Crystal Palace Football Club appreciates the very difficult job that the police have to do when controlling large crowds of people outside our stadium. We are, of course, fully aware that how they manage crowd control on the public streets and railway stations is up to them. Nevertheless, following numerous complaints about their handling of the crowds last night, we contacted the Match Commander, Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, first thing this morning to voice our concerns on behalf of supporters of the football club. We are pleased that Chief Superintendent Roberts has responded so quickly and is fully aware of the complaints that have been made. His statement follows below.
The club directors and safety officer have urgently requested a meeting with senior police officers where we can voice our concerns and those of our supporters. It is our aim to work together with the police to ensure that supporters can continue to attend football matches at Selhurst Park in a safe and trouble-free environment.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused to spectators as a result of crowd management measures implemented after the match on 31st January 2012 against Brighton. In particular the holding back of some Palace fans in the Arthur Wait Stand and the closure of Holmesdale Road at the junction with Park Road immediately after the game. Can I assure CPFC supporters that I considered such measures to be absolutely necessary in the interests of public safety and the decision to implement these measures was only taken after significant deliberation of the options available and taking the intelligence picture into account.
Furthermore, these measures were implemented for the minimum time necessary to achieve the objective; and were subsequently justified by the fact that police had to respond to a confrontation between rival supporters at Norwood Junction after the game. Had this happened outside the ground (which I'm convinced it would have had I not implemented these measures) then I have no doubt that the risk of harm to decent law-abiding fans would have been significantly greater and this message would have been relating to a far more serious set of circumstances.
Finally, I am aware that some Palace fans have expressed concern that this was another inconvenience after similar measures in previous games against Millwall and Leeds. Again, can I assure those critics that in both cases these measures were necessary and the only viable options available under the circumstances. Against Millwall, it was necessary to temporarily prevent Palace fans from crossing the junction of Holmesdale Rd and Park Road in the interests of public safety; and at the Leeds game, it was necessary to test the closure of exit gate E3, so that we could be assured that crowd safety would not be compromised should I have found it necessary to implement the measures referred to above at the Brighton game.
Hopefully this message has gone some way to reassuring Palace fans that such decisions are not taken lightly; that this is not a targeting of Palace fans as a cohort and that on each occasion these decisions have been justified under the circumstances.
Again, I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result."
Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts.
