I am an Arsenal steward in the segregation between block 19 and the away fans. At Highbury I was also in the seg line for seven of my ten years at Highbury.

Christian Alibert raised the following points (Arsenal stewards worse than traffic wardens! ):

1. Is there now a quota for stewards of warnings given/people ejected?

2. If there is a new zero tolerance approach, shouldn't they make this clear given that most of the old clock enders were clearly treated with a more common-sense attitude at Highbury?

3. If this is what we get for Watford at home, what happens when Spurs, West Ham, Man Utd visit?

In response, I can confirm there are no quotas and definitely no zero-tolerance approach. What you may be experiencing is the consequences of a large intake of additional stewards to deal with the 60k crowd we now have responsibility for. With this intake will invariably be a certain degree of learning curve to adapt to in how to approach supporters, both home and away.

In my ten years as a steward I have ejected one supporter, I cannot recall an ejection from within the seg line that was not wholly supported by the police – as ultimately it involves enormous amounts of paperwork and if I was to be honest, a large period away from the game we all want to see!

I was away for both the Sheff Utd and Porto games, so cannot comment on these, but I do know that block 19 is not the usual crowd as per Highbury. This is in the main due to the make up of the crowd in block 19 having more child supporters – at first we feared the worst as stewards, but personally I feel it’s a good deterrent against the banter that may sometimes spill over into something more nasty.

As with how we deal with the more critical games, then you will see that police presence is stepped up for these matches. In my capacity I often find that it’s far easier to reason with a passionate supporter – home or away – and diffuse a situation.

Sometimes the new stewards are a bit naïve and may come across as a bit fastidious and thus may overreact, but a quiet word in their ear from an experienced steward seems to calm them down as they are only human and react to pressure/nerves in different ways.