I was standing just behind the incident. There was a guy standing just by the wall and he was absolutely raging at the players who were coming over. Then a woman started shouting you should support the team and the players. They started arguing. I must looked away at that point, suddenly there was a commotion. I didnt see where he came from but another man got inolved. some others fans got between and separated both the men. The Southend stewards quickly came over and took both parties on pitch and separated them. I don't know what happened after, as because it was now clear in front and our left ,me and friends chose to leave.
An occasion that required heart as a non-negotiable necessity instead proved beyond any lingering doubt to a visibly infuriated Strevens that this group are the exact opposite from his initially-stated vision of one that values the badge.
''Dagenham & Redbridge look a very different side to about ten or fifteen minutes ago when they were on the back foot, and here's Benson...BRILLIANT!''
I wasn't at the game so have as much idea as to what happened as I've been able to garner from online (i.e. not a lot), but a couple of questions jump out from that statement, and that's without commenting on the insinuation that no criticism is seemingly allowed of anybody at the club or indeed the club itself.
But firstly, was the club staff member that was hit there in an official capacity? The statement as worded suggests that he/she was and that them being a club staff member was at least part of the reason as to why they were hit. I have no idea if this is the case or not, but would be strange if so. Equally, if they were not there in an official capacity, is there not the possibility that it is "just" (and I use that loosely as violence is not to be condoned) an altercation between people and therefore actually nothing to do with the club in that sense?
Secondly, there is a strong focus on the actions of the two fans, as indeed there should be. But is there to be any investigation of the actions of the club staff member? It usually takes two to tango, especially when altercations happen, so would hope that it isn't just assumed that one party is entirely innocent without establishing the full details.
The persons involved had no idea who the person was as they were not there in any official capacity.
My understanding is the persons involved were letting the players know it was not an acceptable performance, victim staff member told said persons involved this is not nice and to support the players then a confrontation happened.
The statement reads it like the staff member was targeted for being staff that’s not the case. The statement also reads that criticism is not wanted here, sucking the passion out of the clubs fans well what’s left anyway because it’s very little. Not condoning what happened before anyone starts crying.
I suppose like a lot of these things there's a balance here. Firstly I don't think screaming at players how shit they are is really on. Booing when we're bad is fair enough and the inconsistency of our season does point to a lack of application which people are right to be angry about. But there's ways of conveying that.
Secondly I don't really think members of staff, or player relatives for that matter, cover themselves in glory when they intervene in these situations. They are too close to be objective and should bite their tongue.
As for players, I don't really have an issue with them giving a bit back when they are being abused. I don't suppose they believe they deserve it and they are probably angry at getting beat even if they could have done more to prevent it. There will only ever be one winner tho cos the fans are the ones who remain and some of these players will be long gone.
Lastly it isn't ok for these situations to end in violence and any perpetrator of that is probably rightly going to find themselves banned for a long time.
Do agree it does seem a bit one sided and the Person who is being accused surely has the right to defend himself against any allegation and given the chance to offer mitigation for their actions.
Seen many allegations against a certain senior Person at this Club being accused of such like behaviour but never seen a statement issued or that Person being suspended whilst an investigation is carried out.
Standards of behaviour are a boundary that everybody should adhere to and abusing players for their obvious lack of ability is not acceptable. Its simply not their fault
However that should apply across the board and this is just another example of how toxic this once great Club, that was once the very deffantion of a family Club , has become.
The result Saturday was not the only disappointing thing to occur .
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