Port Vale FC will play Saturday’s match against Doncaster Rovers following a decision by Staffordshire Police to provide cover for the match because of crowd safety concerns and despite Vale owner, Norman Smurthwaite’s, refusal to pay the cost of policing.
It comes in the wake of continued disputes between the club and police over the force’s risk assessments of matches as to the likelihood of disorder at some games in Vale Park. The latest disagreement had put the Doncaster game in doubt.
Before the start of each season specialist officers from Staffordshire Police’s Football Unit work with the bigger clubs in the area to assess risk to safety or likelihood of disorder for each of the planned home games. Each game is categorised based on local intelligence and information from visiting fans’ police force areas.
Those categories based on likely risk inform decisions on the level of police resources used for matches or whether Port Vale stewards are routinely responsible on the day. The higher the assessed risk of each game the greater the police presence and by law the home club must be responsible for the cost of policing in and around the ‘footprint’ of the stadium.
Disagreements have arisen between Staffordshire Police and Port Vale’s owner Norman Smurthwaite when new intelligence has been received by the force which increases safety risks after the initial pre-season assessments of all games have been made. Increased risks to safety sometimes leads to greater police deployments and therefore higher costs for clubs than initially predicted at the start of the season.
The issue first came to a head 12 months ago because of the Mr Smurthwaite’s unwillingness to pay the full policing costs for matches. This coincided with what was a crunch time for the club financially when Mr Smurthwaite threatened that Port Vale FC would be wound up because of multiple commercial, public sector and tax liabilities relating to the club.
At the time Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis, who has responsibility for financing the police, met with Port Vale’s owner to negotiate payment of the money owed. The majority of the debt was paid alongside other public sector creditors prior to Port Vale’s financial relaunch by Mr Smurthwaite.
Mr Ellis also introduced a more rigorous audit process for the police to follow from the 2014/15 season in agreeing pre-season risk categories, any changes to those risks and a monthly payment plan for Port Vale to cover policing costs for the season. He also instigated a formal Appeals process for football clubs to challenge increases in risk categories and extra policing costs due as a result.
In the last few weeks specific intelligence received by Staffordshire Police about the Port Vale vs Doncaster game resulted in a proposal by police to increase the category of risk, something which club owner Mr Smurthwaite has refused to accept and specifically any extra costs. Protracted talks between Port Vale and Staffordshire Police have failed to resolve the issue leading to a further stand off yesterday which threatened the game going ahead.
Mr Smurthwaite’s representatives informed the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which is the multi-public agency body that authorises safety certificates for football grounds, that police officers would be refused entry to the Vale Park ground for Saturday’s match, something he has now retracted. He continues, however, to disagree with the police intelligence that suggests there could be any greater risk to safety. This week’s fall out has again led to Mr Smurthwaite threatening to close the club down for business reasons.
A meeting early yesterday morning between Mr Smurthwaite, officials from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the PCC himself appeared to make progress but that was dashed later in the day by the club.
Matthew Ellis said that he hoped the more formal audit and appeal arrangements put in place for police and clubs this season onwards would help ease the tensions and provide greater accountability:
“I’m disappointed that once again Mr Smurthwaite and Staffordshire Police are in dispute over the safety risks for some games at Vale Park. Intelligence-based policing is critical to keeping people safe and avoiding potential trouble. It is the police’s responsibility to assess that risk to public safety albeit within the new more transparent process I set out last year.
“That process includes the new Appeals system that football clubs can use if they disagree with the police assessment in Staffordshire. I understand it is the first time that approach has been put in place in the country and I did so in the hope that disputes such as this could be resolved in an honest and transparent way. Norman has refused to use the Appeal process he agreed to at the start of the season for the current disputed match although I am pleased that he has stuck to the monthly payment plan we agreed with him some months ago.
“I hoped my talks yesterday with Norman had moved this issue on but something changed during the day meaning there remains a stalemate between the police and the club.
“Last year Port Vale was in financial crisis and I did what I could to assist a football club that is important to the community whilst meeting my responsibilities in the use of public money. Now once again Norman is telling me that finances are exceptionally tight and that games like the one on Saturday do not bring in enough money to cover the cost of policing.
“I completely recognise the challenges he faces as a business but it is a business and if public funds are used to support it there will be less money to use for policing other places in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
“I find it extraordinary that with billions and billions of pounds pouring into other parts of football there are clubs that are incredibly important to local people, like Port Vale, that are apparently struggling to meet their day to day costs. It’s difficult to stomach that knowing just how important the club is to so many local people. But it is also not appropriate to subsidise a business by using the money local tax payers provide for wider policing.
“I am saddened that just like last year the situation is back where it was between the police and Mr Smurthwaite and things have again come to a head with a matter of hours to find a way forward.
“There have been intense discussions last night and this morning with representatives from the local authority Safety Advisory Group. Following these talks the Chief Constable has considered again the operational situation and decided if the match was abandoned there could be a significant safety risk with only 24 hours to go. For that reason police officers will be deployed.
“I fully support that decision in the interests of ensuring the safety of people who are likely to attend but there still remains the issue of the dispute on intelligence at the heart of this.”
