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

[The Kraken]

Nicked this from the Ugly.

A small number of fans attended a meeting before today's game. It was very informative with a few surprises. 
1- 9000 safe standing places will installed The whole of the Northam will be safe standing, some of the Chapel and some in the away end 
2- in the next couple of weeks, a special deal will be announced (Cheaper tickets?) for the Northam 
3 Prices in other areas may rise 
4-The club are looking to build a pub open 7 days a week They are tied into Kingfisher beer for 1 more season, but hope to get the beer prices down to £4/£4.50 a pint 
5- Most of the parachute payment went on loan repayments (something to do with how the contracts were set up) 
6- if we don't get promoted, many players have said they will leave (no names!!) 
7-If the club can get the season tickets up to 24000 for a few seasons they would look at the possibility of expanding the ground 
8-The players notice that the noise from home fans is not that good compared to the support they get from Saints fans away 
9-There was more but can't remember!!!

all signed off and approved by the police/authorities . 
The Industrial estate will become the parking for the away coaches. 
Still unclear if it will be closed off to home fans. 
There is a little bit of work to do to build barriers at the Chapel end.

he said that club research had indicated that around 70% of Chapel fans said they would still go to the Chapel nest season

 

Edited April 14 by The Kraken

[Ken Tone]

Even more confused now! This sounds as if they're putting away fans in the Chapel, when they said before they'd be putting them in the family stand area of the Kingsland, next to the Chapel.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Nicked this from the Ugly.

A small number of fans attended a meeting before today's game. It was very informative with a few surprises. 
1- 9000 safe standing places will installed The whole of the Northam will be safe standing, some of the Chapel and some in the away end 
2- in the next couple of weeks, a special deal will be announced (Cheaper tickets?) for the Northam 
3 Prices in other areas may rise 
4-The club are looking to build a pub open 7 days a week They are tied into Kingfisher beer for 1 more season, but hope to get the beer prices down to £4/£4.50 a pint 
5- Most of the parachute payment went on loan repayments (something to do with how the contracts were set up) 
6- if we don't get promoted, many players have said they will leave (no names!!) 
7-If the club can get the season tickets up to 24000 for a few seasons they would look at the possibility of expanding the ground 
8-The players notice that the noise from home fans is not that good compared to the support they get from Saints fans away 
9-There was more but can't remember!!!

all signed off and approved by the police/authorities . 
The Industrial estate will become the parking for the away coaches. 
Still unclear if it will be closed off to home fans. 
There is a little bit of work to do to build barriers at the Chapel end.

he said that club research had indicated that around 70% of Chapel fans said they would still go to the Chapel nest season

 

No way am I paying more to sit down just to offset any price reduction for standing.

[eurosaint]

Do I assume correctly that they will communicate all changes in advance of season ticket sales ? 
My decision to renew will be based on the final outcome and I’ll be very pissed off if I go ahead and they change during the season !!

[SaintsLoyal]

9 hours ago, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

I thought you were against this from the start?

I'm very old school tbh, I'm still stuck in the 70s/80s to how I like an atmosphere at the football which was about noise as much as a bit of singing. You just don't really get that blood-curdling roar anymore (was always best in the northern grounds back then).

It's mostly rubbish these days, it was OK for the first 30mins at St Mary's yesterday but just evaporated as soon as Watford scored, our supporters are easily knocked (and from where I was sitting in the stadium, less than 2k aways were making as much noise as far more home fans around them). So I don't mind the club trying to do something to improve it, I accept football support has changed from my day but it could certainly be better. Many don't like change (or the idea of) but I think/hope most will be saying this was a good move by this time next year.

I was against moving away fans for a number of reasons. A couple of months back it was said that the upper blocks would be safe standing and that makes sense as the majority already do that. That’s now been changed to all the seats being converted. But a fair wack of fans sit down in the lower blocks. 
 

To try and entice fans to go in the northam with cheaper seats sums it up.

[Lord Duckhunter]

22 hours ago, The Kraken said:

6- if we don't get promoted, many players have said they will leave (no names!!) 

 

8-The players notice that the noise from home fans is not that good compared to the support they get from Saints fans away 

Come on get behind the disloyal twats. 

[Dman]

20 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

No way am I paying more to sit down just to offset any price reduction for standing.

