North Stand expansion - seating, ticketing etc

Corky said:
There are around 3,000 fans in the safe standing part of SS0 as it is from 111 to 119.

This is by far the most vocal part of the stadium, helped by being close to the pitch and the away fans. It is odd picked on SS as the quiet area, there are much quieter ones.

Having fans split over the new NS2 in the wings, or however they are configured they will still be spread out as 3,000 is a lot of seats, and there will be a lot of kids in the new stand also as announced yesterday.

Moving fans from SS0 to NS1 won't make them louder as the distance from the pitch also needs to be taken into account. If it was 50 x 60 front and centre of the NS1 it would be about as good as it gets but the rail seating is visible in the wings, so unless they do the whole stadium that won't happen. Putting a big block along the back gets some of them 80 metres from the pitch and they won't be heard.

It is difficult to understand why you believe the SS is the problem, but it sounds from your language it is you have witnessed yourself but inferred it. You won't get the 3,000 most vocal fans reallocating to one area as they have other priorities and areas they want to be.
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I don't know if this will be how it would work as I know of no examples, but think it's quite possible that having vocal fans behind and at the sides would encourage those in front and next to the standers to join in and singing spread through the stand.
Only a guess, but there are many fans that don't like to stand and join in when nobody around them are but as soon as others in their block stand and sing are quick to join in,bit like a poznan spreads. So the initial 3000 may well become 4000 plus joining in.
 
blueparrot said:
Apparently they were offered an opportunity to be the 'anchor tenant' quite early on in the process, and they refused. I could be mistaken on this but so far nobody has said that I am.
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From what I've heard off 1894's social media over last couple years, the club invited them to only one of multiple fan meetings about the north stand, and 1894 said the most important thing to be able to guarantee a) a loud section and b) that fans would move from SSL1 is if the club could make some assurances on reduced pricing. It's no coincidence atmosphere has got worse as the prices have rocketed.

Bear in mind this was all before last year's protests and the club freezing for the first time in years.

The club refused to give those assurances on pricing, and they haven't engaged 1894 since. You can't blame them for that.
 
It looks like the club has changed the plans and put through an amended planning application in July

1761307376780.png

This is what was originally planned can see it was a Joe's; this is from the design and access statement

The hospitality area will be a 600 spectator hospitality space in the style of the existing 'Joes' space elsewhere within the Etihad Stadium. Spectators will be served via two bars, which will be equipped to serve food and beverages. Seating at high tables/bar for 416 with standing at drink shelving for 184
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On match day, City Hall will be used as a supporters' bar with a capacity of 1800. Users will enter via turnstiles (1) from the north. Two double fronted bars will serve into City Hall and City Square (2). Access to WC provision will be through new links to the existing General Admission WCs (3)

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blueparrot said:
I don't agree, but in the end that's down to those in 1894 it's their choice, but in my opinion they are missing a big opportunity.
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Maybe club been more transparent with plans then may have gone for it? Any prices yet? We are possibly 11/12 weeks away from this mess opening
 
blueparrot said:
That may well be correct in that those in there now won't be moved out , though am I right in saying the family stand thing isn't really so much a thing anymore and many are still in there long after their families have grown up?
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That’s a good point actually and apologies if already mentioned. There was someone yesterday complaining about being moved out of the north stand after being in there since moving into the new stadium but at some point in the 20+ years the club actually said that you had to move out of there once there were no kids in your group. They stopped moving people out though because there were no free spaces to move large groups to. I took the opportunity when the south stand was expanded to move out because I knew I would get a good choice of places around the whole stadium to move to (my son was approaching 18 anyway). Now that there are an additional 7000 seats the club can probably reintroduce/enforce the policy. Is it still in the Ts and Cs?

Just checked and yes it is, section 3.6. The Family Stand is still a thing.

So, do any supporters complaining about being turfed out actually have a valid point if they already fail this clause?
 
Coatigan said:
Yes, but that is no change at all to what we know.

The Cross Bar (GA+) is exactly where it always was, and the new description matches that. So does the capacity.

