Your matchday experience v Wigan

[FourMarkGreen]

The club surely welcomes feedback like this. Yes hard core fans will put up with pretty much anything but marginal supporters will be influenced by the quality of the experience. Better experience, more paying customers.

The biggest disappointments to me though are that we had a “sell out” in a newly refurbished stadium with over 3,000 unsold seats and encouraging the rowdies to stand in zoo corner rather than the Devonport, which makes scuffles like Saturday far more likely

Absolutely agreed.

It's good to see the club actively engaging with threads like this on PASOTI, and I for one appreciate it. It's worth noting I think that many (or most?) of the complaints are not about the need for security searches themselves, but about the management of these and the way they are carried out - and in particular the management of the queues (or chaotic lack of this) outside the Lyndhurst in particular.

As several have observed this cannot be a difficult thing to sort out. It just can't be. It has to be run-of-the-mill, business-as-usual, routine matchday management tasks in conjunction with the security contractors who act under Argyle's direction. Accurate crowd numbers are known several weeks in advance, so not being ready for a near capacity crowd is no excuse. And this has been going on since pre-season.

It was done well for the Ipswich match, so why not others? Eyes are being taken off the ball, and it's rightly p*ssing supporters off.

 

[The Doctor]

If my asthma pump (smaller then a smoke bomb) can be picked up from a pat down, then a smoke bomb can

Yes - it COULD be but won't necessarily be. I'd imagine that a pat-down search wouldn't ALWAYS pick up an asthma inhaler. If you put your asthma inhaler down your underpants I suspect it would not be located - but then you wouldn't exactly want to use it afterwards!

 

[metroace]

I think you're over thinking it mate, I really do.

Really? It is exactly the same thinking whereby County Lines gangs use youngsters to move the product around. They perceive them as less likely to be stopped.

 

[IJN]

Yup I get all that. But asking your granny to sneak a smoke bomb in????

 

[IJN]

Yes - it COULD be but won't necessarily be. I'd imagine that a pat-down search wouldn't ALWAYS pick up an asthma inhaler. If you put your asthma inhaler down your underpants I suspect it would not be located - but then you wouldn't exactly want to use it afterwards!

I accidentally took a golfing divot tool into SJP during the 4-0 hammering (which never happened).

I was searched before going in.

Not exactly a sure fire way of dealing with weapons is it Doc?

 

[The Doctor]

I was searched before going in.

Not exactly a sure fire way of dealing with weapons is it Doc?

View attachment 1523

Obviously not. I don’t suppose anyone thinks it is.

 

[GoGoGreen]

Surely the idea isn't to check every single person to detect every single possible issue - the threat level doesn't justify that. Surely the idea is to set a pattern whereby people attending the ground know that anyone (and everyone) COULD be checked and thereby minimize the chance that anyone would try to carry some kind of weapon into the ground. To accomplish this there has to be a lot of searching so that it's always possible any individual could be searched but it's not necessary to rigorously search everyone and everything (as is done at airports). I think the point really is whether the balance is right at the moment. I'm not sure that every person in a line needs to be checked - some kind of random sampling could be used. But then, imagine the scenario where someone does take a knife into the ground and attacks people - then everyone would be howling that there were not enough checks being made and the security company/club would probably end up being hauled through the courts or insurance claims for failing to ensure customer safety. So really, the club and the security company can't win can they?

As far as searching old people, kids etc. is concerned, it's pretty obvious that if you WERE trying to get weapons into the ground you'd give them to someone less likely to LOOK like the kind of person who might carry a weapon. That's certainly what I would do. Mind you someone once did say that I would make a very dangerous criminal...

I get what you're saying, and I agree that it's probably a question of getting the balance right for the circumstances, but if you get into 'random' sampling, then you're on a slippery slope to 'profiling' in my mind.

I personally hate it because I'm a short, plump, middle aged woman (about as dangerous as they come) and there isn't always a female steward to be seen.

And as explained in my OP, I'm not sure that the wands even work consistently - so far, not a single beep for coins, phone or car keys!

 

[chunkymonkey78]

Yup I get all that. But asking your granny to sneak a smoke bomb in????

The point is that you wouldn't necessarily be asking, whatever you wanted in the ground that shouldn't be in there would be quite easy to get in without 'Granny' knowing if you knew she wouldn't be searched.

We've gone from AK47's to smoke bombs to try and mock the point that if you're a wrong 'un you'll do what it takes to get done what you want.

 

[Green Flash]

Search bags and pat down likely suspects - as happens at every other ground. Job done.

 

[boletus edulis]

Search bags and pat down likely suspects - as happens at every other ground. Job done.

One of the things I love is that there are a lot more women and children attending Home Park than there were ten years ago. Not sure currently I see enough female stewards to "pat" them down? They may well have to wait until a woman is especially brought over from elsewhere. Not massively welcoming I'd say.

 

[HerthaBSC]

When the pre match music was too loud, there were protestations of lack of crowd atmosphere. Now we have quiet music and very little pre match chanting. How about a bit of flexibility, volume up a bit or down a bit according to atmosphere

 

[Daz]

I accidentally took a golfing divot tool into SJP during the 4-0 hammering (which never happened).

I was searched before going in.

Not exactly a sure fire way of dealing with weapons is it Doc?

View attachment 1523

That’s a pitch fork, not “a golfing divot tool.” 🙄

 

[Daz]

Great to see Christians positive response to some of the issues raised.

 

[Devizes Green]

I got to HP quite early at about 1.30 and used the turnstiles behind the Grandstand.The stewards were all very friendly,I was zapped by the wand which beeped on two occasions.I said this was due to my keys which was true,but the steward did not check that this was correct.So what is the point of the wand ?

 

[Sherford Green]

I think Argyle probably need to abandon the idea of turning the music off before kick off. It was good to give it a go but in reality fans understandably won’t be creating a big pre match atmosphere for a run of the mill league game. Instead it means there is just the hum of thousands of people talking like being at a Test match. Worth still trying in future for genuinely big/exciting matches though like a play off semi or a cup game against one of the big Premier League teams etc.