Stop pandering to them, the time for softly softly has long gone, it's Ashley and them against the rest of us.
Unfortunately there is 10s of thousands more of 'them' which is why they're trying not to p*ss them all off before they've even got started. I'm with you, they're absolute (short sighted) c***s if they go to the match. But I can see why they're trying this approach.
They will see that line as the green light to keep going, they really didn't need to put it in.