The club have issued a joint statement in conjunction with the Police re the trouble at the Millwall game.

The following statement is made after consultation with Hampshire Police, The Safety Officer and Safety Management Team at Southampton Football Club.

"The last time Southampton and Millwall met at St Mary’s was on 08 August 2009. A total of 2,242 Millwall fans attended the fixture, which ended in a 1 – 1 draw, and there was no disorder before, during or after the fixture.

In advance of this season’s match, Southampton Football Club and Hampshire Police assessed the fixture in keeping with normal practice, and the match was categorised as medium risk.

There were no reported incidents of disorder in the City before the game and both sets of supporters made their way to St Mary’s Stadium monitored by the Police and the City CCTV.  However, during the game there were 7 ejections from the ground (1 home supporter and 6 away supporters for various breaches of ground regulations)

When Southampton scored on 18 minutes the temporary netting – introduced as an additional measure on the Millwall side of the permanent Northam segregation netting – was breached by a surge of volatile Millwall fans.  At no time was the permanent segregation netting breached and Southampton Football Club are more than happy with the current segregation netting that is in place, which is similar to those in use at many if not most other stadiums in the country.

There was no intelligence suggesting that there would be any violence after the match and to have held supporters back without good cause would have meant impeding those supporter’s human rights.  Having carefully considered the situation, taking into account there was no violence prior to the match, nor intelligence to suggest any pre planned disorder after; supporters were released on the conclusion of the fixture.

A closure of the stadium north car park closure was discussed; however, as the Police Cordon Trailers were not part of the pre match planning they were not available on the day. This will be reviewed for future fixtures and will be in place for any further visit from Millwall. The closure of the north car park often causes issues with home supporters, however, safety is of course paramount and if it is deemed necessary in future then it will be enforced.

Three Millwall supporters were arrested in the north car park post match and another in the City later that evening. A Police enquiry is ongoing and Southampton Football Club will assist Hampshire Police with evidence to follow up this incident with further arrests that we hope will lead to Football Banning Orders."

There are some important points that need addressing in this statement, the first is that both the Club and police having clearly been aware of the problems that occurred and the reasons why etc should take steps to reassure Saints supporters, not just those affected some of whom had a very distressing time, but others who are aware of the incidents and may feel some concern about their own safety at future games, a simple copy of the above statement on the Club website and issued to the press would go along way towards doing this.

Whilst behaviour as was witnessed at this game is now thankfully rare, if it puts one person off from going to a game then its an issue that needs to be dealt with, it happened many know it happened, it needs to be dealt with and supporters reassured as to future fixture..

Regarding the points the police made about not having prior intelligence that trouble would occur and that the previous fixture went off without trouble, my memory of that fixture is that it went off without trouble due to the vigilance of the police, I remember a mob of around 600 excitable Millwall supporters being shepherded to the ground under police escort.

But the real issue is the failure to segregate supporters after the match, whilst the police may not have had their hi tech metal fence on hand, this is a fairly recent introduction and after it became clear in the ground that a sizeable proportion of visiting fans were excitable, they could easily have done what they did for countless years at St Mary's before, close off the North car park using the portable metal barriers and directed Millwall fans up Brittannia Road, this has worked well in the past as it takes the steam out of the situation, just why the police did not do it this time is open to speculation.

The most noticable observation though is comments made by supporters, most  seem to know exactly how the situation could have been dealt with, they know that because for the last ten years they have attended games at St Mary's and seen trouble prevented in exactly that way, therefore it baffles them as to why the police should get so caught out now after ten years of practice.

But this statement covers the fact that both Club and police are aware of why the problems occurred, so perhaps a statement to all supporters would put minds at rest that this is a one off and that lessons have been learnt.  

In closing it should be stressed that  the Club should probably be absolved of blame for decisions on the day, they follow the recomendations of the police and certainly the stewards in the Northam end and outside were in a difficult situation and handled it well, whilst the club  would be part of the consulting process, it would be the police who would make the decisions regarding crowd disorder, certainly outside the ground and once off club premises (including the outside car park) it is purely a police decision.     

Photo: Action Images

ThermosNBlanket added 11:29 - Aug 26 Funny that humann rights only extends to games at St Marys...how many games over the years have mine been breached being kept in!
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Juzzie added 11:34 - Aug 26 We (QPR) have been kept in at The New Den loads of times, only a few months ago too. Where were our human rights then? Not that I was particularly bothered but it seems to be conviniently used as and when it suits.
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jannersaint added 11:45 - Aug 26 I was walking with my six year old son on Brittania Road. We both had Sash shirt on and were enjoying the start of the walk home. A Millwall 'fan' was stood by the away coaches shouting abuse at Southampton Supporters walking away from the ground and spitting at a man and his young daughter in front of me. Had that 'fan' been on his own he would have been sorted out but there were loads of Millwall and it was very intimidating. I didn't get spat at but c'mon a bloke and a young girl! I say to that Millwall fan 'if you read this I'm sure you're proud; takes some balls to spit at a six year old girl!'

