Janefield Street crush

Parky1888

Parky1888

Active member
Wasn't at the game on Sunday, can people who were shed light on exactly what caused it? Stories in media are v vague. London Road closed to allow Sevcionians to be ushered in?
 
Ghirl from Celtic trust said it might have been the fact we had nearly 7000 extra tickets for our support there was a larger than usual crowd trying to get from one side of stadium to other and vice versa remembering london rd was shut off and I think there was a larger than usual number of buses and plane problems getting to the game later than they would have liked that's what I was hearing at half time I'm in Lisbon lion upper
 
Walked my wee brother to his turnstile through the tunnel and it was busy but people moving freely enough. Went back the same way a few min later and it was packed, got to a point where I couldn’t move forward or back and I was right in the middle of the tunnel. I would have went round the London road way but it was all blocked. Pure nightmare, I’m a fit grown man but being in the middle of that I was thinking this is getting a bit serious here. Managed to squeeze through just about, no help from the peelers or stewards. Could have been a real disaster. Anyone hear how the fan that collapsed is doing?
 
The club owes fans a detailed explanation on why it happened and what action is being takem to prevent it from ever haooening again. not just a big well done for the reaction of police and stewards. this could have been worse who to say it womt happen again and what would have happened if the reaction was delayed longer or failed to happen to stop the flow of fans entering. questions need answered and publicly announced.
 
Cool ta. Not sure what plan the police put in place! Why not use the plans for EL or CL games? We've had games before with a potential of fans getting involved (eg Ajax) and not had this issue. Seems like it just didn't have to happen
 
We need a full, transparent and independent review of this horrific event. My son was in this and said it was terrifying and he is a fit, strong young man. He was one of those who climbed over walls to escape the crush. The chilling parallels with Hillsborough were there for all to see and it is only by the greatest of fortune that there were no serious injuries or worse. My understanding of the situation is that it was down to police decisions to close gates and thereafter, despite being advised of the gravity of the situation, did not act quickly enough to address the problem! The use of horses to control the crowds in this situation was unbelievably stupid and downright reckless. I am thankful that my boy returned home safe from this match but I am not prepared to accept any platitudes here, I want an independent investigation and I think we should all be letting the club know the strength of feeling on this matter!
 
I've just read James' piece on this and it is just as I feared! A whitewash, no one is to blame, move along nothing to see here! No way I'm accepting this I have already e-mailed every person I can think of including my MSP I'm not happy about this and I'm guessing there's plenty more people who feel the same! As I said I'm thankful that my boy and the others involved, apart from the casualties we know about, got out of that crush safely but I am not prepared to accept that there was no culpability here for the this disgraceful situation. We deserve better, much better, from those charged with keeping people safe at football matches? How is it that the stadium has been filled to capacity on European nights, for example, with no such incidences? What was different about Sunday? Apart from our 'guests' of course......
 
This could have easily been so so much worse and as Rosie says, a full INDEPENDANT review must be carried out, the police reviewing themselves is as much good as having Sevco placemen on the LNS inquiry and we all know how that turned out
 
I was in the middle of the crush on Sunday and wrote about it just after the game on The Celtic Star. To me it is pretty clear. A decision was made for Celtic fans to use the tunnel to keep them away from the away fans corner. There were over 7000 extra Celtic fans at this game than would normally be the case and not enough thought was given to the implications of directing all Celtic supporters wishing to get to the other side of the stadium from where they arrived to go through that tunnel. It was dangerous, the Stewarts were pretty much useless and there were no police around. It was only the self policing and common sense from the supporters themselves that stopped a much more serious situation developing.
It is relatively safe to go to games against them at Celtic Park, Ibrox or Hampden and the Police have their plans in place for each stadium and these are implemented. Because of the actions of Rangers pandering to their support, the dynamic was changed on Sunday by the police and presumably by Celtic.
My view is we don't take tickets for Ibrox - we don't give them any tickets for the next game at Celtic Park and we say the alternative is to revert to the tried and tested formula or it's home fans only.
 
I sent this e-mail to the Celtic Trust and forwarded it the the SLO:

I was unfortunately caught up in the initial crush in Janefield St tunnel on Sunday 2nd September, just after 11:35am – well before Police Scotland suggest the incident occurred; here is my recollection and viewpoint on events.

