For those that went to Derby on Saturday...

and were appalled at the officious, over-zealous, heavy mob-handed attiude by the stewards... I've just had a phone call from Nigel Wood, Deputy Safety Officer at Pride Park. (Apparently Mr Parsons the Stadium Manager was a little too busy to call me.)

My main points being that the whole away section was totally over-staffed which in itself led to a very intimidating atmosphere. He agreed with me, and mentioned that that very point of over-staffing had been discussed in the debrief they had this morning.

He tried unsuccessfully to defend my accusations of hypocritical stewarding of the crowd, when pointing out that whilst our lot were being dragged out of the ground for standing, with little or no warning, sections of Derby supporters were allowed to stand throughout the whole game unchallenged. He alleged that they were told to sit down, but conceded that none of the Derby supporters were ejected for ignoring stewards requests.

I pointed out that the over-staffing, double-standards and heavy-handed attitude they employed, only inflamed a situation which wasn't a problem in the first place.

The guy who was ejected first half for alleged 'foul and abusive' language, only became foul and abusive after being carted off by half a dozen stewards down several flights of stairs. I don't blame him one bit, I'd be the same.

The guy who was ejected for drinking alcohol during the second half, after being told not to...you only have yourself to blame sunshine.

He thanked me for my call, and said he would take my points on board so that they could review the situation. Doesn't help this time, and who knows whether things will change. Still, it's cleared my conscience, a little...

Posted By: Jim Nasium, Dec 5, 14:42:29