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1 hour ago, tunit said:

I was looking at this the other day. Even going onto google maps and trying to figure out how they could get the away fans out haha. Maybe if the footbridge was turned into away exit only and their coaches parked on the top or on northam road the away fans could be moved to the Kingsland North. Then our fans can have all of the northam and we can kick that way in the second half. This would always be opposed by people who use the bridge or sit in kingsland north of course. Just hate seeing jubilant away fans on the TV highlights!

How does St. Mary’s compare with all the other grounds?

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7 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

How does St. Mary’s compare with all the other grounds?

In what way do you mean? Derby used to have the away fans behind the goal but a few years ago they moved them to the corner and the atmosphere seems a lot better now. At Leicester the away fans are also in the corner. Most grounds do seem to house away support on the sideline/corner nowadays. We just need to find a way where the police would approve the changes. Atmosphere has been good at St Marys this season but having a Northam full of home fans would make it even better imo. Especially with the new safe standing seemingly coming soon

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10 hours ago, tunit said:

In what way do you mean? Derby used to have the away fans behind the goal but a few years ago they moved them to the corner and the atmosphere seems a lot better now. At Leicester the away fans are also in the corner. Most grounds do seem to house away support on the sideline/corner nowadays. We just need to find a way where the police would approve the changes. Atmosphere has been good at St Marys this season but having a Northam full of home fans would make it even better imo. Especially with the new safe standing seemingly coming soon

I meant in the sense of where the away fans are situated and to what extent having away fans behind the goal helps their team in the second half. I am not as familiar with the arrangements in other grounds as I once was. 

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59 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

What's the latest on Semmens getting in the new TVs in the concourse?  Is he still waiting on delivery from Currys?

TV's in the concourse are done as far as I know, the hold up has been the screens in the stadium bowl it's self.

It's not an excuse, but the electrical chip shortage at the moment is causing havoc for electrical purchases of any type. I know certain electrical components have a 400 day lead time, so I'd be 110% sure this is the cause of the delay and nothing other than that.

Edited by S-Clarke
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12 hours ago, tunit said:

In what way do you mean? Derby used to have the away fans behind the goal but a few years ago they moved them to the corner and the atmosphere seems a lot better now. At Leicester the away fans are also in the corner. Most grounds do seem to house away support on the sideline/corner nowadays. We just need to find a way where the police would approve the changes. Atmosphere has been good at St Marys this season but having a Northam full of home fans would make it even better imo. Especially with the new safe standing seemingly coming soon

Agree, has been decent this season. The Itchen corner make a great noise, if we could combine that with the Northam think we'd make a proper din.

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Seems an obvious idea to introduce safe standing and move the away fans at the same time.

There must surely be a solution that means we can have all The Northam for ourselves.  Reckon it would be worth a point or two a season!

It made such a difference at The Dell when we got hold of the Archers Road end (what a mighty little stand that was!).

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On 30/01/2022 at 14:46, Saint J 77 said:

 

Apart from actually extending the stadium capacity, which we know will not happen until we fill it out each home game. I wonder what other smaller changes will be made? What things can be done to help give us home a better home advantage? 

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next. I’m hopeful we will see some serious investment from our new owners on the stadium in the near future. 

Chicken and egg isn’t it. If they don’t lower the prices of match tickets across the board, we won’t see increased attendance, barring an unexpected improvement in results week in week out. Especially the way the economy is going. 

The demand is there when tickets are affordable. The Bundesliga have got it right on that issue. Big stadiums, on average, and lower ticket costs 

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9 minutes ago, Jack said:

Chicken and egg isn’t it. If they don’t lower the prices of match tickets across the board, we won’t see increased attendance, barring an unexpected improvement in results week in week out. Especially the way the economy is going. 

The demand is there when tickets are affordable. The Bundesliga have got it right on that issue. Big stadiums, on average, and lower ticket costs 

Thats not really chicken-and-egg.

If your starting position is to reduce ticket prices, therefore reducing revenue and at the same time spend millions on expanding the stadium then you haven’t actually got a coherent case for expanding the stadium. 

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23 hours ago, adrian lord said:

Does "Safe Standing" increase fan density per m2 of terrace and therefore increase capacity? Or is it the same seats with football's equivalent of Zimmer frames in front?

The second one. Which is why it makes zero financial sense.

You need to spend millions retro fitting a part of the stadium with no increase in capacity and in an area where customers might expect to pay less not more.

So I can't imagine Saints falling over themselves to do it because there's not a huge amount in it for them. Apart from preventing a load of earache at fans forums if they don't do it. (And then earache in subsequent years as to why standing is no cheaper than seats).

