Northam End to be home fans only + safe standing (new updates)

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

7 hours ago, Master Bates said:

So, not new rail seating then, just crush barriers being installed. Looks like we're keeping the pink seats.

[Saint86]

Struggling to work out what part of installing rail seating in northam required the away fans to move to the kingsland chapel corner and the club pissing off a good part of SMS in the process.

Edited April 21 by Saint86

[franniesTache]

On 19/04/2024 at 16:19, stevegrant said:

There was still a fair bit of debate, the Archers was a bit of a split in the end with a fair number picking the back of the Chapel for the first season but then most of them moved to the Northam after that when it became clear they were very much in the minority. It wasn't anywhere near as straightforward as you make out. It worked itself out after a year or two, but without anything physical to work with at the time (remember that 3D model that everyone got shown as an approximation of what your view would be like? ) and relatively few of the fanbase using forums, communication and organisation was difficult.

I don't remember any debate amongst those round me in block 5, pretty much everyone looked at the ground design and said the northam is behind the goal and next to the away fans we'll move there. Same was true of my brothers lot who were under the east, they looked at st mary's and choose the itchen north because of it's location.

You're right though there weren't forums or social media so it was mostly done in the ground/pubs rather than online.

The funny thing is in all my time going (from the early 80's) Saints have never really had one single end, it's just not been our culture. Different parts of the ground have served different needs and had different types of people in them, the milton was much younger than the archers or under the east and probably the most similar to the northam now. Under the east was always more of a "lads" culture, as was the split stand archers back when they had the cage, and the west stand lot were much more of the dressers/casuals.

It's actually something that i liked about st mary's as it was before, you could have different pockets of groups with different ways of supporting saints, and slightly different cultures (arguably that changed massively post covid as the itchen north back them northam-lite) which this "northam wall" will kill off by design.

I'd personally be amazed if the northam wall doesn't ultimately lead to us having our own form of the tinpot "ultras" other clubs have now, i really, really fucking hope that's not the case but it does seem to be the way things are going

[Dman]

13 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Struggling to work out what part of installing rail seating in northam required the away fans to move to the kingsland chapel corner and the club pissing off a good part of SMS in the process.

its go nothing to do with the rail seating. Its because they wanted to improve atmosphere in the ground by having a single end. 

Will it work? Probably not, but that's their logic. 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

On 22/04/2024 at 12:51, franniesTache said:

The funny thing is in all my time going (from the early 80's) Saints have never really had one single end,

I went, almost always, in the Milton from the early 1960s.  Surely we had both the Milton and the Archers ends.  Or don’t those two count as ends?  Not trying to be funny or anything; just puzzled by the comment.  Although, I suppose having both ends is not quite the same as having one single end; problem solved.  Perhaps I should not have bothered.

Edited April 23 by Tommy Mulgrew
60s, not 80s

[franniesTache]

43 minutes ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

I went, almost always, in the Milton from the early 1980s.  Surely we had both the Milton and the Archers ends.  Or don’t those two count as ends?  Not trying to be funny or anything; just puzzled by the comment.  Although, I suppose having both ends is not quite the same as having one single end; problem solved.  Perhaps I should not have bothered.

yup exactly that, the focus wasn't on one in particular. I loved the Milton when i was a nipper but the Milton was never THE home end it was just another part of the ground (and don't forget the Archers lot called the fans in the Milton Milton Muppets). I don't think in my life we've ever had a "Kop" and fans have always moved around depending on various things (age, type of support etc.)

The single big focus point end isn't really a southampton thing, same way our away support has always been more lots of small groups of mates rather than one big group.

No idea why that is but i do wonder if it's to do with how the city itself is set out geographically, growing up i can always remember a lot of rivalries between different parts of the city (Swaythling and Bitterne for example), and some places can feel pretty remote and different depending on where you lived (Thornhill and Millbrook can feel miles apart and even have slightly different accents).

