CaleyD

You may joke Clacher, but I always thought that BENI was a pretty class name and I think it should be resurrected :001:

One word.....Money!!! Motherwell (or any club for that matter) will do nothing to risk putting people off and making alternative plans for the day until they absolutely have too.

You don't have to cause an actual Breach of the Peace to find yourself being arrested. You simply have to perform an act which could lead to a Breach of the Peace and whether people's attitudes to away fans in the home end is right or wrong, the very presence of these people could lead to such an incident and it gives the police the power to arrest and remove. Standing up is not against the law, sitting in the wrong seat is not against the law.....yet we have witnessed people being removed from the stadium by police because some people have refused to adhere to these regulations. These people were removed because they were considered to be a threat to a persons safety or their actions were threatening to cause a breach of the peace. The Police are their to fulfil a role and as people have said above, they turned a blind eye to incidents which posed a threat to crowd safety and had the potential to result in a Breach of the Peace. It's bad enough that nothing was done when people complained, but some officers refused to even acknowledge the threat. To date the Police/Stewards have been pretty lucky as nothing has kicked off, but if they keep on refusing to act then it's only a matter of time before people get so peeved that they will start taking matters in to their own hands......that may not be what you wanted to hear, but that is life!!! And one other thing. It's not taxpayers money that is paying for the police at matches, the cost is met in full by the club. So your argument about wasting resources/taxpayers money doesn't really hold water. Just to finish off, I think the policing/stewarding at TCS has, on the whole, improved leaps and bounds since the end of last season/start of this season...and credit has to be given for that. Their was a few issues at the last home match v Celtic and these were also dealt with in an appropriate manner and away fans in the home end who made themselves known were removed by police and/or stewards. All they needed to do was follow the same routine last weekend, but for whatever reason they chose not to.

Whether you agree with it or not, the word "Ultras" does create a negative image in the heads of some people. Why cripple yourself with such a tag when there's really no need? Stop looking outside for a name and look to the club, it's surroundings and it's fans and come up with something unique.

Don't thing many of these lads are old enough to drink (legally).

It's been a while since I had that Scarf at a match.

A few flag images I've cobbled together for various people/things over the years. [attach=1]

:016: It's ok, I luv her really. On the first part your not paying my "wages"...unless your losing heavily at poker just now and I'm picking up some of that. :015: And I never said you weren't a real fan.....am not so brave :029: And don't tell anyone, but I still "scrounge" freebie tickets. :004:

It's so bad I'm going to stop paying my TV License until these people are sacked and I'm no longer contributing to their wages :008:

The police were very much in the wrong to "leave them be". They are paid by the club to come in and act as part of the security which is there to ensure fan safety. Part of the rules and guidelines laid down for that is that we have segregation which means opposition fans should be removed from either end if they become aware of them. Sad fact of life is that people cannot always be relied upon to behave in a civil manner at events such as football which is why segregation was introduced. It is not up to the SPL, ICT, The Stewarding Company, the Police or any individual to take it upon themselves to ignore the law/legislation on such matters. And in failing to take action they have, in effect, ignored a situation which could potentially lead to a breach of the peace or worse. You can argue that fans shouldn't be in the area designated to them, you can argue that others shouldn't make an issue of it or turn a blind eye and ignore it....but at the end of the day "IF" something had kicked off and people were injured or whatever, then the club, the police and the stewards have zero grounds to defend themselves as they failed to enforce the rules and guidelines as they are set out.

I only have 2 real issues when it comes to all of this. 1. The club tell us they are doing all they can whilst at least one Senior Club Official is passing large numbers of tickets to people connected to the local supporters club for visiting OF fans. Meanwhile other people at the club are left to carry the can and deal with the fallout when they have a genuine desire to stamp out the problem. 2. Yet again the issue of home fans not receiving the same treatment in regards to stewarding/policing as the visiting fans on the basis that as we are the "softer" touch then it is easier for them to "deal" with us and ignore the exact same events at the other end of the ground because they are "scared" of them or what might kick off. If it is getting to the stage whereby police are "scared" to deal with any element of any support then the answer is simple....they should not be allowed to enter the stadium in the first place. Either that or the team responsible for those fans must provide/meet the cost of sufficient manpower to deal with any situation that should arise. I don't give a feck about the money we would lose by not having them there. You know the whole world has gone mad when the generally better behaved support receive harsher treatment than the morons who are left to do as they please....just because your scared you might lose a few quid.

Tickets Gone...apologies to those I couldn't assist.

Loyalist princsess, welcome to the forum and thank you for you contribution to the discussion. Lets all try and keep it civil everyone...deep breaths...and lets not allow the conversation to get dragged into the gutter.

That reminds me....one or two people from this site still owe me a drink for managing to mention his endowment during a BBC Interview :015:

I have 2 Spare Tickets for the Rangers Game tomorrow if anyone has left it too late and found out the match is a sell-out. PM me if your interested. If your not a site regular or you don't know me then don't bother PMing me....these tickets will be going to known ICT fans only.

I'm not surprised by the increased police presence for this match given the "berating" the Club, Stewards and Northern Constabulary got from the SPL following our first match at home against Rangers this season. I fully expect tolerance levels to be a good bit lower in regards to sectarian activity tomorrow.

He did indeed, he was either heading down to or coming back from picking up/dropping off family at Glasgow Airport.

Gringo Jnr will get in touch with all the details.

I wasn't having a go...honest guv. Given the choice of David Sutherland or anyone else connected to the club, I'd opt for Sutherland every time. At least you get a straight answer from him. :015:

Are you his agent?

And who knows....we might even end up getting 4 :crazy07:

Noted.... :022:

And here was me going to ask you if you wanted a free ticket as well.

Been a long time since we've had an out and out winger on the left at ICT. I don't think we can honestly say we've seen enough of Marcus to judge him or compare him to Rankin, but from what I've seen of him I think he is more than up to the job (provided he hasn't gone totally to pot after his injury). At home, we are always a bigger threat when someone gets up a bit of steam down one of the wings as the width of our pitch stretches the opposition. Not since the days of Robson have we fully utilised this to our advantage, instead relying on the likes of Rossco and Hastings to make the runs from the back. My vision for a 5 man midfield without Rankin would be something like Duncan-------McBain Cowie-------Black-------Paatelainen That would be the bones of a flexible midfield IMO and I would say we have ample cover to support it. Although another left sided midfielder would not go amiss, I think it would have to be more of a defensive midfielder as cover for McBain.

Shame we won't have any representation now from the footballing side of the club, especially with it being the transfer window and some of the speculation flying around in regards to some players.....could have made for some interesting discussion.