Are you for standing?

The debate about re-introducing standing at football grounds appears to be gathering momentum. If passed Norman Smurthwaite has suggested turning the Bycars into a standing area. I think it would be a good idea to give people the choice, but a league rule needs to change first.

At the moment standing is allowed in the bottom two divisions for clubs who haven’t been in the Championship during the last 18 years. We have, so we currently can’t have a standing area. It would have to be allowed in the Championship for us to rip the Bycars seats out though, because there would be no point in doing it if we had to put them back in if we got promoted!

I can’t see the Premier League clubs allowing standing to return, most get full houses all seated so no need. That would limit the Championship clubs with aspirations to get promoted in not bothering to have standing areas, unless they had a similar system to that in Germany where they have tip up seats that easily convert to standing areas.

It’s a project worth pursuing, because admission to standing areas would be cheaper and may attract some lost fans back who can’t afford the spiralling cost of football which has far outweighed inflation. Ironically those Vale fans travelling to Brentford next week do have such a choice, the away end is seats or terracing, Brentford not having been a Championship outfit since the rules changed.

Something that will create much debate over the next few months I think.

Phil Sherwin