Edited April 22 by franniesTache

[whiteleySaint30]

Anyone  that can purchase today - would be good to availability if you could share a screenshot.  Obviously some blocks will already nearly be full with current season ticket holders. 

[Nordic Saint]

On 22/04/2024 at 14:10, Tommy Mulgrew said:

I went, almost always, in the Milton from the early 1980s.  Surely we had both the Milton and the Archers ends.  Or don’t those two count as ends?  Not trying to be funny or anything; just puzzled by the comment.  Although, I suppose having both ends is not quite the same as having one single end; problem solved.  Perhaps I should not have bothered.

In the 60s and early 70s, our home end was unequivocally the Milton. Unfortunately, neither end had a roof over it, so the acoustics were not great. At most other grounds, the home end was the covered end and the uncovered end was the away end. In those days we dreamed of having a big covered end such as we now have in the Northam.

That was the reason for the initial move of some of our singers under the West Stand, which because it had a roof, had much better acoustics. So, by the late 70s, there were some singers left in the Milton and another group under the West Stand.  But, as you can see from the pictures of the Channon Testimonial, in 1976 the Milton was still very much our home end.

Edited April 23 by Nordic Saint

[Nordic Saint]

17 hours ago, franniesTache said:

the Milton was never THE home end 

You do talk some rubbish. You've already made it clear in more than a thousand posts that you don't like the idea of us having a proper home end again. It's getting tedious now.

[Wurzel]

52 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

In the 60s and ealy 70s, our home end was unequivocally the Milton. Unfortunately, neither end had a roof over it, so the acoustics were not great. At most other grounds, the home end was the covered end and the uncovered end was the away end. In those days we dreamed of having a big covered end such as we now have in the Northam.

That was the reason for the initial move of some of our singers under the West Stand, which because it had a roof, had much better acoustics. So, by the late 70s, there were some singers left in the Milton and another group under the West Stand.  But, as you can see from the pictures of the Channon Testimonial, in 1976 the Milton was still very much our home end.

Indeed (we must be around the same age). Plus you didn't get rained on. One of the loudest songs from that section was "its nice and dry in here" whenever it rained.

I think (possibly) the pen under the half time scoreboard was known as Dockers Corner, but those talking about singinging groups in The Archers and the East Stand must be at least a generation younger.

[Give it to Ron]

44 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

You do talk some rubbish. You've already made it clear in more than a thousand posts that you don't like the idea of us having a proper home end again. It's getting tedious now.

He did say he only started in 80’s.

I used to queue up from 13:00 to get in the Milton and get on the wall in 60’s/70’s then moved back a bit. 
Milton was always loud and supported by dockers under East. When the benches came in that dampened it down.

I am not against having the Northam standing but just don’t think it will work as I said we had whole end Saturday look how that turned out.

The money better spent on recruiting right players on pitch,

[SotonianWill]

On 21/04/2024 at 12:22, Master Bates said:

Does the bar have mystical or metaphysical powers to increase the vocals of our top singers?

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

6 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

we had whole end Saturday look how that turned out.

We had around half the end on Saturday and a bit round the corner, much like we get in the Northam, but once the opposition score our lot mostly go quiet so doesn’t really matter how many there are.

I started going regularly at the start of the 70s and the Milton, under the Toomers, was the main area for singing. By the mid-seventies some had moved over to under the West and the Warrens made home in the Archers. They were more ‘doers’ than singers. Jim Redpath’s “We’re the barmy Archers Army” (I shouldn’t laugh) migrated to that end late 70s.

[whiteleySaint30]

6 hours ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

Anyone  that can purchase today - would be good to availability if you could share a screenshot.  Obviously some blocks will already nearly be full with current season ticket holders. 

Can anyone do this?

[Whitey Grandad]

13 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

Does the bar have mystical or metaphysical powers to increase the vocals of our top singers?

They seem to be in the bar for most of the game anyway.

