DAVID Faulkner insists Redditch United will look to invest a six-figure sum to combat youth disorder at the club’s home matches.

Supporters under the age of 18-years-old must now be accompanied by an adult at all of Redditch’s home matches.

Anyone under-18 who wishes to watch Redditch without an adult, must provide the club with basic personal details.

However, despite the rules being implemented, trouble still marred the club’s FA Trophy win against Gloucester City last month.

Reds chairman Faulkner said the club turned away around 50 youths who later caused trouble outside of the ground.

A small number of youths also found a way inside the stadium and clashed with Gloucester supporters.

The Redditch chairman has said the club may have to spend an entire season’s worth of gate revenue to install improved security measures.

However, Faulkner remains determined to stamp out anti-social behaviour in non-league football.

Faulkner said: “We’ve revised our under-18 regulations and we have a great value youth season ticket.

“It’s not about banning young people, we haven’t banned under-18s, we want under-18s at our games.

“For under-18s to attend without an adult, all we ask is for them to provide a photo and basic next-of-kin information which allows us to safeguard everyone in the ground.

“It’s about identifying troublemakers and what we’ve done so far isn’t an immediate fix but things are working.

“We’re looking at six figures, around £100,000, to install fences and a CCTV system to cover areas both inside and outside the ground where most of the behaviour occurs.

“To put that into context, we take about £100,000 on the turnstiles in a season so that’s a lot of money to our football club.

“We need to work with the Football Foundation and the FA collectively to resolve this issue.”

Faulkner feels the club’s policy changes to tackle anti-social behaviour have already made a difference.

He hopes additional safeguarding measures will end the trend of youth disorder at non-league games.

Faulkner added “Compared to the same games last season we’re probably around 20 per cent down on gate receipts.

“We’re trying to stop 50 or 60 youths turning up en masse when we know a good chunk of them aren’t even from Redditch.

“I’m convinced this trend will die out. They don’t even watch the football. They are more concerned about catching their own actions on videos for likes on TikTok.

“Social media has helped us promote non-league football more than ever before but the problem is regulations and support have not caught up with how big non-league football has become.”

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