The city hall is exactly where it was, however the noted capacity is a change to or within a bigger capacity of 1800. And then the suggestion of seats needing to change to accommodate it has naturally led people to assume it is for introducing a hospitality offering. Which may or may not be true, we can't yet know.
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If the Cross Bar seats go where you think they do, surely those who will be moved out of those seats would have been told yesterday? And didnt the statement say no fans will be moved for the Cross Bar?
 
Eccles Blue said:
Please excuse my ignorance/density of brain but I take it GA stands for General Admission as in buying the tickets weekly/matchly? :-)
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No, it is not related to pricing, but to the category of offering. GA basically means non-hospitality. It can include season tickets and/or matchday purchases, that is a commercial decision rather than a design/planning one.
 
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blueparrot said:
Which is exactly why 1894 need to engage and be involved with the club discussing those 3000 standing/ singing seats.
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September 2024.



Let me ask you a question Blueparrot.

Please be honest.

At what point during public announcement of the redeveloped North stand, during the planning process, and during the construction of the new North stand, which has been on going for years, have the club been in direct dialogue with the fans about a dedicated singing section on NSL2? That includes during the on-going installation of 3000 safe standing seats?
 
Coatigan said:
I think it would be fair when posting things like this, to be open about the parts that are speculation on your part.

For the benefit of others that don't follow the thread.

It doesn't diminish your point, but keeps it factual.
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All officially confirmed by the club.

I can’t do much about people who deny the facts and statements because they don’t line up with their own expectations.
 
Dante from 1894 here

We’ve never actually refused more going off what our members have told us and we passed on 1,500 individual comments from them on the north stand to the club to take into consideration. Anyone who is actually a member and not sitting on the outside looking in will follow the consistency of our approach all the way through. Because they will have been part of our consultation.

We have poured cold water on this process so far because we have not had any answers, we asked the club to do a full consultation with everyone in the north stand but as we saw yesterday we see underhand tactics no word of extra bars and people having to be moved - imagine how daft we would have looked to agree to something we know nothing about and then we get announcements like yesterday when hundreds will be forced out - people will think that’s something we would have engineered. No. Not in our name.

All we have asked club to do is come clean about everything since day one. You can only make a decision with confidence when you have confidence in the process. They us invited us to 2 of the 3 meetings on the basis that we should be , in their words “anchor tenants” -communicated to us after they had proceeded to meet with CityMatters - some of their reps then said to the club invite 1894 as they’d want to talk about club’s plans for a “blue wall” so that’s how we got involved, we weren’t front and centre from the start, so we then asked members should we attend as initial information would be NDA’d. 80% said go. So we listened we made points, we asked for more information ie on prices not just this year but multiple years - on number of actual season tickets available to ensure it’s not just a collection of individuals- on position of singing areas. we had one guy at 2 meetings with 12 present from Citymatters.

We’re a collection of volunteers remember. Doing stuff in our spare time for free. We’ve never been invited into Citymatters and also at times been wary of being used as a tick box by the club. The club have people on tens of thousands of pounds to get the process right and take fans either them. That’s not our responsibility. What we mailed Danny Wilson in June 2024 was that the plans was that as it stands we couldn’t get on board but more information would help. Make it attractive for fans. people like to sing at away games where the atmosphere can be good and a whole load of hardcore fans are concentrated together. But many of those haven't moved to the so called singing areas. They have cheaper seats in third tier or sit with family in the colin bell , they like who they sit with and yes they like the atmosphere but when when push comes to shove it maybe isn't their no1 priority. That's up to them as individuals. You can't tell people what to do. For example the other week we said is it really necessary to keep adding the word Munich into the middle of the Zabaleta song. People then got defensive and tried to justify the chant continuing.

All we can do is work with the membership we have created and nurtured and see what fans want to happen. They feed into us regularly through monthly mailers. We'd be going off what these people tell us, with respect rather than what 1 or 2 people on BM who like to make their voice heard are saying. You can say what you want from the outside, you don't have any repsonsibility and the best way for us to know what the majority want is to survey them and keep it evidence based. We feed that into the club. up to them whether they want to listen or not.

