North Stand Construction Discussion

Thought I’d stick my opinion on here for what it’s worth.

When the club approached 1894 about the North Stand, the term ‘atmospheric home end’ was used.

In various surveys and focus groups (conducted by the club and 1894), atmosphere was always the most important factor for fans (when considering the North stand expansion).

My personal thoughts (which I shared with the team working on the NS expansion) is that the clubs plans are not ambitious enough. This is the last opportunity. There are various things which have been omitted from this update (number of seasoncards, positioning of rail seats and positioning of GA+ seats, pricing structures etc) that are important on that front.

A point I made a few times (which I’m probably not eloquent enough to explain brilliantly on here) is that the message from the club is vital for fans to buy into the vision (of an atmospheric home end). I think a lot of fans who were excited about an atmospheric home end will be disappointed with ‘only 3k standing fans at the back of the stand’ - I was.

It will make many fans who would have moved think ‘screw that, I’ll stay where I am’.

The alternative was to release plans saying ‘there will be 7k rail seats, focus on atmosphere, decent prices etc’…. Then the demand for fans to move would be huge…. Build it and they will come.

The risk is that if we didn’t quite hit a target of 7k singers/standers. But then the club could have put normal seats in should they need to. It’s literally the same outcome (if the club are being honest about adding more rail seats if demand is there), but the positive spin on that point alone would have created much more excitement about the expansion (from an atmosphere perspective).

I am at one end of the spectrum though. I REALLY care about the atmosphere at City. I appreciate not all fans do and their views are as valid as anyone’s. But because I personally (as well as the thousands of members I represented) do care, I would always push for atmosphere over other considerations.
 
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jrb said:
Question to you all.

Do you think there will be more demand for 3000 safe standing seats on NSL2?

Factor in 50,000 match going City fans now. And then factor in 8000 new City fans.

When exactly is club going to increase the NSL2 safe standing capacity after the relocation window opens, if the 3000 safe standing seats are taken up straight away?

Exactly what is the maximum cut of point for safe standing seats on NSL2?

4000? 5000? It won't go any higher than that.
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I suspect it won't go much higher than that (if even that figure). I might be wrong but I just don't think the demand is there for much more than that. Plenty won't relocate no matter what. They are just happy where they are, be that because they want to be near the away fans, are near friends already, prefer to be in the SS for access to/from the ground, prefer to be on level 1, can't be arsed to move etc.

Also the demand for new season tickets will come from a variety of groups - families, youngsters, FOCs etc, so I just don't see that there will be that much scope for the safe standing to exceed 4-5,000, possibly not even more than the initial 3,000.
 
blueparrot said:
Nobody knows the answer to any of those , but if people refuse to work with the club because of some fanciful 7/8000 figure we might never find out. If people don’t fill the 3000 how and by how many it increases we’ll never know. Fill the 3000 and see what happen.Refuse to move because of silly red lines and they don’t get filled maybe the number decreases.
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I think the 3000 safe standing seats will be snapped up straightaway. With demand for more safe standing seats. I think there will be a cut off point where the club won't make anymore safe standing seats available.

What is very important is how the club sells and markets the new North stand and NSL2 to the fans. The club either go full on atmospheric home end, or dumb down on it, making a home end that caters for the wider fan base.
 
jrb said:
I think the 3000 safe standing seats will be snapped up straightaway. With demand for more safe standing seats. I think there will be a cut if point where the club won't make anymore safe standing seats available.

What is very important is how the club sells and markets the new North stand and NSL2 to the fans. The club either go full on atmospheric home end, or dumb down on it, and making a home end that caters for the wider fan base.
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Agree, though I think whatever the cut off maybe 4/5000 who knows, those sat in front of it are quite likely maybe very likely to join in what’s happening behind them. The North stand even as set out today will be a far better ‘home’ end than the current SS1 and those not moving now might well regret not moving from the start. That said seem the club want to keep safe standing in the south stand too.
Myself I’m looking forward to it.
 
