Here you can chat about everything and anything related to ITFC and other football issues. This forum also hosts the now Internationally famous TB.com ITFC match previews which contain insightful pre-match thoughts, previous highlights, news links relating to Town, form guides and other bits and pieces. Feel free to discuss meet ups/travel plans in here as well.
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James Scharmann
- Posts: 14568
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 2:54 pm
- Location: Ipswich
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by James Scharmann » Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:52 am
£511, 869
Ipswich Town are suing Suffolk police for over £500,000 claiming they were “illegally” charged for policing costs on match days. The club say they “overpaid charges” to the tune of £511,869 between 2008 and 2013 to Suffolk Constabulary, to cover the cost of keeping order in the streets surrounding the Portman Road ground, and now want cops to cough the money back up.
Now that would be a nice sum to use for new signings/wages
On serious side Leeds in past won £2m on a similar case so if we were to pocket over half a million would be nice increase on player budget.
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Foxy Lady
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:26 pm
- Location: Somewhere in Suffolk!
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by Foxy Lady » Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:30 pm
Well I would say technically ITFC are right. Yes they have to pay the police to police in the ground but we as tax payers pay the police to "police the streets" so why should they be paid twice.
Of course it can't be that simple....can it?
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Andym
- Posts: 5453
- Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:47 pm
- Location: Mid Suffolk
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by Andym » Fri Jun 26, 2015 9:55 am
I was puzzled by this - not least because the club are suing for costs up to 2013. Does that mean that they are no longer charged for policing outside the ground?
Years ago when I was a Luton fan, I remember the club banning all away supporters. The financial loos in ticket sales was more than matched by a reduction in policing costs. Eventually the FA stepped in and said the club had to allow away fans to buy tickets.
If - and I really can't see it happening in the near future - Ipswich got promoted to the Prem, presumably we would see larger crowds of both Town and visiting supporters, often necessitating a larger police presence outside the ground. The Club would get more revenue but the police would have to foot the bill...at a time when the Government are reducing funding to the police along with every other public service.
My hypothetical question is: Would the police be within their rights to ban a football match from taking place because of the costs of policing / lack of resources meaning they cannot police it safely? While I share Foxy's views that we would appear to be paying twice, I have no idea how the law stands on paying for policing at any other events. I imagine there is no charge; if I chose to organise a protest march that could lead to clashes, I don't imagine I would be liable for police costs. But they could presumably ban the march if they suspected it could turn violent. While I have strong reservations about the police and the way they operate, it seems they are stuck with potentially spiralling costs at a time of cuts in finance.
