Crowd trouble was '˜solely' Notts County fans say Stags after safety review

A safety report was published this week following an investigation into the clash last season which left a pensioner injured and calls for action against unruly fans.

The Notts County fan was thrown from his seat when other County fans surged forward after Mansfield Town scored in the 5-0 win in April.

The report advises that steps should be taken to ensure scenes are not repeated next season, and will include strict allocated seats, reduced away fan tickets available, greater segregation nets and metal detectors at the gate.

Stewards were criticised in the report for not ensuring County fans sat in the seats they were given, but Mansfield Town have defended their position.

It read: “The club will continue to provide a safe match day environment for all supporters, both home and away, and wishes to reiterate this message to all supporters ahead of the new league campaign.

“Crowd safety at One Call Stadium is always an absolute priority on match days and we will always use any incident, whatever the nature, to ensure that we can learn any lessons from situations to further improve our safety operations.

“The incident was solely caused by a group of Notts County supporters refusing to sit in their allocated seats and being aggressive towards stewards trying to do their jobs in a non-aggressive manner.

“Following the investigation and having taken a leading role in reviewing the incident, the report from Notts County Council and the evidence gathered, the safety officer at Mansfield Town and the safety certificate holders were able to provide the safety advisory group, at a recent meeting, with a list of appropriate measures that the club would be looking to implement in future games of this category.

“The safety advisory group was completely satisfied with the club’s safety performance on the day of the Notts County game in light of how situations presented themselves, its crowd safety operations, working alongside Nottinghamshire police to prevent any escalation of aggressive and belligerent behaviour by a small group of Notts County supporters and its ability and willingness to learn from the game and strive to further improve its match day safety operations.”