Atmosphere outside the ground was a bit different with the fan park closed and police all over in riot gear. Think Merseyside police dropped the ball with that decision. Meant a lot of families were milling round by the kop end not knowing where to go.
Thought the atmosphere was good overall. Lot of the old chants got an airing. Felt like a Derby atmosphere which was good
The Everton wives chant needs to be binned off though. We're better than that
I'm not sure if Merseyside police had much choice. For some reason I cannot figure, we gave them the entire Road End. That's an awful lot of Bitters to control, and we all know how disgustingly they behave these days. It was a recipe for trouble, so no chances were taken. I don't blame the police.
From what I gather, the arrangements weren't well publicised though, hence the confusion over what was happening for some fans on the day.
I read some Bitters complaining that the inference was that more Bitters in the away end = greater potential for trouble. They saw this as insulting, but when you see/hear the antics out of them in the away end and crossing the park afterwards you can see the truth in the police concerns.
God only knows why we gave them so many tickets. I hope we don't do so again.