John Lee Pettimore:The Dentist Wilf:Armavinit:John Lee Pettimore:ComeOnYouUll:John Lee
Pettimore:
We’ve paid for
reserved seating in E4 and heard nothing from the club. They knew about this prior to the season. They were quick to take our pass money. We’re less than impressed.
Did they?
I asume this is an SMC decision.
Yes they did.
Don’t think the seats are being taken out, you’ll still be able to sit down. It states “standing is not compulsory” can’t see many FC fans standing up for the game.
Heres what I know about it although it might now be a bit out of date.
When I was chairman of the fans group FC Voices the Allams and then the new owners muted the possibility of this. I was worried about this development and how it would impact on the FC fans in a game where unlike Football in all seater stadiums most fans remain seated most of the time and I was also concerned how changes would impact on our current season ticket holders in the area it was adopted in.
I got myself invited to a couple of regional presentations by the suppliers of the safe standing set up along with the then chair of the Tigers supporters group and with this set up the current seats are always removed.
They are replaced by an assembly that incorporates a chest high bar in front of you which you stand behind with a seat assembly for the row in front incorporated lower down in it. you stand leaning if 'you like' on the bar with a seat assembly allocated to you behind you on the row behinds assembly if you want to sit on it. Hull City fans were pushing for it as that is a trend across their game, but I was concerned that if you did want to keep your seat and sit there if everyone around you stood throughout the game you wouldn't be able to see anything. This may have changed since but I believe the principle is pretty much the same in football grounds that have adopted it already.
I'm told that the consultation with the council's safety unit about adopting this have been on going until relatively recently and that we didn't know as a club it would happen for certain back in the closed season when season tickets went on sale. However, whether we hanker after the good old days of almost all standing stadiums it is a fact that the family profile of our games supporters these days is better suited to seating than terraces but I guess some will really enjoy the atmosphere of standing all the time and this is an attempt to provide that and please everyone. It will undoubtably upset some who have to be reseated and I hope someone is fighting their cause. However, it looks by our clubs statement that this has been launched as a fete complet and I wonder what consultation has taken place between our club and the SMC which is of course driven by the football club.
You might find this interesting.
https://www.fercoseating.com/news/sports/history-safe-standing-football Here's what i know.
The club did not make us aware of the possibility of this happening at the time of us purchasing our passes.
The club have totally failed in communicating this to the affected fans. Right up to the point that i rang the club this morning and they claimed to know nothing about it as "they're just the staff" and that they were expecting a meeting about it this morning with their managers and that we should expect a letter about it at some point. I asked for a call from one of these managers. Nothing so far.
It's very "nice" of the club to let us "move free of charge" to a possibly cheaper seat when we've already paid extra for reserved seating, rather than "working with the affected fans to reach an acceptable solution".
In the area we sit there are some older fans and families with small children. If people decide they want to go and stand in this new area this will force them to stand or miss the game.
The game bleats on about "respect" but then openly treats the fans with utter contempt.
Also, given that they released the mini passes for sale a few weeks ago, options for moving seats are now even more limited.
All in all I'm pretty disgusted by the club's treatment of the fans.
