Relocating The Away Fans: Your Preferred Choice

[Nevizade]

EAST LEVEL 3 for me.

Why?

Because they can see us, the South Stand singing section, and we'll still be able to see them.

In essence the banter can still continue, but from a longer distance.

And if we could get Operation One End going properly with the help of the club, that would look awesome at pitch level and from the 3rd tier, where the away fans will be.

We've tried it and it failed miserably.

It wasn't well organised and was full of day trippers 'filling the gaps'. A one end CAN work. If our atmosphere is dependent on insulting fat away fans (anyway, the 'banter' would remain if they were in East level 3), then we may as well call it a day.

I think we have to consider the 'filling the gaps' conundrum in this scenario as well. If the main purpose of potentially moving the away fans is to improve the atmosphere then I think the best way to do that would be to move the away fans to East Stand Level 3 and have a whole 'singing end' (I'm a 22 year old 307er who would gladly move to a more atmoshperic part of the ground).

The problem with this could actually be with the proposed £299 season tickets, in that your average match-going fan (i.e. not bothered about atmosphere) sees that price and thinks 'fuck me that's dirt cheap, I'll have some of that.' Then the same problem as we faced in the Champions League crops up in that we don't have one end full of like-minded people and the atmosphere suffers. As a club if we are going to push Operation One End then we really need to push it 100% and make everyone aware of it. Put stuff on the website and in the programme instead of sticking it on Twitter a couple of times. Hopefully the growth of the 1894 Group could help with this too, maybe even allocate them a certain amount of Season Tickets in the 'new end' to make sure we do get like-minded people involved.

For what it's worth, I think the fact that the club are already pushing these £299 tickets in the new bit of the South Stand suggests that home fans will be sat there. As a result the away fans will either stay where they are or be moved to EL3. SS3 doesn't seem to be an option.

 

[jrb]

Jumping the gun a bit here. Apologies.

If the away fans are moved, I'd like to see the club introduce a new season ticket aimed solely at those fans who want to move to a unified singing section, taking in the current 3 away blocks and the rest the South Stand lower tier.

As a suggestion I'd call it the 1894 season ticket. I'd put a £10 levy(I'm sure people wouldn't mind paying it) on the season ticket that would go towards banners, flags, etc.

Obviously the above is all hypothetical, and there are many issues to look at before anything is finally agreed by the club.

But if the away fans are moved, the club along with the fans will have to look at how the new singing section is going to be created, and how it will work. We won't get another/better chance.

Back to reality jrb.

 

[cavendishblue]

I support moving the away fans to ES3. I would rather a the South stand was fully of blues that concentrated on singing and supporting the blues. Having the away fans where they are tends to lead to less positive support for City and more "banter", which to many fans is nothing more than abuse, often vile, aimed at other teams, players and managers. Some of it can be humorous, most of it is just nasty.

These days, whether everyone accepts it or not, most peoples pleasure at going to a game does not derive primariy from hurling abuse and insults at the opposition for 90 minutes.

 

[gouldybob]

We've tried it and it failed miserably.

It wasn't well organised and was full of day trippers 'filling the gaps'. A one end CAN work. If our atmosphere is dependent on insulting fat away fans (anyway, the 'banter' would remain if they were in East level 3), then we may as well call it a day.

I think we have to consider the 'filling the gaps' conundrum in this scenario as well. If the main purpose of potentially moving the away fans is to improve the atmosphere then I think the best way to do that would be to move the away fans to East Stand Level 3 and have a whole 'singing end' (I'm a 22 year old 307er who would gladly move to a more atmoshperic part of the ground).

The problem with this could actually be with the proposed £299 season tickets, in that your average match-going fan (i.e. not bothered about atmosphere) sees that price and thinks 'fuck me that's dirt cheap, I'll have some of that.' Then the same problem as we faced in the Champions League crops up in that we don't have one end full of like-minded people and the atmosphere suffers. As a club if we are going to push Operation One End then we really need to push it 100% and make everyone aware of it. Put stuff on the website and in the programme instead of sticking it on Twitter a couple of times. Hopefully the growth of the 1894 Group could help with this too, maybe even allocate them a certain amount of Season Tickets in the 'new end' to make sure we do get like-minded people involved.

For what it's worth, I think the fact that the club are already pushing these £299 tickets in the new bit of the South Stand suggests that home fans will be sat there. As a result the away fans will either stay where they are or be moved to EL3. SS3 doesn't seem to be an option.

If the EL3 and Level 2 refugees are all moved to the South Stand will there be that many day trippers? Most of my family and mates have been trying to get into South Level 2 for years so I suspect the day tripper seats you refer to are likely to be spread around the ground rather than be blocks in the new stand. Might be an opportunity to move the whole of the family stand back to North Level 2 and make Level 1 a "walk up stand"

Would still love to see Level 1 South as a trial for safe standing though.

