Safe Standing

[Davkaus]

A rare bit of good news. Hopefully they don't balls it up and we can see this roll out to other clubs.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-old-trafford-safe-standing-rail-barrier-j-stand-latest-a9490306.html

Quote

 

Manchester United have been given approval to install rail seating for up to 1,500 supporters at Old Trafford, with the new plans set to be in place for the start of the new season.

Trafford Council have granted a request from the Premier League club to trial barrier seating, which will be located in J-Stand in the north-east quadrant of the 76,000-seat capacity stadium.

Although the start of the new 2020/21 Premier League season looks up in the air following the coronavirus pandemic, United hope to start the trial whenever the campaign gets the green light.

And should the plan prove successful, the club are open to installing more rail seating in the hope that it improves the spectacle for supporters who have grown frustrated with persistent standing, rather than as a sign of the club’s support for safe-standing.

Talks between the club and the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) led to the application for the safe standing project to be submitted to the local council and United’s group managing director Richard Arnold believes the Barrier Seating falls in line with their efforts to modernise Old Trafford and ensure it is “future-proofed”, should the Premier League changed the current all-seater stadium policy that has been heavily discussed in recent years.

 

 

[villa4europe]

Man utd are the litmus test for me as to where this is going and why

750 seats which sell for £50 a game will be converted to 1500 standing places at a cost of how much? In the name of fans and atmosphere

Anything more than £25 a ticket and they've spun it in to yet another way to mug fans off and I expect utds tourist travel partnership to be allocated a good chunk of those tickets as a "real experience" special which negates the entire point of it 

[Chindie]

Do day trippers want to stand up?

[Davkaus]

There's no increased capacity is there? They need to installrail seats which still take up the same amount of space, and every fan will still be given a seat to stand in front of. I don't expect the capacity to go up, or for the tickets to be a different price.

[villa4europe]

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

There's no increased capacity is there? They need to installrail seats which still take up the same amount of space, and every fan will still be given a seat to stand in front of. I don't expect the capacity to go up, or for the tickets to be a different price.

If it goes to standing then the seats stays folded up and it should be able to be 2 people per seat due to the extra width 

That's the way it works in Germany and my understanding of what spurs have done 

If all they are doing is keeping the concrete the same and installing a rail seat rather than a normal seat so you are stood 1 man deep 1 man wide then it seems better than what there is now but still a bit shit 

[sne]

With football to be played in front of empty stadiums for the foreseeable future it's kinda a moot point atm.

It's a shame we don't have any rebuilding at VP scheduled because if ever there was a time it's now.

[newhavenhibby]

Celtic have had it for around 3 years now for 3000 ( Shrewsbury were the first club I think). Their "green brigade" are housed there but their vocal support has led to a much better atmosphere within the whole ground. Hopefully more clubs in the UK , especially in the English Premier League, will follow suit to improve the match day experience.

Edited April 30, 2020 by newhavenhibby

[Wainy316]

How is this happening though?  As far as I know the law making it illegal has not been overturned?

[newhavenhibby]

Football Supporters Act that followed Hillsborough and brought in all seaters, only applies to England and Wales so Celtic were able to get a "safe standing" certificate in 2016 from Glasgow council. ( Scotland went down a voluntary route to all seaters) They got the "rail" type system installed and I know some Premier League clubs have been looking at it with a mind to obtaining permission to install them in England. How this works with the original act, I don't know........obviously Man U have found a way round it. Legislation will be under review and Spurs and Wolves I believe have already got a type of safe standing but unsure on the system.

To my knowledge it is very popular and has not caused any health and safety issues .......and you can't get any more "nutty" than the green brigade at Celtic Park which use it.

Edited April 30, 2020 by newhavenhibby

[Guest av1]

Seems to be some movement on this. BBC

 

Plans to lift the ban on standing in the English Premier League and Championship are set to be announced by the government, the BBC has learned.

It is thought a handful of grounds will be able to use designated safe standing areas before the end of the season.

It would mean for the first time in over 25 years, fans of some top flight football clubs would be legally allowed to stand and watch their team play.

An official announcement is expected as soon as next month.

[May-Z]

Wonder if this is part of the slow-burn stadium expansion plans. If the rules change on this I guess it would affect any designs quite substantially. 

Pretty sure from memory that Purslow has been pretty keen on pushing this in the past.

[Paul33]

Sadly, it won't be a return to standing as those of a certain age remember and miss big time. These "standing" plans are simply fans pinned in by crazy numbers of barriers and are probably far more dangerous and restrictive than standing in the seated areas as we do now. No (good) news here !