Bob Eastwood, the man in charge of safety at football grounds in England says reports of overcrowding at the recent Sheffield Wednesday versus Newcastle game were "premature". The EFL's head of security operations, was speaking in front of MPs at a committee meeting centred around supporter safety at matches.
A section of Newcastle supporters claimed they were subject to overcrowding during the third-round FA Cup clash on January 7 - which Wednesday won 2-1. Away supporters are housed in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsbrough stadium, the same stand where 97 Liverpool supporters died following a crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
Eastwood said: "The club ( Wednesday ) have done a very quick debrief of their operation and have already instigated a number of measures in order to reduce some of the issues that caused some concerns for some fans, which didn't amount to overcrowding. At this moment in time I think it's a little premature to agree with media and social media reports that there was overcrowding."
