Spennymoor Away

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JasonDeVos
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by JasonDeVos » Wed Jan 01, 2020 9:51 pm

Vodka_Vic wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 9:41 pm
Just like they won't admit they're bankrolled. In the last couple of years they've started to adopt a bit of a siege mentality and get defensive and nasty. Not the club they were. Sometimes if Darlo were away I used to watch Spenny, and scores of our fans went to support them in the NPL Play-off final a couple of years ago. Not sure they would now. A friendly little club has become Royston Vasey F.C
Have a bit of ‘Salford’ attitude about them now.

Darlo_Pete
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Darlo_Pete » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:02 pm

I couldn't believe it that all 5 stewards at the bottom stand, all cleared off to the other end. So there was no steward between Darlo & Spendy fans, the only thing between us was the infamous red & white tape, unbelievable incompetence from Spendymoor FC.

Old Git
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Old Git » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:06 pm

Lost all respect for Spennymoor officials and fans after today. Had always had respect for them in the past and wished them well when not playing us.
Bad enough that they failed to plan properly for today but the attempt to deflect the blame is unforgivable. Stand up and accept mistakes were made,apologise and learn the lessons for the future. If you want your club to progress further you need to understand how to improve to cope better than today.

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:17 pm

By all accounts the Spenny officials were trying to blame our fans, anything but accept they made an utter shambles of the day.

JasonDeVos
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by JasonDeVos » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:21 pm

super_les_mcjannet wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:17 pm
By all accounts the Spenny officials were trying to blame our fans, anything but accept they made an utter shambles of the day.
No surprise- you have seen it on their twitter, match report and a players interview already.

H1987
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by H1987 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:41 pm

Some of the comments on twitter i've seen on twitter are appalling tbh. It's our fans fault for being in that part of the ground... not security, or the ridiculous plan.... Why the hell they didn't just give more of the seated stand to avoid this... oh, and put up adequate barriers... and make it all ticket...

Literally a litany of errors by their club, but it's all everyone else's fault. It's only a few of them, but they're acting like absolute idiots. Darlington fans made them put in a fence clearly not fit for purpose and Darlington fans made them make a ridiculous decision on how to segregate the ground... However many fans we had there - that part of the ground was not suitable. It's made worse by the clear ability to just use another part, at no additional cost to themselves. It's like it's a petty, pride thing.

Darlofan97
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Darlofan97 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:56 pm

This is just Spennymoor all over though isn’t it.

“It wasn’t us, it was them”.

It happens when you claim they’re bank-rolled, it happened with the flag, and now it’s happened again today with providing a dangerous away end.

Even with concrete evidence laid out, they won’t admit it.

Our fans aren’t saints, quite a few far from it, but you cannot blame them for the shambolic organisation witnessed today.

Credit to DJ for picking up the pieces of a Pride of County Durham arranged s***-show.

Lucky for them nobody was hurt, and that the barrier did come down, otherwise there could have been a crush, clearly the pressure was significant to bring down the perimeter fencing and the stewards had no regard for fan safety.

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:58 pm

Darlofan97 wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:56 pm

Even with concrete evidence laid out, they won’t admit it.
Sadly not enough "concrete" seems to be the problem around the fence.

shildonlad
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by shildonlad » Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:14 pm

Was there last Saturday for the 1st time in 3 year and was impressed by the setup, large new club house, new stand etc. one think that did strike me was how it could be properly segregated as there was no gates between the different stands/terraced areas like you see at alot of other grounds higher up. Mind theres clubs higher up who have not always segregated crowds right. I remember going to the hive barnet about 4 year back and the segregation was just a bit of tape down the terrace
I may not live in the north east anymore but i still support the north east teams

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:25 pm

shildonlad wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:14 pm
Was there last Saturday for the 1st time in 3 year and was impressed by the setup, large new club house, new stand etc. one think that did strike me was how it could be properly segregated as there was no gates between the different stands/terraced areas like you see at alot of other grounds higher up. Mind theres clubs higher up who have not always segregated crowds right. I remember going to the hive barnet about 4 year back and the segregation was just a bit of tape down the terrace
Nice enough ground but not fit to host games with 900+ away fans if they don't want to give up one of the ends.

Their biggest mistakes was not making it all ticket and just offering us the league minimum which is 600 or so I believe. Having it pay on the day on a bank holiday with their own growing crowds and tape as a blocker was a massive mistake, they handled the day really badly, hence why no one is talking about the game - which they probably got the better of in the end but we missed some really good chances.

H1987
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by H1987 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:37 pm

Agree with the above, it smacked of being happy to take the money without the responsibility for safety.

