The Championship clash between Blackpool and Leeds was marred by scenes of ugly crowd violence after a small number of away fans watched the game from the home end.

Images surfaced showing rival supporters clashing inside Bloomfield Road while police and paramedics were forced to intervene, with some fans ending up being treated for minor injuries. It appears that having sold out their quota of tickets for the away end, many Leeds fans made the journey anyway and got tickets to sit in Blackpool’s pretty empty home end. Thousands of Blackpool fans have been boycotting matches due to the poor form and bad leadership for Karl Oyston which left plenty of seats free for Leeds fans to buy.

After the events Blackpool wrote letters to home fans demanding answers as to how 90 Leeds fans ended up in the home section. Leeds have a large fan base and the away support they get is often fantastic however more needs to be done to stop issues like this happening.

Of the 90 fans who entered the Championship game in the wrong end it was only a handful of fans on either side who caused an issue. Most watched the game without causing any issues or showing their team colours. Sadly, it is always when things go wrong that it is remembered and these small number of fans on both sides have put a dent in their reputation. So should Leeds fans be given a bigger away allowance at matches to help solve these issues?

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At the game at Blackpool, the stewards and officials would have known that there was going to be plenty of empty seats with attendances being as low as 2000 this season. On this occasion it seems daft that when the demand was there for away tickets nothing was done to accommodate more fans. The easiest option would have been to move Blackpool fans into three stands and sell Leeds more tickets. It would have helped solve the violence inside the stadium.

Blackpool is not the only ground which doesn’t sell out every home game. Plenty of grounds have empty seats at stadiums yet nothing is ever done when away fans fill their quota. While most clubs have a superb home following, some have stadiums which are simply too big for them such as Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons.

Leeds have a big following and more should be done to help support that. There are not many clubs in this country which have such a good following home and away. Fans love going to away games for the whole day experience whether they have or haven’t got a ticket and clubs are not going to be able to stop that happening. It’s about time clubs reconsider their policies on away tickets- it’s not like it is a bad thing, they will end up with more money if they sell more tickets!

The majority of fans, not just Leeds ones, are a great set of people who just want to go and support their team. Clubs need to embrace it not try and crush it.

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