I don't think he had much choice! ;

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Question for you ***. Do you think there should have been more police in the ground.

Yes.............

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Dont worry DTS,the old lefty *** is wrong on everything he writes,this is just another example !

A recommendation from you is a guarantee of an increase in respect from everyone else.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Question for you ***. Do you think there should have been more police in the ground.

Whatever we as supporters think, the club were guided by the police in this. Police intel was that there was no need to make it a "policed" match inside the ground, therefore the club followed their advice.

I didn't see this bit myself, and it's not in the online version as far as I could see, but someone brought this snippet from the Echo to my attention - maybe not quite the innocent that some on here would have us believe:

Coshever of Eaton Place, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, already has convictions for common assault and causing actual bodily harm and has previously completed an anger management course.

 

[AndyT]

I hope he got his money back from the "anger management course"! :smile:

The issue is not the behaviour of Mark Coshever. We all know you can't behave like this, in general, but it's the lazy way the whole case is swept under the carpet because it is simpler to just prosecute and blame the easy target.

I'm disappointed, as always, with the lack of quality journalism on this case. It seems easier to watch a couple of youtube clips, have a chat with the club and then write some one-sided piece on how disgraceful this behavior is and how we don't want his sort in Roots Hall, rather than a bit of investigative journalism to uncover the real facts.

There are major issues involving the behavior of a fair number of people in this case, yet they are all forgotten about.

For balance, the whole thing needs properly investigating from top to bottom, yet within two weeks, a guy is convicted and the classic "no further comment" gets rolled out.

 

[mrsblue]

A recommendation from you is a guarantee of an increase in respect from everyone else.

Respect is that what you crave then?:hilarious:

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

So with regards to three of your posts in this thread

1) he didn't whack a steward. The worst he did was brush past one.
2) he didn't injure a female steward
3) two colu fans did get out their pen as soon as we scored the first and before all this trouble. One bottled it almost instantly and the second one saw the police between him and us and froze and his mate dragged him back and put his hands up to the police to acknowledge his name being an idiot.

I have this on film as I was actually there in the back row of the block he came out from.

Given that you clearly didn't see the incidents at all having made three incorrect statements already maybe best to stop dragging this chaps name through the mud more than it already has been on this thread.

seriously?
One of the female stewards was inadvertently hit by one of the pitch invaders - I 'asked' about this because someone made this guy made out to be a protector of the stewards. It was pointed out that was the other one already so you are going over old ground. Two Southend fans went on the pitch - not being able to distinguish between two blokes running on the pitch is fairly understandable - it's not like, I dunno getting Coker and Deegan mixed up.
Your third point about Col Utd - I'm not sure why you are telling me that.

I was discussing the specific video that was posted on here, that had been put up as a point of discussion and is on youtube for the whole world to see. I was pointing out how many people in the video were gearing up to follow his lead and the knock on effects if them doing that. How is that not a valid point?

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Respect is that what you crave then?:hilarious:

A dis from you is a badge of honour that anyone would wear with pride.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Whatever we as supporters think, the club were guided by the police in this. Police intel was that there was no need to make it a "policed" match inside the ground, therefore the club followed their advice.

Well that's taken a long time to come out ! :blush:

 

[rigsby]

seriously?
One of the female stewards was inadvertently hit by one of the pitch invaders - I 'asked' about this because someone made this guy made out to be a protector of the stewards. It was pointed out that was the other one already so you are going over old ground. Two Southend fans went on the pitch - not being able to distinguish between two blokes running on the pitch is fairly understandable - it's not like, I dunno getting Coker and Deegan mixed up.
Your third point about Col Utd - I'm not sure why you are telling me that.

I was discussing the specific video that was posted on here, that had been put up as a point of discussion and is on youtube for the whole world to see. I was pointing out how many people in the video were gearing up to follow his lead and the knock on effects if them doing that. How is that not a valid point?

You agree that we should have had more police. Yet just like the club and the police your happy to make out its all the fault of one Southend fan.

