Callum O'Connell

Mon 29 January 2024 12:40, UK

Jim White has slammed the fan trouble that occurred during the FA Cup clash between West Brom and Wolves, labelling it “pathetic”, while Simon Jordan attempted to explain the situation.

White fumed at what happened, highlighting the image of Kyle Barley bringing his children away from the situation as play was suspended for 34 minutes.

Jordan, meanwhile, said the issues were disappointing to see, but claimed it was almost impossible for West Brom or the police to prevent, with the focus just on calming things down.

Speaking live on talkSPORT [29 January, 11:09] White ranted: “It’s sad and it’s borderline pathetic, crowd disorder saw play suspended for 34 minutes. Both sets of players left the field of play, fighting broke out.

“We even saw the West Brom captain Kyle Bartley emerging from that area with a child in his arms.”

Jordan then explained: “You would like to think that within every aspect inside these games, certainly with Premier League football clubs – albeit West Bromwich Albion are not a Premier League football club any more – there should be an ability to control the processes better.

“It’s disappointing to see and it’s a bad reflection. We’re not going back to the dark ages, this is an isolated incident of people behaving badly, there are a few more of them creeping up than I would like to see.

“Nobody should have to explain the computability of ridiculous behaviour, but on one hand you’re in an emotional game, you demand emotion. There’s a balancing line. When you get moments like that, it’s almost impossible to control. All you can do is manage it as quickly as possible.”

Jordan is right, it’s hard to prevent

While there will obviously be questions asked about how a Wolves fan managed to get a ticket in the West Brom end, given the high-octane nature of that particular game, it would have been difficult to prevent it from occurring.

Discussions will have been had prior to the game, and an increased police presence was seen at The Hawthorns, but if a fan opts to give their ticket to a visiting fan, or those tickets are sold on and picked up by the travelling support, the club would not be aware.

This type of incident felt almost inevitable, though. Many fans have spoken about the tense atmosphere and smaller incidents going unnoticed in the buildup to everything kicking off, but it remains a poor reflection on the game.

It’s a shame that the main topic of discussion following a huge Black Country derby has to be this, but after the events on Sunday, questions were always likely to be raised and the investigation into the incident will continue.

In other West Brom news, Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist had their say on the incident.

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