North Stand expansion - seating, ticketing etc

[Keeper!]

I was thinking more along the lines of the stand being a dedicated atmosphere stand why it’s a good video.

We can’t be building this and it not be a dedicated atmosphere stand:

View attachment 134036

You can’t build something like this and it not be for atmosphere. Like the bloke on the Yank video said, ‘the big aspect of it is the 100% safe standing’ ‘yes, it had to be safe standing no matter what’.

I genuinely think NSL2 has to be safe standing no matter what. How can a stand that looks like that not be?

The whole of the rest of the stadium can go ga+/hospitality/corporate for me, but we simply can’t build a tier that looks like that and it not be a dedicated safe standing atmosphere stand.

To not make it so is probably the stupidest idea anyone could come up with.

Not everyone wants to stand and those people can create just as much atmosphere as someone stood up.

 

[blueyorkie]

Is there any proof that 3000 or more singers want to move there?

I have never said ‘3000 singers’ want to move to the North stand.

What I have said, and I’m confident of this, is that more than 3000 fans and more will want to move to the safe standing section on NSL2.

What I have also said is that there needs to be a proper singing section on NSL2, in the middle of the 3000 safe standing seats.

Do 1894 have any numbers ?

 

[Bert Swift]

For and Against - South Stand & new North Stand - Atmosphere

South Stand - Against

1. Split over 3 levels
2. No cohesion between the different levels.
3. Tier 1 is too small and low rake.
4. Sound deadening overhang at the rear of tier 1.
5. Not a `proper`,complete end by any definition.
6. Tiers 2 and 3 have to be given to away fans for cup matches.
7. Overall, the design really does not work for atmosphere.
8. Credit where credit is due to 1894 however despite good efforts there is scope for it to be better.

South Stand - For

1. Visible displays. There have been some good ones. The counter to this is that the amount of time, effort and cost of displays is disproportionate and overall does not contribute to match atmosphere once the game has started.
2. Some fans are settled and like level 1 viewing.
3. So called `banter` with away fans but this does not contribute to atmosphere.
4. New party type feel and facilities on the level 1 concourse are liked but perhaps if less energy was spent out of sight and in the bars then there would be more chance of creating atmosphere when the game was actually being played.

North Stand - For

1. One complete home end.
2. New, wrap round design, better acoustics, visually impressive and dominant.
3. 3000 guaranteed rail seats with more to be added
4. Maximum sound can be generated.
5. Probably will be cheaper seats towards the rear of the North Stand compared with South Stand tier 1.
6. Fans in existing tiers 1 and 2, are not impacted.
7. In the overall scheme, 600 GA+ seats have no impact on atmosphere generated by 3000 plus more stood further behind.
8. An opportunity to be welcomed, not missed and maximised.

North Stand- Against

Can someone please advise ?

 

[jrb]

Surely you should be looking to encourage like minded fans to relocate, instead of being negative ? I know cost comes into it and more detail is required.

How can 1894 encourage the fans when there’s no information to encourage the fans with from the club, bar 3000 rail seats.

It’s not up to 1894 to encourage the fans to relocate to the new North stand, it’s up to the club to encourage the fans.

As you say, until the club release further details, the fans won’t make a decision either way about moving to the new North stand or not.

Maybe City do have a North stand information release date already planned, with all the information, seating plans, season ticket types and prices, the fans need to know?

It really wouldn’t surprise me if City only made those details public when the new season tickets go on sale for next season, giving the fans little choice but to make a snap decision on whether to relocate to the North stand or not.

 

[jrb]

Do 1894 have any numbers ?

Yes. Manchester33 has answered that question previously. He has the exact figures. I don’t.

 

[Blumooniac]

Seeing as we're having Breakout Spaces and a Prayer Room, how about catering for Kippax veterans? Basically, a turnstile enabling you to turn up, pissed, at ten to three and pay on the door.

 

[FootballSense]

How can 1894 encourage the fans when there’s no information to encourage the fans with from the club, bar 3000 rail seats.

It’s not up to 1894 to encourage the fans to relocate to the new North stand, it’s up to the club to encourage the fans.

As you say, until the club release further details, the fans won’t make a decision either way about moving to the new North stand or not.

Maybe City do have a North stand information release date already planed, with all the information, seating plans, season ticket types and prices, the fans need to know?

It really wouldn’t surprise me if City only made those details public when the new season tickets go on sale for next season, giving the fans little choice but to make a snap decision on whether to relocate to the North stand or not.

Ticket Prices in new North Stand Rail Seats - if they are less or the same as current South Stand level 1 prices, would 1894 relocate?

The club has set out its broad intentions for the North Stand and the further, huge investment it has committed to.

What exactly, jrb, Manchester 33 and any other who comments on here from an 1894 perspective, do you want in order to make a decision or give a strong indication of your /1894 intentions?

Bear in mind very few people in life get everything they want and there has to be balance and compromise.

 

[.db.]

Not everyone wants to stand and those people can create just as much atmosphere as someone stood up.

There are plenty of seated areas in the stadium to sit down. For me you could convert all of the rest of the stadium to be all seated to make NSL2 all safe standing.

