DURING the Chorley crowd trouble I witnessed the segregation fences get torn down by both sets of supporters.

I also witnessed the devastation outside – kids, women and innocent OAPs were randomly attacked by Chorley ‘fans’. Chorley FC and Lancashire Police should be disgusted with themselves after Saturday and there should be a thorough investigation.

Watching a small boy crying and being comforted by Chester FC chief executive Steve Ashton about his relative being seriously injured is no way to remember an away match and I’m ashamed I took my six-year-old brother to this horrible affair.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

AS I walked down the street, keeping my head down, I was barged into and slammed against some railings.

I turned around and looked at the man who did it and he started abusing me before pushing me to the ground and kicking me. As I struggled to get up, other Chorley fans were kicking me and I feared for my life.

I did manage to get up and walk away from the scene and got to the train station with no further trouble. What angered me more is that there were lots of police outside the gate where the Chester fans were leaving, but not one member of police on the street where we were being directed to.

JON GRIFFITHS

I AM a 16-year-old boy who was unfortunate enough to be at the Chorley game. At the end of the match, we were surrounded with police horses, dogs and officers. The police directed us into the completely wrong direction to the coaches, which I believe was extremely disorganised.

As were walking into the ‘wrong direction’, a Chester fan was running towards a police horse screaming ‘get your horse down there now’, pointing in the direction into which the police directed us. He was screaming this as a gang of about 100 Chorley fans had ambushed us and were charging at innocent fans.

As a young football supporter, this has put me off going to away games.

SAM JONES

I WAS tripped up by a Chorley fan and was kicked and punched as I lay on the floor before they moved on.

We were looking for the coaches, but they were not at the place we were told they were going to be, so myself and a small group of Chester fans had to walk around the block, back onto ourselves and walk through the park where all the trouble was. The police, to be frank, were useless. There was no communication.

I’d have hated to have had my child with me as I was being chased and being kicked and punched. Anything could have happened.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

THE Chorley contingent charged, armed with bits of brick, large stones, full and serrated beer cans, bottles, among other projectiles, straight at us.

Panic ensued with innocent Chester fans not sure whether to turn and run or stick together. I saw people scattered all over the place. There were women and children crying, parents who’d lost their kids in the melee. Our friends had disappeared and we had no idea if they’d been involved, and the police, at first, were nowhere to be seen.

ADAM WALKER

Copy of a letter to Miranda Carruthers-Watt, Chief Executive, Lancashire Police Authority

I AM writing to complain about the policing and lack of public safety at the Chorley versus Chester FC match which I attended with my daughter.

On leaving the stadium, only one of two gates were opened which resulted in hundreds of people being crushed trying to exit, despite mounted police officers on the other side ignoring requests to open the other gate.

Once outside the stadium we were directed down a pathway. I pointed out to one of the officers that there could be trouble in that direction the reply was ‘you will have to risk it’.

At the end of the pathway we were met by hoards of hooligans once again hurling bricks and stones at the oncoming crowd of Chester fans, many of which were women and children. Several people were injured, one an elderly gentleman with a severe laceration to his head.

BOB BROWNE

I WAS at the Chorley game with my two friends and three children. My son is seven years old.

(After the match) we turned right to walk along the path to the park gates as our car was parked on a nearby street. As we walked, Chester fans in front started to turn back and then we saw and felt stones hitting us, then sticks and I saw bricks flying towards us. At this point I grabbed my son, covered him as best I could and crouched next to a fence. He was sobbing now as we were absolutely terrified. An old man fell to the ground with blood pouring from his head.

The police were useless, completely in the wrong place. We were sitting ducks and they let us walk straight into the Chorley mob. We were just children, women and the elderly. To see terrified kids crying and young women crying was something I won’t forget.

SARA MORLEY

I WAS at the Chorley game on Saturday and was caught up in the violence after the game. My son and I escaped injury but a thug grabbed hold of us and told us to ‘f*** off back to Chester and never f***ing come back’.

He pushed us aside and it was then that we could see an elderly supporter on the floor with a serious head wound, and another man with an injury to his chin. Next to them a terrified woman and child, the child quite hysterical.

GEOFF WALKER

IN my 20 years of watching Chester I have never known a game of football so inadequately managed – by both Chorley FC and the police.

I do not believe any adequate planning had been made by Chorley or the police as they basically directed Chester fans into a war zone.

Chorley FC and the police are both responsible for what I can only describe as the worse football experience I have had in my life.

TRISTAN LYNES

CHORLEY supporters, or local people, outside the ground were throwing stones over the wall behind the ground into the area where we were standing and my partner, who would rather not be named, was hit on the side of his head by a large piece of house brick.