So you've got 2 choices then.. Stand or dont go. 

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, Dman said:

So you've got 2 choices then.. Stand or dont go. 

I wouldn’t stand for it.

[LuckyNumber7]

16 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

I was against moving away fans for a number of reasons. A couple of months back it was said that the upper blocks would be safe standing and that makes sense as the majority already do that. That’s now been changed to all the seats being converted. But a fair wack of fans sit down in the lower blocks. 
 

To try and entice fans to go in the northam with cheaper seats sums it up.

Safe standing/rail seating still has seats, so they can still sit down if they wish.

[Wade Garrett]

57 minutes ago, Dman said:

So you've got 2 choices then.. Stand or dont go. 

Mind your own fucking business.

[Chez]

22 hours ago, Ken Tone said:

Even more confused now! This sounds as if they're putting away fans in the Chapel, when they said before they'd be putting them in the family stand area of the Kingsland, next to the Chapel.

 

Not sure it does. Just because people in the Chapel (by and large) have said they will/want to stay in the Chapel, even if the away fans are moved next to them, that doesn't mean the away section is being moved to the Chapel rather than the current family section.  

That said, the away section, if moved, would have to encroach into the Kingsland (block 27) and/or Chapel (20) a bit, so away fans will be in a bit of the Chapel stand. 

I presume the safe standing in the away/Chapel section (block 20 and maybe 17/18/19?) will be in the upper sections (as was previously hinted would be the case in the Northam).

[Dman]

23 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Mind your own fucking business.

Cheers for covering part of the cost for my 'seat' next year, I owe you one. 

[Chez]

20 hours ago, eurosaint said:

Do I assume correctly that they will communicate all changes in advance of season ticket sales ? 
My decision to renew will be based on the final outcome and I’ll be very pissed off if I go ahead and they change during the season !!

Out of interest, where do you sit currently? What's the specific stadium change/away fan relocation that would prevent you renewing?

[Saint Matty 76]

Another year of Kingfisher for fuck sake

[Turkish]

maybe we should make it enforced standing for all the fatties to help them shift some timber.  Saints FC leading fight back against obesity. 

Edited April 15 by Turkish

[LeBizzier69]

So....will you be allocated a specific spot to stand on, as per seat number at the moment? Or just an area and stand where you like in it?

 

[franniesTache]

21 minutes ago, Turkish said:

maybe we should make it enforced standing for all the fatties to help them shift some timber.  Saints FC leading fight back against obesity. 

Install running machine type floors into the stand so they're forced to get their steps in. Plus it would also have the benefit that the "limbs" would be amazing as you could speed them up when we score to catapult people out of The Northam BANTER WALL(tm)

As for our illustrious leader Phil Potts plan I personally can't wait till the Skates come to St Mary's and give grief to the folk in the chapel and kingsland and are completely incapable of hearing our numerous songs about them from the other end of the ground.

The good news though is the hilarious banter will now been done by people who are standing up, and the rolling joys of songs about bit part players who are roundly useless when they actually come on (ole, ole) will make the upheaval well worth the cash

16 minutes ago, LeBizzier69 said:

So....will you be allocated a specific spot to stand on, as per seat number at the moment? Or just an area and stand where you like in it?

 

It's exactly the same as it is now, except you'll have a barrier infront of you.

Edited April 15 by franniesTache

[Saint_Jonny]

1 hour ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Another year of Kingfisher for fuck sake

Just remember that we used to get Carlsberg in plastic bottles that they didn't even bother to put in the fridge..

[Give it to Ron]

1 hour ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Another year of Kingfisher for fuck sake

At least Northam and Chapel get Dancing Man brew whereas we have that frozen gassy shit Big Mouth or whatever it’s called 

[eurosaint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Out of interest, where do you sit currently? What's the specific stadium change/away fan relocation that would prevent you renewing?

Block 29 at the end of the row where a net is likely to be, meaning that I would have to go all the way along to block 28 to exit for a pee etc.. also directly next to the away support which I don’t want.

Cup games we could be moved !

Access south towards the buses and on to the quay is likely to be denied so I will have to get a later ferry.

The level of comfort which I currently have will cease to exist therefore I’ll pack it in if it changes !

[The Kraken]

3 hours ago, LeBizzier69 said:

So....will you be allocated a specific spot to stand on, as per seat number at the moment? Or just an area and stand where you like in it?