Edited by CB Fry
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On 31/01/2022 at 17:43, Sunglasses Ron said:

Seems an obvious idea to introduce safe standing and move the away fans at the same time.

There must surely be a solution that means we can have all The Northam for ourselves.  Reckon it would be worth a point or two a season!

It made such a difference at The Dell when we got hold of the Archers Road end (what a mighty little stand that was!).

Obvious but pretty much impossible?  It's been done to death on every forum but having the away fans where they are is the only allowable solution to the Police in terms of getting away fans safely out without trouble.  As with on Saturday with Brittania Rd being closed to home fans until all the away coaches have been sent to Coventry.

The only way of moving the away fans would be to knock down the stadium and re-build at a 90 degree different angle....

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1 hour ago, once_bitterne said:

Obvious but pretty much impossible?  It's been done to death on every forum but having the away fans where they are is the only allowable solution to the Police in terms of getting away fans safely out without trouble.  As with on Saturday with Brittania Rd being closed to home fans until all the away coaches have been sent to Coventry.

The only way of moving the away fans would be to knock down the stadium and re-build at a 90 degree different angle....

Could we not just accept its 2022 and now the desire for hooliganism has reduced and that home/away fans are able to get away safely without trouble anyway?

Other sports allow fans to sit together, I'd really like some more detail to know more about why they can't be housed in the corner and the ramifications. Or, I'd liked to see it trialled to see what it would happen if we put them in the Kingsland North corner. 

Those who go looking for trouble usually aren't at the game, sure it's organised elsewhere.  

 

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On 31/01/2022 at 12:27, S-Clarke said:

TV's in the concourse are done as far as I know, the hold up has been the screens in the stadium bowl it's self.

It's not an excuse, but the electrical chip shortage at the moment is causing havoc for electrical purchases of any type. I know certain electrical components have a 400 day lead time, so I'd be 110% sure this is the cause of the delay and nothing other than that.

Martin Semmens did an interview on Total Saints Podcast a month or so ago and this was asked then.  Apparently the hold up with the new double sized screens on the Chapel and Northam Stands is due the fact that the roofs need to be strengthened due to the weight of the new screens.  This should be done in the first six months of this year. 

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1 hour ago, marc_saint said:

Martin Semmens did an interview on Total Saints Podcast a month or so ago and this was asked then.  Apparently the hold up with the new double sized screens on the Chapel and Northam Stands is due the fact that the roofs need to be strengthened due to the weight of the new screens.  This should be done in the first six months of this year. 

What’s the point of bigger screens anyway? All they show are adverts and propaganda.

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14 hours ago, nta786 said:

Could we not just accept its 2022 and now the desire for hooliganism has reduced and that home/away fans are able to get away safely without trouble anyway?

Other sports allow fans to sit together, I'd really like some more detail to know more about why they can't be housed in the corner and the ramifications. Or, I'd liked to see it trialled to see what it would happen if we put them in the Kingsland North corner. 

Those who go looking for trouble usually aren't at the game, sure it's organised elsewhere.  

 

But that's bollux though isn't it.  Look at the Euros if you think violent behaviour doesn't come with football anymore.  Sadly, it's not like other sports.  That's why there are away ends in the first place.

You're very naive if you think fans can get away without any trouble. There have been numerous instances of violent behavior going on between fans in Britannia Road this season which is exactly the reason why the Police have chosen to close the entire road off to home fans after this Saturday's game until all of the Coventry coaches have left.

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10 hours ago, once_bitterne said:

But that's bollux though isn't it.  Look at the Euros if you think violent behaviour doesn't come with football anymore.  Sadly, it's not like other sports.  That's why there are away ends in the first place.

You're very naive if you think fans can get away without any trouble. There have been numerous instances of violent behavior going on between fans in Britannia Road this season which is exactly the reason why the Police have chosen to close the entire road off to home fans after this Saturday's game until all of the Coventry coaches have left.

It's not a football problem. Many countries in Europe allow fans to mix. For example in Germany, whilst there are specific home and away stands, the majority of the stadium is open to supporters of both teams happily sitting next to each other with no issues at all. It's just the nonsense English/British culture of deciding you need to attempt to fight anyone supporting the opposition who happens to be sat near you. 

