Hi, I’m the Off-Side team, who have made a new television/web show.

Our first guest was Jon Darch from the Safe Standing Roadshow and he kindly brought in a replica of a 'rail-seat' one which many clubs in England are now supporting, the latest being Aston Villa and is seen throughout stadiums in the Bundesliga. If you are interested in seeing the seat in action and hearing about it from Jon please visit [some sort of spam]

I’m sure you’d love Chelsea to support the rail seat and even like see it being tested inside the Bridge.

The main show also features Goalball player Steve Troy and a comedic sketch around the "Off-Side Rule". If you just want to view the Safe Standing Segment, click the episodes page and scroll through the Vimeo widget until you find "Safe Standing Segment".

Thanks for watching, let us know what you think about the rail-seat.

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Mods, if this is placed into the wrong section, or is better placed somewhere else please move. Thanks.

I just dont see it happening again.

It will happen again...It will be implimented within 5 seasons....IMO

I just dont see it happening again.

Why is that?

Thought that peice about the rail-seat was eye opening to be honest.

Seams to be a great idea with very few (if any) drawbacks.

Safe,affordable ways for ALL fans,(even those on low incomes) to attend games & which provides all what's required to generate a great atmosphere,what's not to like?.

The one other point I noticed,what with that 'Fan liason' fella,was just how much more valued the German fan seams to be by their clubs compared to us here in jolly old blighty.

Makes you sick really.

Do you honestly think that the clubs will drop their prices because of this? I cant see it. They are getting away with charging a fortune right now so why lower it. As long as people pay it they will charge it.

While clubs can fill the shiney new stadium that have been built over the last 10 years - and next three at least - with higher earners, families and tourists then there will be no insentive to change from the all-seater stadia we have at the moment. If grounds are empty on a regular basis and clubs think enough people will come back to cheaper standing areas then we may see some clubs return. The best chance is for those clubs that haven't committed to a new ground yet to incorporate it into their stadium designs if the plans get the go ahead in time.

Along with cheaper entrance and standing areas clubs will expect the clientelle to change - more working class men returning to the game, with that will come an increase in match day security costs.

I'd love standing to return I just don't see much case as to why clubs would be interested.

While clubs can fill the shiney new stadium that have been built over the last 10 years - and next three at least - with higher earners, families and tourists then there will be no insentive to change from the all-seater stadia we have at the moment. If grounds are empty on a regular basis and clubs think enough people will come back to cheaper standing areas then we may see some clubs return. The best chance is for those clubs that haven't committed to a new ground yet to incorporate it into their stadium designs if the plans get the go ahead in time.

Along with cheaper entrance and standing areas clubs will expect the clientelle to change - more working class men returning to the game, with that will come an increase in match day security costs.

I'd love standing to return I just don't see much case as to why clubs would be interested.

I think you make a good point- the only way I could see it being incorporated is in instances where clubs have not yet built new stadiums and could incorpoaret it into any new design and do so without it reducing match day revenue.

For example- in Chelseas case there are question marks over weather a 60,000 capacity stadium would be full for all games. Surely if constructing a 60,000 capacity stadium we could incorporate a 'Shed End' with a safe standing capacity of 10 to 15 thousand whch would be cheaper than the posh seats. This way we would attract the working class types to the standing areas for reduced ticket prices as well as the tourists and families who would prefer to be sitting on their padded seat with a better view and less shouting and swearing etc.

If the standing ares were priced accordingly then in theory we would be appealing to a more diverse market and would successfully fill a 60,000 capacity stadium therefore maximising profit.

The argument against this would be to attempt to fill all 60,000 seats at the higher prices however as seen in recent years at the Bridge on Champions League nights this is not a given, hence why the ticket prices for the group games was reduced this year in an attempt to ensure bums are on seats- and tahts with a capacity of 42,000. Add another 18 odd thousand seats (or more) and I would imagine we would be finding that we would need to do more to ensure the stadium was always full

Looking at that report about Hanover96,it looked to me if the sums can add up.

Their rail-seat area had a capacity of approx 3000 'seats',these are required for all European competition.

During domestic games,the 'seats' are raised and the capacity of that area is raised to approx 5,500.

Now if they charge say £45 quid for a seat that means 3000 x 45 = £135,000.

If they then charge maybe £25 notes to stand, that equals 5,500 X 25 = £137,500.

The club could then feel free to tuck-up the extra 2,500 fans with the ripp-off prices of the pies and drinks as usual.

Everyone's a winner.

Edited November 7, 201213 yr by alan'82