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Lambert: Stay Off the Pitch
Tuesday, 21st Jan 2020 16:04

Boss Paul Lambert has called on fans to stay off the pitch when celebrating goals with the Blues facing a fine due to a number of supporters encroaching on to the pitch after Town’s winner at Tranmere on Saturday.

Clubs face punishment from the authorities if fans cross the barriers but don’t even make it as far as the pitch, whereas one supporter was running around the Rovers 18-yard box at Prenton Park.

“To have 1,000 Ipswich fans make that five, six-hour journey to Tranmere to support the team on Saturday was incredible, especially when there were some concerns over the game being on,” Town boss Lambert told the club site.

“Our supporters are fantastic. They have given the team unbelievable backing home and away and they have a part to play over the rest of the season but we can’t have supporters coming on the pitch. That just can’t happen.

“Come and have a party, make all the noise you can and enjoy it. I’m for all that and I know how emotions can take over at games. I’ve had that myself but the pitch is for the players, not for supporters. All that happens then is people get arrested and banned. No one wants that.”

Club secretary Stuart Hayton added: “The authorities take encroachment onto the pitch as a serious matter, whether it’s in celebration or not. We have no alternative but to take action if that situation occurs.”


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SamWhiteUK added 10:11 - Jan 22
People saying it's spur of the moment stuff!! Wow!! Sorry, didn't realise when the human body gets excited it loses control of its legs!! The morons who run on the pitch know exactly what they're doing, the don't wonder where the hell they are when the celebrations calm down and they find turf under their feet! Jesus
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raycrawfordswig added 11:16 - Jan 22
Think he was looking for more pies.
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SouperJim added 12:04 - Jan 22
SamWhiteUK you've never done something daft in your excitement when celebrating a goal? I've knocked complete strangers flying, been hugged by people I've never met, knocked my own glasses off my face and trampled on them, fallen over plastic seats etc. I didn't mean to do any of them, but when an important goal goes in yes it's possible to lose control for a moment. No, we don't want fans on the pitch and the club being fined, and yes the club is completely correct to calmly dissuade people from doing so in the future. But it doesn't make those fans idiots, that it was definitely premeditated and that they deserve to be called morons by their fellow town fans for it.

In short, lighten up a bit. It's great that us fans are getting excited about our football club again.
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ITFCsince73 added 12:32 - Jan 22
Souperjim. You sound like a friend of mine. He does all that whenever we score.
SamWhiteUK LoL.
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TJS added 13:55 - Jan 22
If you ask me the only people who should be getting fined are Tranmere for having inadequate barriers. If you can simply walk onto the pitch without have to climb over anything at all what do you expect.
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BurleysGloryDays added 13:57 - Jan 22
I agree with SouperJim, just delighted to see our fans being so passionate about a goal.

Lambert has to say what he's said, he'll have been asked to and it's his job.

Ask him privately and I bet he'd laugh about it all. It goes without saying to stay in the terraces, but he'll want fans going as barmy as anything for 90 mins, it's his ethos and it's what our club needs.

Try not to cross the line in the process. Bit of common sense and all that.
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Westy added 21:41 - Jan 22
TJS - I take it you are not old enough to remember the Hillsborough tragedy when 95 people were crushed to death behind barriers, some of them children. Another victim subsequently died of his injuries. That is what instigated all seater stadiums and why BBB artists were taken down!
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Westy added 21:46 - Jan 22
Meant to write 'and why the barriers were taken down'.
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SouperJim added 12:46 - Jan 23
Westy, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't think anyone is advocating that we go back to having 10ft tall metal barriers all the way around the outside of the pitch. I suspect the point TJS was trying to make is, unlike Portman Road, Prenton Park has big gaps between the advertising boards where there is no physical barrier to stop someone rushing onto the pitch in the heat of the moment.

Of course a low wall with gates etc like we have at Portman Road won't physically stop someone going onto the pitch if they really intend to (although it does give the stewards a fighting chance of stopping them), it's more of a psychological barrier than a physical one. But the harsh repercussions of entering the field of play tend to put off those who would plan the act in advance, hence we rarely have anyone get on the pitch at Portman Road.
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