North Stand expansion - seating, ticketing etc

Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
I'm in SS level 2 and honestly, sometimes when we're singing, I think, aren't they singing down there? We just can't hear you. And you probably can't hear us. It's just the acoustics of that end. I don't much want to relocate, to be honest. I like the lads around me (that's valuable) and the view from the seat is just perfect. But if there's a big singing section in the north, I'd think about it. It'd certainly be much handier for getting the tram back into town. I nearly always walk it.
Now, the price of the season card is another problem, admittedly. I'll keep my powder dry on that one.
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At least we can all agree that pricing is the main sticking point here.

I intend to move to NS2 from SS1 as long as the price matches my current ST seat, I am prepared to pay a little bit more, just have to wait and see.
 
TheGhost said:
Will 1894 be pushing to make SSL3 all safe standing?
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Since people signed up to a tier with seating, there were be thousands in there who don't want to stand.

I think there's why there is a push for a bigger safe standing section in the north stand expansion because it will stop future upheaval than if they were to go with seats as a starting point.

The club seem reluctant to move people about too much unless it's for new premium or corporate seats.
 
TheGhost said:
Will 1894 be pushing to make SSL3 all safe standing?
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We have asked the club to review the standing situation in SSL3. We haven't formed an official stance on whether the entirety of L3 should be rail seating or just sections towards the back (where persistent standing is more prevalent currently).
The main purpose is to improve safety and a secondary benefit is improving the atmosphere.
 
Manchester33 said:
We have asked the club to review the standing situation in SSL3. We haven't formed an official stance on whether the entirety of L3 should be rail seating or just sections towards the back (where persistent standing is more prevalent currently).
The main purpose is to improve safety and a secondary benefit is improving the atmosphere.
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Most people stand from row M back in the 2 blocks near the away fans anyway
 
I'm not really here said:
It won't happen mate.
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There's a good chance that 'some' rail seating will be introduced into Level 3 (similar to the rail seating in the away section of Level 3).
The Stadium Safety Advisory Group + Local Council will want to ensure the stadium is safe, and as there is persistent standing they will pressure the club to introduce rail seating up there.

I imagine that might be why the club haven't gone with more rail seats in NSL2 (because their logic is there will be 4k rails in SSL1, 3k rails in NSL2 + Xk rails in SSL3). They will want to keep the % of rail seats low (or at least on par with other clubs (like Chelsea, United, and Liverpool) as it affects ticket prices (and, by default, match-day revenue).

A scenario that 'could' happen is the club opened NSL2 with say, 5k rail seats. Then the SSAG + LC force them to add 3k in SSL3. The club has 12k rail seats which they can't justify selling for as much as normal seats.
 
Manchester33 said:
There's a good chance that 'some' rail seating will be introduced into Level 3 (similar to the rail seating in the away section of Level 3).
The Stadium Safety Advisory Group + Local Council will want to ensure the stadium is safe, and as there is persistent standing they will pressure the club to introduce rail seating up there.

I imagine that might be why the club haven't gone with more rail seats in NSL2 (because their logic is there will be 4k rails in SSL1, 3k rails in NSL2 + Xk rails in SSL3). They will want to keep the % of rail seats low (or at least on par with other clubs (like Chelsea, United, and Liverpool) as it affects ticket prices (and, by default, match-day revenue).

A scenario that 'could' happen is the club opened NSL2 with say, 5k rail seats. Then the SSAG + LC force them to add 3k in SSL3. The club has 12k rail seats which they can't justify selling for as much as normal seats.
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Thanks for the replies.

Could 1894 push for all Safe Standing in SSl3 if they don’t get what they want in NSL2? It seems like a good alternative. Especially with those unhappy with the introduction of safe standing in SSL3 able to relocate more easily (given first chance) and to similar seats at the other end of the ground with the stadium expansion.

An OAP block would also be a good idea.
 
Regarding pricing for NSL2.

We know the first 10 rows of seats on NSL2 are going to be hospitality, so those seats will be priced accordingly dependent on what the hospitality offering is.

The seats directly behind hospitality and up to the singing section are going to be block priced, like they are on every stand and tier in the stadium.

The safe standing seats at the back of NSL2 might be cheaper, but there’s no guarantee of that. The current safe standing seats on SSL1 aren’t much cheaper as a rule.

These are the current seat pricing categories for SSL3, which could mirror NSL2, front, middle, and back, hospitality, normal seating, safe standing seating, with different prices on NSL3 compared to SSL3.

IMG_3278.jpeg

The club could go with a complete mish-mash of block pricing for NSL2 like they have done with ESL3(below) and CBL3.

IMG_3279.jpeg
 
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Manchester33 said:
I doubt there's any hope for this. More likely that fans will be encouraged to sit there more vigorously after NSL2 completed (this is all my hunch rather than based on any facts).
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Fair enough. I hope it says as an unofficial standing section. The back 6 or 7 rows of ss3 would make sense as well.
 
