North Stand expansion - seating, ticketing etc

[jrb]

Thanks for this thread. So have the club given any indication of when they will make details known regarding the pricing and availability of tickets in this new stand? Some kind of a timeline would be useful.

No. Like everything it is being kept under wraps and secret by the club. They club will say they aren't ready to release that information yet. There is no indication at all from the club when that information will be released to the fans.

We know that was discussed at the NS-NDA meetings, with Alex and 1894 saying new season tickets will be Flexi-Gold.(unless the club changes it's mind about that in the meantime?)

 

[Kippaxpete]

Maybe you should be a mod?

 

[chesterbells]

No. Like everything it is being kept under wraps and secret by the club. They club will say they aren't ready to release that information yet. There is no indication at all from the club when that information will be released to the fans.

We know that was discussed at the NS-NDA meetings, with Alex and 1894 saying new season tickets will be Flexi-Gold.(unless the club changes it's mind about that in the meantime?)

Understood. Thanks for that.

 

[TheGhost]

I need to be careful here. :-/

The South stand is full of singers, people who sing every now and again, and people who don't sing at all.

It's impossible to get a large enough group of singers together on SSL1 because people have season tickets and the club rightly won't move those people to get a large enough group of singers together.

The NS expansion, especially NSL2, is the clubs last chance to get a large group of singers together.

It's up to the club to make that happen, and to market a dedicated singing section on NSL2 properly by involving the fans and fan groups in that process. Which I'm not convinced they will.

The crackdown by the club on people, mainly the youth, going into block 115 has had an effect on the current atmosphere.

The club will argue those people shouldn't be in 115 as it was over crowded and the stairs were being blocked.

But what it does show is the demand from the fans to be in 115, which is perceived as the official singing block by the fans.

Regarding the last 3 paragraphs.
In Europe or the Bundesliga at the very least - when safe standing is used the capacity of the stand increases by something like 1/3.
I’m not sure why that’s not happening here as well. With an instant increase in capacity fans could push for cheaper tickets too.

 

[jrb]

Understood. Thanks for that.

TBH I’m just going off what has been posted and discussed on the North stand thread. Alex and the 1894 representative will know much more detail. Apart from Alex and 1894, and what they have posted so far, I doubt very much we’ll get any further information from the other City Matters reps and the OSC rep, who were also at the NS meetings with the club.

My guess is it’s all done and dusted. The NDA’s are still binding. And the club will release further information as and when they want to do that.

 

[Coatigan]

Thanks for this thread. So have the club given any indication of when they will make details known regarding the pricing and availability of tickets in this new stand? Some kind of a timeline would be useful.

In their recent statement, they have said 'during the 24/25 season'. Wooly, but at some point this season.

Nobody relly knew or anticipated when this one would come, so it is a guessing game. Agree a more defined timeline would be helpful. Assuming you accept they can commit to one.

 

[Coatigan]

No. Like everything it is being kept under wraps and secret by the club. They club will say they aren't ready to release that information yet. There is no indication at all from the club when that information will be released to the fans.

We know that was discussed at the NS-NDA meetings, with Alex and 1894 saying new season tickets will be Flexi-Gold.(unless the club changes it's mind about that in the meantime?)

Not quite entirely true, see above.

'kept secret' is your interpretation, it IS possible they are still in flux about it, and things are open to change. And that is a large part of the reasons for NDAs.

Like the addition of 3000 rail seats, from a previous of 0, for example.

 

[Coatigan]

I need to be careful here. :-/

The South stand is full of singers, people who sing every now and again, and people who don't sing at all.

It's impossible to get a large enough group of singers together on SSL1 because people have season tickets and the club rightly won't move those people to get a large enough group of singers together.

The NS expansion, especially NSL2, is the clubs last chance to get a large group of singers together.

It's up to the club to make that happen, and to market a dedicated singing section on NSL2 properly by involving the fans and fan groups in that process. Which I'm not convinced they will.

The crackdown by the club on people, mainly the youth, going into block 115 has had an effect on the current atmosphere.

The club will argue those people shouldn't be in 115 as it was over crowded and the stairs were being blocked.

