Yeovil Town apologise over Leeds United ticket fiasco

8:34am Thursday 8th May 2008

YEOVIL Town officials have apologised to Glovers fans over the ticket fiasco for the club's last home game of the season against Leeds United.

A record crowd of just under 10,000 descended on Huish Park for the fixture with Leeds on April 25 - but Yeovil supporters were left angry as hundreds of Leeds followers had gained tickets for the home areas of the ground.

After receiving a host of complaints the club has now conducted a "thorough internal review" of its operations and conducted a de-brief with Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

A club statement reads: "The fixture attracted a record attendance at Huish Park and represented the most demanding test of resources and procedures since our FA Cup Third Round match against Liverpool in 2004.

"Leeds United have the sixth largest supporter following in the country, but due to the size of our ground and the accompanying segregation issues the club was only able to provide the visitors with 1,600 tickets.

"This scenario risked a substantial number of Leeds fans attempting to purchase their tickets in "home" designated areas."

Speculation among Yeovil fans that Leeds supporters were buying up "home" tickets for the match was gathering pace before Christmas and the club has now admitted that it did know what was happening from an "early stage."

The statement continued: "At a very early stage, it became apparent that a few tickets had been purchased online by people residing at northern addresses.

"Although this did not necessarily mean that the buyers were Leeds supporters it raised sufficient concerns for the club to introduce a robust policy for the sale of tickets in relation to this fixture.

"Thereafter no tickets were sold to people living outside of designated local post code areas and purchasers were limited to four tickets per person.

"Many prospective purchasers were refused the opportunity to buy tickets because they were unable to convince staff in the ticket office that they were Yeovil Town supporters.

"Despite these efforts a number of Leeds fans were evident in the Cowlin, AgustaWestland and Carlsberg stands.

"In the majority of cases these fans conducted themselves in a perfectly acceptable manner."

But the statement added: "However, there were also other contingents that were determined to infiltrate the "home" areas and behave inappropriately.

"We apologise to any Yeovil Town fans whose enjoyment of the game and the occasion was impaired by the presence of these particular fans.

"Although the review of operations has highlighted areas where improvements can be made in managing the safety and security of our fans for any future high profile match the stewards and police must be commended for the part they played in containing the potential trouble makers and thereby preventing any serious disorder.

"Most of all however, the club would like to praise and thank the Yeovil Town fans for the considerable restraint they showed in the response to the intimidation generated by the small minority of Leeds fans intent on causing disruption.

"The police intelligence officer has informed us that Yeovil Town fans are amongst the best behaved in the Football League, home and away, and that is something of which we should all be proud."

Despite the general "uneasy" atmosphere inside the ground where there were large groups of Leeds fans had congregated in the home areas, the police reported after the match that there were no arrests and only one ejection.

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