Yeovil Town officials to discuss Leeds United ticket fiasco
YEOVIL Town officials are expected to meet today to discuss the problems of Friday night when Leeds United fans infiltrated the home sections of Huish Park for the Coca-Cola League One match.
Hundreds of Leeds fans, who were unable to pick up a ticket for the official away end, bought tickets for other areas of the ground and that caused tension and there were a few scuffles - particularly on the Carlsberg Stand terrace behind the goal.
Now Yeovil bosses are to meet today in order to look at the ticketing process which led to Leeds supporters gaining entry to the home areas of Huish Park.
Yeovil Town's chief executive Martyn Starnes has expressed his disappointment that so many Leeds United fans infiltrated Yeovil areas of Huish Park.
Mr Starnes, speaking to the club's official website, said: "Every possible effort was made by our ticket office staff and the police to try and ensure that no tickets in Yeovil designated areas were sold to Leeds supporters.
"Unfortunately despite all our and the police's efforts, larger than acceptable numbers of Leeds fans acquired tickets, especially in the Carlsberg stand, and there were a few incidents, when Leeds scored their goal.
"We'd like to apologise to our fans for any problems this may have caused - it spoiled a great day for the club, along with the scoreline.
"We will be having a full investigation into our ticket selling proceedures to try and ensure this problem does not happen again.
"I'd like to thank the police, our stewards and staff for all their efforts on Friday night, in what was a very difficult situation, and we will be continuing our dialogue with fans to ensure these problems don't happen again."
There were a number of scuffles during the first-half, particularly after Leeds scored their match winner in the fourth minute, and it has been claimed that a 14-year-old female Yeovil fan was punched in the face in one incident.
Many of the club's younger fans who congregate on the home terrace spent the match watching the game from just inside the perimeter fence of Huish Park - usually 'out of bounds' for fans during fixtures - such was the congestion on the terracing and mounting fears that major disorder might have erupted.
The Yeovil fans must be praised for not getting involved in any trouble - despite the obvious intimidation from the Leeds fans.
Meanwhile, the Leeds fans, apart from a number of predictable yobs fuelled by alcohol, should also receive some praise. It could have been all too easy for large scale disorder to have broken out, but nothing really materialised, despite Leeds fans having a well-publicised reputation for hooliganism.
But questions must be asked over the ticketing policies at Huish Park. One Leeds fan said to me that he and his fellow supporters could not believe "how easy" it had been for them to get their hands on tickets for the home ends.
Mutterings about Leeds fans buying tickets for the home section of Huish Park had been going on for months - even before Christmas - and yet on the night there did not seem to be much evidence of stewards preventing away fans gaining admission at the home turnstiles.
What was even more worrying was the fact that the away fans were even showing their allegiances to Leeds by wearing team colours.
As the tension mounted inside the ground, it was not until after Leeds had taken an early lead that police officers moved in to create a 'blue line' at the front of the home terrace. But it was still then not until the half-time interval and fans had left the rear of the stand for refreshments and a "fag break" that police began denying away supporters re-entry into the ground.
While trouble inside the ground could have been a whole lot worse and it probably would have been had police waded into the packed terrace with batons drawn, Yeovil Town will have a lot of work to do to ensure that these problems do not happen again.
Yeovil have been "lucky" on this occasion and one would hope that lessons have been learnt.
At the end of the day it was inevitable that Leeds fans were going to infiltrate the home sections of the ground. They are one of the best supported clubs in the country and the demand for tickets was always going to far outweigh their official allocation and so it was only expected for them to be buying up home end tickets.
But the main question is this: why was it so easy for Leeds fans to openly get their hands on tickets for the home end?
United's 1-0 victory at Huish Park on Friday night ensured that the Elland Road outfit will be in this season's play-offs.
Yeovil, of course, reached last season's play-off final at Wembley where they lost to Blackpool and missed out on promotion to Championship. With hindsight perhaps it was a good job that they failed to get promoted or the events of Friday night might have been a regular occurence this season with Yeovil meeting bigger clubs with big fan bases on a weekly basis.
somersetcountygazette.co.uk