 

[rigsby]

So with regards to three of your posts in this thread

1) he didn't whack a steward. The worst he did was brush past one.
2) he didn't injure a female steward
3) two colu fans did get out their pen as soon as we scored the first and before all this trouble. One bottled it almost instantly and the second one saw the police between him and us and froze and his mate dragged him back and put his hands up to the police to acknowledge his name being an idiot.

I have this on film as I was actually there in the back row of the block he came out from.

Given that you clearly didn't see the incidents at all having made three incorrect statements already maybe best to stop dragging this chaps name through the mud more than it already has been on this thread.

Don't worry DTS. The moment you don't condemn all violence even if its self defence, our resident PC policeman Another Surrey Whimper will be on your case. As I found out when I posted the details of the fight in the Spread with the Cambridge bullies. Because some of us saved a Shrimper from a good beating we were 'giving out mixed messages about violence' and we should have just left the pub.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

You agree that we should have had more police. Yet just like the club and the police your happy to make out its all the fault of one Southend fan.

The comment I made about the video posted up last night is that in the video you can see quite a lot of other people gearing up to get on the pitch and that would lead to escalating problems - do you disagree with that statement?




You brought in the subject of how many police there were there and asked me if I thought there should have been more and I answered 'yes'. Has anyone on here said they don't think there should have been more police there?




So what exactly is your problem with what I have written?


Are you implying the person in question is not responsible for his own actions?

 

[AndyT]

In fairness, not a single person thinks that hopping over a wall and lumping someone is the done thing, but what is being righty implied is that there were extenuating circumstances that lead to this, which are being largely overlooked, resulting in it appearing to be the actions of a mindless lunatic, pre-meditatedly looking for trouble.

When Cambridge fans came into the Spread Eagle, these people WERE looking for trouble, yet no investigation seems to be going on there.

I'd take a guess that Mark Coshever didn't go into the ground looking for trouble on Saturday, but faced with what he had witnessed, he couldn't help himself due to his apparent anger management issues.

No-one is condoning it, but what is clearly wrong is that pretending he was a 'lone gunman' so to speak, is foolhardy at the very least.

One of our own players was apparently manhandled by supporters in the North Bank, which is quite a big issue for me and chucking coins and fighting with our own stewards seems to be less of an offence these days then entering the field of play to dish out a little retribution.

 

[mrsblue]

The comment I made about the video posted up last night is that in the video you can see quite a lot of other people gearing up to get on the pitch and that would lead to escalating problems - do you disagree with that statement?




You brought in the subject of how many police there were there and asked me if I thought there should have been more and I answered 'yes'. Has anyone on here said they don't think there should have been more police there?




So what exactly is your problem with what I have written?


Are you implying the person in question is not responsible for his own actions?

Gearing up and actually entering the playing area are in reality two totally different aspects,bit like I saw 2 guys gearing up to have a punch up but actually did nothing!

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Gearing up and actually entering the playing area are in reality two totally different aspects,bit like I saw 2 guys gearing up to have a punch up but actually did nothing!

I think we can all figure that out. I'll try again - the point is that his actions could have been replicated by others (and that specific video shows that as a strong possibility) - which would cause big problems for the club.

 

[AndyT]

.. It also, at the end, shows a large voice of people shouting "get off the pitch" to our own supporters, so there's a fair number of people trying to police it themselves, as well.

The point is that it DID happen and people didn't get on the pitch with him, so we can't assume it was a dangerous thing to do, because it actually happened and only one other person went over the wall.

We are being painted out to be the bad boys here, when there were more issues with Colchester fans behavior on the day than ours, IMHO.

 

[GBJ]

Helping by punching a 17yr old in the face. Magic.

Mate, you spinning it to sounds as if they didn't deserve what they got, because they were young kids (Not everyone in that section was though) These weren't innocent school children, just going about their daily lives.

I'd say they got what they deserved, however I don't believe that, because I believe they deserved much worse.

Hypothetically, what if you're daughter was in Block X that night, and caught one of those thrown coins in the eye, to which she lost her sight?

