Is reducing away support necessary?

Recently, it was proposed that Liverpool Football Club may be reducing the number of allocated tickets to Manchester United supporters for their Premier League clash at Anfield on 15th October.

Supposedly the reasons for this relate to safety concerns - the issue of supporters consistently standing during the match rather than sitting down resulted in gangways being blocked and thereby preventing the match stewards doing their jobs.

Obviously, supporters standing during matches has been a sensitive issue in football, and in particular an emotional one at Liverpool, since the tragedy of Hillsborough and the subsequent Taylor Report which, amongst other things, recommended the removal of "terracing", the dedicated standing areas in football grounds.

And so, when supporters refuse to acknowledge this and choose to persistently stand during games, especially at Anfield, they are not only flagrantly ignoring the rules but also the reasons for such rules being there to start with.

If Manchester United supporters, and I do not for a moment wish to suggest they are alone in this, have been acting in such a way then it is only natural that a club such as Liverpool would recognise the potential danger and choose to act. Certainly it is not a unique situation, as such things have happened before - in particular Liverpool themselves have seen their away allocation reduced at Sunderland's Stadium of Light.

Is reducing the ticket allocation the answer? Removing one in three supporters should help ensure the safety of the others and allow the stewards to police them. Manchester United supporters might feel that they are being victimised, but they must understand and appreciate the historical significance. It is also understandable that this match in particular would be the worst affected, as it is still to this day the marquee match in the Premier League - a fierce rivalry with passionate support on both sides.

The main concern I have with this action is to ask "where does it stop?" If this action is taken in one or two unique circumstances, and that encourages other supporters to be (for want of a better term) "better behaved" then it could be viewed as a good thing.

The proposal could mean a lessened atmosphere however, and that benefits nobody. Football is a passionate game particularly in derby/rivalry games. By trying to remove this you remove part of what the game is and what it means to supporters.

Obviously I have not been privy to the decision-making process in this instance, but I would like to think that even two clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester United could work together to attempt to improve the situation without resorting to this. Liverpool could have voiced their concerns to their counterparts along the M62, and Manchester United could have spoken with supporters' unions.

So, although I can see the reasoning behind this course of action, I just hope that this doesn't become a wider-spread necessity in our game.