Ground reconfiguration for away fans

I suggest you read Paula's response again. She confirmed that Blocks D & E wouldn't become away only areas but leaves open the option of doing so in 'exceptional circumstances' whatever they might be. Her response doesn't suggest that the new arrangements would only be used for cup games.

Paula responded in a similar way to ny friend's email. I'll try to get a copy of it and post it on here. The tone of Paula's response suggests they are still working on the important details such as when the changes will apply and how the affected fans will be provided with 'suitable alternative seating'. They will make every effort to keep groups of fans together. That will be a tall order imo given that many hundreds of fans will have to be moved for some games to accommodate the away fans in the MR stand.

 

I promised to get hold of a copy of the email which a friend sent to the club - Ryan Spaks and Paula Watson - and copied to the Supporters Trust and Supporters Board. For those who might be affected by the proposed changes or are concerned with the impact it will have on many hundreds of City fans, here's the email I referred to.

*******
I understand from the minutes of the last Supporters Trust meeting that you have plans to move season ticket holders in some blocks of the Midland Road stand to elsewhere in the stadium under certain circumstances. This appears to be as part of the intention to improve 'flexibility' in the stadium. There appear to be changes planned in the partitioning of MR between home and away fans with the introduction of additional security gates.

Although you have yet to say this, it appears that it's your intention to provide more capacity for away fans at the expense of home supporters with them having to move elsewhere in the stadium. That is despite the fact that many of those fans may have been sitting in the MR for decades and will be affected adversely. You would then expect your loyal fans to find alternative seating somewhere else in the stadium. The seating in the MR which would probably be affected in Blocks E & D provide some of the best views at Valley Parade and you intend to move fans from those blocks to areas which are already filled with other fans such as the upper tier of the Main stand and the NW Corner. Your view that our club values its fans is just lip service if you intend to prioritise away fans over long established home fans.

This has all the hall marks of the debacle you created when you did something similar when playing Carlisle in the play-off semi finals a few years ago. For some reason, the club decided to provide Carlisle fans with more seating than was necessary under the EFL''s own Regulations for away seating. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that Regulation 35.7 specifies the minimum and that number is 10% of stadium capacity upto 2,000. Providing anything over 2,000 for league games at VP is therefore the club's decision. At the time, a number of fans wrote to the club, pointing that out and were told that was incorrect. As an aside, I wrote to Marco Townsen at the time, referring to the EFL Regs which had been misinterpreted by the club but unfortunately never received a response. I'll say it again, the EFL Regulations only require 2,000 seats to be provided for away fans in a stadium with VP's capacity of over 24,000. If you don't understand that, I suggest you re-read the appropriate sections of the EFL Regulations. As you're probably aware, that number can be more than accommodated in a combination of the TL Dallas stand and the current two end blocks of the Midland Road stand. You appear now to be increasing that number even further at the expense of disruption and inconvenience to existing, long-serving and loyal home fans. You don't appear to have learned from the debacle you created for the Carlisle game when you allocated many more blocks to away fans. That still rankles with many fans.

You may not fully understand this but many fans attend home games sitting together with their friends and families. Over the years they have formed friendships with other fans around them and that makes it all part of the matchday experience. That must be allowed to continue. Your plans will impact that adversely and that some may simply choose not to bother in the future. The matchday experience is what matters to most fans and you are in danger of undermining that with your proposal.

Currently, season tickets are on sale. Having read the ticketing information on the club site, I can see no reference to your plans to move some fans away from their current seats. If you are planning to implement your changes in the coming season, I find that unforgivable and would have expected more from a club which prizes its community spirit and promotes its fans as part of the city community. If it is your intention to provide more capacity for away fans, you should at least have the courtesy and respect to inform those fans who might be affected. It probably identifies the reality that home fans are not your first priority; they are secondary to away fans who pay more for their seats as a one-off. The concept of home fans being an integral part of the City community doesn't stand up to scrutiny in this situation. Making a little more money from away fans rather than building on the loyalty of your home fans appears to be your priority.

If you haven't appreciated this already I am appalled at your planned treatment of many loyal City fans whether I'm affected personally or not. I would certainly like you to maximise the away capacity at VP if that increases the club's revenues. But that should not be at the expense of upsetting existing fans and creating unnecessary change for those fans.

If you do have plans to implement the changes for the 2026/27 season than have the courtesy to:

1 Describe the intended changes before the ST period has concluded so that fans can reflect that in their purchasing decisions

2. Explain what you mean by 'exceptional' circumstances' for the changes to take effect so that fans can assess the risk of being moved

3. Explain in detail how fans will be impacted in having to locate alternative seating elsewhere in the stadium including in those cases where groups of friends and family who sit together are affected

I look forward to your response
*****

He has already received a response from Paula which amongst other things covers the three questions he raised in particular. Paula's response repeats many of the points she raised in her recent Operational Update. He hasn't received anything substantive as yet from either of the two supporter bodies.

Edit - If anybody wants to see Paula's response to this email, let me know and I'll send you a copy. If you want, I'll also include the follow-up email he sent to Paula for which he has yet to receive a response from the club.

 

Yes ... written on very soggy writing paper!