Look at it, it is the only area in the ground that needs to be all standing.

And they can, but they don’t, I can’t think of anywhere in world football where those seated make as much noise as those stood up in a ground.

 

[jrb]

Ticket Prices in new North Stand Rail Seats - if they are less or the same as current South Stand level 1 prices, would 1894 relocate?

The club has set out its broad intentions for the North Stand and the further, huge investment it has committed to.

What exactly, jrb, Manchester 33 and any other who comments on here from an 1894 perspective, do you want in order to make a decision or give a strong indication of your /1894 intentions?

Bear in mind very few people in life get everything they want and there has to be balance and compromise.

It’s up to the wider 1894 fan base and the City match going fan base to make up their own minds whether they want to move to the North stand or not. In reality that has nothing to do with 1894. It’s an individual choice and decision.

The fans need as much information from the club as they can to make a decision. As of yet the club hasn’t made that information available to the fans. The club has stated the North stand will be open ‘during the 2025/26 season’, so there is still plenty of time for the information to be made available to the fans.

I can only speak for myself. Which I’ve already done. With the current limited North stand information released by the club, and what I know from the PA, from this thread, and from the construction thread, I won’t be moving to the new North stand. That isn’t an 1894 choice, it’s my choice as an individual.

PS.

Season ticket prices, rail seat prices, match day ticket prices. We don’t know what they are going to be. So atm it’s nothing more than speculation. You can’t make a decision via speculation.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

Seeing as we're having Breakout Spaces and a Prayer Room, how about catering for Kippax veterans? Basically, a turnstile enabling you to turn up, pissed, at ten to three and pay on the door.

I used to use the Junior turnstile to get into the Kippax until I was about 19 (along with loads of other overage supporters). It only stopped when they put a copper on the entrance to the turnstile.

 

[TheGhost]

I was thinking more along the lines of the stand being a dedicated atmosphere stand why it’s a good video.

We can’t be building this and it not be a dedicated atmosphere stand:

View attachment 134036

You can’t build something like this and it not be for atmosphere. Like the bloke on the Yank video said, ‘the big aspect of it is the 100% safe standing’ ‘yes, it had to be safe standing no matter what’.

I genuinely think NSL2 has to be safe standing no matter what. How can a stand that looks like that not be?

The whole of the rest of the stadium can go ga+/hospitality/corporate for me, but we simply can’t build a tier that looks like that and it not be a dedicated safe standing atmosphere stand.

To not make it so is probably the stupidest idea anyone could come up with.

I just assumed it would be all safe standing after the club said it was going to be an atmosphere stand

 

[TheGhost]

Not everyone wants to stand and those people can create just as much atmosphere as someone stood up.

That’s simply not true.

 

[Roachy]

Ticket Prices in new North Stand Rail Seats - if they are less or the same as current South Stand level 1 prices, would 1894 relocate?

The club has set out its broad intentions for the North Stand and the further, huge investment it has committed to.

What exactly, jrb, Manchester 33 and any other who comments on here from an 1894 perspective, do you want in order to make a decision or give a strong indication of your /1894 intentions?

Bear in mind very few people in life get everything they want and there has to be balance and compromise.

Are 1894, if they wish, going to be given priority to relocate over everyone else in the stadium do we think?

 

[James2401125]

For SSL1 &3 Season card holders to move to the new north stand the pricing will have to be cheaper considerably, alot of fans sit in these sections as it's closer to the away fans imo

 

[FootballSense]

It’s up to the wider 1894 fan base and the City match going fan base to make up their own minds whether they want to move to the North stand or not. In reality that has nothing to do with 1894. It’s an individual choice and decision.

The fans need as much information from the club as they can to make a decision. As of yet the club hasn’t made that information available to the fans. The club has stated the North stand will be open ‘during the 2025/26 season’, so there is still plenty of time for the information to be made available to the fans.

I can only speak for myself. Which I’ve already done. With the current limited North stand information released by the club, and what I know from the PA, from this thread, and from the construction thread, I won’t be moving to the new North stand. That isn’t an 1894 choice, it’s my choice as an individual.

PS.

Season ticket prices, rail seat prices, match day ticket prices. We don’t know what they are going to be. So atm it’s nothing more than speculation. You can’t make a decision via speculation.

Thanks for your reply.

1894 has issued public statements via various communication channels and been involved, to differing extents,on this and other matters, with the club. In my opinion, and I know that others share it, this is definitely a matter which has a lot to do with 1894.

Yes, individuals make individual choices however this about a collective voice.

I raised the question, "Ticket Prices in new North Stand Rail Seats - if they are less or the same as current South Stand level 1 prices, would 1894 relocate? " the purpose of bringing this up is because 1894 has specifically mentioned prices.

Maybe it is pertinent for the 1894 leadership to consider this very question. I suggest that it is likely that the club will charge less for NS rail seats, as per the indicative configuration, than existing South Stand level 1. It is doubtful that they will charge more for seasoncards than current prices paid in SS!.

No fan ever knows what ticket prices will be a year in advance. However we can normally more or less work out the price of seasoncards, the individual match prices to transfer to family and friends, and what we will get if sold through Ticket Exchange.

