I am struggling to get my head around this discussion. Bad behaviour inside a football stadium cannot be condoned and, if Mr Pearson Senior has stepped out of line, then he should be punished. In his defence however, I've seen him at various grounds up and down the country and he clearly spends a lot of time and money in supporting Shaun in particular and Boston United in general. I've spoken to him on the odd occasion and have found him to be amicable and approachable. Whatever happened against Nuneaton was clearly out-of-character.
I'm reminded of an incident in a match at Hayes a few years ago. It wasn't that game at Hayes but one played a year earlier. I can't remember much about the game itself and can't even now remember the final score, but I do remember a bad challenge being made on United's Joby Gowshall. That culminated in a Boston supporter climbing over the perimeter fence and exchanging punches with the Hayes player involved. My memories of the rest of that game are long gone, but the shame and embarassment at seing a fellow United supporter behave like that is still with me. I'm sure others who were there that day would say the same thing.
I understand that the perpetrator of the Hayes incident was banned from York Street for one match only. It has often been sasid that the incident too was out of character for the individual involved. Maybe that was dealt with too leniently, but it nonetheless set a benchmark around how misbehaving fans could expect to be treated by way of punishment.
I didn't see exactly what Mr Pearson did against Nuneaton to justify a three or four match ban. I don't even know how reliable this story-line is as I've not seen it reported anywhere officially. Club officials must have seen what happened and I fully respect the club's judgement around how to handle the situation. But for the life of me and taking into account my perception of Mr Pearson's character, I don't know what he could possibly have done that could justify a punishment three or four times more severe than that handed out for encroaching onto the pitch and attacking an opposing player.