But what it does show is the demand from the fans to be in 115, which is perceived as the official singing block by the fans.

Let's say all that is completely true, and the club go on to blow it for the opening of the stand.

What's to stop them doing this excersise, next season, the one after, or in 5 years time (when we have worked our way back up from non-league).

This 'last chance' narrative, while catchy for the purposes of promoting the fight with the club, is not really complete is it.

It is an issue of how it is occupied and allocated. Which is a very different issue to the south stand, which suffers from being split up by the 3 tier arrangement. If you accept the design itself when built, is flexible enough, which it 100% is, then there will be quite a few last chances.

Of course, in an ideal world they do the prep work now and get it done first time, everyone would want that. But is it really a now or never with this one? Not convinced it is.

 

[TheGhost]

We’re going to end up a singing section with a terrible view of the game low behind the goal in SSL1 or another one right at the back of NSL2. They will barely be able to hear each other.

I think I’ll be staying in SSL3. Hopefully move a bit closer to the away fans from where I am now.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

Regarding the last 3 paragraphs.
In Europe or the Bundesliga at the very least - when safe standing is used the capacity of the stand increases by something like 1/3.
I’m not sure why that’s not happening here as well. With an instant increase in capacity fans could push for cheaper tickets too.

Because the ground safety authority won't allow it. Rail seating in England is strictly one seat with one standing. There is no potential capacity increase.

 

[TheGhost]

Because the ground safety authority won't allow it. Rail seating in England is strictly one seat with one standing. There is no potential capacity increase.

Why aren’t the big clubs lobbying to review this? Grounds like ours with plenty of space it would easily work. Maybe not over at Old Scaffold though.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

Why aren’t the big clubs lobbying to review this? Grounds like ours with plenty of space it would easily work. Maybe not over at Old Scaffold though.

Maybe because there has been no standing for decades and it is only fairly recently that clubs have been firstly allowed to trial it and then actually install it permanently.

There are things that are common in Germany and elsewhere that would never be allowed here again. 1.5 standing ratio for rail seating, fences around the stands to prevent pitch invasions etc

 

[jrb]

Let's say all that is completely true, and the club go on to blow it for the opening of the stand.

What's to stop them doing this excersise, next season, the one after, or in 5 years time (when we have worked our way back up from non-league).

This 'last chance' narrative, while catchy for the purposes of promoting the fight with the club, is not really complete is it.

It is an issue of how it is occupied and allocated. Which is a very different issue to the south stand, which suffers from being split up by the 3 tier arrangement. If you accept the design itself when built, is flexible enough, which it 100% is, then there will be quite a few last chances.

Of course, in an ideal world they do the prep work now and get it done first time, everyone would want that. But is it really a now or never with this one? Not convinced it is.

There won’t be anymore chances to create a proper singing section once season tickets are sold on NSL2.

From my experience with 1894, season ticket holders will not be moved to create a larger nucleus of singers.

1894 asked for more seats together for CL games in the centre of 115, but we were told that couldn’t be done as seats were already sold to fans on the CL cup scheme.

As a compromise the club gave 1894 x amount of seats at the front of 115 that weren’t occupied by fans on the CL cup scheme, and weren’t already sold.

I can’t remember exactly how many seats there were. I think it was between 30 to 50 seats?

As we all know, it’s hard to generate chants and an atmosphere from the front of a block, directly behind the goal, and to one side of the goal. We were kept away from the European Ultras.

For a proper singing section to work in the new NSL2 the club have to set aside x amount of safe standing seats. The club has to market those seats as ‘singing section safe standing seats ONLY’. And involve the fans in that process. Selling those seats to fans who ‘express a desire’ to want to stand, sing, and want to create an atmosphere.

There are enough singers in SSL1, 111, 110, 109, SSL3, and scattered around the ground to create a decent singing section on NSL2.

 

[HelloCity]

If they just copied the south stand then it actually would have saved a lot of hassle in terms of configuration.

The second tier would stay as it was but with the middle block being hospitality and the bar/restaurant area being linked to the hotel.

The new third tier would just be priced like the south stand third tier with potentially a safe standing area towards the back.