I had met a few friends for breakfast in Coias on Sunday morning and we left before 11 to meet and say hello to some other friends at the corner of the Celtic Superstore – the south-west corner of the stadium; one of the friends we met was Chris Stuart from the Celtic Trust. I left with one other person at 11:30 because I had to get to my turnstile at the north-east corner of the Stadium and as the access via London Rd was closed, I knew I had to go via the janefiled St tunnel. Simple arithmetic suggested that as there were between 6000 and 7000 Celtic extra fans expected in the east stand and that it would be very busy and take a while to get through there. Logic suggested that approximately half of these fans would come from the north and east and half would come from the south and west. This suggested to me that somewhere between 3000 and 3500 extra fans would be coming along the janefield St tunnel that day as London Rd was closed for access. This number was augmented by those fans who usually walked along London Rod from the east to get to the west and south stands. So somewhere well in excess of 5000 extra fans would be accessing this tunnel from both directions in the 30 minutes before kick-off. One would expect that Celtic FC and Police Scotland would come to a similar conclusion; sadly, they didn’t.

As I approached Janefield St from the west at approximately 11:35 I saw that it was very busy. What did strike me was that the mounted Police officers who were usually at the west entrance of the tunnel for home games were not there. This is significant because had they been there they would have easily witnessed the start of the incident from their higher vantage point and could have taken action immediately. The time is also significant because Police Scotland have publicly stated that the overcrowding and crush started 10 minutes prior to kick-off; and that they responded immediately. This is absolutely untrue.

I joined the crowd at the entrance to the tunnel at approximately 11:35 and within 30 seconds or so I became alarmed because I was aware that the crowd behind me was increasing very quickly and pressure was being exerted from behind. For the first minute or so, slow but uncomfortable progress was made. Then the real impact became obvious. As fans were coming from the east and meeting those from the west head-on, there was literally nowhere to go. The pressure from in front and behind was increasing and I felt considerable alarm for my own safety and for the safety of those around me. There was a woman with a young boy of around 10 or 11 in front of me and she was struggling to keep hold of him. I had him hold on to the woman’s rucksack and I placed my hands on her shoulders to create a “cage” for him to keep him from being crushed. There were many children being lifted onto adults shoulders to escape the crush. People had very quickly become aware that this was a very dangerous situation and I was surprised at how calm the majority of people were and remained.

I have been in sizeable crowds at Celtic Park over the past 50 years and many of them far bigger than Sunday’s crowd. However, I can categorically state that I never experienced the fear and alarm that I did on Sunday. My main fear was that if anyone tripped or fell that they would be trampled to death – there would have been no chance of getting up.

I was in the crush for around 10 to 15 minutes (though it felt far longer) and when I got ¾ of the wat along the tunnel the crowd dissipated and the crush cleared. I managed to get into my place in Section 111 just before kick-off (John Paul Taylor, the SLO can verify this as I spoke to him as I was walking to my place in the rail seating). One of the guys I meet at the game with had seen the problems as he was walking towards Janefield St and diverted along the Gallowgate. Another was caught up in the crush and hurt and scraped his hands and arms as he scaled the wall at the cemetery. The Police and stewards were absolutely unprepared for this and their planning, along with Celtic’s was abysmal and the need to be held to account for this gross negligence. The match commander is a very fortunate man not to be facing significant charges over dereliction of duty over this incident and it must be highlighted bad (and prolonged) the incident was; and how the Police response was delayed for up to 15 minutes and wholly unsatisfactory in preventing the situation becoming worse.

This was easily avoidable with proper planning and both Celtic and Police Scotland need to explain themselves publicly on this.


KTF
 
Winning Captains said:
I was in the middle of the crush on Sunday and wrote about it just after the game on The Celtic Star. To me it is pretty clear. A decision was made for Celtic fans to use the tunnel to keep them away from the away fans corner. There were over 7000 extra Celtic fans at this game than would normally be the case and not enough thought was given to the implications of directing all Celtic supporters wishing to get to the other side of the stadium from where they arrived to go through that tunnel. It was dangerous, the Stewarts were pretty much useless and there were no police around. It was only the self policing and common sense from the supporters themselves that stopped a much more serious situation developing.
It is relatively safe to go to games against them at Celtic Park, Ibrox or Hampden and the Police have their plans in place for each stadium and these are implemented. Because of the actions of Rangers pandering to their support, the dynamic was changed on Sunday by the police and presumably by Celtic.
My view is we don't take tickets for Ibrox - we don't give them any tickets for the next game at Celtic Park and we say the alternative is to revert to the tried and tested formula or it's home fans only.
Click to expand...

