What are your thoughts on a terraced Kop in the new ground?

[dom9]

Let's be honest, this is one way of increasing the capacity of the new stadium.

The Gillet interview got me thinking though.

The law does not currently permit standing terraces at football grounds, but if it were to change, what would be your views? Most people stand through the games anyway, so would it be a big deal?

Obviously, our club has been affected more than any other by the terraces of old, but if they were made safer, could this work, or are the memories of the past too powerful?

My own view is that I just don't know.

[RedJedi]

No, not for me

[Red Chilli]

It is a backwards step in safety. Whatever they do, it will never be as safe as an all seater. For that reason I can't see it happening and I'd be pretty pissed off if it was our club that was pushing for a change in the law to make football grounds less safe.
Just my opinion

[Bob]

Let's be honest, this is one way of increasing the capacity of the new stadium.

The Gillet interview got me thinking though.

The law does not currently permit standing terraces at football grounds, but if it were to change, what would be your views? Most people stand through the games anyway, so would it be a big deal?

Obviously, our club has been affected more than any other by the terraces of old, but if they were made safer, could this work, or are the memories of the past too powerful?

My own view is that I just don't know.

No.

[tsb]

No. Not gonna happen either

[The Glove]

Standing at games would be open to a host of compo claims nowadays.

[Gordy Boy]

Didn't West Ham supporters start up a campaign a couple of years ago to get certain sections of grounds allocated to standing supporters?

Can't see it happening in this country - although don't some German grounds have standing areas?

Either way I wouldn't feel comfortable with it. As has already been mentioned, most people stand during a game anyway but at least you know you only have a certain number of people (ie one per seat) in a particular area and it's fairly easy to police I would have thought.

[dom9]

That seems pretty unanamous then (from 5 replies).

Terraces are still a bad thing.

I think this is a debate that will become more prominent in the next few years though.

[Rocket]

standing up does make a better atmosphere, but no, it'll never happen

[Milan_Milan]

Don't think it will happen, but I wouldn't necessarily be against it. Provided there was effective and vigilant policing/stewarding and well designated and cleared routes in/out for the emergency services in case of an emergency (hopefully never used) I think it could be a good idea. It's worked in Germany and don't see why it couldn't work here. Whilst we should never forget the horrors of Hillsborough, standing itself as a policy wasn't at fault. A whole host of other factors were, and I'm positive that none of those situations would ever be allowed to occur again were standing reintroduced. Of course you could say that it wouldn't have happened had there been seating, but it wasn't caused by a lack of seats.

On the other hand of course there are always going to be those within the fanbase that have a very (and understandably) strong dislike for the idea, and those people should not be attacked for their views.

Also, standing would solve, or be a step towards solving, a number of the problems that have arisen with modern football including high ticket prices pricing out the local communities and a lack of atmosphere at grounds.

Personally if they could demonstrate the safety aspects, I'd be for it.

[Red Chilli]

Thing is MM, it will NEVER be as safe as seating, will it?

So can you see a club realistically deciding to make their stadium less safe?

Don't you think that is asking for trouble? Were an incident (not another disaster) to happen the club would never be forgiven.

Why would you ever want to make a sporting event less safe for the public? There's no sense to it.

[Angry Dan]

You could take the safety issue to extremes tho. Anywhere where there is a large collection of people in an enclosed area increases danger. As stated before controlled terracing is perfectly safe. Problems occur when it is not properly controlled. I do not think anyone is advocating a return to the old days and standards of terracing but to rule the idea out completly is in my opinion wrong.

[Red Chilli]

You could take the safety issue to extremes tho. Anywhere where there is a large collection of people in an enclosed area increases danger. As stated before controlled terracing is perfectly safe. Problems occur when it is not properly controlled. I do not think anyone is advocating a return to the old days and standards of terracing but to rule the idea out completly is in my opinion wrong.

Can you make terraces as safe as an all seater?

If you had a safer terrace now, it might be difficult to argue changing to an all seater, but, we have all seaters now, so why would the clubs spend vast ammounts of money making their facilities less safe?

It doesn't make sense, logically.

[nobbylad]

If there was standing, I wouldn't take my kids anymore, well, at least not to the standing terraces, I would always choose the 'seat' option.

Thing is, I've taken them to plenty of games where we've stood throughout the whole game, but it's been safer because they've had their own 'safe place' and not been caught up in a swell of people.

[dom9]

Does their view get blocked by adults?

The trouble with preople standing in their seats is that you can't move to get a better view, so people always loose out somewhere. It's a difficult issue.