Not sure if anyone saw this but it happened under the Colin Bell/North Stand scoreboard just after United's goal.
United fan wearing a half-and-half scarf (of course) jumped up to celebrate. Obviously he was spotted by everyone around him. Two young stewards began to escort him out when a pumped up City lad ran 10-20 yards along a row and leathered him across the head.
A fight then ensued and one of the poor stewards - who's looked after our block for a couple of seasons now - nearly got trampled in the melee. Fully lost sight of her at points as she got squished between these two huge lads scrapping with each other. She can't be over 20 and she's a tiny little thing with glasses. As a fellow bespectacled member of society my heart went out to her.
They managed to get some burly security guys to clear them off and get both guys out in the end, and I chatted to her (and her manager) after the game and she seemed alright and laughed it off. But it got me wondering why the stewards aren't getting more help for big games when there's likely to be a few away fans trying to jib into the match or buy a ticket in the home end?
I understand we're in the family bit, and there's outrage if someone dares stand up to sing most weeks, but we always get tourists and away fans sitting in our end - and it's always worse against Liverpool, United, Arsenal, etc. Makes me wonder why some of the stewarding staff, especially the younger ones, aren't given more help.
And at half-time I'm always dumbstruck that the kitchens and bars seem to be run exclusively by people under the age of 25 - and there's never enough of them either. We're the richest club in the world but we only seem interested in employing a minimal amount of students who'll accept minimum wage.
It could have turned really nasty in our bit yesterday and I'm honestly not sure what the two stewards we had would have done if they hadn't gone and fetched some nearby security detail sharpish. Kids needs jobs, that's fair enough, but they need better assistance to do that job properly, surely?
United fan wearing a half-and-half scarf (of course) jumped up to celebrate. Obviously he was spotted by everyone around him. Two young stewards began to escort him out when a pumped up City lad ran 10-20 yards along a row and leathered him across the head.
A fight then ensued and one of the poor stewards - who's looked after our block for a couple of seasons now - nearly got trampled in the melee. Fully lost sight of her at points as she got squished between these two huge lads scrapping with each other. She can't be over 20 and she's a tiny little thing with glasses. As a fellow bespectacled member of society my heart went out to her.
They managed to get some burly security guys to clear them off and get both guys out in the end, and I chatted to her (and her manager) after the game and she seemed alright and laughed it off. But it got me wondering why the stewards aren't getting more help for big games when there's likely to be a few away fans trying to jib into the match or buy a ticket in the home end?
I understand we're in the family bit, and there's outrage if someone dares stand up to sing most weeks, but we always get tourists and away fans sitting in our end - and it's always worse against Liverpool, United, Arsenal, etc. Makes me wonder why some of the stewarding staff, especially the younger ones, aren't given more help.
And at half-time I'm always dumbstruck that the kitchens and bars seem to be run exclusively by people under the age of 25 - and there's never enough of them either. We're the richest club in the world but we only seem interested in employing a minimal amount of students who'll accept minimum wage.
It could have turned really nasty in our bit yesterday and I'm honestly not sure what the two stewards we had would have done if they hadn't gone and fetched some nearby security detail sharpish. Kids needs jobs, that's fair enough, but they need better assistance to do that job properly, surely?