[The Kraken]

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/2024-25-season-ticket-and-stadium-development-update?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=stmens-2425&utm_term=launch&utm_content=link&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR03PWZR2NoUZua1MR5UEeuVSf9vLXA14T9-jUEgkG8oySz3ubPGGGKapJg_aem_AcSCObAu4Pe7OgJEb9OFAk8LcHl7rMebgR4bqYmhFVIEzb8YruUbDRSi59DWfS455X_qYzW0z7dclpVei4yq2JbM
 

Only just read the article, looks like all areas of the ground except the Northam are going to see big price increases next season:

Season Ticket costs and payment plans

Prices across the stadium are likely to increase by 10-15% on average for the 2024/25 season following six years of price freezes for the majority of fans and an average 10% reduction last year.

[Give it to Ron]

47 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/2024-25-season-ticket-and-stadium-development-update?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=stmens-2425&utm_term=launch&utm_content=link&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR03PWZR2NoUZua1MR5UEeuVSf9vLXA14T9-jUEgkG8oySz3ubPGGGKapJg_aem_AcSCObAu4Pe7OgJEb9OFAk8LcHl7rMebgR4bqYmhFVIEzb8YruUbDRSi59DWfS455X_qYzW0z7dclpVei4yq2JbM
 

Only just read the article, looks like all areas of the ground except the Northam are going to see big price increases next season:

Season Ticket costs and payment plans

Prices across the stadium are likely to increase by 10-15% on average for the 2024/25 season following six years of price freezes for the majority of fans and an average 10% reduction last year.

A 10% rise works out at £23.91 a game in Championship for me Kingsland 35

Edited April 23 by Give it to Ron

[franniesTache]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/2024-25-season-ticket-and-stadium-development-update?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=stmens-2425&utm_term=launch&utm_content=link&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR03PWZR2NoUZua1MR5UEeuVSf9vLXA14T9-jUEgkG8oySz3ubPGGGKapJg_aem_AcSCObAu4Pe7OgJEb9OFAk8LcHl7rMebgR4bqYmhFVIEzb8YruUbDRSi59DWfS455X_qYzW0z7dclpVei4yq2JbM
 

Only just read the article, looks like all areas of the ground except the Northam are going to see big price increases next season:

Season Ticket costs and payment plans

Prices across the stadium are likely to increase by 10-15% on average for the 2024/25 season following six years of price freezes for the majority of fans and an average 10% reduction last year.

Renewed mine this morning and the cheeky buggers add the silver "bolt on" as default online and you have to remove it if you don't want it. Can see a lot of people paying an extra £70 by accident because they don't realise they have to take it off.

Really shit that from the club, hoping people will make a mistake so they get more money

[die Mannyschaft]

'Stand up if you love the Saints' won't be relevant any more in Northam as already standing. The away fans will be shocked as no one will be hurling abuse at them in new location, and that's no good during the P*mpey game.

[die Mannyschaft]

Ordered season tickets for block 43. Not many sold plenty green dots. Couldn't select U14 on line and selected 2 adults as default. Called booking office but couldn't do 10 months interest free as online only. Booking line kept dropping so cost £4 in calls. 

[ant]

On 23/04/2024 at 14:53, franniesTache said:

Renewed mine this morning and the cheeky buggers add the silver "bolt on" as default online and you have to remove it if you don't want it. Can see a lot of people paying an extra £70 by accident because they don't realise they have to take it off.

Really shit that from the club, hoping people will make a mistake so they get more money

Do they? I saw the bolt-on page but there was a button to simply proceed to checkout if you didn't want any of them.

Granted I was on a desktop, so perhaps different if you were using phone or tablet.

[Chez]

On 23/04/2024 at 14:53, franniesTache said:

Renewed mine this morning and the cheeky buggers add the silver "bolt on" as default online and you have to remove it if you don't want it. Can see a lot of people paying an extra £70 by accident because they don't realise they have to take it off.

Really shit that from the club, hoping people will make a mistake so they get more money

what's this silver bolt on give ya?

[Chez]

On 23/04/2024 at 15:45, die Mannyschaft said:

'Stand up if you love the Saints' won't be relevant any more in Northam as already standing. The away fans will be shocked as no one will be hurling abuse at them in new location, and that's no good during the P*mpey game.

