[big al]

Sadly some minority supporters have been abusing the entry to the ground by sneaking alclohol in at the home end. It is not a case of the club capitalising on your money in the clubhouse it is an offence under the 1985 Football Grounds Act-Alcohol as clearly shown on the regs board at all turnstiles. As usual this has unfortunate repercussions for genuine fans. Because of the reputation of some of our recent visitors security has been stepped up & some of the security lads are new to the ground. I have been trying to encourage along with Mick a friendly face of the stewarding & security team, who are principally there for your safety & well being. However sometimes when you have been abused by certain sectors querying your home life etc, as I have witnessed from again, a minority, feelings can rise & the lads are only human after all. The stewards have been through a learning curve with the rise into league football & some of the actions are due to this rise in status. We are under pressure to get things right from both ends as we are regularly inspected by Lancs Co Council & have also been undergoing assesment for NVQ qualifications-taking time out of our own personal time to attend courses without pay! In the main we know & do stress that the home fans are great & can be relied upon to behave, but your co-operation in assisting our work in entry to the ground is appreciated & sshould you have any issues as in this section of posting please let me or Mick know. We may not always give you the reply you may want but as stated before, we have a great responsibility in ensuring all genuine fans can safely attend, hopefully enjoy & go away from the ground at the end of the day safely. Sorry if this is long winded but there are two sides to the coin.