Here as promised is Peter Fletchers reply to my letter,posted with his blessing.
Thank you for your letter in respect of persistent standing at the stadium and in respect of the letter that was sent to you. To clarify it was sent to season card holders in two blocks in the stadium in the lower level (109 and 119). This was as a result of complaints from supporters in those blocks about not being able to watch the game without standing.
The letter should have been sent out with the season card renewals but there has been a new ticketing system which has been commissioned this season and it has presented some difficulties. This resulted in the letters being delayed; the contents of those letters also had to be agreed with our Fan Experience people and our Communications Department who actually wrote the letter.
I think it is probably useful to explain the position the Club are in, the constraints that we have imposed on us by the Government and the Football Authorities and to describe what measures we have taken over the past five seasons to try and balance that out with the wishes of our supporters.
Persistent standing is prohibited under the Ground Regulations which I think most fans are aware of. It is also an issue which the Football Licensing Authority, who grant us our licence to operate matches, has strong views on.
In addition to that no Football Club can operate without a Safety Certificate which is issued in our case by Manchester City Council and is monitored by the Safety Advisory Group. That Safety Certificate dictates what capacity we can have in the stadium and they have all sorts of powers including powers to restrict that capacity of the stadium if they consider that there are safety issues. You may remember that about seven years ago they did instruct the Club to remove certain seats in the South Stand from sale because of persistent standing in home areas and we do reduce the capacity in the away section on level two for certain clubs who persistently stand at that level.
I am the safety officer for the Club and therefore it is my responsibility to ensure that we are able to operate the stadium on match days in a safe and secure way for all supporters and to ensure that we do not have our capacity reduced.
I am also a lifelong City supporter despite what you may have read on some of the forums and used to stand with my Dad and Grandad on the Kippax, I have always tried to ensure that we push the boundaries out in respect of standing as I do recognise how important it is to those fans who wish to stand for the duration of a game, that has to be balanced of course with those who either cannot stand for long periods or do not wish to.
The return to standing terraces is a decision that Government has to make as at the present time Football Clubs have no say in the matter. Once that changes then it will be up to individual Clubs to make their own decision. Whilst that may be some time off I have invited the safe standing road show to the stadium to demonstrate the rail seats to the Club so that senior members of the Club are able to make an informed decision should that day come when the authorities have a change of heart. They are due next month. The issue of persistent standing in seated areas will remain throughout the country until a Government does take notice of football supporters wishes.
I took the decision four seasons ago (or it may have been five) that in our stadium, on level one, it was not unsafe to stand, we had not had one reported injury through standing in a seated area and although the incline of the seats was marginally above what was considered to be acceptable there was generous space in front of each seat. Because of that and after speaking to my senior stewards I decided that we should allow persistent standing in blocks 116/7/8 of the South Stand. In order to try and allay any criticism from the Football Authorities or Safety Advisory Group, we put a series of measures in place to minimise the risk, amongst others these included additional medical staff in the areas, additional stewards to keep the aisle ways free and additional stewards on the segregation lines.
This was successful and gave those of our fans who wanted to stand throughout the game that opportunity without any fear of being ejected or being constantly told to sit down. The fans who did not wish to stand were offered the opportunity to move their seats to elsewhere in the stadium which the majority of them did. I believe that we are the only Club in the country to make this decision.
Because of this we were able to extend this and create the singing section in Block 111.
There does have to be a point when standing stops and those supporters who want to sit can do, Blocks 109 and 119 have always been the demarcation line and it is only really last season that we began to receive complaints from supporters who had sat in those areas for many seasons both at the stadium and at Maine Road. Those supporters do have a valid argument; they have paid their money to sit and watch the game and are now being prevented from doing so by fellow supporters.
I said earlier in this letter that, in my view, it is safe to stand on level one in the stadium so the standing issue in Blocks 109/119 are not safety issues but customer service issues and what we all have to understand is that those who wish to sit have the right to be able to do that and have the Ground Regulations issued by the Premier League/FA on their side to support them.
What I do not wish to happen is that this becomes a real issue that then alerts the various governing bodies who may take a different view on my risk assessment of persistent standing in the singing section and South Stand that would be a backward step in my view.
I am mindful that there is a view expressed both by you and on the fans forum that the vast majority of people want to stand in the Blocks referred to. Whilst I have received a number of letters and e-mails being critical of stewards trying to sit supporters down there has been a slightly less number (and only slightly less) thanking the Club for trying to sit the supporters down and expressing the view that they want to sit in the two blocks referred to.
There is no wish on my part to eject supporters and the stewards do not wish to be in constant conflict with fans over this issue but there has to be a point at which persistent standing stops. I have asked to meet with other senior members of the Club to discuss this in more detail; this meeting is scheduled just prior to the Wigan game.
I am also aware of the criticism directed at some of the stewards about the way they handled their duties at the Swansea game which was contrary to the instructions they had been given and I will be addressing this with Showsec Management.
I hope you have a clearer view of what we have tried to achieve for our supporters and why we have taken the actions we have. We have to be very careful that we deal with this with sensitivity to both viewpoints and not spoil what we have already achieved in relation to our supporters in the South Stand and singing section.
Please feel free to share the contents of the letter with any other supporter.
Regards
Peter Fletcher
Head of Safety and Security
