The level of concern raised by the supporters over the incidents of bad behaviour in the crowd is confirmation that the vast majority of our fans find the abusive and racist language of a tiny minority quite unacceptable.
There are three incidents currently under investigation: the first involves the setting off of a flare during the Stevenage replay which injured two of our supporters. It was a mindless and dangerous act which ruined the match for some of our genuine fans. We are still looking for the culprit and if we can identify him the club would ban him instantly.
The second is the person who made racist comments while standing with his young son.
He does not seem to have returned to the ground as all of our security staff and stewards are carrying a photo of him and if they see him he will be ejected from the ground.
Finally the abusive behaviour of the three people at the Herne Bay match, which was so depressing to listen to, have been identified and we are currently making efforts to contact them to speak to them.
These idiots do not have the right to destroy the enjoyment of our proper supporters.
Their behaviour could be deemed to be a breach of the peace and lead to police prosecution if they were conducting themselves in this way on the street.
These people have absolutely no right to single out a young person just because he plays in goal for the opposition to the levels of abuse that he had to endure that evening. The conduct of the racist, the three morons who were so abusive and the idiot with the flare is intimidating, upsetting and will ultimately put at risk the thousands of real supporters who are passionate about their football team but know how to conduct themselves.
Currently we pay a substantial proportion of our match income on security and we are prepared to spend more so that the real supporters can watch the team feeling safe and comfortable.
We are looking at the way these incidents were dealt with and acknowledge that we could do more. It is such a shame that the subject of the blog cannot be that we are second in the league, still in the FA Cup and also still competing in two more cup competitions, and have probably the best Maidstone team for many many years.
I think that Wrexham will be tougher than Stevenage and Welling but with the team we have anything is possible. To all of you genuine supporters who are travelling to North Wales please do what you do every week and make us all proud of our wonderful football club and its magnificent fans.
Terry