Instead we’ve built this huge Kop-like structure but everyone is so far apart in terms of vision, and the club don’t want to upset anyone by moving them, that it’s basically just going to be a visual rather than an actual proper home end.

It’s going to have premium seats, a family stand, a mix of match day and flexi gold standard seats, safe standing section at the very back and a sky bar. It’s basically a stand designed by committee where they try to satisfy everyone all at once. It’s going to be the stand in the stadium with the most diverse audience makeup.

 

[jrb]

If they just copied the south stand then it actually would have saved a lot of hassle in terms of configuration.

The second tier would stay as it was but with the middle block being hospitality and the bar/restaurant area being linked to the hotel.

The new third tier would just be priced like the south stand third tier with potentially a safe standing area towards the back.

Instead we’ve built this huge Kop-like structure but everyone is so far apart in terms of vision, and the club don’t want to upset anyone by moving them, that it’s basically just going to be a visual rather than an actual proper home end.

It’s going to have premium seats, a family stand, a mix of match day and flexi gold standard seats, safe standing section at the very back and a sky bar. It’s basically a stand designed by committee where they try to satisfy everyone all at once. It’s going to be the stand in the stadium with the most diverse audience makeup.

I’ve always thought of the new NSL2 as being a complete mish-mash of seating, match day options, etc, not catering for any specific City fan base or City fan base requirement.

The club has thrown a bit of everything into NSL2 trying to drive as much match day revenue as possible out of it, and in the process, trying to cater for every City fan, hoping the fans will be happy with what the club has decided to do with NSL2.

At the back of NSL2 you’ve got hotel balconies, in front of those hotel balconies there’s going to be a safe standing singing section with 3000 fans, apparently, and below that there will be 5000 seated fans, which will include a hospitality section at the front of the NSL2.

Apart from other issues that may arise, fans close to the safe standing section who are in the 5000 seated section will definitely stand, especially for the big games. That will have a ripple effect on those 5000 seats as other fans in those seats will have to stand as well to watch the match. Stewards will be continually trying to get people to sit down in their seats like they have been doing in 109 and in SSL3 for years without much success.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

@jrb

I won't quote your post above but you can either say the new NS will be a mish mash or equally you could say it appeals to various sections of our supporter base. It can't be compared to SS3 as that is a very basic design with a very low quality concourse and basically a few kiosks serving food and drink. The new stand will link to the covered 3000 capacity City Square and it will have far superior food and drink offerings. The Sky Bar and GA+ sections plus hotel rooms take it to a completely different level compared to SS3.

I've been in SS3 since it opened and I think it's great but then I don't want any pre or post match entertainment and I don't buy any food or drink at the stadium. Fortunately for the club not everyone is such a miserable, tight **** like me though :)

 

[pride in battle]

We’re going to end up a singing section with a terrible view of the game low behind the goal in SSL1 or another one right at the back of NSL2. They will barely be able to hear each other.

I think I’ll be staying in SSL3. Hopefully move a bit closer to the away fans from where I am now.

Whats this obsession to be near the away fans ? I don't get it ?

 

[Coatigan]

If they just copied the south stand then it actually would have saved a lot of hassle in terms of configuration.

The second tier would stay as it was but with the middle block being hospitality and the bar/restaurant area being linked to the hotel.

The new third tier would just be priced like the south stand third tier with potentially a safe standing area towards the back.

Instead we’ve built this huge Kop-like structure but everyone is so far apart in terms of vision, and the club don’t want to upset anyone by moving them, that it’s basically just going to be a visual rather than an actual proper home end.

It’s going to have premium seats, a family stand, a mix of match day and flexi gold standard seats, safe standing section at the very back and a sky bar. It’s basically a stand designed by committee where they try to satisfy everyone all at once. It’s going to be the stand in the stadium with the most diverse audience makeup.

Excluding the jibe in the last paragraph, which is bollocks, which would you rather prefer?

 

[Coatigan]

Whats this obsession to be near the away fans ? I don't get it ?

Banter?

 

[Coatigan]

Why aren’t the big clubs lobbying to review this? Grounds like ours with plenty of space it would easily work. Maybe not over at Old Scaffold though.

Think how long it took to get to the rail seating, as an option of returning mass standing in big stadia.