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On 31/01/2022 at 00:22, tunit said:

In what way do you mean? Derby used to have the away fans behind the goal but a few years ago they moved them to the corner and the atmosphere seems a lot better now. At Leicester the away fans are also in the corner. Most grounds do seem to house away support on the sideline/corner nowadays. We just need to find a way where the police would approve the changes. Atmosphere has been good at St Marys this season but having a Northam full of home fans would make it even better imo. Especially with the new safe standing seemingly coming soon

You assume that a lot of supporters want to be in the northam?

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58 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

You assume that a lot of supporters want to be in the northam?

I want what most other fans want and thats a good, loud atmosphere at St Mary's every game. And making the Northam a full home end would help that a lot. If you want to sit down and not make a noise all game then thats your choice, but I think the majority of vocal fans would support it.

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1 hour ago, tunit said:

I want what most other fans want and thats a good, loud atmosphere at St Mary's every game. And making the Northam a full home end would help that a lot. If you want to sit down and not make a noise all game then thats your choice, but I think the majority of vocal fans would support it.

This whole argument seems to come up every season.  When the stadium was built the club identified the Chapel end as the home 'kop' end.  I bought my first season ticket there on that basis (moved to Northam in second season)!  Bearing in mind away fans at any ground tend to be a bit more of a challenge for police, they actually constructed the stadium around away fans being at the Northam and installed police CCTV room and cells adjacent to away fans.  Quickest route to the station, quickest route for coached to access motorways - made it an easy choice.

What went wrong was home fans decided they could not 'bait' the away fans in the Chapel so decided to move closer - first in block 42 and later block 1.  It does create a good atmosphere so not much point complaining when the facilities for policing are already in place.  You will always get the home fans split because they want to get as close to the away fans as they can - if they can't get seats close  on one side then they will buy seats on the other side.  It cannot be solved by moving the away fans.

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14 hours ago, georgeismyname said:

It's not a football problem. Many countries in Europe allow fans to mix. For example in Germany, whilst there are specific home and away stands, the majority of the stadium is open to supporters of both teams happily sitting next to each other with no issues at all. It's just the nonsense English/British culture of deciding you need to attempt to fight anyone supporting the opposition who happens to be sat near you. 

If you flat out ditched fan segregation in stadiums the issue would die out imo. But then so would much of the atmospheres - so its a trade off on what people are willing to accept as spectators. The police and stewarding also don't help as they often invite trouble. Fundamentally it all stems from dividing people into what are effectively tribal groups (similar to identity politics) imo, and it isn't unique to just Britain/England - you find the issue all over the world and indeed its far better here than many other places.

What might be an interesting idea is to have a dedicated home end, a small dedicated away end. And then a general acceptance that the rest of the stadiums are unsegregated and fair game 🤷‍♂️ - Which isn't that different to what we have now, but might remove the incentives for nastier elements of fanbases as they're basically being encouraged/tolerated by authorities rather than treated like miscreants.

Will be interesting to see what happens with SMS re development, its always been an issue here. You could for example dedicate all of Northam to the home end. Give say 1000-1500 seats in itchen corner to the away end, and then allocated the rest of any away following to general sale tickets around the rest of the stadium 🤷‍♂️

 

Edited by Saint86
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14 hours ago, georgeismyname said:

It's not a football problem. Many countries in Europe allow fans to mix. For example in Germany, whilst there are specific home and away stands, the majority of the stadium is open to supporters of both teams happily sitting next to each other with no issues at all. It's just the nonsense English/British culture of deciding you need to attempt to fight anyone supporting the opposition who happens to be sat near you. 

Yes, it's obviously a 'British' problem... I mean the Russian, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Italian, etc, etc ,etc, etc fans are such placid well behaved things that crowd segregation would never be needed in their countries...

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11 hours ago, Mowgli said:

This whole argument seems to come up every season.  When the stadium was built the club identified the Chapel end as the home 'kop' end.  I bought my first season ticket there on that basis (moved to Northam in second season)!  Bearing in mind away fans at any ground tend to be a bit more of a challenge for police, they actually constructed the stadium around away fans being at the Northam and installed police CCTV room and cells adjacent to away fans.  Quickest route to the station, quickest route for coached to access motorways - made it an easy choice.

What went wrong was home fans decided they could not 'bait' the away fans in the Chapel so decided to move closer - first in block 42 and later block 1.  It does create a good atmosphere so not much point complaining when the facilities for policing are already in place.  You will always get the home fans split because they want to get as close to the away fans as they can - if they can't get seats close  on one side then they will buy seats on the other side.  It cannot be solved by moving the away fans.

Yeah I do agree with that. The more vocal fans (such as myself) prefer to be closer to the away fans as its easier to respond to chants and taunt etc. So making the chapel into a 'kop' wouldn't really work. Suppose the issue is with how the ground was designed in the first place with regards to the housing of the away fans. 