It is good that 1894 keep the issue of pricing at the fore, especially individual match ticket prices. It was less good to publicly try and shame the club before the biggest PL match of last season after a decision had already been made.

The club is investing a huge amount into the North Stand. It has set out its broad intentions at this stage. There is scope to add more rail seating to the 3000 set aside. It makes sense to work from the back down.

Stadia in the UK are not comparable with most across Europe. I am told that Villa today was largely flat after their exertions in the CL following 42 years absence. After the pre-match sing-a-long, Anfield rarely ignites. The Swamp is hit and miss whilst they are still in the ground, and so on and so forth. At City, the South Stand did rock for its opening against Chelsea ,yet has rarely been as good since.

Given the downsides of the current South Stand from a design perspective which do impact on atmosphere, as outlined by others on this thread and well summarised by Bert Swift above, the new North Stand still provides the best opportunity to make it better.

There is plenty of time to work this through and for all concerned to come to the best decisions overall.

 

[FootballSense]

For SSL1 &3 Season card holders to move to the new north stand the pricing will have to be cheaper considerably, alot of fans sit in these sections as it's closer to the away fans imo

1. South Stand 3 towards the back is already the cheapest area in the stadium.
What is your rationale for North Stand towards the back in rail seating, being " cheaper considerably" ?
2. If some fans want to sit closer to the away fans, for whatever reason, then that is their choice.
How does this contribute to supporting City and improving the atmosphere ?
3. Clubs traditionally had home ends. Away fans were traditionally at the opposite, smaller end. The atmosphere could be superb. The North Stand will be a huge, dominant end unlike the South Stand which is split.

 

[FootballSense]

Are 1894, if they wish, going to be given priority to relocate over everyone else in the stadium do we think?

30000 rail seats have been allocated initially. More can be incorporated in the North Stand as required.
1894 do not have anywhere near 3000 `members`.
Logic would suggest that anyone in 1894 who decides to relocate will be able to do so. The majority of others who want to relocate and create a noise in the North Stand will probably be able to do so also.

 

[Manchester33]

There’s a lot of people talking about what 1894 should do.

In 1894 we are driven by our members (free to join, link in twitter bio). Our members (as well as the wider fanbase), gave us a clear indication of what they wanted in the surveys we ran over the summer.

They wanted more rail seats, less GA+, a commitment to pricing etc to move into NSL2.

The current setup for 1894 in SSL1 is good (admittedly not perfect). We are visible for displays, close to the pitch, close to away fans and we have around 4k rail seats in SSL1. We’ve spent nearly a decade building that area into the most vocal part of the stadium.

The current proposals for NSL2 would mean us relocating to the back of the stand, not visible, 1k fewer rail seats and a big block of GA+ seats in front with a family stand below. It’s not an atmosphere stand and we have no idea even what the pricing policy would be - there’s no way we can make a stance without knowing the full picture and discussing with our members.

I appreciate we have a voice that some fans listen to (thousands of members and around 70k followers on socials), but we need help from the club to convince thousands of fans to move. I’ve made the point about their plans not being bold enough previously.

Our surveys indicated that the demand to relocate to ‘an atmospheric North Stand’ was huge. The demand for rail seating was huge. The current plans do not deliver (IMO). We will give our members the opportunity to have their say when more details are released. Even if the core people in 1894 decide against moving, we would still help the club facilitate any singers (especially from other areas of the ground) if they needed us to. We’ve left the door ajar and the key people at the club know they can always ask us for our advice and opinions - the stance at this moment in time is that we can’t possibly advocate for NSL2 with the data in the public realm.

 

[Manchester33]

30000 rail seats have been allocated initially. More can be incorporated in the North Stand as required.
1894 do not have anywhere near 3000 `members`.
Logic would suggest that anyone in 1894 who decides to relocate will be able to do so. The majority of others who want to relocate and create a noise in the North Stand will probably be able to do so also.

We do actually have a membership base in the thousands.

I’d expect that we could encourage and facilitate more than 3k singers into NSL2 if the plans were bold enough.

With the current plans I think many fans will stay put.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

1. South Stand 3 towards the back is already the cheapest area in the stadium.
What is your rationale for North Stand towards the back in rail seating, being " cheaper considerably" ?
2. If some fans want to sit closer to the away fans, for whatever reason, then that is their choice.
How does this contribute to supporting City and improving the atmosphere ?
3. Clubs traditionally had home ends. Away fans were traditionally at the opposite, smaller end. The atmosphere could be superb. The North Stand will be a huge, dominant end unlike the South Stand which is split.

"The South Stand which is split".....

It doesn't have to be.

Shift away fans out of SS2/3 down to ES1/SS1 round the corner flag. The worst location in the stadium.

Make SS2/3 all City with the relocated 'singing section'. The second home end atmosphere should be excellent.

Additionally, the lounges should generate more income and dangerous missiles landing on innocent City fans should be eliminated.

Finally, City fans will still be close to away fans without any compromise of segregation,safety or logistics.

Two atmosphere ends are better than one !!