No one is interested in a half hearted effort by the club. If the club really made atmosphere front and centre they would get a lot more fans on board. Ball has always been in clubs court and is now. You can’t enter into something in blind faith. As proved by the emails to fans 5 mins before the media release saying you have to move. Most people there will individuals buying match day tickets game by game. There’s a whole host of things our members would want reassurance on which hasn’t come. Even now they are drip feeding information. At this moment and this should be the focus for everyone on here really, our thoughts are with the people being forced to move seats. We will be contacting fans in our networks shortly about how we can at all help them.

Yesterday we reposted our statement from
June 2024 which is basically what we are saying currently.

Some fans will move to NS to be near friends and near the tram. That may open up spaces around the south stand where more singers could congregate and improve what we have. Which is good a lot of the time. Sure it can be quiet but many times can be good. The singers are split but many are telling us they are not prepared to move based on club’s current plans. They know what they are getting where they are and feel it will get even worse if they moved somewhere else.

It’s not for us to sell something to fans that club could and should be selling to fans themselves. They have to make it that yes their plans will turn the atmosphere around for people to buy into it. People are not buying into it. That’s fine. Take it or leave it.

Our only concern at the minute is the people affected by the move and the underhand was done last week.

Both myself and Lee from Citymatters will be on a fans podcast The Mancunian Way after the Bournemouth game.

The current so called singing areas have been sometimes diluted by the influx of one off fans, forcing people to use the ticket agencies, tickets coming through resale sites and the restrictions which are unfair.

As far as I can see asking people to move to an area with a no season tickets and some flexs (less than half as the 4000 flexi are spread over the ground not just this new area) means trying to sing and it falling flat at the very next block.

Think about the people being forced out.
 

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NJMCFC184 said:
Prices? Corporate whacked is there, this great opportunity should've been 8000 all standing with atmosphere at top of priorities
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Silly reasons then, it was never going to be 8000 standing, probably couldn't fill 8000 standing, there is no corporate in the stand, and we don't know the prices so refusing to engage over that, IF true, would be daft.
 
HelloCity said:
Posted on this page just a min ago to add extra detail - you’re still not quite getting it. Keep in mind I’m giving a more nuanced response than good vs bad.

I’m saying we’re not really taking advantage of an enlarged tier - not that the family stand or GA+ would ruin the atmosphere or mean we can’t have a roudy safe standing area. The proposed layout could really have been done in a 3rd tier as well with no real difference to the atmosphere - positively or negatively.

Is there still an opportunity to improve the atmosphere by getting a load of singers together and taking advantage of a new safe standing section? Absolutely - You’re correct - but this could also have been done with a new third tier.
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I can see what you mean, and don't disagree.
 
LEXSTARproject said:
It looks like the club has changed the plans and put through an amended planning application in July

View attachment 173072

This is what was originally planned can see it was a Joe's; this is from the design and access statement

The hospitality area will be a 600 spectator hospitality space in the style of the existing 'Joes' space elsewhere within the Etihad Stadium. Spectators will be served via two bars, which will be equipped to serve food and beverages. Seating at high tables/bar for 416 with standing at drink shelving for 184
View attachment 173075



On match day, City Hall will be used as a supporters' bar with a capacity of 1800. Users will enter via turnstiles (1) from the north. Two double fronted bars will serve into City Hall and City Square (2). Access to WC provision will be through new links to the existing General Admission WCs (3)

View attachment 173076
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I know not everyone follows this thread, but we covered this back in the summer, along with many other amendements as they have happened.

Nothing meaningful has changed here. The title 'cross bar' was added and not noticed, but the location size and access of that GA+ bar and the GA+ in general is exactly as it always was.

The 500 bar within the City Hall and any seats associated with that, that's the less clear bit. And open to the interpretation of it possibly being additional GA+, in the sudenness and vagueness around it.
 
Eccles Blue said:
Thank you @BringBackSwales you are very kind. I shall continue to post in here and annoy folk about John Boy and I will watch as many matches on TV as I can. Keep shouting for John Boy please. :-)

Come on City. MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.





p.s. I will also keep annoying poor Mr @jimharri by typing random things like the above in Capitals....... poor man has so much to put up with from me. I ask him why he hasn't got JB in the MOTM when he doesn't even play and I type random things in Caps. I am his curse!!! :-)
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He’s lucky to have you in the forum Sheila
 
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