I suspect any standing (by home fans) in non-safe standing areas will be clamped down on.

[ErwinK1961]

18 minutes ago, Chez said:

what's this silver bolt on give ya?

A metal rod to lean on in the safe standing section.

[Divergent]

I’ve just received an email from the club saying my 3 seats in block 20 won’t be held for me due to the impact of the new away seating. 
As I take my grandchildren currently I’m not that bothered as if there is an influx of home fans into that block to sit next to the away fans I’d rather the kids were out of it. 
Not sure where we shall go or even if we  will go. We’ve enjoyed the Championship but don’t relish returning to the Premier League if we only see 2 home league wins all season again! 

[Nordic Saint]

16 hours ago, Divergent said:

I’ve just received an email from the club saying my 3 seats in block 20 won’t be held for me due to the impact of the new away seating. 
As I take my grandchildren currently I’m not that bothered as if there is an influx of home fans into that block to sit next to the away fans I’d rather the kids were out of it. 
Not sure where we shall go or even if we  will go. We’ve enjoyed the Championship but don’t relish returning to the Premier League if we only see 2 home league wins all season again! 

I don't think season tickets will be sold in the home seating sections adjacent to the away section. Those sections will probably also be unavailable until other sections have sold out for individual matchday sales too. They'll essentially be used for segregation/overflow. At least having empty seats for segregation in the corner will look better than having them directly behind the goal in full view of the TV cameras.

Any fans who want season tickets as near as possible to the away section will either end up behind the goal in the middle of the Chapel or in expensive seats in the middle of the Kingsland. They'll be seen and heard more clearly by them if they stay in the Northam.

Edited April 26 by Nordic Saint

[SaintsLoyal]

On 21/04/2024 at 12:22, Master Bates said:

Well i hope theyre red and not that metal jungle 

[gio1saints]

Well I’ve renewed in Block 41 and am rather looking forward to the new experience! 

[franniesTache]

22 hours ago, Chez said:

what's this silver bolt on give ya?

£70 worth of club tat, really they should've named it the @Turkish package

[IFHP]

I find it funny how some who were dead against this then move to the Northam from the Itchen North .

its fans like them , who only want to sing their own songs / slag off those that sing songs they don’t like why having an end may not work .

if you don’t agree with it then stay where you were or move to another area and sing your own songs there . 

[franniesTache]

3 hours ago, IFHP said:

I find it funny how some who were dead against this then move to the Northam from the Itchen North .

its fans like them , who only want to sing their own songs / slag off those that sing songs they don’t like why having an end may not work .

if you don’t agree with it then stay where you were or move to another area and sing your own songs there . 

Speaking personally i'd have loved to do that, but the club have given us no choice. They're going to have zero tolerance on standing elsewhere and have raised ticket prices.

[LGTL]

I can forgive horrendous bantz and shit songs. We were all wet behind the ears once I guess (although not THAT wet). But if some of our goons try and create an 1885 ultra scene with a fucking drum it'll be thrown into the river by half time. Things are not looking good on this front though, as the website is already created

Edited April 26 by LGTL

[whiteleySaint30]

Any updates on how ticket sales are going in the new area? Hoping it sells well and the atmosphere is what we're all hoping all for. 

[Daft Kerplunk]

18 hours ago, LGTL said:

I can forgive horrendous bantz and shit songs. We were all wet behind the ears once I guess (although not THAT wet). But if some of our goons try and create an 1885 ultra scene with a fucking drum it'll be thrown into the river by half time. Things are not looking good on this front though, as the website is already created

How dare anyone try to create something different and potentially noisy 🤣 Life moves on, new things occur, things change. Fans used to clap both teams. Saints and Pompey fans would go to each other’s games when their team wasn’t at home. Everyone wore flat caps. People drank pints of brown. People used to stay to the end of matches unless their team had had an absolute shocker. Rattles were once a thing, now they aren’t. Jumpers for goalposts. New, old, borrowed, things just keep moving on in new directions. 