PragueBlue said:
I suspect it won't go much higher than that (if even that figure). I might be wrong but I just don't think the demand is there for much more than that. Plenty won't relocate no matter what. They are just happy where they are, be that because they want to be near the away fans, are near friends already, prefer to be in the SS for access to/from the ground, prefer to be on level 1, can't be arsed to move etc.

Also the demand for new season tickets will come from a variety of groups - families, youngsters, FOCs etc, so I just don't see that there will be that much scope for the safe standing to exceed 4-5,000, possibly not even more than the initial 3,000.
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Until the club releases season ticket details, and match day ticket prices for NSL2, we won't know the real and true interest from current match going fans, and fans desperate to watch the games, who currently can't get a season ticket, and 'can't afford a match ticket'.
 
There is a Light said:
Open your eyes to what is really happening.

Ten years of season ticket hikes, commercial partnerships allowing home and away tickets to be siphoned off to agencies, tourists with no affiliation to the club getting tickets for aways, no priority for members with loyalty points leading to one third of the ground being tourists or away fans for a CL semi final, United, Arsenal, Liverpool fans buying tickets off the club to sit in our end for home matches, no season tickets for three years and then replaced with Flexi Golds. Now we’ve got sky bars, roof walks and novelty shirts for home CL matches - it’s becoming everything we hated.

Unfortunately there’s a few among us who have an attitude of I’m alright. Not me, and thankfully not 1894.
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Hear hear
 
jrb said:
Until the club releases season ticket details, and match day ticket prices for NSL2, we won't know the real andc true interest from current match going fans, and fans desperate to watch the games, who currently can't get a season ticket, and can't afford a match ticket.
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That's true but we also don't know the type of fan they are likely to be, youngsters, families, FOCs etc and if they'd prefer standing or seating. It's be interesting to see how it pans out.
 
HelloCity said:
Great post.

I noticed one of the people earlier pushing back on those sharing this view was one of those ‘if you can’t afford it don’t go’ types.

Thankfully groups like 1894 still fight for the rights of fans rather than boot lick or roll over to the corporate juggernaut.
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Boot lick.
 
There is a Light said:
Open your eyes to what is really happening.

Ten years of season ticket hikes, commercial partnerships allowing home and away tickets to be siphoned off to agencies, tourists with no affiliation to the club getting tickets for aways, no priority for members with loyalty points leading to one third of the ground being tourists or away fans for a CL semi final, United, Arsenal, Liverpool fans buying tickets off the club to sit in our end for home matches, no season tickets for three years and then replaced with Flexi Golds. Now we’ve got sky bars, roof walks and novelty shirts for home CL matches - it’s becoming everything we hated.

Unfortunately there’s a few among us who have an attitude of I’m alright. Not me, and thankfully not 1894.
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The atmosphere has been getting worst since the treble winning season. I wonder if that’s because many more blues have been priced out and thought “fuck it, we’ve won the lot, I’ll just save my cash and go a few times a season instead”. The atmosphere will get worst as the seasons go on, I guarantee it. Liverpool fans are complaining about the atmosphere at Anfield, they are being priced out, same as us. I guarantee also that season ticket prices will rise again for the next season.

The new stand looks good, just a shame it’s not an end entirely for singers.
 
ysmsa said:
Flexi gold holders can buy for the big 6 games if they choose too.

Or at least the Junior's FG can as I've just done it for my lad
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ysmsa said:
Flexi gold holders can buy for the big 6 games if they choose too.

Or at least the Junior's FG can as I've just done it for my lad.
Click to expand...
People only accept flexi gold as there is no choice no alternative

Its £150 for an adult and £75 for a child just to get access. That’s basically a 20% rise if it is compared to a traditional season card.
 
EastMidlandsBlue said:
They're adding 8,000, and I would guess it currently holds between 2,000 - 4,000 so between 10,000 - 12,000 would be my guess
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Cheers. I'd have thought 5,000 would have been a better standing figure then. It will certainly be interesting to see the demand and whether or not that justifies increasing the planned safe standing area.
 
