Villa Park Stewards Wrestle Teenage Fans and Confiscate Protest Flyers

Before we go into the latest disgrace of those who continue to drag the good name of Aston Villa FC through the dirt, lets first familiarise ourselves with a section from the club’s ‘Customer Charter’:

Our Personality

With a quiet confidence based on a pride in our history and our successes; with a passion for the club and its fans; with energy, enthusiasm and a spirit that befits a club with a lion as its mascot; with an engaging personality that welcomes all-comers; and with a professional attitude at all times – on and off the pitch.

 

A #avfc variation of a Cleveland Browns fan T-shirt design. #villapark #randylerner #sadness

A photo posted by My Old Man Said (Aston Villa) (@myoldmansaid) on

 

Villa Park Censorship

Throughout the season there has been several incidents of supporters being thrown out of Villa Park by over-zealous stewards. Most situations would have been avoidable if common sense had prevailed, including the several incidents at the home game against Liverpool, that the club didn’t even apologise for.

Against Everton, we saw a new level of attempted control and censorship. Teenage boys being chased and tackled because they simply had a ‘Lerner Out’ poster, a site that appalled both home and away fans alike. Also, flyers from the #Outthedooron74 protest were also being confiscated at the door.

Who’s property is it? Is it offensive? What happened to freedom of speech?

Anybody who’s attends Villa Park in the R1-3 sections of the Lower North (and in the Lower Holte) are used to having a policeman stand there with a video camera permanently fixed on them for the duration of the game.

Surveillance, censorship and control are seemingly the order of the day at Villa Park. Why pay to watch football under those circumstances? It’s insulting. Watching football is not a crime.

After the incident of the teenage fans being wrestled down took place, fans in the North Stand were in uproar against the posse of stewards attempting to censor the peaceful protests. It’s no surprise it results in chants from fans like: “Get a proper job, get a proper Job”, “Tom Fox what a wank*r, what a wank*r” and the new “Randy Lerner out” song (as in the below video) bellowing out from the North Stand.

 

War?

The Villa board with such zero tolerance instructions to their stadium management are in danger of antagonising the kind of bitter conflict against ownerships seen at clubs like Charlton, Leeds and Blackpool.

Supporters are unhappy in the first place due to the actions of the board, so the board shouldn’t be perpetuating a vicious circle with its poor and unnecessary treatment of its own supporters.

If stewards uttering the phrase “it’s come from the top” carry on throwing out fans young and old for no justifiable reason or aggressively censoring fans’ peaceful protests, then the Villa board, middle management and their pathetic bodyguards are going to deserve everything that will come their way, for they would have reaped what they sowed.

The stewards might be able to wrestle posters off a couple of teenagers, but what happens when they’ve antagonised thousands of Villa supporters to the point where they think ‘enough is enough’?

It’s time to act smarter and ditch the diktat. Villa Park is a football stadium situated in Birmingham, not North Korea.

UTV

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Utter disgrace to have a policy of targeting then ejecting your own supporters shame on what we are witnessing, this is not impulse stewardship it’s bully boy tactics ,they are no more than moronic tsg or Gestapo and as with all these groups they will push the wrong people very soon and so it will begin ,then we will get our Villa back .I’m loyal and value support,allegiance and fidelity but won’t pay homage and have no bond toward bullies .Interesting times ahead I’m thinking so prepare for the battle ahead the football fan base feels for us and but for the grace of God it could be them ,l will still laugh hold my head high and support Aston Villa ,so stay loyal to yourself keep the faith and Villa till we die .

  2. I sit in the lower Doug Ellis and week in week out there are away fans sat in the corporate boxes behind me. Most are well behaved however some are wind up merchants and antagonise the home supporters below. The stewards are aware of this and I have complained numerous times. They claim ‘there is nothing they can do’. Away fans are free to sit in the home section at Villa Park yet home fans are ejected for speaking their mind. Im disgusted at the joke our football club has become.

  3. Lol Newtown Nick. Its a lovely thought is it not, but really not the way to go. We all know they wont take on the real men, bullies and thugs never do they are spineless morons. Better to wait for someone to be hurt by their actions. That’s GBH and the police have to act. Lets wait until a female supporter is tackled and floored. A good solicitor would have a field day in court with this one. Imagine placing the directors of the club in court on a charge of violence on the person. We need to remain on the right side of the law. Let them step over the line . THEY WILL and the law will have to take its course.
    Once we have rid the club of these gang masters(the board) as supporters we should demand the immediate dismissal of every single steward currently employed by the club and replacement with a work force who would know why they are supposed to be there – the safety of the public.

  4. Stewards are the traffic wardens of football. These power hungry bellends chose to belittle and treat paying customers like shit and hide behind mantra it comes from the top. Utter tosh they love doing it otherwise they wouldn’t do it . I would like to suggest that they next time the big flag goes over the masses in the Holte End ,covering us up from the blanket surveillance we have to face every game that a little bit of payback is dished out to the biggest culprits. It may make them think twice from wrestling kids and ejecting OAPs.

  5. It’s not a fun day out at villa park anymore , a fan has every right to voice his/her opinion in a mature way of course it is a family event , but to hold a sign Lerner out is appropriate, what does he care anyway won’t even show his face down B6 or speak to the fans how he can call himself a villa fan is without a doubt a joke in itself when Martin O’Neil was manager we were a real threat played exciting football every fan was proud of their club we had hope of winning any game we were in sold out game after game , the ground trembled with every roar from the crowd the passion was in us all back then. Now the only thing we hope for is to stop the other teams from scoring more then 3 goals, everyone knows the situation it’s very dire and at the moment under the current ownership relegation isn’t the worse thing ahead . So with all this going on are we expected to sit quietly hand over our hard earned cash without uttering a complaint , I think not I feel entitled to voice my opinion without fear of being manhandled or worse banned.

  6. This heavy handed approach by the stewards towards protesting is something that really angers me and wants me to stay as far away from villa park as possible! What has happened to free speech? The worst thing is when there are genuine acts of intimidation from one fan to another and the stewards say they don’t have the power to eject? Tom ‘Joffery’ Fox needs to be dethroned, and quick. (apologises for the Game of Thrones reference but everytime I see his smug face at villa park, it reminds me of him). UTV.

  7. Simple just stay away let Sky, and Motd cameras, pundits, and commentator’s report “an empty Villa Park” and why it’s empty, because obergurrupenfuhrer Fox and his allies won’t be able to censor that kind of reporting.

    The upcoming Chelsea game is prime for this sort of action,, Yeah we don’t want to do it, we would much rather be cheering the lions on,, but Mr Churchill didn’t sit on his arse did he, and I’m afraid this IS war, if we want our club back, before it’s sinks into oblivion

    • Yep, they don’t want us singing then stay away.

      Am tired of the players too now. Seen Micah’s latest drivel. Should shut up and learn how to stay in his position before he comments on Remi’s.

      • Richards said: “We capitulated in the last home game against Liverpool but against Everton we tried to fight as much as we could.

        “But in the end their quality showed. They were smart. They let us have the ball at times and then hit us on the counter-attack

        Words fail me. A tactic other teams are using is to LET Villa have the ball.

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