M34 wrote:
They might as well not have had stewards at the away end yesterday, as the Coventry fans came onto the pitch after the goal and were setting off flares. This is normally results in be ejected and or arrested. Not one steward seemed to stop anyone entering the pitch. Then you see some Coventry fan return to the home stand and celebrate the pitch invasion and no stewards seemed to deal with him. The police did not seem to get involved even when a flare came onto the pitch. Just seems everything gets looked at at a later date in MK. But why when a MK Dons fan came onto the pitch to celebrate a goal in a game before, was he arrested for it and not allowed to return to his seat. It was right decision, but you just feel that the away team fans get away with too much.
Police and stewards handle groups of fans differently depending on the game through a risk assessment. Sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth to deal with people at the time, especially when there are large groups of rowdy supporters. Will potentially cause more aggro if a group of stewards/police wade into the crowd of 8k supporters to pick out one or two they want to eject, especially if it was only a brief issue and the people are back where they should be.
Easier just to identify them after the game and deal with them at a later date through a ban or worse if it justifies it.