Either give a smaller, all ticket allocation, or if you want the money, swallow your pride and allocate a more sensible proportion of the ground.

Instead, it was a mixture of wanting the money from the large following mixed with spite. There was no good reason not to allocate more of the seats for example (I can see how splitting a terrace would be difficult). Idiots.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:44 pm

With some forethought, a double scaffolding handrail could have been put up cheaply and quickly to form a rigid separation point. I don’t think using that end was in their plans until a last minute change of mind.
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Breedon
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Breedon » Thu Jan 02, 2020 12:17 am

A press release a week ago saying "the Darlo game is all ticket, Darlo fans are getting one side plus one block of seats, 750 tickets (a more realistic number for the amount of fans that part of the ground can safely hold), deal with it". No issues whatsoever. If they want to give us a lower allocation for their ego, sound. Its their ground. But what they did was appalling. Wanted their cake and eat it so say 18 hours before kick off "by the way, we're only giving Darlo fans half the space we normally give them but expect the same number of fans". Absolutely indefensible.

Mister e
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Mister e » Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:20 am

super_les_mcjannet wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:53 pm
Vodka_Vic wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:44 pm
The "unsavoury scenes" bit is in the official match report so the club clearly blames us.
Whether they do or don't they will still muddy the waters and point at us, it's what they do they go into full defensive & blame everyone else mode.

Same when they announced cheaper prices for the playoff without checking with BPA and then it was all BPA fault because they hadn't agreed when they had to take it back. They didn't follow the rules but that wasn't their fault it was someone else fault.
..... And just a couple of years ago didn't they postpone a fa trophy game with Bromley two weeks running less than a hour before kick off after the visiting supporters had traveled all the way up to the north east from Kent.

bigdavethemaddog
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by bigdavethemaddog » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:11 am

surely the FA are bound to investigate?

Vodka_Vic
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Vodka_Vic » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:29 am

Add to that the hassle that the commentator from Darlo Fans Radio got from some of their 'Fans" in the stand. That's a first as well. They really are a nasty little club now.

al_quaker
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Spennymoor Away

Post by al_quaker » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:49 am

And trying to scapegoat an official for a close offside call the other day on twitter from the official club account. They have changed their attitude in the last season or so.

I presume there will be some statements made today. It will be interesting to see what tone those statements have. Were darlington fans perfectly behaved? No. Were spennymoor fans perfectly behaved? No. However, was the organisation of the day from spennymoor town a shambles? Undoubtedly. Was the segregation barrier put in place reasonable? Absolutely not. Was the front barrier fit for purpose? The ease at which it collapsed raises serious questions. Was the stewarding of a sufficient standard? Nowhere near.

There were serious failings from spennymoor town in the hosting of this match and the crowd management tactics they employed which put the safety of spectators needlessly at risk and that need to be addressed.

SFG
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by SFG » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:50 am

There was some terrace standing space available near the seated stand end of the ground. Awkward single file step access though from near the TV gantry.

About 15 minutes before kickoff, stewards walked down this section offering supporters seats in the - under-populated - section of the adjacent stand. Not all the offered seats were taken.

At half time (following the barrier collapse at the other end of the ground) Spennymoor fans were invited - without incident - to move and concentrate into half of the seated stand. The empty seats were taken up by displaced Darlington fans. The operation went relatively smoothly. Would have been better to have had this arrangement from the beginning.

Not sure how many away fans there actually were there yesterday, but it should have been all ticket given the limitations and layout of the ground.

m62exile
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by m62exile » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:55 am

This is a fair point actually but one of the problems here is that you can’t see the bottom end of terracing from anywhere down that side due to the gantry and the fact that a fence cuts in to the away end half way down. They could have been giving away free beer and lollipops down there but 90% of people wouldn’t have known and couldn’t get to it anyway as the access was blocked.


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al_quaker
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Spennymoor Away

Post by al_quaker » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:59 am

Yes there did appear to be a bit of space towards the bottom end of the ground. Enough to fit all those at the top bit of terracing in? I highly doubt it. Having all those people from the top bit trying to get in near the bottom end of the ground may well have just led to overcrowding elsewhere as people desperately tried to get some sort of view of the match.

And if there was enough space, why did spennymoor town open up that extra bit of terracing?

And even if there was enough space at the bottom end for all the darlo fans, that doesn’t excuse the stewarding, the segregation barrier, or the front barrier collapsing.

DARLO333
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by DARLO333 » Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:18 am

The Football Supporters Association are aware of events and welcome first hand accounts, photos and video footage- Please send to ; Andy.walsh@thefsa.org.uk , so he has first hand accounts rather that online hearsay.