[St Steve]

On 25/04/2024 at 13:33, Chez said:

what's this silver bolt on give ya?

Toilet access

[Kenilworthy]

How long is the work likely to take? Wondering if the plan is to have it ready for the home leg of the playoff, which is nearly three weeks.

[bpsaint]

23 hours ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

Any updates on how ticket sales are going in the new area? Hoping it sells well and the atmosphere is what we're all hoping all for. 

One things for sure, in the *likely* event we miss out on promotion, and without major squad and management changes in the summer I can see sales being right down.

How was it yesterday for those that benefited from rails? Did it add anything to your matchday or are we all in agreement that it doesn’t make a difference where they put the away fans it’s the team that drive the atmosphere?

Edited April 28 by bpsaint

[Nordic Saint]

28 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

How long is the work likely to take? Wondering if the plan is to have it ready for the home leg of the playoff, which is nearly three weeks.

It's scheduled to be ready for next season. Presumably, it will be trialled in a pre-season friendly first. There are safety procedures to be adhered to so it won't be rushed.

[Sunglasses Ron]

Those metal things are crap.

Too low to lean on and just create less space when people want to pass you.

You can also bang your head on the one behind you if you’re not careful.

[LGTL]

I agree they’re too low. Can’t lean on them unless you’re a midget, so on the whole, a bit of a waste of time. 

[JRM]

34 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I agree they’re too low. Can’t lean on them unless you’re a midget, so on the whole, a bit of a waste of time. 

More like unsafe standing, shame as some of the ones we've had away like at spurs was handy for a lazy bastards like me who want something to lean on  occasionally 

[Chocolate Box]

Money would have been better spent mending the bloody roof.

[Whitey Grandad]

16 minutes ago, Chocolate Box said:

Money would have been better spent mending the bloody roof.

Dripping in front of me in block 32.

[Chocolate Box]

Same for me in block 19, people around me getting soaked, been like it for years now. Reported it many times to no avail.

[Ted Bates Statue]

4 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

Those metal things are crap.

Too low to lean on and just create less space when people want to pass you.

You can also bang your head on the one behind you if you’re not careful.

I was surprised to see this viewpoint as I blindly assumed they would be set at a mandatory 1.1m height. Disappointing if not the case but I guess that's what happens if the club wants to save a few quid. Still think it's a step in the right direction but there are flaws that may need ironing out over time. Given the number of people who seem hell-bent on remaining seated though, I expect I'll still have to select seats at the very back to avoid upsetting them.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/18/safe-standing-barriers-are-anything-but-says-former-wembley-stadium-manager

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

I was surprised to see this viewpoint as I blindly assumed they would be set at a mandatory 1.1m height. Disappointing if not the case but I guess that's what happens if the club wants to save a few quid. Still think it's a step in the right direction but there are flaws that may need ironing out over time. Given the number of people who seem hell-bent on remaining seated though, I expect I'll still have to select seats at the very back to avoid upsetting them.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/18/safe-standing-barriers-are-anything-but-says-former-wembley-stadium-manager

Wouldn’t the height difference between seat rows affect this? People sitting would understandably complain if they had a metal bar blocking their view.

[Sunglasses Ron]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Wouldn’t the height difference between seat rows affect this? People sitting would understandably complain if they had a metal bar blocking their view.

Quite possibly, I hadn’t considered that. They just all seem a bit pointless, but I guess safety dictates that they are needed.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

Quite possibly, I hadn’t considered that. They just all seem a bit pointless, but I guess safety dictates that they are needed.

It seemed to me that they’re neither one thing nor the other.

[Kenilworthy]

Are the "bolt ons" they are offering going to replace the current discount that season ticket holders get on merchandise?

[SaintsLoyal]

It really would be a very wise idea to only install the safe seating n all the upper blocks to start and then evaluate. I just don’t think there is enough fans who will fill that stand and then also want to stand.