WC, totally agree with the sentiment on taking Ibrox tickets.

Hopefully the club is in talks with fan reps over that. It needs strong consideration.
 
vfr said:
I sent this e-mail to the Celtic Trust and forwarded it the the SLO:

I was unfortunately caught up in the initial crush in Janefield St tunnel on Sunday 2nd September, just after 11:35am – well before Police Scotland suggest the incident occurred; here is my recollection and viewpoint on events.

I had met a few friends for breakfast in Coias on Sunday morning and we left before 11 to meet and say hello to some other friends at the corner of the Celtic Superstore – the south-west corner of the stadium; one of the friends we met was Chris Stuart from the Celtic Trust. I left with one other person at 11:30 because I had to get to my turnstile at the north-east corner of the Stadium and as the access via London Rd was closed, I knew I had to go via the janefiled St tunnel. Simple arithmetic suggested that as there were between 6000 and 7000 Celtic extra fans expected in the east stand and that it would be very busy and take a while to get through there. Logic suggested that approximately half of these fans would come from the north and east and half would come from the south and west. This suggested to me that somewhere between 3000 and 3500 extra fans would be coming along the janefield St tunnel that day as London Rd was closed for access. This number was augmented by those fans who usually walked along London Rod from the east to get to the west and south stands. So somewhere well in excess of 5000 extra fans would be accessing this tunnel from both directions in the 30 minutes before kick-off. One would expect that Celtic FC and Police Scotland would come to a similar conclusion; sadly, they didn’t.

As I approached Janefield St from the west at approximately 11:35 I saw that it was very busy. What did strike me was that the mounted Police officers who were usually at the west entrance of the tunnel for home games were not there. This is significant because had they been there they would have easily witnessed the start of the incident from their higher vantage point and could have taken action immediately. The time is also significant because Police Scotland have publicly stated that the overcrowding and crush started 10 minutes prior to kick-off; and that they responded immediately. This is absolutely untrue.

I joined the crowd at the entrance to the tunnel at approximately 11:35 and within 30 seconds or so I became alarmed because I was aware that the crowd behind me was increasing very quickly and pressure was being exerted from behind. For the first minute or so, slow but uncomfortable progress was made. Then the real impact became obvious. As fans were coming from the east and meeting those from the west head-on, there was literally nowhere to go. The pressure from in front and behind was increasing and I felt considerable alarm for my own safety and for the safety of those around me. There was a woman with a young boy of around 10 or 11 in front of me and she was struggling to keep hold of him. I had him hold on to the woman’s rucksack and I placed my hands on her shoulders to create a “cage” for him to keep him from being crushed. There were many children being lifted onto adults shoulders to escape the crush. People had very quickly become aware that this was a very dangerous situation and I was surprised at how calm the majority of people were and remained.

I have been in sizeable crowds at Celtic Park over the past 50 years and many of them far bigger than Sunday’s crowd. However, I can categorically state that I never experienced the fear and alarm that I did on Sunday. My main fear was that if anyone tripped or fell that they would be trampled to death – there would have been no chance of getting up.

I was in the crush for around 10 to 15 minutes (though it felt far longer) and when I got ¾ of the wat along the tunnel the crowd dissipated and the crush cleared. I managed to get into my place in Section 111 just before kick-off (John Paul Taylor, the SLO can verify this as I spoke to him as I was walking to my place in the rail seating). One of the guys I meet at the game with had seen the problems as he was walking towards Janefield St and diverted along the Gallowgate. Another was caught up in the crush and hurt and scraped his hands and arms as he scaled the wall at the cemetery. The Police and stewards were absolutely unprepared for this and their planning, along with Celtic’s was abysmal and the need to be held to account for this gross negligence. The match commander is a very fortunate man not to be facing significant charges over dereliction of duty over this incident and it must be highlighted bad (and prolonged) the incident was; and how the Police response was delayed for up to 15 minutes and wholly unsatisfactory in preventing the situation becoming worse.

This was easily avoidable with proper planning and both Celtic and Police Scotland need to explain themselves publicly on this.


