Simon Jordan weighs in on Sheffield Wednesday pitch invasion after thousands ignore warnings

Thousands of fans ran onto the field of play following the remarkable turn of events that saw the Owls book their spot at Wembley later this month, and at one point one of the match officials ended up on the floor.

This week Nottingham Forest were fined £50,000 (£25,000 suspended) following the pitch invasion in last season’s play-offs, however that incident saw Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp headbutted by a fan.

Wednesday issued a strong reminder once again before the game that ‘supporters must remain in the stands at all times’, but thousands took no notice – the same way that fans invaded the field after Barnsley booked their place under the arch.

TalkSPORT presenter, Simon Jordan, gave his thoughts on the issue the following day, and while he insisted he’d like to see the rules obeyed he doesn’t know what any club could do to stop it.

“What would you do?” Jordan said on talkSPORT. “32,000 fans, euphoric, built to a fever pitch by the nature of the game - 5,000 fans coming on the pitch, how are you going to stop that? Football encouraged it for years and years, and thought it was something to be celebrated, but now it has changed its mind.

“While I’m in the camp of people should be following the rules, I just don’t see how you stop it. I watched the game, and you could’ve brought in the militia and they wouldn’t have stopped them getting on the pitch.

“The tragedy is when you see an assistant referee getting a whack in the face like in the video we’ve seen - in terms of them getting knocked or whacked over… We need to find a way to enforce the rules, or make sure if they do come on the pitch then they behave the best way they can.”

In Forest’s case they were charged with a breach of FA Rule E20, about controlling their supporters, and part of the written reasons said that ‘the crowd was not wholly good natured’.

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