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BLEEDRED added 11:48 - Aug 26 Human F*****G Rights !!!!!!!!!! get real
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SaintDavo added 12:05 - Aug 26 sick and tired of hearing about "human rights" ! most people helped by human rights laws are not fully human to start with and since when have millwall fans been classed as human ? its about time there was a new law called "Law abiding Citizens rights" !!!!
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saintBob added 12:27 - Aug 26 I agree exactly with SaintDavo & BLEEDRED. The use of the Human Rights Act is laughable. Sacrificing our Human Rights to those of the Millwall louts. Being kept in for 15mins is no big deal, give 'em a rubber tyre on a rope to play with. What about the poor folks who had there cars smashed up? Millwall FC should know who these people are!!?? They should have been kicked out of football ages ago.

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bstokesaint added 12:57 - Aug 26 Just to reiterate the above, what an absolute joke. A breach of human rights!! That's laughable. We were held back at the New Den for no good reason so the animals could get out first and then hang back looking for a fight and to shout abuse at the away fans. Maybe Millwall should change their nickname from the Lions to the Leopards.. I honestly feel for the well behaved Millwall fans I know, but how long have the club had to sort out this poor reputation for crowd trouble?!!

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Saintpaul120 added 12:58 - Aug 26 One could also ask why there was such a huge police presence, including mounted police, for the Leeds fans. Were they necessary? Where were the police for Milwall? Do the human rights laws then not extend to home fans who have the basic human right to leave the ground without the risk of being beaten up, intimidated or spat at by animals purporting to be fans, from Milwall. I've noticed a reduction in police numbers since the new regime took over - coincidental?

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SaintDavo added 13:05 - Aug 26 What angers me most is the abuse received and fear of violence for those mentioned with young kids. Come on hampshire police and SFC...surely those innocent and decent SUPPORTERS deserve their rights and safety assured...why does the law always work in favour of the nutters and losers in our society ??? if you keep away fans in for 5-10 minutes after the ground is cleared the chances of flare ups is reduced massively...if a few millwall fans feel their inhuman rights have been infringed they could learn to read and write and send a letter to their MEP in brussels and waste more taxpayers money !

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Del_Bianco added 13:38 - Aug 26 THis statement can't be true. Where are the pregnant women and 75 year old man running for their lives? What about the battle scene resembling a Braveheart?
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geezershoong added 13:42 - Aug 26 It's no secret the police resent having to cover football matches so maybe letting a bit of trouble flare up was not entirely unplanned.
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Lions added 13:45 - Aug 26 As a father of 3 I condone any acts of violence against families or anyone else for that mattter at fooball. However please take off your rose tinted glasses regarding Southampton fans. If you have a look around the net you will see Southampton fans bragging about things that happended at last weeks game. Also have a look on Youtube. There has also been a complaint raised against Hampshire police at the alleged treatment of Millwall fans last week. Unfortunately, you treat people like animals they behave like animals.

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Saintpaul120 added 14:01 - Aug 26 In response to 'Lions@ post. Milwall fans were not treated like animals. It was they who decided to try and jump the netting in order to attack Saints fans. Milwall fans were treated as adults by the police and allowed to 'integrate' with the home fans. Unfortunately, some of your fans saw that as a great excuse to behave like 'animals' and ignore the responsibility given to them by police. A small faction of the Milwall fans were hell bent on trouble. The police did not forsee this and they took advantage. Now you lot are screaming you've been 'mistreated' - Bollox!!

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jannersaint added 15:36 - Aug 26 Lions - I agree with your point but usually scumbags attack scumbags not 6 year old girls. I'm sure she hadn't been on her mobile setting up a meet.
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bstokesaint added 16:59 - Aug 26 Lions, do you honestly believe we seen scenes like this at St Marys every week? There is always banter on both sides, but not to the degree where the away fans try to get at the home fans in the ground.
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Jesus_02 added 20:19 - Aug 26 @ Lions. Last time Milwall visited I was spat at and had racial abuse shouted at me WHILE the MET escorted your fans. No other club has acted like this (with the exception of Pompy) the club you suport has serious problems. And to be honest the MET just looked like they wanted to get through the day and go home. Perhaps Millwall fans are used to getting away with it and perhaps thats why complaints have been made against Hampshire Constabularly

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Jesus_02 added 20:30 - Aug 26 In short - my geuss is thath the MET being the MET took charge and got it hopelessly wrong. The police were slow to react to the trouble in the groud, (it seemed like they let the stewards get on with it) and the main protaganist was not even ejected. Maybe this is the norm at the Den
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