 

[jrb]

It wasn't well organised and was full of day trippers 'filling the gaps'. A one end CAN work. If our atmosphere is dependent on insulting fat away fans (anyway, the 'banter' would remain if they were in East level 3), then we may as well call it a day.

I think we have to consider the 'filling the gaps' conundrum in this scenario as well. If the main purpose of potentially moving the away fans is to improve the atmosphere then I think the best way to do that would be to move the away fans to East Stand Level 3 and have a whole 'singing end' (I'm a 22 year old 307er who would gladly move to a more atmoshperic part of the ground).

The problem with this could actually be with the proposed £299 season tickets, in that your average match-going fan (i.e. not bothered about atmosphere) sees that price and thinks 'fuck me that's dirt cheap, I'll have some of that.' Then the same problem as we faced in the Champions League crops up in that we don't have one end full of like-minded people and the atmosphere suffers. As a club if we are going to push Operation One End then we really need to push it 100% and make everyone aware of it. Put stuff on the website and in the programme instead of sticking it on Twitter a couple of times. Hopefully the growth of the 1894 Group could help with this too, maybe even allocate them a certain amount of Season Tickets in the 'new end' to make sure we do get like-minded people involved.

For what it's worth, I think the fact that the club are already pushing these £299 tickets in the new bit of the South Stand suggests that home fans will be sat there. As a result the away fans will either stay where they are or be moved to EL3. SS3 doesn't seem to be an option.

If the EL3 and Level 2 refugees are all moved to the South Stand will there be that many day trippers? Most of my family and mates have been trying to get into South Level 2 for years so I suspect the day tripper seats you refer to are likely to be spread around the ground rather than be blocks in the new stand. Might be an opportunity to move the whole of the family stand back to North Level 2 and make Level 1 a "walk up stand"

Would still love to see Level 1 South as a trial for safe standing though.

Hmmm.

Wonder if the club could put forward a safe standing experiment for the South Stand lower tier if the away fans where moved?

They would have near enough 2 years to try and convince the Government, the PL, and other bodies involved. I know Villa are trying to get a small section of their stadium passed for a safe standing experiment ATM.

One a plus note. Such a move would free up 1500 seats in blocks 109/110/111, so people could sit and watch the match in peace. Another point that hasn't been touched on yet.

 

[peoffrey]

Problem with away fans in 3rd tier is shit getting chucked down into L2 and L1, and that will onto the corporates, which isn't a good image.

There's away fans up in level 2 already. How much stuff gets chucked at Blues now? I can only recall the incident against Newcastle and that loud bang but that was just across the divide.

 

[jrb]

TBF the last set of fans to throw anything of significance was us. At United's players last season, and those paper balls in the CL.

As others have stated, the odd missile will always get thrown. But 3000 fans aren't going to throw objects en-masse.

And known doubt extra CCTV cameras and Stewards will be trained and deployed if the away fans are moved to either of the 3rd tiers.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

newcastle and many other teams seem to manage with away fans in the top tiers, why cant we

 

[BlueT]

South stand for me, levels 1, 2, and 3 more or less where they are now. Long thin strip split into 3 segments in the corner. City fans will have more allocation behind the goal, the away fans would be more in the corner.

East stand level 3 is a bad idea for me, we would lose one of the spirals and more difficult to police outside. Also I am not sure City would want away fans above the corporate seating.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

We've tried it and it failed miserably.

It wasn't well organised and was full of day trippers 'filling the gaps'. A one end CAN work. If our atmosphere is dependent on insulting fat away fans (anyway, the 'banter' would remain if they were in East level 3), then we may as well call it a day.

I think we have to consider the 'filling the gaps' conundrum in this scenario as well. If the main purpose of potentially moving the away fans is to improve the atmosphere then I think the best way to do that would be to move the away fans to East Stand Level 3 and have a whole 'singing end' (I'm a 22 year old 307er who would gladly move to a more atmoshperic part of the ground).

The problem with this could actually be with the proposed £299 season tickets, in that your average match-going fan (i.e. not bothered about atmosphere) sees that price and thinks 'fuck me that's dirt cheap, I'll have some of that.' Then the same problem as we faced in the Champions League crops up in that we don't have one end full of like-minded people and the atmosphere suffers. As a club if we are going to push Operation One End then we really need to push it 100% and make everyone aware of it. Put stuff on the website and in the programme instead of sticking it on Twitter a couple of times. Hopefully the growth of the 1894 Group could help with this too, maybe even allocate them a certain amount of Season Tickets in the 'new end' to make sure we do get like-minded people involved.

For what it's worth, I think the fact that the club are already pushing these £299 tickets in the new bit of the South Stand suggests that home fans will be sat there. As a result the away fans will either stay where they are or be moved to EL3. SS3 doesn't seem to be an option.

cant agre with that pal, the reason the atmos was so poor in the champions league was because the normal match going fans couldnt afford to go. And were replaced by the rich merchandies buying fan. hamburg is a prime example of what cheap tickets can do, it will allow more working class fans in, who in the main are the singers, with cheaper tickets the atmosphere will get better