Mr Gibson

[Guest]

'The fact that most of the young lads in question, couldn't fight to save their lives and have too much bravado for their own good, is really irrelevant, as the parents of the kids who come to the games, do not know this and are genuinely intimidated.'<p> Sorry, is it just me or is Mr 'our saviour' Gibson attempting to banish all passion from the club and create bad feeling between the supporters!<p> I have done nothing, yet like many others I feel victimised!!<p>FAO Mr Gibson- I'm not enjoying coming down to your club at the moment!

[Colin Zeal EFM]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> 'The fact that most of the young lads in question, couldn't fight to save their lives and have too much bravado for their own good, is really irrelevant' <hr></blockquote><p>That, Mr Gibson, sounds to me like incitement.<p>I must admit, I couldn't believe what I was reading in the programme notes. You talk about bad publicity for the club on the one hand, and then on the other you publish something like that in the programme about an isolated incident and give people the impression there is serious social problem at the club!!<p>You belittle the sponsored walk that St Albans fans took part in to raise some much needed money for the club and appear to blame a whole section of St Albans' support for an incident involving just one person.<p>Explain to me how stopping taking plastic cups of alcohol onto the terrace from the club bar is gonna help? You'll miss out on revenue for the club and you'll encourage people to drink in the bar second half rather than go out to cheer on the team. People will get p*ssed whether you want them to or not.<p>There were stewards on Tuesday night going round taking plastic bottles off people, yet you were still selling cans of drink in the tea bar. DON'T YOU GET IT??? It was a can that was lobbed onto the pitch. If the people of EFM were really intent on throwing missiles, would it really matter whether the contents of the can were cider or Diet Coke??<p>The female steward who was keeping vigil over EFM for the 90 minutes, I felt, was just waiting for an incident to happen so she could exercise some self-importance. In fact the worst thing that happened was when some of the younger kids down the front were kicking the advertising boards (something that has happened every game ever since I've been coming - hardly a crime) and she was straight down there like a school teacher.<p>Mr Gibson - I too am not enjoying coming down to your club at the moment.

[Rob_the_Saint]

Mr Zeal

I haven't got the time or inclination to reply to all your comments but I will just make three points: <p>1. Nowhere does Mr Gibson refer to EFM by name. If you think he is talking about you (the 'one or two individuals' he refers to) you must have a guilty conscience.<p>2. I don't believe he meant to 'belittle' the sponsored walk but I can see how his comments could be mis-construed. Maybe he should have worded his comments slightly differently.<p>3. Banning plastic glasses will only encourage people to buy bottles of drink from the bar and take them onto the terraces, as witnessed on Tuesday night.<p>Lastly, why are you all trying to rock the boat, haven't we been through enough pain and anxiety for one season?

[Webbo MFI]

Totally agree Rob<p>BRING BACK PLASTICS OTHERWISE I WILL NEVER GET TO SEE THE SECOND HALF OF A GAME AGAIN!!!

[AFF]

[i have a feling that I might regret this.]<p>First of all, in my view, John Gibson deserves the thanks and support of every Saints fan. He has mine.<p>Secondly, the throwing of anything on to the green bit is inexcusable. Any guilty person who is given an appropriate ban would get no sympathy from me, or, I suspect, anyone else. I said 'guilty person'. Not a group of people from whom the guilty person comes, nor someone who might be guilty. The guilty person.<p>The Chairman addressed a serious matter with passion in his programme notes on Tuesday. He calls it as he sees it and that's up to him. For me, I cannot believe that the guilty person "believes that they have the right to act in an appalling fashion" just because they went on the sponsored walk, if indeed they did [go on the walk]. Similarly their ability to fight has no relevance to the throwing of a can on to the pitch. The Chairman may regret that choice of words upon reflection.<p>However, criticism of those words deflects from the major issue. This was a serious matter, which now appears to be closed, fortunately. I can't recall a similar incident in the past, [cue archivist] and we shouldn't treat an isolated act of stupidity as a problem of epidemic proportions.<p>As far as the language is concerned, the punch line of "Can you hear the [opposition fans] sing" is not something that I want to hear at volume on the terraces, particularly when we are desperate to attract new fans, young and old, to The Park and to return. Yes it's industrial. Yes it's heard at League grounds but not at many Non-League grounds. [i feel like King Canute, but it's worth trying.]<p>The Firm and their supporters can help create atmosphere of the best kind at home and away games. Please stick to the best.<p>So there is to be no alcohol in the ground. Fine. If you get the shakes without a drink for 45 minutes Webbo, you have a problem!<p>One last thing. When there was trouble at football grounds in the 70's [according to my father, this is], various Reports showed that the behaviour on the pitch had a direct bearing on behaviour on the terraces. Without deflecting blame, the actions of players and match officials at Hendon and on Tuesday come to mind.<p>I never want 'The last word' but can we please move on soon?<p>Err. That's it.

[Colin Zeal EFM]

Posted by Rob:<p> <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> 1. Nowhere does Mr Gibson refer to EFM by name. If you think he is talking about you (the 'one or two individuals' he refers to) you must have a guilty conscience. <hr></blockquote><p>

Don't be so naive, Rob. You know as well as I do that the programme notes were directed to EFM as a group, and that 95% of Saints fans (yourself included, I should imagine) have got it in for us.<p>No, I don't have a guilty conscience. I have done absolutely nothing wrong (apart from maybe singing the punchline to AFF's song - sorry!)

[Rob_the_Saint]

Colin<p>I don't have it in for anyone and I'm not particulary bothered what anybody gets up to as long as a) it doesn't affect me, nobody is hurt or offended (opposition excluded) and c) it doesn't damage the club either financially or by reputation.<p>The 'can your hear..' song does make me cringe though, can't you think up something a bit more original? Whatever happened to that drum?

[Guest]

I believe I am correct in saying that a few years ago, a St.Albans fan threw a bottle aimed in the direction of Andy Lomas when St.Albans played away at Chesham. This was an isolated incident, and if I remember correctly, the person immediatley regreted his actions. Fortunatley no harm was done, and no big deal was made of the incident. (I also remember a bottle and a fire cracker being thrown onto the pitch during the Cheltenham game in 1992 again, nothing was made of these incidents.) The incident at Hendon was similar to this, it was a heat of the moment reaction borne by the frustration of some very bad refeering decisions and a great deal of gamesmanship from the Hendon palyers. It is obvious from reading messages on this website that the person who threw the can totally regerets his actions and is genuinley sorry for what he did. I am in no way condoning the throwing of missiles onto the pitch, but I do think it has been blown out of all proportion, and the inquests need to stop and people move on before divisons emerge between the club and the supporters who after all are the clubs lifeblood !

[Boot CleanerEFM]

I remember when there was a can thrown at Paul Newell when he moved to Dagernam from Us.