 

Yes, exactly the same. You’ll get a row and “seat” number plus a seat behind you which is folded up.

[SaintsLoyal]

5 hours ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

Safe standing/rail seating still has seats, so they can still sit down if they wish.

True, but it’s like eating metal looking forward.

[The Cat]

3 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

At least Northam and Chapel get Dancing Man brew whereas we have that frozen gassy shit Big Mouth or whatever it’s called 

Didn't realise they had good beer in those stands, best we can do is Yeastie Boys at the bars outside the Kingsland. 

Was thinking about moving to the safe standing area next season so the opportunity to get a decent beer is another tick in the box.

[Chez]

2 hours ago, eurosaint said:

Block 29 at the end of the row where a net is likely to be, meaning that I would have to go all the way along to block 28 to exit for a pee etc.. also directly next to the away support which I don’t want.

Cup games we could be moved !

Access south towards the buses and on to the quay is likely to be denied so I will have to get a later ferry.

The level of comfort which I currently have will cease to exist therefore I’ll pack it in if it changes !

I can see that being annoying.  Moving seats not an option for you?

Going to be interesting how the flow of fans will change. 3200 away fans, many of which wont be on buses, walking aroind two stands where before they basically went up Brittania road with little contact with home fans until they came together on Northam road. 

[eurosaint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

I can see that being annoying.  Moving seats not an option for you?

Going to be interesting how the flow of fans will change. 3200 away fans, many of which wont be on buses, walking aroind two stands where before they basically went up Brittania road with little contact with home fans until they came together on Northam road. 

My other issue is not related to the move. I travel a lot and will have only managed 12 games out of the possible 23 this season so I’ve been paying around £50 per match which hardly represents good value but clearly that’s not down to SFC, just adds to my decision making for next season !!

[Scummer]

Seeing all the comments from other fans about how many empty seats there were last night is another good reason to move the away end. It looks awful on TV when the other team only bring a couple of hundred supporters.

[franniesTache]

it's going to be next level shit, the away fans will be hurling abuse at people in the chapel who don't want to be next to them. They'll also think our home support is shit because the acoustics mean the BANTA wall noise won't travel to the away end.

The BANTA wall itself will be full of muppets singing about the skates for 90mins and we'll probably end up with god awful fancy dress ultras, prices will go up elsewhere to pay for the mouth breather section and piss off long standing fans and everyone will want it changed again by about the middle of next season.

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

Instead they're going to make the atmosphere worse because they don't understand what creates it in the first place 

Edited April 17 by franniesTache

[CSA96]

5 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

it's going to be next level shit, the away fans will be hurling abuse at people in the chapel who don't want to be next to them. They'll also think our home support is shit because the acoustics mean the BANTA wall noise won't travel to the away end.

The BANTA wall itself will be full of muppets singing about the skates for 90mins and we'll probably end up with god awful fancy dress ultras, prices will go up elsewhere to pay for the mouth breather section and piss off long standing fans and everyone will want it changed again by about the middle of next season.

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

Instead they're going to make the atmosphere worse because they don't understand what creates it in the first place 

I'll put you down as a maybe?

[aintforever]

12 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

This. Moving the away fans will achieve nothing except make the atmosphere worse. I expect those who want to sing and shout at the away fans will just move from where they are currently to the Chapel/Kingsland and end up mixed up with those who like to sit and watch in silence who will end up pissed off.

[Saint_clark]

Maybe, just maybe, everyone could buy in to the idea instead of resisting it. If everyone that wants to create an atmosphere goes to the Northam, it'll work, instead of saying "I don't want to sit next to him!" like a primary school class who's seating arrangement has been swapped around. 

[franniesTache]

2 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Maybe, just maybe, everyone could buy in to the idea instead of resisting it. If everyone that wants to create an atmosphere goes to the Northam, it'll work, instead of saying "I don't want to sit next to him!" like a primary school class who's seating arrangement has been swapped around. 

Or maybe the club could actually talk to the fans and understand that there's different cultures and different wants from different sections of the fans, instead of lumping them all together in some braindead idea based on a "myth" of a "kop" end that has literally never existed in the history of our club and doesn't work at most clubs that have it in english football.