I hope our own club and supporters group take a firm line on this and stand up for Darlington Fans after these events.

Darlo_Pete
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Darlo_Pete » Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:29 am

The single turnstile for people paying adult prices was ridiculous. Families that had concessions amongst them, couldn't use the under used turnstile, as they were about a 100 back in the queue. Spendymoor were very negligent in the way they acted towards the Darlo fans, the area set aside for us was totally inadequate, it was bound to lead to issues when so many fans turned up. Now they are trying to put the blame on us, when clearly all the issues should have been foreseen by them in the first place.

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:55 am

It's all about deflecting the issue onto the hundreds of violent Darlo fans, of which these hundreds of violent fans don't exist, only in Spennys head.

Both fans goading each other and giving it the big one, as you get when the fans are put too close together with a bit of tape in between.

It was really badly organised and looks like that fence was put up with a garden trowel and no concrete, without any crush barriers it wasn't fit for purpose. All this doesn't excuse any idiot who tried to get at the Spenny fans or the Spenny fan running on the pitch after their 2nd goal.

en passant
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by en passant » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:29 am

On a slightly different point to the last few posts, but having read both the Darlo report of the Match and that on the Spennymoor site, I can only see Joe Wheatley as the only player booked during the Match. So why wasn't McKenna booked for taking off his shirt after scoring the second goal?

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:30 am

en passant wrote:
Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:29 am
On a slightly different point to the last few posts, but having read both the Darlo report of the Match and that on the Spennymoor site, I can only see Joe Wheatley as the only player booked during the Match. So why wasn't McKenna booked for taking off his shirt after scoring the second goal?
He was booked I believe. McKenna confirmed this on his interview.

Put it down to a hectic final 5 minutes for those reporting.

My opinion
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by My opinion » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:39 am

I can;t believe that in today's age of Health and Safety that the mess of yesterdays game took place, Social media was full of the possibilities of poor crowd control all morning, including this message board.
And it's all well saying that there was room down the far end, I was there and there was some room but not a lot, and to get there you had to negotiate the narrow, crowded stepped area which itself was dangerous with such a large crowd.
If as Spenntmoor say, we had less than 900 fans there (I find that hard to believe) then the side of the ground allocated to us should not be given a limit as high as that.. Probably 700 tops in my opinion..
One thing for sure is that next time we play there, I won't be going.. The whole thing was a very poor experience for quite a few of us.
As for the performance on the field. A game of two halves in my opinion. Thought Spenny were too big, strong and physical for us in the second half. However, I thought we were to clever for them in the first half. Over the whole game we could have had 4 goals if we had a little luck but so could Spenny. so maybe a 4..4 draw would have been a fairer result for us.

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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by LoidLucan » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:43 am

I know that several people who were shocked by this major safety lapse have asked the National League to look into it to try to prevent similar things happening again due to bad planning and organisation of fan safety. It can't be just allowed to be swept under the carpet.

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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by Darlo_Pete » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:54 am

I'm a diehard Darlo fan & I think it's daft to suggest we deserved a draw. Apart from the last 15mins of the first half we were second best all game. Yes we created some guilt edged chances, but they were on top all over the park. We did look tired, but that shouldn't be an excuse, as Spendymoor played just as many games as we did.

davidcurrieclass
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by davidcurrieclass » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:59 am

My fear is due to yesterday next time we play them there. Play offs? you never know that they will now give us only 500 tickets. The problem wasnt lack of ticketing but simply not giving us a proper section. We should have been given most of the south terrace behind the goal with a gap stewarded between us and the end of the terrace with no spenny in the south terrace. They could then have had the whole east side, north side and the west side up to where the tv gantry is. Plenty enough room for there 800 odd fans.

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Spennymoor Away

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:03 am

davidcurrieclass wrote:
Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:59 am
My fear is due to yesterday next time we play them there. Play offs? you never know that they will now give us only 500 tickets. The problem wasnt lack of ticketing but simply not giving us a proper section. We should have been given most of the south terrace behind the goal with a gap stewarded between us and the end of the terrace with no spenny in the south terrace. They could then have had the whole east side, north side and the west side up to where the tv gantry is. Plenty enough room for there 800 odd fans.
We will get the standard allowed which is 600 I believe and get that same section, that will be it now.

They don't have to give us anything but the minimum allowance, which is what we done to Halifax and they couldn't sell them.

That's it now they won't have open house again, they can't as they will have to be seen to learn lessons of yesterdays shambles.

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