 

[GBJ]

I think we can all figure that out. I'll try again - the point is that his actions could have been replicated by others (and that specific video shows that as a strong possibility) - which would cause big problems for the club.

Thats just cause & effect. Col U fancied a charge, fancied slapping the stewards & fancied throwing coins. If the old bill had done something, then there wouldn't have been this reaction from the Southend fans, in the first place.

The whole reason this escalated wasn't due to football hooliganism, or too much beer or any other crap reason. It was because the OB stood their videotaping it, instead of policing it, which put people in that immediate vicinity, in danger.

I agree the whole thing could have escalated into some proper riot, which again would be down to the OB. It's nothing to do with self-policing, when you're under attack

 

[MK Shrimper]

Mate, you spinning it to sounds as if they didn't deserve what they got, because they were young kids (Not everyone in that section was though) These weren't innocent school children, just going about their daily lives.

I'd say they got what they deserved, however I don't believe that, because I believe they deserved much worse.

Hypothetically, what if you're daughter was in Block X that night, and caught one of those thrown coins in the eye, to which she lost her sight?

You know what - I've changed my mind. If the Col Ewe fans were throwing coins (I was too far away to see with my own eyes) and our stewards and the police did nothing to stop them, then yes, the kid got what he deserved and I hope these Col Ewe fans who were causing the trouble will be prosecuted as fully as the Southend fan.

 

[GBJ]

You know what - I've changed my mind. If the Col Ewe fans were throwing coins (I was too far away to see with my own eyes) and our stewards and the police did nothing to stop them, then yes, the kid got what he deserved and I hope these Col Ewe fans who were causing the trouble will be prosecuted as fully as the Southend fan.

I was in the thick of it, and I can say I saw it. The coins whipped by so quick, all you saw was the momentary glint of the coins, as they shimmered under the floodlights.

I don't blame The stewards, as they were outnumbered & couldn't really do a lot. Infact, the entire situation arose, when the stewards tried to eject one of the Col U mugs, to which the rest of their little mob took offence to. That's what started the little ruck in that area. Meanwhile, the OB did nothing. I fully expected them to wade in (and hopefully start clubbing & pepper spraying the Col U mugs, but sadly that wasn't forthcoming) They did nothing apart from shoot the whole thing on their camcorders.

It took me about 20 seconds to realise they wasn't going to do anything either. I dare say everyone else in that area had worked it out just as quickly aswell. It was basically a green light for the resulting scenes, starting with the Col U scum attacking the stewards.

It's like a kid(s), doing something a bit naughty, and not being told off, instantly. It encourages them to push the boundaries even further/carry on with what they're doing, as they know there isn't any immediate action coming their way. Only in this case, the "naughty" thing was to attack innocent people & attempt to maim others, by throwing coins.

The OB and SUFC have a lot to answer for, but as others have mentioned, for the actions of one person (who I personally think deserves credit, not the keyboard-warrior-style abuse he's recieved) they've avoided any real backlash

We all know representatives from the club read this forum, so hopefully they'll read this bit... SUFC, if one of my family members had been hurt in those scenes, you'd be facing a very, very costly compensation case. I'd say the handling of the situation was schoolboy, but that would be an insult to school boys.

 

[rararblue]

I am a 59 year old Granddad, certainly not out for trouble and was too, in X block, a few rows behind the first guy who run on the pitch. It was exactly as detailed by GBJ.

Tickets for X block were made available for sale a few days before kick off and the net result was that it was very much a block of mixed people, some young, some old and some families. It certainly wasn't a block full of 'lads' and I feel the lack of a police response let down, both the fans located there and the stewards, who were struggling to contain the situation,

The guy who ran on, has simply had enough! You can't excuse what he did, because clearly it is wrong to take matters into your own hands. However, we all have different breaking points and it was inevitable, once the authorities didn't respond, that something was going to happen.

I think, without the help of the players, coming over to calm things down, that things could have got a lot worse.