Standing what can be done about it? Time for the club to move on?

It seems to be a growing problem in the lower kop. Thankfully everyone sits down elsewhere.

 

A long term solution would be to make the lower kop a safe standing area. Id be up for it, most of block d has been standing for a few seasons now.

 

The club should really be looking at that now if folk are wanting to stand then let them have there own sections to do it and it will save a lot of arguments.
Does not bother me either way but it would save someones afternoon being ruined if they cannot stand for 90 minutes

 

Yeah I've read them before. Didn't want to start a debate about the technical dos and don'ts, just making a point about a possible solution. Standing is happening at a lot of grounds now, even in the ultra sanitised premiership. Saw it first hand when we played Newcastle and I enjoyed being stood up leaning on the barrier.

 

I sit at the back of the lower kop and I noticed yesterday that a lot more than usual were standing for long periods.

Despite my advanciing years I am lucky enough to be still quite fit physically and it doesnt bother me, yet. However, I do sympathise with others that this might be a problem for.

I remember a night cup tie against Middlesbrough a couple of years ago and everyone in the lower kop stood up all game. My daughter was pregnant at the time and she was struggling to stay on her feet. Eventually I approached a steward and although getting everyone to sit down was a tall order, the steward was helpful and moved us into a more elevated seat at the back of the bantam bar seating area and my daughter was able to sit down and enjoy the rest of the match.

 

The difficulty is policing it…..The number and cost of security staff to enforce it would be phenominal . I’m too an old fart yet like to stand predominantly , but there are times where people need to sit , for whatever reason. Enforcing it for example in the Kop would be a nightmare, so safe standing and people moving is in only answer in the lower Kop. Therein lies another problem, space is now very limited to move to the main stand or indeed midland rd.?

 

Bottom tier of the Kop and bottom tier of the TL Dallas (as we have to provide similar for away fans) would make most sense.

 

Did I read somewhere that in order to have safe standing areas we would have to reduce capacity by a fair amount?

 

Yes possibly and reengineer the “terracing” . It would cost a large pot on money . It’s not ours to modify in the strictest sense.

 

Whilst our block of Midland Road is pretty full every match day, along our row I would say there are only 8 or so season ticket holders. So a move would be viable. Mind you it's a long slog up to row Y. View is tremendous though.

 

With the way the licensing rules are set in this country that shouldn't be the case as the spaces requirements have been set the same for seating as standing even though really they should have made it slightly wider for standing to allow for the natural sideways movement of people when standing.
When safe standing was announced the hope was that as more clubs wanted it the price would come down due to mass production of the seats and rail bars but the problem has been since then that steel prices have gone up so it is still expensive to buy plus the installation costs on top. This is probably the reason why we've postponed the plan to install them and instead replaced the old seats with new ones.

 

Is't the issue not the space allocated under the licensing but the space required for the bars and seating so they wouldn't fit as a direct replacement for the current seats and still leave the required space. So yes echnically the space needed per person is the same but the space required for the iron work etc per seat/standing space is more so you fit less in per square yard

 

Would lose 1 full row in every 3 to introduce safe standing.
NW corner would be obvious answer but it still wouldn’t stop people standing in the lower kop.
Stewards need to do more to enforce it but they won’t. However, if they see someone with a beer or a vape or shouting some hurty words they are straight over.

 

I never saw what was wrong with correctly placed stanchions of old? Correctly spaced / staggered they would do just the same job by preventing the crowds surging forward as in some of the poorly designed terraces in years gone by ?

 

I'd like nothing more than a return to standing areas, preferably in a safe terrace format, but if that's ruled out and the only option is safe standing with a barrier rail then it's a no from me if that means a reduction in the overall ground capacity