[Football] Safe standing in the North stand next season ....?

[Silverhatch]

Thing is, everyone who wants to stands in the North anyway - about 3/4ths of the stand. So...

Yep, unsafe standing

 

[Hometownglory]

I thought PBOBE also said that safe standing would mean they would have to reduce the capacity of the North. I can't see the club seeing the benefit of losing match day revenue when they are doing everything in their power to increase it. Let's face it, fans in the north stand anyway and the club will maintain they do everything in their power to make fans sit...

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

I thought PBOBE also said that safe standing would mean they would have to reduce the capacity of the North. I can't see the club seeing the benefit of losing match day revenue when they are doing everything in their power to increase it. Let's face it, fans in the north stand anyway and the club will maintain they do everything in their power to make fans sit...

I'm not sure what evidence there is to suggest that safe/rail seating means reduced capacity. If anything, it 'can' be possible to increase capacity.

Can safe standing increase capacity?

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

Except that once the stewards finally admitted defeat and accepted that getting the NS to sit was an impossibility, the overwhelming majority have stood. That stewards giving up was at the start of our first PL season. I am not aware of any death or serious injury caused by fans standing - without a rail. Are you?

Why do we need "safe-standing with rails" when everybody stands safely anyway? There's no need for the club to fritter away the hard-earned profits by installing rails nor to upset or inconvenience longstanding STHs who do sit in the NS by "resettling" them to install said railings.

Maybe the answer is for those who don't feel safe standing in the NS to seek a ST elsewhere? I'm sure there are plenty of the younger generation who would welcome the opportunity to stand, safely, in the NS.

We are the only club in the Premier League to rule out safe standing.

Safe Standing Tracker

 

[bluenitsuj]

We already stand in the North.

 

[Hometownglory]

I'm not sure what evidence there is to suggest that safe/rail seating means reduced capacity. If anything, it 'can' be possibly to increase capacity.

Can safe standing increase capacity?

I don't know, I am only going by what I thought PBOBE said once. Maybe I am mistaken. Surely though, if people feel unsafe to stand without rails, why would they want more fans crammed in? Just means you'll be squashed instead.

 

[studio150]

Perhaps the key is that all North Stand fans who want safe standing, should all email PBOBE saying that they are prepared to accept an increase of £20 per match ticket to pay for the installation and upkeep of the safe standing barriers.

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

I don't know, I am only going by what I thought PBOBE said once. Maybe I am mistaken. Surely though, if people feel unsafe to stand without rails, why would they want more fans crammed in? Just means you'll be squashed instead.

I'm sure you're right about what PBOBE said.

But this is interesting from Luton Town bearing in mind they're not planning on being at Kenilworth Road for much longer ... https://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/2024/march/safe-standing-update/

In particular ...

"This process has been a complex but rewarding one that means that over 800 additional seats are now in this area of the ground and it has resulted in us more than doubling the home capacity in this section".

And ...

"Firstly, because of the increase in capacity, pay-back would be well under two seasons with the additional benefit of allowing more supporters into the stadium. This increase has been made possible by a number of strategies, including increasing the number of usable rows, decreasing the segregation zone, having all standing seats as allocated positions and losing one gangway".

 

[Acker79]

I'm not sure what evidence there is to suggest that safe/rail seating means reduced capacity. If anything, it 'can' be possibly to increase capacity.

Can safe standing increase capacity?

I don't know, I am only going by what I thought PBOBE said once. Maybe I am mistaken. Surely though, if people feel unsafe to stand without rails, why would they want more fans crammed in? Just means you'll be squashed instead.

My understanding is that the argument around capacity was about licencing - the safety licences limits capacity based on how quickly you can empty in an emergency.

Of course, they kinda contradicted that argument a couple of seasons ago when they squeezed in a thousand seats around the stadium.

 

[GT49er]

I thought PBOBE also said that safe standing would mean they would have to reduce the capacity of the North. I can't see the club seeing the benefit of losing match day revenue when they are doing everything in their power to increase it. Let's face it, fans in the north stand anyway and the club will maintain they do everything in their power to make fans sit...

No, the capacity would be exactly the same. Each standing space would replace one seat: one for one. So, no loss of match day revenue at all, and the cost of installation? Equivalent to a couple of days of player wages, maybe!
People are the same width, standing or sitting!

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

Perhaps the key is that all North Stand fans who want safe standing, should all email PBOBE saying that they are prepared to accept an increase of £20 per match ticket to pay for the installation and upkeep of the safe standing barriers.

I, along with thousands of others, won't be using the new fan zone. Can I get a reduction in the cost of my ticket?

 

[Hometownglory]

Standing or sitting, we need a bigger North Stand full stop (I heard its impossible). A good kop stand is great for atmosphere. It's the only niggle I have with the stadium design.

 

[Napper]

Would it make the north start singing I. Unison and a better volume ?

 

[BNthree]

No chance as the club held a survey and everyone that doesn't go in the North Stand voted no to it

Don’t forget the survey asked if you’d be willing to pay extra for a safe standing spot (to cover the cost of removing the seat). Obviously everyone said no they didn’t want to pay extra and PBOBE got to say the vast majority of STH didn’t want safe standing (without mentioning the questionnaire had been rigged).

 

[drew]

Safe standing, no safe standing.

No difference in North, we're all standing anyway.

Yes, but people want a bar to hold on to otherwise it isn't safe. Look at all the serious injuries that have occurred over the last 13 years!!!

 

[drew]

Don’t forget the survey asked if you’d be willing to pay extra for a safe standing spot (to cover the cost of removing the seat). Obviously everyone said no they didn’t want to pay extra and PBOBE got to say the vast majority of STH didn’t want safe standing (without mentioning the questionnaire had been rigged).

They're not removing seats, they would be replacing them.

 

[BNthree]

They're not removing seats, they would be replacing them.

Thanks for your pedantry and for ignoring what I was actually trying to get across

 

[el punal]

Can’t we just have a standing area without this safe standing nonsense? There are no barriers so i don’t see what the problem is.

You’ve got it - it’s called the North Stand concourse by the bars. Well it’s reasonably safe until you fall over.

 

[Milano]

I've only expereinced safe standing once - Spurs away, Trossard last minute. Safe standing ruined what would have been an absolute limbsathon when that went in, so bollocks to it. Yet more nanny state controling crap.

 

[BNthree]

Can’t we just have a standing area without this safe standing nonsense? There are no barriers so i don’t see what the problem is.

The short answer is no we can’t.