Away supporters are housed at one end in the Wedlock Blackthorn Stand, where the normal allocation is 2,800. If required, this can be increased to 5,500.
There'll be more than last time when the stupid idiots had it pay on the gate.
How many turned up then? 2,200+.
I was in the ground quite early and was chatting to a steward and they were only expecting 1,000 or so. Got to the point when I thought they would have had to move the segregation netting.
I don't know whether we'll get more to be honest. When QPR played there they kept half of the away-end for home fans, knowing they'd easily sell them that way.
Bristol City fans have been making a big thing about how great it's been having home seating in the 'Wedlock Blackthorn Stand' again, as they're not keen on their home end for atmosphere.
admittedly by that point, we will in all likelihood be playing for play off positions only, as Plymouth and one other should have tied up automatic promotion by that point.
For a few years the Wedlock was away fans only. As those who've been there know - it's similar to the North Stand (Goldstone stylee) but with seats. City's noisy element are housed in a new stand at the opposite end of the ground, but it is quite open in design and more difficult to make a decent amount of noise.
Leading up to a fixture with Cardiff, they installed a semi-permanent fence in the middle of the stand in order that home fans could also be housed there and take advantage of the accoustics.
I've mentioned it on footballforums.net and have been told:
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Brighton fans, the capacity of the east end is only really only about 3500 because of segregation between home and away supporters.
You probably wont need more than 2000 anyway, unless you go on a great run and are really pushing for auto.
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Do agree that you might be able to bring more than 2,000 & you were the best support I've seen down here in recent years (in terms of noise, 01/02 season).
But the point remains, the tickets are being sold to home support and 2,000 is still a very decent away allocation.
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The frustrating thing is City are only averaging somewhere under 12,000 in a ground that holds around 21,000. We will undoubtedly sell (or be able to sell) more than 2000 tickets almost regardless of what happens between then and now. Football being the strange game that it is - it could be a huge game.
There are likely to be Albion fans that miss out, whilst there are likely to be a good 7 or 8 thousand empty seats. Doesn't seem right, really.