Victory officials including new Chairman Anthony Di Pietro and representatives from the club’s active supporters The North Terrace (NT) met in Melbourne last night.

This came after Muscat personally contacted the fans to facilitate an informal get-together aimed at solving this escalating issue.

NT members were told of the meeting today by email.

“While the NT reps are confident that the winds of change may occur, we are also entitled to hold a degree of pessimism that these changes may not occur due to past discussions,” said the message.

It went on to say that the club have agreed to follow up on some issues raised and will report back to North Terrace as soon as possible. Upon this the NT will plan their own meeting to discuss the options available to them in moving forward.

The issue, which au.fourfourtwo.com highlighted late last week, has become a major talking point.  The story proved to be our biggest of the past year, attracting more readers than even Australia's demolition of Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup and the Socceroos' defeat in the final.

The club’s active fans – some of the best and most colourful and loudest in the history of the A-League under the umbrella of the Blue and White Brigade (BWB) – are furious that in recent years their club have done little to help them.

They argue their images are used in much of the club’s promotional material - including the latest Asian Champions League promotion - yet are shunned by club bosses and are given little help or appreciation.

The second issue surrounds alarming reports of alleged over-zealous security staff and police on match-day both in and outside the stadium.

When contacted about the bitter dispute that appears far from being resolved, the club yesterday responded with a statement by email.

“Our member and fan experience is paramount and we’re working with all stakeholders to ensure they understand the nuances of football supporters and foster the wonderful atmosphere that has been created since day one," the club said.

“We’ll be addressing our members direct on our views of the presentation of our recent two games, as ultimately we’re accountable to them.

“Active supporters are a unique to football and extremely important to our club. We’re aware there are some issues with our major supporter group and we’re working through those direct with them.”

Since this story ran last week, this website has been inundated with stories about heavy-handed security. One fan wrote about concerns for his 12-year-old son.

“Many thanks for your article on the disgraceful circumstances currently surrounding the Melbourne Victory supporter groups and security, police etc.

“I have been a Victory member on and off since 2007 as has my 12 year old son and for the past five years straight so has my now 15 year old son.

“This issue has been causing me unease for some time now for a number of reasons. I have nothing but total respect for what the BWB (Blue and White Brigade) bring and try to do with their support of Melbourne Victory.

“After a few years of watching them and enjoying the theatre I finally let my then 14 sit with the BWB last season, this season he became a paid up member of the BWB.

“I became a member at AAMI this season with my 12 year old son and chose seats on the eastern wing near the corner flag that allow me to see the action at close range but also has me within eyeshot of my son so I can see exactly what is going on and make sure he is behaving.

“Early in the season AAMI had a very relaxed security presence and this really seemed to work for all concerned. However it was during the first game at Etihad stadium from my vantage point in the level one general admission area that I commented  to my 12 year old son that I felt the ACG security members were very aggressive and "in the face" of the North End supporter group.

“A change seemed to come over the entire relationship from this point on, as in the blink of an eye the security presence increased each game to include more uniformed police and over the past couple of months [including] the riot squad.
“I have watched the situation deteriorate by the week, partly out of concern for my son who is a good kid but at stages has been manhandled and also because I just didn't understand why this was happening!

“Fast forward to last Wednesday night’s game at Etihad and my son sent me a text from the peaceful protest on level 3 and said "dad can you come up and have a look at what is happening.

"On my arrival I was greeted by the site of 19 riot police surrounding one small bay of supporters, before I arrived a gent was apparently punched by one of the riot squad officers for holding a banner!

“I have no sympathy for the idiots who rip flares and my constant lecturing to my son shows this but apart from flares, these people do not seem to fight or essentially do anything other than actively support Victory. I really don't blame Victory for as a neutral observer of this they are probably reacting to things police and stadium security say.

“I am now actively starting to agitate for some sort of response from Victoria police because at the age of 44 I can honestly say I have never seen this type of blatant aggression or attitude towards a group of people.”