Putting Liverpool’s Emirates FA Cup Ticket Allotment into Perspective

Ed note: This piece first appeared on SheWore.com – it has been published with kind permission of the team at She Wore and KeenosAFC.
Liverpool fans are in uproar over the decision made by Arsenal to only offer 5,168 of a possible 9,000 for the fifth round FA Cup tie. Despite FA Cup rules stating that a club may request up to 15% of seats, Arsenal, as in the game against Tottenham, have reduced the allocation based on safety grounds. And Liverpool only have themselves to blame.
There previous poor behaviour at the Emirates is one of the two main causes as to why they have been offered almost half of what they should have been. It is all their own fans fault.
Back in 2008, Arsenal played Liverpool in the Champions League Quarter Final. The match was marred by trouble outside of the ground between Liverpool fans and the police. It is the only time there has been a major safety infringement at the Emirates Stadium.
The issues surrounded Liverpool fans turning up with fake tickets, and in many cases, without tickets. The police attempted to control this by forcing Liverpool fans to remain outside of the stadium whilst they hand checked tickets as they went through the turnstiles. This resulted in a backlog of fans outside the stadium, and many fans missing the game.
Rather than Liverpool fans blaming the fans who turned up with fake tickets, they blamed the police. In the video above, their demand seems to be simple ‘Let us in, we do not care’ despite the obvious safety issues created by too many fans being squashed into too small an area. The police made the decision to keep fans outside of the stadium, in the vast concrete surrounding the stadium, whilst they removed those fans with fake tickets and checked those fans going in that they had the correct tickets. The police were correct in their actions. Liverpool fans were the ones in the wrong.
Fast forward 6 years, and Liverpool fans behaviour has not changed. Up and down the country they ‘jib’ in. They did it in Athens & Istanbul. They seem to have no care for their own, or others safety, as they succumb to their own selfishness to see the game. Were they to behave like human beings, rather than animals, they may well of got their 9,000 tickets. But due to their own behaviour, they have had their allocation cut. It is all their fault.
Rather than blame Arsenal, blame the police, blame Islington Council, Liverpool fans need to take a look at themselves. Take a look at those standing next to them. Standing around them. It is the fans who cheat and lie their way into the stadium who create the safety issues we saw in 2008. It shows Liverpool fans can not be trusted when given big allocation’s, and it should not be a surprise that they have their allocation cut.
The other issue surrounds standing. Liverpool fans stand – as do many away fans. The problem is in the FA Cup at the Emirates is when clubs take up the full 9,000 allocation, they get the upper tier. The upper tier is steep and clearly unsafe for standing.
A club can only put on a game once a safety certificate has been issued by local council, in Arsenal’s case Islington. For the Tottenham game, Islington wrote to the club explaining that they would not issue a safety certificate if Arsenal planned to give Tottenham the upper tier:
RE: ARSENAL V TOTTENHAM – FA CUP THIRD ROUND
Further to our discussions, I write to confirm my views on the allocation for Tottenham fans for
this match.The Safety Team did a detailed evaluation of risks earlier in the year regarding issues posed by
having supporters on the upper tier. [REDACTED] the points need to be considered for each
occasion when use is an option. This identified significant risks with persistent standing and
ability to steward and police potentially disorderly and violent behaviour on the upper tier.The cup game against Chelsea proved this to be a correct assumption. Very few of the
spectators on the upper tier sat and those who wanted to were unable to do so unless in the
front rows of seats. The front two rows had been netted, as we did for previous cup games, but
this was breached by spectators wanting to sit and get out of the crowd, or by others leading
chanting and singing. The increased level of stewarding and policing had no impact on
behaviour and attempts to throw missiles onto the Arsenal fans below were witnessed. Flares
were let off in the lower tier and had this happened on the upper tier, this could have
precipitated panic amongst the standing fans.Taking each game on its merits, I would therefore not support the use of the upper tier for away
fans for this game which I believe means restricting the allocation to 5,000. Arsenal v
Tottenham games are always categorised as high risk and this match will be no different. It has
the potential to be more significant as it’s a cup game, and therefore we can only assume that
standing and disorderly behaviour will be prevalent. Persistent standing is always a factor for
visiting Tottenham supporters. No mitigation such as leaving rows vacant at the front addresses
this so the alternative is to limit the allocation to the lower tier where the risks lessen.I have attached the letter sent to Arsenal in March which sets out the reasons why we came to
the need to risk assess the use of the upper tier for each game. I reinforced the need to review
after the observations of the Chelsea match, especially given the recent advice of the SASG on
persistent standing, and conclude that it would not be advisable to use it for this match. As we
found from the review we did earlier in the year, this is in line with other grounds having a steep rake who undertake risk assessments of games before agreeing allocations and I understand from our SASG representative that Tottenham have taken similar decisions in relation to use of their upper tier.
