he keeps quiet. And the suggestion that a phantom steward has been edited into YouTube videos is even less believable than Garry Cook's hacker story.

I'll tell you what I think has happened here. A steward has been arrested and its been subsequently discovered (or was already known) that he has a criminal record involving violence or assault. The club and ShowSec are desperate to keep it quiet or they would open a huge can of worms.

There are a number of questions to answer here:
1) Who was the man arrested on the concourse at about 4:10pm on the day of the Villa game?
2) What was he arrested for and was it in connection with that incident involving the 60-yr old and/or the subsequent scuffle a few rows further up 109?
3) How was he identified?
4) Who was the suited guy with the walkie talkie and why the unusual arrest procedure?
5) Was the man arrested a steward?
6) Was he charged with anything?
7) Was Peter Fletcher aware of this arrest?

 

[SWP's back]

As I understand it and could see from the videos, the guy who originally grabbed the 60-yr old was hustled away by his fellow stewards and punches were thrown as he goes up the aisle. You can see other ShowSec stewards dive in.

So presumably there were complaints to the police and the cctv may also have been reviewed at half time. Then having identified the steward involved they quietly asked him to come away from the crowd to avoid any bad publicity or further trouble.

The subsequent statements that they've met with fan and "resolved" the situation suggests to me he's been paid off on condition he keeps quiet. And the suggestion that a phantom steward has been edited into YouTube videos is even less believable than Garry Cook's hacker story.

I'll tell you what I think has happened here. A steward has been arrested and its been subsequently discovered (or was already known) that he has a criminal record involving violence or assault. The club and ShowSec are desperate to keep it quiet or they would open a huge can of worms.

Paid off? You're having a laugh. There's not a chance he will have received any money. The likely outcome is that he didn't have his card taken off him.

Your last paragraph is ermmm, interesting. I don't think the club would be that bothered to be honest. It wouldn't be great for showsec but hardly the end of the world and I very much doubt the outside world would give two hoots.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

As I understand it and could see from the videos, the guy who originally grabbed the 60-yr old was hustled away by his fellow stewards and punches were thrown as he goes up the aisle. You can see other ShowSec stewards dive in.

So presumably there were complaints to the police and the cctv may also have been reviewed at half time. Then having identified the steward involved they quietly asked him to come away from the crowd to avoid any bad publicity or further trouble.

The subsequent statements that they've met with fan and "resolved" the situation suggests to me he's been paid off on condition he keeps quiet. And the suggestion that a phantom steward has been edited into YouTube videos is even less believable than Garry Cook's hacker story.

I'll tell you what I think has happened here. A steward has been arrested and its been subsequently discovered (or was already known) that he has a criminal record involving violence or assault. The club and ShowSec are desperate to keep it quiet or they would open a huge can of worms.

Paid off? You're having a laugh. There's not a chance he will have received any money. The likely outcome is that he didn't have his card taken off him.

Your last paragraph is ermmm, interesting. I don't think the club would be that bothered to be honest. It wouldn't be great for showsec but hardly the end of the world and I very much doubt the outside world would give two hoots.

Sorry Sam but when I hear club officials make bizarre claims that fans have edited YouTube footage to introduce stewards who weren't there then I start to smell a badly-decomposed rat with severe BO and halitosis.

 

[SWP's back]

As I understand it and could see from the videos, the guy who originally grabbed the 60-yr old was hustled away by his fellow stewards and punches were thrown as he goes up the aisle. You can see other ShowSec stewards dive in.

So presumably there were complaints to the police and the cctv may also have been reviewed at half time. Then having identified the steward involved they quietly asked him to come away from the crowd to avoid any bad publicity or further trouble.

The subsequent statements that they've met with fan and "resolved" the situation suggests to me he's been paid off on condition he keeps quiet. And the suggestion that a phantom steward has been edited into YouTube videos is even less believable than Garry Cook's hacker story.

I'll tell you what I think has happened here. A steward has been arrested and its been subsequently discovered (or was already known) that he has a criminal record involving violence or assault. The club and ShowSec are desperate to keep it quiet or they would open a huge can of worms.

Paid off? You're having a laugh. There's not a chance he will have received any money. The likely outcome is that he didn't have his card taken off him.

Your last paragraph is ermmm, interesting. I don't think the club would be that bothered to be honest. It wouldn't be great for showsec but hardly the end of the world and I very much doubt the outside world would give two hoots.

Sorry Sam but when I hear club officials make bizarre claims that fans have edited YouTube footage to introduce stewards who weren't there then I start to smell a badly-decomposed rat with severe BO and halitosis.

Did he not mean two videos spliced together? If he meant actually photoshopped in then I'd agree.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Paid off? You're having a laugh. There's not a chance he will have received any money. The likely outcome is that he didn't have his card taken off him.

Your last paragraph is ermmm, interesting. I don't think the club would be that bothered to be honest. It wouldn't be great for showsec but hardly the end of the world and I very much doubt the outside world would give two hoots.

Sorry Sam but when I hear club officials make bizarre claims that fans have edited YouTube footage to introduce stewards who weren't there then I start to smell a badly-decomposed rat with severe BO and halitosis.

Did he not mean two videos spliced together? If he meant actually photoshopped in then I'd agree.

my notes say "cut in, edited", so he used those 2 terms.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

Was talking to a mate earlier who went to the meeting,he summarised it all by just saying peter fletcher is 1 lying bastard!!

 

[AM-FSF Blue]

The subsequent statements that they've met with fan and "resolved" the situation suggests to me he's been paid off on condition he keeps quiet.

As the FSF representative at the meeting between the gentleman and the club, I can assure you he most certainly wasn't 'paid off'.

As it is FSF policy, the gentleman involved does not want his name or details of the meeting discussed publicly, and therefore I am obliged to respect his wishes and not discuss the meeting in detail, other than to reiterate Steve Sayer in that both parties reach a mutual agreement.