Safe standing is good but don't see it improving the atmosphere hugely. Frankly I don't think we have that many supporters who want to sing. Tried registering my interest for the live feedback sessions but it won't accept my email address, despite it being the same one registered with club
The biggest change in stadium configuration since it was built is probably worthy of its own thread. Updates all be in one place then.
I assume it would need to be the Chapel/Kingsland corner, so that the authorities could use the industrial estate to funnel away fans in and out.
I honestly don't see it will make that much difference. What's the Northam hold, just under 6k? Is there really that many supporters in the ground who want to regularly sing and get behind the team? Also you're bound to get some people move as they'll want to be near away fans. Curious to see where the away fans and family stand go in this proposal. Also wondering if this already has the support of the police and local SAG.
Yeah that's what was mentioned when this broke on TUI not long back but would require the family stand moving and would make train station escort's (when required) awkward having to take them through St Mary's and the city centre parks.
I think it will. At the moment we've got all our vocal fans dotted all over the place. Some in the Northam, some in Itchen North and now there's a few at the back of the Chapel. Liverpool have the Kop, Villa have the Holte End etc. Obviously ours won't be as big as that, but I like the idea of having our own version. Also, if we can move the away fans away from one of the end's it means away teams can't kick towards their own fans.
It’s certainly something people have been asking for, personally I’m not too fussed and think that our ‘Northam/Itchen’ pincer is a fairly unique set up, while the Chapel now has a vocal section. However if we can coalesce the vocal support into a singular safe standing section in the Northam then it will probably have more punch, but will have the side effect of a quieter rest of the ground. I have to say I think the club have started to make some pretty decent strides on matchdays, the new screens look good, the offering in the stands and around the stadium is improving with better quality food and drink stalls (noticed The Dancing Man brewery operate in the Chapel now), live music and better crowd interaction. Much better pricing, although relegation is probably a bit of a factor here. It’s notable that attendances haven’t really dropped by much this season, whereas they cliffed last time we were relegated. I used to think the Rose Bowl really put St Mary’s to shame with these things, but I think St Mary’s has really started to catch up especially since SR took over.
Will the loud fans want to be that far away from the away fans? Genuine question. I assumed that was at least part of the reason why the noisiest fans are either side of the away section.
Yeah I think it can only help. From block 15 you can barely hear the Itchen north, but from other parts of the ground they’re the loudest section. Having it condensed acoustically will only spread the atmosphere with a louder leading section imo. Only potential hiccup is the fact the naughty boys from Itchen and Northam will just want to be next to away fans again.
A lot of it also depends on if our fans wanna be organised or not. I can imagine they’ll need to be some sort of choreographed effort to bring people that actual wanna make noise and not sit on their hands together.
Hats off to Saints. I think the set up on matchday's is so much better this season. I really like the food and drink options outside the ground.
I dont think fans care about being by away fans. That sort of fan will follow the atmposphere which will be in the northam. I expect away fans will be in itchen corner/end so they will still be close anyway. As for how many fans would sing and get involved, I think loads would. I usually sit in kingsland, inline with penalty spot and pretty much all the fans there love to get involved, but just wont be the one to ever start it. Plus the itchen/northam corner is loud, so they will be combined with the northam which will help too.
Away fans won't be in Itchen due to the hospitality boxes. Libby pointed that out when this was first rumoured to be in the pipeline.
The way to counter that would be to stick the away fans in the Kingsland/Chapel corner so they are still next to each other, but the wording of the statement makes me think they will be moving to the current family area in the Kingsland/Chapel corner.
