When you're a group that's solely focussed on improving the atmosphere, you will inevitably have strong opinions on how this stand should look. The starting point would be for the majority of the stand to be safe standing, second to that would be attractive pricing for people to relocate and there would also be a list of things you wouldn't want to see, which would include hospitality areas. I think the fact the club sought to engage with 1894 and saw them as pivotal to unlocking this new home end meant they went in with full confidence, and that's slowly been eroded as proposals have been announced.
I think the fact that the club engaged on this quite late in the day, when plans were advanced and the application was due to be submitted led to a lack of trust that the engagement with fans was meaningful. This latest statement from the Club doesn't go far enough in their opinion, and I expect due to the process so far, they don't expect things to improve.
As I said, I think in spite of the fact it's not 100% what 1894 want right now, it ticks the boxes in a lot of ways. Firstly, it provides a huge number of seats in a single tier which is ideal for creating an atmosphere. Secondly, it is providing safe standing areas albeit initially not as many as desired. But the current issues with atmosphere are unlikely to be addressed. You could move the away fans and create a more vocal area in the SS. SSL3 being the ideal place to increase the atmosphere around the ground. But it requires thousands of people to move around the stadium and it's just unrealistic at this stage.
Work with what you've got and then push for more. If we can get singers in the 3,000 safe standing seats under the roof the atmosphere increases because of the acoustics. It's then inevitable that people want to move in to that stand to join in as time goes on. It's also inevitable that those wanting a more peaceful experience move elsewhere. The club are looking to get younger fans in the stand too, and they're the future and will probably want to stand and sing rather than sit in silence, especially with a section making noise behind them.
What I'd like 1894 to do is think about the mindset of non-singers. Would they want to sit in a stand behind the goal knowing they've got 3,000 likely raucous people stood up chanting all game? If I was someone who liked to sit and watch and only join in the occasional song I wouldn't fancy that personally. If they continue to work with the club or push it with members, they could say to City we have 6,000 who want to stand in the new NS can you accommodate that rather than 3,000? Or could you look to do it in the future? Could you also work with us on ticketing/relocation information so we can discuss with our members and wider fan base too.
