Safe Standing and Sincil Bank capacity

StrangelyBrown

StrangelyBrown

Vital Squad Member
We are going to be at Sincil Bank for the next 4-5 years and capacity may become an issue in the future.

Shrewsbury have been given the go ahead to trial safe standing next season (which will create the ludicrous situation, if the Shrews are promoted, of two different clubs in the Championship each having been given a different answer to safe standing) which, in my opinion, is the right way forward.

However, does anyone know if safe standing increase capacity of a stand? If the Stacey West moved to safe standing, would that increase the stand capacity (and therefore the overall ground capacity)?

If we are going to be in a ground which is likely to have capacity challenges, is safe standing a way to address this short term?
 
Not sure it would. The seats would still take up 2 steps as they do now. It would however create a new craze. 617 boys all jumping about on top of the hand rails :party:
 
Is there a difference between the safe standing we would look at and the type Celtic have? With Celtic they have those seats attached for European competitions and at least on photos it looks like the take up the same amount of space as a normal seat.
 
Looking at the Shrewsbuy safe standing solution. The system was provided by ferco seating who state on there webpage that capacity can be increased by 80%. Link - ferco

So for example take the SW and say current seating is 1,800 it could be increased by 1,440 taking total to 3,240. This based just on simple addition and does not take into account any other factors such as H&S regs etc.
 
Genuine question: if Crawley can have traditional standing areas, why can't we?
 
graemetheexile said:
Genuine question: if Crawley can have traditional standing areas, why can't we?
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Also Accy have open terrace which some of us will be enjoying this Saturday if its not raining.

It is allowed below Championship level " ...Successive governments have agreed that standing can be made safe (it's allowed below the Championship) and we believe the debate can only be moved on by a small number of trials of new standing technology aimed at collecting real data that can be used to determine whether standing at football is safe...."
 
graemetheexile said:
Genuine question: if Crawley can have traditional standing areas, why can't we?
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It's a really valid point- I have stood in a away end at Cambridge, Morecambe, Crawley (and Accrington tomorrow) this season and wonder if, in 2018, there is a desire to recognise the SW seating was right for a time and place but perhaps we can deliver the safety element but in a different way?

If there is an increase it may address some short term challenges regarding increasing SB capacity.

After the news last night, I can see the entire season ticket allocation being sold for next season.....
 
It's probably something to do with access and that seven-minute clearance rule, but certainly at Crawley I didn't see much different in access (in fact there were metal grille screens everywhere if I recall rightly). But if it's doable we can surely get an extra thousand in the Stacey West, and just keep the South Park end for away fans.

And while we're at it, could some of the Co-op be converted?
 
Apparently we are near our limit on numbers allowed for access etc in the area. And also at or already over what the water supply can cope with. So even if more capacity can actually be added (and it can) there are other factors that would limit it.
Also should we reach the Championship before new stadium comes into action (and we may well do) we would need to be all-seater then.
 
Just checked on if it increases the capacity. In general it does allow more people to stand than would sit, eg at Hanover 5700 people stand where 3000 of those rail seats are. However it then depends on lots of other factors such as regulations, size of exits, space between rows etc, I guess this is where we would fall down as I can't see them allowing anymore bodies in the coop (facilities can't cope now) and we are already struggling for lack of facilities because of the need for segregation to use more of the Stacey West.
 
When the Stacey West end was first built it was approximately one third seating in the middle and plain terracing either side. How were the numbers coped with then?

I'm not meaning to be critical - just curious. Perhaps the regulations have altered since 20-plus years ago.
 
buckielugger said:
Apparently we are near our limit on numbers allowed for access etc in the area. And also at or already over what the water supply can cope with. So even if more capacity can actually be added (and it can) there are other factors that would limit it.
Also should we reach the Championship before new stadium comes into action (and we may well do) we would need to be all-seater then.
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There must be exceptions to the Championship rule- Burton Albion have 3 terraces at the Pirelli and Brentford home end behind the goal (BIAS stand I think) is terraced.

I know next season planning is too far advanced now to change but, if success continues, maybe 2019/20?
 
Merthyr Imp said:
When the Stacey West end was first built it was approximately one third seating in the middle and plain terracing either side.
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Didn't the club take the seats out completely when we went up in 1998 to take the capacity to 12,000? Or have I just imagined that?
 
Scotimp said:
Didn't the club take the seats out completely when we went up in 1998 to take the capacity to 12,000? Or have I just imagined that?
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No, they made it all seats. I believe they got a grant to do so, there may have been a provision on the grant where we would have to pay it back if we removed the seating. However, that was 20 years ago.
 
89spartans_12/03/77 said:
Has to be the co op lower. With an away fan bit in the coop-bridge McFarland end of the co op.
Would add at least 3000 to capacity.
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And where are you going to put the 2700 season ticket holders displaced from that section, a large number of whom want to sit down?
 
This is what Wikipedia says about the Stacey West stand:

'... when City were promoted to the old Division Two at the end of the 1997–98 season, the stand was made entirely terraced. This was because a number of large clubs then in Division Two, such as Manchester City, Stoke City and Burnley were expected to bring large travelling support to Sincil Bank. This convinced the club that the Stacey-West stand should hold visiting fans, rather than a portion of the Co-op Stand. However, when the club was relegated back to the old Division Three in May 1999, a grant by the Football Trust partially enabled just under 2,000 seats to replace the Stacey-West Stand terracing which meant that Sincil Bank, for the first time in the history of Lincoln City, was an all-seater stadium.'

I'd moved away by then and didn't witness it myself so can't say whether that's correct or not.
 
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