 

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On 02/02/2022 at 16:18, CB Fry said:

The second one. Which is why it makes zero financial sense.

You need to spend millions retro fitting a part of the stadium with no increase in capacity and in an area where customers might expect to pay less not more.

So I can't imagine Saints falling over themselves to do it because there's not a huge amount in it for them. Apart from preventing a load of earache at fans forums if they don't do it. (And then earache in subsequent years as to why standing is no cheaper than seats).

Thanks for clarifying that. 

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On 02/02/2022 at 19:03, Kenilworthy said:

Most grounds in the Premier League do not seem too bothered about controlling where away fans go after the game, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea for example you come straight out and mix with home fans.

Which, to be honest, is pretty much true of all grounds.  There may be very minimal segregation measures in place as you leave some stadia, but after 50 - 100 meters most segregation has gone and fans are one mass. I honestly think we are making a big deal out of moving the away fans and talking ourselves out of it with excuses.  We've put people on the moon, it cannot be beyond the wit of man to move the away fan allocation in SMS.

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1 hour ago, Micky said:

Which, to be honest, is pretty much true of all grounds.  There may be very minimal segregation measures in place as you leave some stadia, but after 50 - 100 meters most segregation has gone and fans are one mass. I honestly think we are making a big deal out of moving the away fans and talking ourselves out of it with excuses.  We've put people on the moon, it cannot be beyond the wit of man to move the away fan allocation in SMS.

Except the easiest thing by far is for all these fans that want to be together and away from the away fans to move themselves to a different part of the ground. Just change seats. No excuses.

No need for the police, or the club or anyone to do anything, whatsoever.

That bit is definitely not "beyond the wit of man" but isn't  it funny it never seems to be proposed as a solution by people who just want somebody else to do the work?

Edited by CB Fry
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1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

Except the easiest thing by far is for all these fans that want to be together and away from the away fans to move themselves to a different part of the ground. Just change seats. No excuses.

No need for the police, or the club or anyone to do anything, whatsoever.

That bit is definitely not "beyond the wit of man" but isn't  it funny it never seems to be proposed as a solution by people who just want somebody else to do the work?

People keep saying this but the problem is the Chapel is the designated family stand. If we're going to have a 'proper' home end then either that needs to change, or the away fans need to be moved.

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11 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

People keep saying this but the problem is the Chapel is the designated family stand. If we're going to have a 'proper' home end then either that needs to change, or the away fans need to be moved.

If you all get on with changing your seats next summer then all of that is not beyond the wit of man etc etc etc. Go and sit where you want.

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2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

If you all get on with changing your seats next summer then all of that is not beyond the wit of man etc etc etc. Go and sit where you want.

The issue is that the vocal fans want to be next to the away fans. And the chapel is the opposite side of the ground. That also doesn't solve the problem of away fans being behind the goal they're shooting at in the second half. No doubt that makes a difference for them.

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13 minutes ago, tunit said:

The issue is that the vocal fans want to be next to the away fans. And the chapel is the opposite side of the ground. That also doesn't solve the problem of away fans being behind the goal they're shooting at in the second half. No doubt that makes a difference for them.

I thought the issue was to create a Kop style full end of super passionate singers. Like the Kop, say.

Which yeah you're right is located right next to where the away fans are. Oh. Right.

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14 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I thought the issue was to create a Kop style full end of super passionate singers. Like the Kop, say.

Which yeah you're right is located right next to where the away fans are. Oh. Right.

Correct, even Palace’s Holmesdale “ultras” is as far away from the away end

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4 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Except the easiest thing by far is for all these fans that want to be together and away from the away fans to move themselves to a different part of the ground. Just change seats. No excuses.

No need for the police, or the club or anyone to do anything, whatsoever.

That bit is definitely not "beyond the wit of man" but isn't  it funny it never seems to be proposed as a solution by people who just want somebody else to do the work?

Yep, fair point.  Either way, I don't think this is 'the insurmountable problem' that some seem to think it is. 

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27 minutes ago, Micky said:

Yep, fair point.  Either way, I don't think this is 'the insurmountable problem' that some seem to think it is. 

I think it was the last fans forum hosted by Radio Solent or the previous one that Toby explained all the difficulties in moving the away fans.

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1 hour ago, rooney said:

I think it was the last fans forum hosted by Radio Solent or the previous one that Toby explained all the difficulties in moving the away fans.

