As fans are aware, we wrote in the aftermath of the Millwall match to both the club (Management of Last Saturday’s match) and the police (Police management of Millwall match) to raise concerns regarding crowd management and safety.
We received this response from the club.
As the club requested, we have indeed encouraged fans to write directly to the club and to complete their post-match survey, albeit there are no specific questions in the survey relating to crowd control. CAST have requested a meeting with the club as a follow-up and the club have now said that the matter will be on the agenda at the Supporters’ Forum on 16th October.
(https://www.charltonafc.com/news/supporter-forum-set-october-16th).
It is good that at least we are not all simply being encouraged to drop it and move on.
CAST have also just received a response from the police. We are reviewing this and have asked them for some clarifications.
It seems clear that the club chose not to have additional police presence within The Valley (which the club would have been liable to pay for). The police decided to get 3,000 away fans to the station first and to inconvenience and re-route 20,000 home fans. Both the club and the police are standing by their decisions, on the basis that the day passed without significant incident. Fans who witnessed the confrontation by gate 21 will have a different view and we have put this to both the club and the police. CAST have also shared concerns that things could easily have gone badly wrong at a number of bottlenecks caused by poor communications and poor implementation of the re-routing - and that it was only good fortune that prevented this.
While CAST and fans can and will challenge the police and the club on the major decisions, ultimately they are theirs to make given their responsibilities for public safety within the stadium (club) and outside (police).
Against that backdrop, CAST have drafted the following recommendations/ actions. We welcome feedback on the substance of these to secretary@castrust.org. Once we have fully considered the police response, we may also add to or amend the recommendations. We will seek input on them from fellow fans at the Supporters’ Forum. We intend to hold both the police and the club to account on the agreed recommendations in future.
CAST recommends first of all that the club takes action urgently to ensure the gate between the Jimmy Seed stand and the Alan Curbishley stand is repaired, always properly staffed and always fit for segregation purposes.
CAST recommends that whenever there are any proposed changes to the standard entry and egress systems:
1. The police and club to consult with and share major decisions on crowd control / management with all relevant parties, including CAST.
2. The club to lead on advance communication to fans regarding pre- and post-match arrangements if these differ from normal. In this instance - and it may be the same in future - the police decided on the post-match arrangements just a couple of days before the match. Whether the club agrees with the police arrangements or not, it is incumbent on the club to use all channels available - club website, social media and email to ticket holders - to inform fans in advance clearly and fully of the arrangements. CAST will support the club in amplifying such messages.
3. The club to inform fans during and immediately post match of such arrangements via the big screen and digital boards plus tannoy announcements - repeated and audible - throughout home areas. The club also to ensure that stewards are fully briefed and ready to assist and direct fans as they leave the stadium.
4. Police to deploy officers at all egress points immediately outside the stadium to direct fans and manage routes upon exit, potentially including signposting and loud hailer announcements.
5. Police to identify and manage risks - including deployment of sufficient officers - in the execution of planned external routes - for example, avoiding bottlenecks on Harvey Gardens, proper usage of Ransom Walk, temporarily closing Charlton Lane to traffic, managing the bottleneck of the Charlton Lane level crossing.
6. Police and club to communicate proactively with the rail companies - Southeastern, Thameslink and Network Rail - as soon as the fixtures are published to pre-empt issues concerning engineering works and limited train services on match days.
If you are not already one of the 2500 Addicks who are members of CAST you can join here for just £5 per year:
https://www.castrust.org/join/?v=7885444af42e