It is likely that we will see the same situation, the same letter, for the Liverpool game. With Liverpool fans issues of travelling over and above their allocation, the game would be a logistical nightmare to ensure fans are sitting in the right seats. Add in the problem of Liverpool standing in the upper tier, and their enjoyment of flairs, the natural result is that they are given a lesser allocation, in the lower tier only. The will blame Arsenal, they will blame Islington, they will blame the police. But it is Liverpool fan’s who are at fault.
The worry is that with Arsenal dropping the allocation, 9,000 Liverpool fans may well still turn up, encouraged by Liverpool fan groups. This will create further problems outside the stadium and simply justify the club offering them a lower allocation. Liverpool fans, you only have yourselves to blame. But of course, you are Liverpool, and it’s never your fault
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Fair enough – Didn’t get a response to the other questions
so can you say that arsenal arnt bothered about the money they would lose by giving us 9000 tickets or that your club is over priced every week and wengers is a escape goat for not spending on players but they pay him enough to put up and shut up,i would be gutted if liverpool was run this way and im not saying are owners are perfect what i am saying is yours should turn up at the match with mascs on they should feel that bad
No, Arsenal aren’t bothered by the money they lose by not giving you 9000 tickets.
Wenger is not a “scape goat” for not spending on players. The club had a financial policy in place to get through the financing of a new stadium on it’s own. So as to not have it leveraged in debt – like you lot all know about.
Our owner visits as much as your American Owner does. Should he wear a “mask” too for not being there all the time?
If you understood the financial strategy Arsenal had to endure while paying for the stadium you might actually see the sense in what they’ve done. Funny that everyone ignores that this season they spend big as they come out of the “financial woods” and it gets them right back challenging for the title. No one at the club was happy with “just qualifying for the Champion’s League” – its an old an tired narrative from the media who felt Arsenal needed to be like everyone else and leverage their stability to win. They didn’t and when the other clubs are starting to choke with the debt they have laid on the clubs people might actually wise up to the fact that the path that Arsenal took to get here was actually wise and prudent.
Are our ticket prices high? Yes. No one likes that. But wait for it. In time Arsenal ticket prices will seem cheap in comparison. How are Liverpool going to pay for the Anfield expansion? Think Henry will pull the money out of his wallet for the good of it? Nope. When that starts to go forward you will also be paying the high prices of modern football.
like your club you will not post my comment as you no its all about money your owners will go for top four every year never for top as the money you need to spend is not worth it so stick together and sort your club there is no need for the prices you pay every week
Oh I wouldn’t post the comment? How’s that for ya?
or could it be arsenal couldnt charge 100 pound a ticket to liverpool fans as they are not like there own fans who get ripped off every week so only give liverpool half and rip there own supporters off again with the rest,one gready gready club every year they got 100 mil to spend on players but only spend pennies and lie to there supporters and every year they believe them and do nothing about it so dont go there that its are fault we dont fall for the same shit as there supporters do
Or it could be I dunno the continued disrespect that Liverpool away supporters tend to show when they travel.
Good god what a horrible post
I sense sour grapes from the 5 1 hammering
I was in Athens I’m guessing you weren’t and it simply wasn’t fit for purpose and a serious danger to life
Presumably a modern stadia such as the emirates should be able to cope with a few morons with dodgy tickets so as not to interfere with the experience for those who had purchased legitimate tickets?
If you look at the link of the when the article was originally published – you could see it was posted BEFORE the Premier League match between the two.