At the time, we had money issues. I m sure a solution can be found by making the appropriate infrastructure adjustments

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43 minutes ago, stevy777_x said:

At the time, we had money issues. I m sure a solution can be found by making the appropriate infrastructure adjustments

I have seen mention that the concourse in the Itchen makes it difficult to segregate the fans but I cannot believe that it would take a lot of money.

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5 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I have seen mention that the concourse in the Itchen makes it difficult to segregate the fans but I cannot believe that it would take a lot of money.

Some steel and fabrication costs.

it’s absolute waffle coming from the club if they are saying this is the reason.

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I dont understand why people want to move away fans, yesterday was different because it was a Cup game with more than usual. I can remember the Cup game against Pompey and the 2003 FA Cup games with the same numbers and there wasnt any problem with atmosphere and noise then. So it would appear the problem now is fans these days are not making enough noise ? Lets not forget the very cheap tickets yesterday meant allsorts of people turned up. Originally Saints fans went into the northam blocks to be near away fans then some went to the northam corner. There would be little difference if away fans were in the kingsland corner and like yesterday would go right across the northam stand. West Ham will have 5000 fans so people better get organized and hopefully the prices wont be silly cheap and nearer the £20+ mark 

The ability to isolate away fans to a degree is a good reason to keep them in the corner, britannia road can be closed the fencing can go up in the car park etc None of that would be possible if the away fans at 3K went into the kingsland corner and even more STs would need to move. Saints are lucky to have such a good arrangement and im sure the health and safety licence shows that. 

 

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1 minute ago, SaintsLoyal said:

I dont understand why people want to move away fans, yesterday was different because it was a Cup game with more than usual. I can remember the Cup game against Pompey and the 2003 FA Cup games with the same numbers and there wasnt any problem with atmosphere and noise then. So it would appear the problem now is fans these days are not making enough noise ? Lets not forget the very cheap tickets yesterday meant allsorts of people turned up. Originally Saints fans went into the northam blocks to be near away fans then some went to the northam corner. There would be little difference if away fans were in the kingsland corner and like yesterday would go right across the northam stand. West Ham will have 5000 fans so people better get organized and hopefully the prices wont be silly cheap and nearer the £20+ mark 

The ability to isolate away fans to a degree is a good reason to keep them in the corner, britannia road can be closed the fencing can go up in the car park etc None of that would be possible if the away fans at 3K went into the kingsland corner and even more STs would need to move. Saints are lucky to have such a good arrangement and im sure the health and safety licence shows that. 

 

I think it was the Itchen corner that has been suggested. 

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1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I think it was the Itchen corner that has been suggested. 

I would put them along the chapel/kingsland corner, spreading more into Kingsland than Chapel. It would be easy to police as you can just direct them through the industrial estate after the game and not allow them access towards Britannia Road or the bridge, coaches for away travel groups can park up in the industrial estate itself (saints travel coaches used to do it all the time), and it also means a good chunk of away support is forced to pay the higher price of the Kingsland centre (although as I type this may not be allowed, isn't there a ruling that away fans can only be charged the cheapest home ticket price?) 

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12 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I would put them along the chapel/kingsland corner, spreading more into Kingsland than Chapel. It would be easy to police as you can just direct them through the industrial estate after the game and not allow them access towards Britannia Road or the bridge, coaches for away travel groups can park up in the industrial estate itself (saints travel coaches used to do it all the time), and it also means a good chunk of away support is forced to pay the higher price of the Kingsland centre (although as I type this may not be allowed, isn't there a ruling that away fans can only be charged the cheapest home ticket price?) 

All adult away tickets are £30. Once the residential redevelopment of the gasholders takes place there may be more desire to move the away fans and coaches away from that immediate area. Moving them to the Chapel/Kingsland corner with coaches parked on the industrial estate is really the only realistic option. But the Northam would then just lose its appeal for a 'home' end for many.

Making the Northam a safe-standing terrace may help to keep some there.

Edited by alehouseboys
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1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

I would put them along the chapel/kingsland corner, spreading more into Kingsland than Chapel. It would be easy to police as you can just direct them through the industrial estate after the game and not allow them access towards Britannia Road or the bridge, coaches for away travel groups can park up in the industrial estate itself (saints travel coaches used to do it all the time), and it also means a good chunk of away support is forced to pay the higher price of the Kingsland centre (although as I type this may not be allowed, isn't there a ruling that away fans can only be charged the cheapest home ticket price?) 

You obviously haven't seen how many home fans leave the ground via that route, virtually the entire Chapel and Kingsland.Can't see this as an option unfortunately.

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