Safe standing at grounds

This topic has been in the news again today as more than 50% of fans polled have said they would like safe standing to be brought back.

Personally I'd be all in favour of it.

I could easily see us getting 70,000 if the capacity allows for some of the big games.

The atmosphere at games will be improved no end as people who want to sing will gravitate together.

It could even drive the price of tickets down (although with Fatty... I'm not too sure).

The game seems to be moving away from the common man so this could be an ideal solution to deliver re-engagement.

 

Not for me but I think its an age thing when we go away i stand but ****ing hate it. Where would the standing section be? behind the goals lower tier or level 7

 

I live in Germany where I would say football is much more fan-oriented and affordable. My girlfriend vigorously supports the local team (Vfl Bochum) and since we live only 100 yards from the stadium we regularly get tickets for 10 euros join the ultras in the standing section. I don't see a problem with standing only areas. Sure, it gets a bit crowded sometimes but I've found that generally people are very polite and accommodate each other really well. I'm baffled as to why they don't allow standing areas in English stadiums. I know that the one time they tried to ban standing here, there was an outright national fan revolt against the German FA. So they wisely dropped their plans.

Mind you, in my opinion there are lots of things English football can learn from the Germans. The best being the fact that almost all clubs are majority fan-owned. Looking at all the nonsense currently surrounding Cardiff and Spurs, I'm sure their fans would beg for the kind of autonomy German clubs have.

 

If I were fat Mike I'd consider the Gallowgate as a standing area, as well as the Leazes. The wall of noise could be deafening.
We could leave the Milburn and East Stand alone.

 

Definitely leave the Milburn Stand alone, but I know a lot of people in the East Stand would welcome a standing area.

 

The English position on safe standing is largely a result of the Hillsboro disaster.

This is somewhat ironic as it has now been established that the problem wasn't that the fans were standing but the fact that the area was overcrowded boy roughly 300%. With modern ticket gates I can't see this being a problem now.

Not sure I would take advantage but I'm sure a lot of people would love it.

 

This is the key point I think.
It's impossible to jump the turnstyles nowadays so only those with a ticket can get in.

 

How does the German model work?

Is it basically the same as seating, in the sense that you are allocated a specfic 'seat' or space, but instead of sitting down you stand?

I have no idea. But that way seems no less safe than seating or is that a bit naive?

 

A German lad at work told me that safety officers will assess capacity of a particular section in the same way that fire safety officers assess night clubs.
I would imagine that this means that, say in a row of seats where you would normally fit, say 50 seats.. it may be deemed that you could comfortably stand 75 and so on and so forth without fixed seating getting in the way.

 

Stuff all the thought police, health & safety and family crap to control us all...get some of this back in our stadiums....45 seconds in as an example...

[video=youtube;xhXxeW02CmA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhXxeW02CmA[/video]

 

I'm an annual visitor to Turkey and would love to go and watch a Fener game.
Even miles away on the coast, when they play there are processions of scooters through the streets, fireworks.. the lot.
The craziest assed bunch of fans I've ever seen...

Apart from 3 Ferencvaros lads who I saw running down past the Gallowgate with a wheel barrow full of brown ale on one European night... nutters.

 

I can't comment on bigger clubs, but in Bochum (who I would say you can equate to a team like Sheffield Wednesday) you ask for a ticket in one of the standing sections. Where you end up standing in that section is totally up to you. Most regular fans tend to have their 'spot' though and tend to gravitate there every game.

 

standing areas would be great i really miss the rivers of piss that used to flow down the gallowgate back in the eighties

 

And did they miss you?