The idea of terracing is romantic at best. I have yet to see a game where anybody sits down in their seats for a whole game so if they want to stand they can. I used to stand on the Barclay and at around 6 feet I was OK for a view no matter where. I remember taking my boys when they were under 10 and picked the best spot for them and then a group of lads stood right in front of them. I asked them to move a bit but they refused blaming traffic for their late arrival. I could smell alcohol on them so knew they had been in the pub and thats why they were late. I've just paid my money to get in an hour before KO so my lads get a good view, paid full price and now they can't see. If I had been drinking, I was so irate it could have kicked off. Seating is the best thing that happened to football and sport in general. You lads who may have been too young for terracing have missed nothing.
Tipsy Slightly confused by your link between high ticket prices and overseas support for the club?! Don't really think reducing our ticket prices would make any difference between how many fans we get in the Far East etc! Plus if we're getting full houses and selling 20,000+ season tickets, there is absolutely no reason to reduce the prices! Hopefully, if we can increase the capacity up to 35,000 we may see prices kept steady, but we've also got to keep our player wages steady as well. The German team you mentioned (although we are still the only English side to beat them in Munich!) is an equivalent to Man United with a similar ground capacity. I like how our club is trying to make itself self-sustaining which should mean long term viability. As regarding increasing our standing and popularity abroad. The longer we stay in the Premier League, the better. Getting into Europe would help as well. Don't think we'll ever match Man United & Liverpool in plastic (overseas) fans though!
i think people suggesting terracing of the future will be the same as it used to be are living in cloud cuckoo land to be honest. the whole idea around safe standing areas is that it gives people a choice, a slightly cheaper alternative. many, like myself, far prefer standing to watch football. if i could go and watch my team and they knock a fiver or tenner off the price, i would not be alone in wanting to take up that option. if you have kids you'd be extremely irresponsible in this day and age to take them into terracing when there is a perfectly viable seating area in the rest of the ground. times have changed - terracing of old was awful, truly awful. don't get me wrong, seating WAS the best thing to happen to football in this country for so, so many reasons! however, that does not mean its perfect. i advise anyone who gets the chance to go to HSV or dortmund and experience the buzz of safe standing. you'll feel very, very differently about it, i promise
Also remember the nightmare at some grounds of fans being so jammed in on the terrace they could not get out to the toilets so rivers of p*ss round your feet.
