Safe Standing questionnaire on the Washbag

[Arriba]

I used to have the opinion that terracing was part of history and we should move on and forget the idea of standing at football. I've changed my mind on this having seen the safe standing idea with allocated spaces and the safety bars. Definately think we as a club should look to have a standing area if we can.

[4D]

I used to stand in front of the barriers on the bank, you could avoid the shove in the back from surging fans. Terracing was ace, you could move around if you had some gobshite stood near you, or if someone had a smelly arse.

[Huwwy]

It will never happen so why bother with a questionnaire.

That's the sort of 'can do' spirit that made this country great! 

Peterborough have offered their ground as a trial for safe standing areas and, as we are hopefully building the new Town End next summer I would have thought this is exactly the time that the club should seriously consider it too. J Wray seems genuinely interested in the views of the fans so I see no harm in gauging the fans' views.

[Simon Pieman]

The problem is we get a lot of fans who say their opinion on the internet, social media and in other local media who probably don't reflect the vast majority of other fans.

Take the Town End stand for example, the uptake on the offer for a £199 season ticket a couple of years back wasn't anywhere as good as expected.

I think for the people who enjoy the Town End already safe standing would be brilliant. Others will pay slightly more for the view and and chats about the quality of the Bovril/Oxo/whatever they serve these days.

[@MacPhlea]

I expect that even if they FA authorise safe standing they will fuck up the decision by saying it can only be installed in grounds where terracing exists already and where new stadiums are built or where seating already exists they cannot install safe standing...

[Only Me]

I used to stand in front of the barriers on the bank, you could avoid the shove in the back from surging fans. Terracing was ace, you could move around if you had some gobshite stood near you, or if someone had a smelly arse.

To be fair, you can still move around now, as we hardly ever have a full stadium

[4D]

It was the prem year, I had a season ticket in there. When we had terracing I stood mostly on the shrivvy, then the bank and the TE the least. I've always found the steps too shallow in there.

[the washbag]

Thanks for the feedback so far on this survey. The whole purpose of the survey is to establish whether support exists to see safe-standing introduced, if the club was able to. Ultimately a change in the law and Football League regulations may be possible, however this will not happen without the evidence, fans and club support.

If you haven't already please give your views on safe-standing and how it could affect your matchday experience which will be reported to the club - who I'm meeting to discuss this issue in a week - and the Football Supporters Federation, who are leading this campaign.

Please click this link and fill out the survey - http://thewashbag.com/2012/08/06/safe-standing-survey/

[reeves4england]

Good to hear about the meeting.

Will you be posting results of the survey and feedback from the meeting at some point?

[Batch]

Good to hear about the meeting.

Yep, nice to see them take an interest even if it is ultimately somebody else's decision.

[the washbag]

Good to hear about the meeting.

Will you be posting results of the survey and feedback from the meeting at some point?

Depending on how things progress with the club and promoting the survey, the results will be published in a couple of weeks.

[the washbag]

Finally after a bit of a delay... the results of our safe-standing survey have been published today http://thewashbag.com/2012/10/17/safe-standing-survey-result/ revealing significant support from those fans surveyed to see the introduction of safe-standing area(s) (if the club was permitted to do so).

I'll get the club's feedback on this soon.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Hopefully this will be brought up in the Q&A with the new chairman coming up

[jonny72]

Would have been interesting to see how people would react to having to pay the same for a safe standing seat compared to a normal seat. I'm guessing not well as 81% in the survey expected to pay less.

I ask as I'm not sure why they would be any cheaper. The safe standing system will cost substantially more than normal seating due to the extra barriers and may even take up more space (meaning less seats). So if it was put in to the Town End for example I'd guess you'd be paying exactly the same for your ticket as you do at present.

Still think the whole thing is a waste of time. To implement safe seating you need a change in the law which I don't see happening, the main parties have more important things to worry about and wouldn't want to be associated with it if it went wrong.

[THE FLASH]

I would pay the same for safe standing.