A FORMER football steward who saw his father-in-law collapse on the terraces as crowd congestion delayed Oxford United’s game at Woking has called for an official review of safety procedures.

Jason Morgan, who was a steward at West Bromwich Albion for nine years, was at the match with 65-year-old United supporter Michael Harmer, from Benson, and his 11-year-old grandson Scot Soanes.

Kick-off was delayed for an hour on Easter Monday as stewards tried to move Oxford fans back from behind advertising hoardings to behind a crush barrier.

Originally United’s allocation was for 1,400 standing places on a terrace and 250 seats.

When more than 2,000 United fans turned up, Woking officials eventually decided to give over part of the covered home terrace.

Many supporters felt there was not enough room in the 1,400-capacity terrace for them to be safe.

Mr Morgan, 37, from Benson, said a friend had warned the Woking ticket office to expect 2,000 Oxford fans at the game two weeks ago.

He said: “It was a shambles from start to finish.

“There were announcements on the tannoy but no-one could hear them. The stewards weren’t telling us what was going on, so people didn’t know what offence they were supposed to be committing.

“We were telling the stewards at 2.05pm to open the covered terracing behind the goal. It was the right decision but it took them an hour and 45 minutes to do.”

At 4.30pm Mr Harmer, who had been in the ground for about three hours, collapsed from heat exhaustion.

Mr Morgan said: “Luckily there was an Oxford fan who was a paramedic there and we’re so grateful to him for everything he did.”

A steward directed Mr Morgan to the only on-duty paramedic in the ground, who he said was already dealing with another casualty.

Mr Morgan added: “Eventually he got to him about 15 minutes after my father-in-law collapsed and he called for an ambulance.

“The paramedics were great, but they weren’t happy with the situation for such a large crowd.

“I’m writing a letter to Surrey and Woking councils asking to look into what went on and the safety certificate for that terrace.”

Mr Morgan said Conference League officials should visit each ground and make sure that they could cope with larger-than-average crowds.

An Oxford United source said Woking were told in advance United could have a following of up to 2,000 fans.

United chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “The situation before the game was down to organisation issues and I would like to go on record to praise the Oxford fans, stewards and police for handling the situation and being reasonable and open-minded throughout the afternoon.”

In a statement, Woking FC said: “The afternoon passed off with no fan being injured or any incident and the club applauds both sets of fans for their behaviour.

“The capacity of the away terrace is 1,400 fans. At 2.40pm, when it had reached 1,180, we closed that entrance and fans arriving subsequently were redirected to seats in the main stand.

“There was, therefore, space for the fans to move behind the barrier, as most did.

“Unfortunately, and naturally, most fans were gathered towards the centre of the terrace.”