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Footage emerges as Leeds and police review “frightening” incident with Newcastle fans

Footage emerges as Leeds United and police review “frightening” incident with Newcastle fans ‘crushed’ at the Elland Road turnstiles.

Fans were left terrified prior to the Magpies earning a 1-0 victory when four turnstiles – designed to let in almost 2,700 supporters – stopped working.

While there were no reported injuries, angry witnesses said stewards and police failed to respond to an incident which lasted more than 30 minutes, and demanded that kick off would be delayed.

One supporter, Steve Wallwork, told BBC Sport that “somebody could have been badly hurt” and described some stewards as an “absolute disgrace” for laughing at the situation.

Fans were finally let in when a gate was opened, however many only arrived into the stadium concourse 20 minutes after the game had started and couldn’t get to their correct seats because it was congested.

Leeds said they acknowledged “complaints raised by some Newcastle supporters regarding issues experienced entering Elland Road on Saturday”.

The club “will now work with the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust, West Yorkshire Police and our own safety team to review the issues raised, and ensure we continue to provide a safe environment for everyone attending our stadium”.

Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust board member Thomas Concannon was at the game and has spoken to more than a dozen witnesses.

He said the situation was a “complete and utter nightmare”.

“Where was the response to the faulty turnstiles?” added Concannon. “This should have escalated to the match controller as soon as they realised there was a problem.

“Fans need to know what happened and why – and they deserve an apology. Many fans were left distressed by such a frightening episode.”

Wallwork added that the delays were caused by the broken turnstiles, and when the reality hit that they might be missing kick off, the anger turned on the stewards who reportedly laughed at the travelling support.

He added: “I’m not a small lad so it wasn’t so bad for me, but my wife was with me. She’s a fair bit shorter and she was terrified, absolutely terrified.

“It doesn’t matter how much you tell people that people are getting squashed, they just keep pushing forward, and when the game kicked off, they just pushed and pushed.

“You had people from the width of four turnstiles trying to get across to one side where tickets were being scanned manually by one steward.

“The reaction of the stewards was unbelievable. My wife asked one: ‘What are you doing about it? We’re getting crushed’. He just put his head back laughing – absolutely disgraceful.

“I understand how frightening it was for some people. I was more frustrated and angry about it because somebody could have been badly hurt.”

Wallwork’s wife, Allison Hutchinson, said: “I was extremely frightened as I thought at one point I was going to fall and get trampled on.

“When I finally got in I just burst into tears. I’m not sure if it was through relief or fear.”

West Yorkshire Police said: “We are aware of issues at the Leeds United v Newcastle United game at Elland Road on Saturday that resulted in congestion at the entrance points for away fans.

“We are currently liaising with the club to review the circumstances.”

The Football Supporters’ Association will also be reviewing the incident.

Meanwhile, Elland Road is the least safest stadium in Premier League according to new data.

A study, produced by Cheekypunter.com, looked at the number of crime-related statistics such as violent and public disorders, racist/ indecent chanting, pitch incursions, alcohol/ drug abuse incidents since the 2010/11 season, as well as looked into the general city crime rate to work out which Premier League grounds were the most unsafe.

Leeds came out on top with a total of 610 recorded incidents over the last 11 seasons (up to 2020/21) and the highest city crime rate outside of London.

Elland Road topped the charts of most of the metrics when it came down to alcohol and drugs (113), pitch incursions (63) and violent & public disorders (174).

As footage emerges with Leeds and police having to review the “frightening” incident with Newcastle fans, Twitter users gave their reaction…

@Daz7AVFC: I love going elland Road. Proper club with a superb atmosphere but that away end is a disaster waiting to Happen, it’s so outdated and literally no room going up and down the stairs inside …..

@g_phillips97: We also had to ask for a fire escape style gate to be opened to avoid same thing leaving south stand, the @LUFC steward just stared blankley until he was told it legally needed to be open

@NicolaWintrip: It didn’t get any better once inside. The stewards had absolutely no idea what their roles and responsibilities were and instead were forcing fans towards the upper tier despite having tickets for the lower tier. Organised chaos! #NUFC #awaydays

@_D0UBLE_H: This just sounds horrendous. I hope all involved are ok. There are questions that need to be answered here and actions to be taken before something serious happens. It’s not the first time there have been issues with the away end there but this needs to be the last.

@Louis_M14: Police and stewards outside the away end were laughing at distressed fans being crushed. One officer said it was fans fault for pushing. Now where have we heard the Yorkshire police blaming fans before 🤔 Nice to see they’ve learned their lesson

@AndreaGeordieH: How can you not learn from past errors!! No football fan should endure this when attending a game!!!

@SalSeduce: Outrageous that police and stewards laughed in their faces as the panic set in and people were trying to get something done about it… no organisation, no care given and it seems only a matter of time before we see another tragedy, absolute disgrace

@MatthewBowe11: 2 turnstiles for 2600 fans. Disgrace

@Howson_is_god: The West Stand is absolutely an accident waiting to happen. It’s not fit for purpose. I’ve experienced the same thing trying to get on the train after Bolton away and it is horrifying

@milehighgeordie: Clubs spending millions on players and the premium suites yet still have the majority of fans access the ground like cattle!

@chrismorgan57: I’m glad this incident is now getting the attention it deserves. Still keep thinking about it 48 hours on and the two poor girls infront of me who were visibly shaken and were essentially lambs to the slaughter. Very frightening #nufc #lufc

@Lili_P_EFC: Apparently police and stewards were laughing about it blaming the crowds for the crush. See Yorkshire police still haven’t learnt their lessons even if it was West Yorkshire this time and not South Yorkshire

@chris11825: Heard all this before. Police did nothin. Years and years on, have we learnt nothin. Football fans are a nuisance to police. Nothin more. If they can blame someone else they will. All the outrage underneath from people who sing H’boro chants. Not there club is it?!

@ToonMouthTyne: This shouldn’t be happening in 2022. People could have been seriously injured or worse. Sort it out @LUFC. @premierleague. You’ve been extremely lucky it appears. #NUFC

@delwright21: Same thing happened at Chelsea vs Leeds but the police wiped their hands of it saying it’s a Chelsea problem who tried to blame leeds fans for pushing

@neymates: The same will happen here. Happened to us before the lockdown at Burnley n’all. They always just blame the fans, especially now with covid protocols it’s easy to just say fans rushing in last minute. No accountability anywhere.

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