Cobblers 'not fully convinced' by demand for safe standing but will 'continue consultation' with supporters

Northampton will continue to investigate the possibility of introducing safe standing at the PTS Academy Stadium but the club also say they are 'not fully convinced' that there is currently enough of a demand for it.
The PTS Academy StadiumThe PTS Academy Stadium
The PTS Academy Stadium

The club have been exploring the idea of safe standing for a number of years and installed a trial section of barrier for testing purposes last February.

The trial successfully passed the required safety tests and a survey was then sent out to season ticket holders in the Sheinman Opticians Stand via email.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On the findings of that survey, the club said last month: "The results showed that a majority of those supporters would be in favour of some safe standing at the PTS Academy Stadium.

"However, other parts of the survey gave mixed results and the general comments made in response to the survey did raise genuine concerns of the risk that the club may lose a fair number of season ticket holders if safe standing was introduced.

"The current feeling, as discussed with supporters at the meeting, was that maybe another level of consultation, possibly with the wider supporter base, is appropriate in due course."

The campaign group 'Standing at Sixfields' (@standsixfields on Twitter) sent an open letter to the club that was signed by 144 supporters, calling for safe standing to be further explored as an option at the ground.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The letter suggested that the prize money won from this season's FA Cup run could create 'an opportunity to invest in rail seat technology which is the gold standard in safe standing'.

"The EFL found that 84 per cent of under 35s would prefer to stand," it read. "It could be a progressive move to invest in our passionate fans and the next generation of lifetime supporters.

"We’d be happy to arrange a meeting with the club to listen to any fans’ concerns, to see what obstacles there are and and how we can work together as a fan base to overcome them.

"There is the potential to recoup some of the costs via a rail seat sponsoring scheme."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The letter also outlined potential benefits of safe standing, which included offering fans the choice to stand or sit with increased safety via rail seats as well as a better atmosphere at home matches, as demonstrated at Celtic Park and Shrewsbury Town, both of whom utilise rail seat safe standing.

In response, the club said that whilst consultation is ongoing, they have 'not been fully convinced that there is enough demand for safe standing and that there would be a ‘sufficient’ number of supporters that would move into that area to justify the displacement of existing fans who already enjoy sitting in those areas, and have done for many years.'

It continued: "We think that the next level of consultation could be to find out how many supporters would ‘actually’ move from the more vocal areas of the West Stand to the Sheinman Opticians Stand if Safe Standing was implemented.

"Plus, probably more importantly, we also need to find out how many spaces would even open up in the stand if this was implemented.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"As you know with the selected solution and also rail seating no additional capacity would be gained, so we could put in a safe standing solution and if nobody decided to move out from that area, we are not actually sure what is achieved?

"Please note this view has been reached not just from the survey, but from conversations, feedback and discussion between the staff and supporters.

"Whilst there is certainly support for safe standing there is also opposition and I think we all have to understand that, and by not aggressively moving forward with safe standing we are not ignoring the fan base, we are also listening to it as well.

"Just to be clear at this point, this is also not a financial decision as that stage hasn’t really been reached yet. I agree that funding could or would be found for this type of venture, plus also the possible solution agreed with the SAG would have a lower level of investment than rail seating, so the Emirates FA Cup monies would not be relevant in this instance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We know there is never a right or wrong that will suit everyone in these situations and sometimes change is good, but also sometimes in some people’s eyes the status quo is good too and we can’t just ignore people’s views because they are different."

The letter also added: "Please understand this conversation is certainly not a club vs. safe standing conversation. Our role within the process has been to consult with fans, truly get a sense of the demand and desire within the overall fan base and find a potential solution that could work if the demand was there."

Standing at Sixfields say they are now waiting to secure a date to meet with Northampton and hope to find a proposal which 'delivers on choice, safety, flexibility, atmosphere and cost'.