[aintforever]

19 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Maybe, just maybe, everyone could buy in to the idea instead of resisting it. If everyone that wants to create an atmosphere goes to the Northam, it'll work, instead of saying "I don't want to sit next to him!" like a primary school class who's seating arrangement has been swapped around. 

People will just sit where they want, like they always have. The old fuckers who like to sit in silence in the Chapel are not going to suddenly like having 2,000 gobby northern away fans right next to them. Likewise those who want the banter etc will not want to be the other side of the ground. 

All moving the away fans will achieve is a few seasons of shit atmosphere where everyone is mixed up/pissed off. Then eventually it will be the same as it is now but flipped with the Northam full of those who sat in the Chapel and the Chapel/Kingsland corner being the noisy part.

Edited April 17 by aintforever

[Saint_clark]

59 minutes ago, aintforever said:

People will just sit where they want, like they always have. The old fuckers who like to sit in silence in the Chapel are not going to suddenly like having 2,000 gobby northern away fans right next to them. Likewise those who want the banter etc will not want to be the other side of the ground. 

All moving the away fans will achieve is a few seasons of shit atmosphere where everyone is mixed up/pissed off. Then eventually it will be the same as it is now but flipped with the Northam full of those who sat in the Chapel and the Chapel/Kingsland corner being the noisy part.

Well the chapel lot won't go to the northam because it'll be mostly safe standing.

[Noodles34]

anyone know who are in the elite fans consultation group? 

[aintforever]

33 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Well the chapel lot won't go to the northam because it'll be mostly safe standing.

I expect some will move to the Northam, some will stay where they are and some will move to another part of the ground. You can guarantee that those that want to stand up and shout at the away fans will move near to them, that is why they are where they are at the moment.

[Saint_Jonny]

2 hours ago, franniesTache said:

it's going to be next level shit, the away fans will be hurling abuse at people in the chapel who don't want to be next to them. They'll also think our home support is shit because the acoustics mean the BANTA wall noise won't travel to the away end.

The BANTA wall itself will be full of muppets singing about the skates for 90mins and we'll probably end up with god awful fancy dress ultras, prices will go up elsewhere to pay for the mouth breather section and piss off long standing fans and everyone will want it changed again by about the middle of next season.

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

Instead they're going to make the atmosphere worse because they don't understand what creates it in the first place 

Why do you care so much about what fans of other clubs think of us? Surely the only thing that matters is that we have a setup that allows us to maximise our home atmosphere and minimise the impact the away fans can have - which this plan does by growing the size of our "home end" AND shuffling the away fans into a corner where they can have less impact, and as you say, be stuck by all the nans and kids who won't give a shit about getting involved in "banta" with them. Win win.

[Chez]

On 15/04/2024 at 22:08, eurosaint said:

My other issue is not related to the move. I travel a lot and will have only managed 12 games out of the possible 23 this season so I’ve been paying around £50 per match which hardly represents good value but clearly that’s not down to SFC, just adds to my decision making for next season !!

Understandable that you are considering your ST then. 

Looks like your current seat might be desirable to the Itchen North fans. 

[franniesTache]

22 minutes ago, Saint_Jonny said:

Why do you care so much about what fans of other clubs think of us?

Because i'd really like people from other cities to not look at Sotonians as yokels, because I don't want to give the skates fodder for calling us "church mice", because i'm proud of where i come from and proud of how we're seen in the country.

It's bad enough that our away support sings about libraries and the skates non stop, but to have a banta wall that trudges out equally brainless shit that makes us look small time and for away fans to think Sotonians have no fire would annoy me.

[Dman]

3 hours ago, franniesTache said:

it's going to be next level shit, the away fans will be hurling abuse at people in the chapel who don't want to be next to them. They'll also think our home support is shit because the acoustics mean the BANTA wall noise won't travel to the away end.

The BANTA wall itself will be full of muppets singing about the skates for 90mins and we'll probably end up with god awful fancy dress ultras, prices will go up elsewhere to pay for the mouth breather section and piss off long standing fans and everyone will want it changed again by about the middle of next season.

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

Instead they're going to make the atmosphere worse because they don't understand what creates it in the first place 

that's a good point - I'm not convinced the idea of 'drowing out' the away fans will work

It'd have been better if they'd moved the away fans to Kingsland North Corner. 