Gone for a Burton said:
...." away fans and family end in the same stand " ?

Explain please ?
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My bad, I had already realised my error before reading this. That's the south stand(the two home ends dream). But people do want that moving as well and have done for some time. They should never have put either behind the goals. Some clubs don't even put the away fans close to the pitch.

As for the family end. I know from my matchgoing experiences elsewhere in the stadium. That some hate fans standing up and making too much noise. It's a mad concept to me and IMO, you can't even blame it on the newer generation of fans. Some of the biggest moaners, shouting 'sit down' or looking around at anyone making noise on their own are the oldies, who've probably been going to matches for years. I imagine the families wouldn't want it too rowdy where they sit too. It's difficult to keep everyone happy.
 
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M18CTID said:
Maybe if the club had done their own research and surveyed the fans instead of 1894 having to do it then they might have more of an idea as to how much demand there is for safe standing in that area. Then again, they couldn’t even be bothered surveying those who are currently in Level One of the North Stand for their views FFS.

I also note that you say how is having 3000 safe standing spaces more corporate. Well, considering it’s supposed to be an atmosphere stand - and the club have gone big on the atmosphere thing in their announcement today - then I happen to think that figure is on the low side. Also, if the club are keen to place the emphasis on atmosphere then I’d be interested to know which clown came up with the idea of over 600 GA+ corporate/semi-corporate seats placed front and centre of the stand, while at the same time saying they want 1894 in there as anchor tenants. Aside from the fact that you would never see Dortmund, for example, plonk hundreds of GA+ seats slap bang in the middle of their Yellow Wall, did it not occur to anybody at the club that that is almost certainly where 1894 would be doing their displays?

Now I can’t tell from the club’s announcement today if they’re still going ahead with the GA+ idea or if they’ve binned it off/moved it elsewhere so I’m going to reserve further judgement on that for now. However, the lack of detail in today’s announcement regarding season tickets, number of season tickets, type of season tickets, and the price of season tickets in the new stand doesn’t fill me with confidence that the composition of the stand will be conducive to a great atmosphere. I hope my pessimism on that is misplaced.
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From reading that today, the GA+ is staying where it is. And the bar will likely have booth seating as well.
 
Manchester33 said:
Thought I’d stick my opinion on here for what it’s worth.

When the club approached 1894 about the North Stand, the term ‘atmospheric home end’ was used.

In various surveys and focus groups (conducted by the club and 1894), atmosphere was always the most important factor for fans (when considering the North stand expansion).

My personal thoughts (which I shared with the team working on the NS expansion) is that the clubs plans are not ambitious enough. This is the last opportunity. There are various things which have been omitted from this update (number of seasoncards, positioning of rail seats and positioning of GA+ seats, pricing structures etc) that are important on that front.

A point I made a few times (which I’m probably not eloquent enough to explain brilliantly on here) is that the message from the club is vital for fans to buy into the vision (of an atmospheric home end). I think a lot of fans who were excited about an atmospheric home end will be disappointed with ‘only 3k standing fans at the back of the stand’ - I was.

It will make many fans who would have moved think ‘screw that, I’ll stay where I am’.

The alternative was to release plans saying ‘there will be 7k rail seats, focus on atmosphere, decent prices etc’…. Then the demand for fans to move would be huge…. Build it and they will come.

The risk is that if we didn’t quite hit a target of 7k singers/standers. But then the club could have put normal seats in should they need to. It’s literally the same outcome (if the club are being honest about adding more rail seats if demand is there), but the positive spin on that point alone would have created much more excitement about the expansion (from an atmosphere perspective).

I am at one end of the spectrum though. I REALLY care about the atmosphere at City. I appreciate not all fans do and their views are as valid as anyone’s. But because I personally (as well as the thousands of members I represented) do care, I would always push for atmosphere over other considerations.
Click to expand...
Everyone should care about the atmosphere. Arsenal last week was fucking awful, for a game of that magnitude. What’s the point of going to the football if you don’t want to join in on the singing? You don’t have to stand up and go mad, just join in.
 
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