KTF
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Have to say I got a chill reading this. Sounds absolutely horrible. It's not being melodramatic to recognise the potential echoes of Hillsborough. A lucky lucky escape for all involved, authorities and fans.
Thanks for sharing
 
We cannot allow this to be whitewashed. I am willing to take it as far as it needs to to make sure those responsible;e are held accountable!


KTF
 
vfr said:
I sent this e-mail to the Celtic Trust and forwarded it the the SLO:

I was unfortunately caught up in the initial crush in Janefield St tunnel on Sunday 2nd September, just after 11:35am – well before Police Scotland suggest the incident occurred; here is my recollection and viewpoint on events.

I had met a few friends for breakfast in Coias on Sunday morning and we left before 11 to meet and say hello to some other friends at the corner of the Celtic Superstore – the south-west corner of the stadium; one of the friends we met was Chris Stuart from the Celtic Trust. I left with one other person at 11:30 because I had to get to my turnstile at the north-east corner of the Stadium and as the access via London Rd was closed, I knew I had to go via the janefiled St tunnel. Simple arithmetic suggested that as there were between 6000 and 7000 Celtic extra fans expected in the east stand and that it would be very busy and take a while to get through there. Logic suggested that approximately half of these fans would come from the north and east and half would come from the south and west. This suggested to me that somewhere between 3000 and 3500 extra fans would be coming along the janefield St tunnel that day as London Rd was closed for access. This number was augmented by those fans who usually walked along London Rod from the east to get to the west and south stands. So somewhere well in excess of 5000 extra fans would be accessing this tunnel from both directions in the 30 minutes before kick-off. One would expect that Celtic FC and Police Scotland uwould come to a similar conclusion; sadly, they didn’t.

As I approached Janefield St from the west at approximately 11:35 I saw that it was very busy. What did strike me was that the mounted Police officers who were usually at the west entrance of the tunnel for home games were not there. This is significant because had they been there they would have easily witnessed the start of the incident from their higher vantage point and could have taken action immediately. The time is also significant because Police Scotland have publicly stated that the overcrowding and crush started 10 minutes prior to kick-off; and that they responded immediately. This is absolutely untrue.

I joined the crowd at the entrance to the tunnel at approximately 11:35 and within 30 seconds or so I became alarmed because I was aware that the crowd behind me was increasing very quickly and pressure was being exerted from behind. For the first minute or so, slow but uncomfortable progress was made. Then the real impact became obvious. As fans were coming from the east and meeting those from the west head-on, there was literally nowhere to go. The pressure from in front and behind was increasing and I felt considerable alarm for my own safety and for the safety of those around me. There was a woman with a young boy of around 10 or 11 in front of me and she was struggling to keep hold of him. I had him hold on to the woman’s rucksack and I placed my hands on her shoulders to create a “cage” for him to keep him from being crushed. There were many children being lifted onto adults shoulders to escape the crush. People had very quickly become aware that this was a very dangerous situation and I was surprised at how calm the majority of people were and remained.

I have been in sizeable crowds at Celtic Park over the past 50 years and many of them far bigger than Sunday’s crowd. However, I can categorically state that I never experienced the fear and alarm that I did on Sunday. My main fear was that if anyone tripped or fell that they would be trampled to death – there would have been no chance of getting up.

I was in the crush for around 10 to 15 minutes (though it felt far longerz when I got ¾ of the wat along the tunnel the crowd dissipated and the crush cleared. I managed to get into my place in Section 111 just before kick-off (John Paul Taylor, the SLO can verify this as I spoke to him as I was walking to my place in the rail seating). One of the guys I meet at the game with had seen the problems as he was walking towards Janefield St and diverted along the Gallowgate. Another was caught up in the crush and hurt and scraped his hands and arms as he scaled the wall at the cemetery. The Police and stewards were absolutely unprepared for this and their planning, along with Celtic’s was abysmal and the need to be held to account for this gross negligence. The match commander is a very fortunate man not to be facing significant charges over dereliction of duty over this incident and it must be highlighted bad (and prolonged) the incident was; and how the Police response was delayed for up to 15 minutes and wholly unsatisfactory in preve

I was unfortunately caught up in the initial crush in Janefield St tunnel on Sunday 2nd September, just after 11:35am – well before Police Scotland suggest the incident occurred; here is my recollection and viewpoint on events.

  • I had met a few friends for breakfast in Coias on Sunday morning and we left before 11 to meet and say hello to some other friends at the corner of the Celtic Superstore – the south-west corner of the stadium; one of
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