Edited April 17 by Dman

[saints-til-i-die]

I don’t understand why people are obsessed with being next to the away fans. Most grounds seem to have the away fans at the opposite end of the stadium to the most vocal home support. This is normal. What we currently have is odd.

[Tom & Gerry]

3 hours ago, Saint_Jonny said:

Why do you care so much about what fans of other clubs think of us? Surely the only thing that matters is that we have a setup that allows us to maximise our home atmosphere and minimise the impact the away fans can have - which this plan does by growing the size of our "home end" AND shuffling the away fans into a corner where they can have less impact, and as you say, be stuck by all the nans and kids who won't give a shit about getting involved in "banta" with them. Win win.

Has anyone considered that maximising the home atmosphere may be a good thing if the team is doing well but could make it more toxic if the team or individual players are  doing badly?

[LGTL]

Saints have now confirmed:

Safe standing blocks 38-48

Away end moving to Chapel/Kingsland corner

Family area is now the Itchen/Chapel corner

Early bird pricing for ST’s in Blocks 40-46 only of £499

10-15% increase for all other ST’s to be announced at the end of the season

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

12 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Saints have now confirmed:

Safe standing blocks 38-48

Away end moving to Chapel/Kingsland corner

Family area is now the Itchen/Chapel corner

Early bird pricing for ST’s in Blocks 40-46 only of £499

10-15% increase for all other ST’s to be announced at the end of the season

 

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=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1UqQ_HulZQy52oK5jUI4BT_4LifmTgXpwAnvRjjFk2AEKXxDnnh8aSY9g_aem_AcSd2CZX6MgPos3WoYHXh2itMbbpKqLduyQI_JS21voTe4gIKMe7Jcm7cGs56ecYI_8NUQvVcR86gfkstiFefi8u

 

Why are so many people in the fan park visualisation wearing capes?

[Sarisbury Saint]

22 hours ago, franniesTache said:

it's going to be next level shit, the away fans will be hurling abuse at people in the chapel who don't want to be next to them. They'll also think our home support is shit because the acoustics mean the BANTA wall noise won't travel to the away end.

The BANTA wall itself will be full of muppets singing about the skates for 90mins and we'll probably end up with god awful fancy dress ultras, prices will go up elsewhere to pay for the mouth breather section and piss off long standing fans and everyone will want it changed again by about the middle of next season.

The club have properly fucked this one up, they should've kept the ground as it is but put in safe standing from block 3 round to the kingsland north (including away fans)

Instead they're going to make the atmosphere worse because they don't understand what creates it in the first place 

I agree. It was like that at Bristol City. Their support was terrible.

[gammon cheeks]

Block 42 or 43 for me next season ....I sing so come join me 😇

[gammon cheeks]

3 minutes ago, Sarisbury Saint said:

I agree. It was like that at Bristol City. Their support was terrible.

Some right miserable fans we have.... ffs!

Edited April 18 by gammon cheeks

[Nordic Saint]

52 minutes ago, gammon cheeks said:

Some right miserable fans we have.... ffs!

It's only a few nimbies.  The improvement in home support this new setup will bring is bound to upset them. They won't be able to whinge about how poor the home atmosphere is any more.  One of them has posted about a thousand times on here because he wants to gawk at the away fans but doesn't want any vocal Saints fans near him. Maybe he can get a special needs seat in the away section as he loves the away fans and hates Saints fans so much. 

Edited April 18 by Nordic Saint

[bpsaint]

Hmmmm, one of those things we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out. Interested to see how they get the away fans travelling by train to their section other than via St Mary’s Street or walking all the way around the stadium so they mix with home fans. 

Shame they couldn’t have had the Kingsland Northam corner which would have been best for atmosphere and we wouldn’t have to give up the whole Northam for FA Cup matches.

[Mr Nimbus]

As I expected my current seat will be impacted by the changes next year.

Nice that I will get the opportunity to move elsewhere before general sale. 

I'm currently back row and stand so it's a no-brainer to get a standing ticket in the Northam next season (price dependant) 

[LeBizzier69]

18 hours ago, saints-til-i-die said:

I don’t understand why people are obsessed with being next to the away fans. Most grounds seem to have the away fans at the opposite end of the stadium to the most vocal home support. This is normal. What we currently have is odd.

Maybe people enjoy a different football experience to you?