This is somewhat off topic, but not if we rightly consider that the huge consideration, from the point of all blues, is atmosphere.
It's one of my bugbears, but I don't believe for one second I'm alone in it. The p.a. at the Etihad is just deafening. It is far louder than it needs to be. I have never understood why. Yes, you need to be able to hear it, but not to the point where it actually drowns out the singing of the supporters. And I have witnessed that many times. Or even just the desire to chat to your mate at half time about why/whether Kev/Doku/Phil is having a mare, and why Bernardo is playing an absolute blinder, without necessarily going down to the concourse to get a drink.
I truly wish that someone — whoever represents the supporters, 1894 or anyone else — would have a word in the ear of the suits that run the communications side of the club about this (not easy, I know). It's so simple. If we're singing, then let us create the atmosphere, and not some souped-up sub-Superbowl commentary being blasted out from the speakers. Call-and-response is fine, but not over noise that's already being made by the supporters.
There's nothing in football more moving than an entire stadium singing. Doesn't happen often at the Etihad, granted.
But the p.a. decibel level, and when the presenter intervenes, are such simple things to fix. Truly.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
This is somewhat off topic, but not if we rightly consider that the huge consideration, from the point of all blues, is atmosphere.
It's one of my bugbears, but I don't believe for one second I'm alone in it. The p.a. at the Etihad is just deafening. It is far louder than it needs to be. I have never understood why. Yes, you need to be able to hear it, but not to the point where it actually drowns out the singing of the supporters. And I have witnessed that many times. Or even just the desire to chat to your mate at half time about why/whether Kev/Doku/Phil is having a mare, and why Bernardo is playing an absolute blinder, without necessarily going down to the concourse to get a drink.
I truly wish that someone — whoever represents the supporters, 1894 or anyone else — would have a word in the ear of the suits that run the communications side of the club about this (not easy, I know). It's so simple. If we're singing, then let us create the atmosphere, and not some souped-up sub-Superbowl commentary being blasted out from the speakers. Call-and-response is fine, but not over noise that's already being made by the supporters.
There's nothing in football more moving than an entire stadium singing. Doesn't happen often at the Etihad, granted.
But the p.a. decibel level, and when the presenter intervenes, are such simple things to fix. Truly.
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The piped in chanting at the end of the Arsenal game must NEVER be heard again. I was close to leaving the trophy ceremony at the West Ham game when they were playing the pre recorded fans chanting songs. It’s embarrassing.
 
TheGhost said:
The piped in chanting at the end of the Arsenal game must NEVER be heard again. I was close to leaving the trophy ceremony at the West Ham game when they were playing the pre recorded fans chanting songs. It’s embarrassing.
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Did they really do that?! I can scarcely credit it. That is beyond cringe.

I simply cannot believe that the people who decide to do these things are, or ever have been, football supporters. They may work for a football club, but they know nothing about what being a supporter is.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Did they really do that?! I can scarcely credit it. That is beyond cringe.

I simply cannot believe that the people who decide to do these things are, or ever have been, football supporters. They may work for a football club, but they know nothing about what being a supporter is.
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Most annoying thing is that they don't want to listen to supporters when they try to advise them. I'm guessing arrogance is a real problem with some of these matchday decision makers
 
A very important point that is often overlooked regarding the number of SCs we have is that it is a state secret. No-one outside of the senior club management has this information, not even CM reps.

You often see 40k bandied about on here but that is just a figure people have seen in the media over the years. Whatever the number is it will be far lower than pre COVID as essentially no non renewals have been offered since. First year none, second a small number of Silvers which the club has now allowed to be upgraded to Gold and this summer 600 Flexis. So 'if' it was around 40k (which I doubt) then it is thousands less now.

What I think will probably happen when the expanded NS opens is that a number of new SCs (almost certainly Flexi-Gold) will be announced but non-renewals and relocations into the NS won't be offered to new members. Overall I'd expect that the number will be roughly the same as it is now, whatever that number may be. My guess is it will be closer to 30k than 40k.
 
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The KOP.

The latest installation phase took place this summer when a further 3,000 rail seats were placed on the Kop, in the remainder of blocks 202-208, up to row 33.

This took the total to 7,425 rail seats on the Kop, just over 55 per cent of stand capacity. The club plans to extend rail seating on the Kop next year to blocks 102-108, up to row 13.
 
Centurions said:
Never got around to reading it TBH as I thought it was an entirely puff piece. Cheers.
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It kind of is tbh. The only meaningful bit is the introduction of (a minimum of) 3000 rail seats, and the somewhat indirect implication that the GA+ is staying where it is. It promises more updates over the course of the season.
 
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