He was knocked out cold and fell to the floor, losing consciousness for about 30 seconds.

We would like to commend the St John Ambulance for their attention but aside from the injury and the shock, the upset for our children in seeing their dad knocked out with blood pouring from his head, the thought that we had young children around us who may have been much more seriously hurt had the brick hit them is just horrific.

JACQUI WALKER

I WAS at the match with a group of people including a child of six. We were in Chorley early and after a breakfast we decided to have a quick drink in the Duke of York pub and very quickly found ourselves trapped in the pub with no way to get out.

We only got out when the police arrived outside and helped us escape. After the match, police opened the gates and sent the Chester fans the wrong way – right into the jaws of a mob looking for trouble.

Chorley FC have answers to make and Lancashire Police were totally inept.

EDWIN PARKER (Chester fan for 50 years)

THE set-up at Chorley, including the segregation fence, was a shambles and the police had clearly lost control, especially outside the ground in the park area after the game had ended. They let ordinary Chester fans head straight into the Chorley troublemakers.

R ORFORD

IT’S a unanimous decision from Chester fans that Chorley’s inability to pay policing bills for the game had a massive impact on the police presence at the game. This could have led to a massive disaster and I’m surprised no one was seriously hurt.

SAM FELLOWS

WE arrived in Chorley quite early and as my husband and father-in-law are also keen Everton fans, we decided to head to the nearest pub to watch the second half of their game. One pub had what looked like 100 Chorley fans outside who shouted at us as we entered the pub next door, which looked the safer of the two. I went outside the back of the pub for a cigarette.

When I got outside I was the only Chester fan, which was evident by my shirt and scarf. A group of men were discussing Chester fans when one looked over at me and said: “I hope you can fight, love.”

I felt shocked and just looked to the floor wanting to hurry back inside.

EMMA-LOUISE PORTER (24)

WHAT puzzles me, and a lot of other Chester supporters, is the whereabouts of the police force when the pitch invasion began, and also why Chester fans were treated with such hostility outside of the ground if you were getting the train, which I was.

One of the officers was cursing at us all and was threatening to let his canine friend on us all for no apparent reason. Why they were not protecting the fans who happened to be met by mindless thugs going the other way is beyond me. I firmly believe the incidents at the game could have been avoided if the police weren’t so incompetent with the handling of both home and away fans.

ADAM (18)

ONE toilet for 1,200 fans, one turnstile to get into the ground and a makeshift fence to keep rival fans apart is a joke.

Why allocate 1,200 tickets? They (Chorley FC) should be chastised by the league for failure to provide amenities and failure to safeguard the proper fans’ safety.

TRUE BLUE

SEVERAL local residents were pointing out the police helicopter above the area. I understand that such a resource takes time to get into the air. If this presence in the air was thought necessary or had been planned in advance, surely the exit of the Chester fans could have been policed better and surely it would have been better to delay the exit of the Chorley fans until the Chester fans had been safely shepherded to their respective transport?

DAVID BROWN

WE saw a man who was standing by the wall surrounding the pitch at the corner flag, holding a bloodied head and being attended to by first-aiders.

We were told that a missile had been thrown from behind the wall which separated the houses from the ground. Chester fans told the police who apprehended a person on the other side of the boundary wall.

FRANK AND JOAN SALT

I WAS disgusted at Chorley’s lack of effort to accommodate the Chester supporters.

They allocated 1,200 tickets without considering the welfare of the supporters.

No seating was available, which for an 81-year-old is not good.

The two rows of scaffolding erected across the grassy bank to separate the supporters were not cross-braced to act as one strong unit, hence they were easily torn down.

I got the impression Chorley wanted to get as much money from us and not spend any on considering our welfare.

If we both get promoted I will not go to Chorley next season.

Incidentally, we couldn’t hear any tannoy announcements at the visitors’ end the whole time that we were there.

CHESTER SEASON TICKET HOLDER

I WANTED to comment on the game and crowd trouble coming from a true Chorley supporter. I’d like to send my apologies to all those Chester supporters who got caught up in the trouble after the game.

The atmosphere at the club will be shocked for quite some time now. I hope the Chester supporters who got injured make a speedy recovery and good luck for the rest of the season.

JULIAN VASS

MY son and I have watched Chorley home and away for many years.

I am not condoning any of the actions, there were obviously two sets of supporters out to cause trouble on Saturday, but trying to analyse why it happened in this one game when it has never happened before, the blame can only be attributed to one set of supporters who have been waiting six months for some form of misguided revenge and sadly got a bit more than they bargained for.

MICHAEL BROTHERTON