Sorry Henners just a wind up - I of course mean Jimmy Seed.
Interested to see on sky sports news that Randy Lerner the new Villa Chairman wanted to put home fans behind both goals, and he did, and get rid of away fans to the side of the ground. I must say it is something that appeals but of course we got Greenwich council to contend with on that score. It could work into the East or West Lower couldn't it.
The only dodgy bit would be getting the away fans back to the station BUT we could always keep them in for 15 minutes. Oh god I am being daft we are nice little charlton.
I would consider moving back over there to get away from the whinging North Upper.
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Money.
A season ticket in the east and west costs £450 a season ticket behind the goal costs £315 so for every fan you move to the Jimmy Seed, the club misses out on £135.
You would also lose a number of the most expensive seats through fan segregation.
If we were to seriously consider moving away fans, then i would move them into the South end of the West Stand. A partition wall on the concourse could easily be installed, giving catering and toilet faciliies to both sides, and also a similar direct route back to the station and coaches for away fans.
I would be up for moving to the South, to create a second 'singing section'. It would be important that those that wanted to sing didn't all move there though, as it would distance the atmosphere from the rest of the ground. The problem with the set up at the moment is that those that largely want to sing are at the furthest point away from the pitch.
My argument was always that the NE corner should always of been the singing section as it would appear the most atmospheric point of the build, with a low roof and would effectively encapture the East, North Lower and North Upper.
So they made it the family section....
1. Who would be the fans who would go the Jimmy Seed Stand. Any one want to move from the North to the JS?
2. Where do you then put the away fans remembering that you need to allocate up to 3,000 seats.
The East? Would mean half the East given to away fans and then further seats (including mine!!) lost to segregation lines. They would also be issues about access to and from the ground. Would all the away fans use the Sam Bartram Entrance or would they have to come around the back of the home fans in the JS. Bartram entrance is very small and would take fans out in Charlton Lane and then have to walk aroung the ground or up to the heights.
It was bad enough for the Orient and Brentford cup games when they had both the JS and some of the East.
The West? Same issue with segregation and facilities such as toilets as in the East. Access would be less of the problem but still far from ideal as you have 1000s of away fans in the West Stand car park.
The North? As the acoustics are better in the Jimmy Seed put all the singers in the JS - don't give you a choice, you are going and let the away fans have the Lower north. The upper north can empty the contents of their flasks on to the fans below. Access? Let them out into harvey gardens with everyone else and let the OB sort it out.
Good thing is you could charge away fans more IF you put them in a more expensive stand but as seat prices are a flat rate everywhere that would only happen if we went to varied prices in different stands.
When and if the JS is rebuilt then you could put the away fans in the JS/West Corner.
:)
I agree with the idea of having fans behind both goals is better but there would still be an issue with Access and toilets and the Police wouldn't be keen either
We have to provide either 10% of capacity or 3,000 which ever is lowest so we could go down to 2700. A lot of team wouldn't sell that in this divison as has been shown (only Ipswich took more 2,990). In the Prem most teams will bring 2,700.
It would have to be the west and as AFKA says you could out walls up/have more stewards as in the Arthur Waite but that would cost money. It also next to the Police control box which is a factor.
If you went to £25 in the East, £30 in the West and £20 in the North and JS then putting the Away fans in the West would make financial sense (other than as has been said you lose some ST income) as you could charge the away fans £30. That is why teams like Norwich and Palace stick you on the side IMHO.
I still think that you can lead a horse to the JS stand but you can't make it sing. Maybe it would help the atmosphere but we'd need to overcome the police and segregation issues. Also can we do it AFTER I've left the board so I don't have to deal with the complaints from the people we bump out of the west and those that are left we complain about away fans standing, blocing the view, swearing, singing too loudly, making male mastabatory hand gestures towards them, etc
For OohaahMortimer away sales at the Valley this season : - )
Scunny 2176
Wed 1774
Narwich 1792 Mid week
And Leicester 1698
Barnsley 822
Plymouth 1800 Midweek
QPR 1830 TV
Cardiff 1542
Sheff U 836 Mid week
Burnley 1367
Ipswich 2990
Hull 847 Sat before Xmas
Colchester 1094 NYD
Average 1582
On the subject of away support, can you provide the figures for our away support at each away game so far this season??
Cheers,
I don't have that sort of info to hand.
The box office might be able to say how many tickets they sold but that wouldn't included sales on the day.
I'll ask and see if anyone has proper figures.
so qpr brought 30 more than plymouth.
surely there's more qpr fans that work in london ;-)
the only away turn out that is disappointing is sheff u. but if we took 800+ up there midweek it would be deemed reasonable.
1 - We are a big draw in this division
2 - Our away support is shocking
Other than possibly QPR and Barnsley if we have a shout of going up, we wont better those figures for the return matches.
On the subject of away fans in the South. Best atmosphere I have ever known at The Valley was when we had 1000 home fans in that stand in 98/99 and those fans had good banter with the away fans.
Any decent atmosphere you see is when the noisy home fans are next to the away fans - as we have just seen at Norwich and Leicester (our support at Norwich was embarrasing BTW) so I would be all for it. Segregating, police issues would probably not allow it.
LOL although the image that has put in my head is not a pleasant one.
:)
A good idea. All we need to do is convince the police, the football licensing authority, LB Greenwich and the people in the west stand.
I suggest a big campaign for next season (when I'll be able to put my feet up and keep my head down in the East stand)
A few of my friends have sat there as away fans and they say it's an awful stand. One of those was a QPR fan and considering the state of Loftus Road that must be saying something.
A couple of matches come to mind: v Oxford 1994/5 (Leaburn scored the winner)
v Man Utd (the classic 3-3 game) 2000/1
The atmosphere was good amongst those around us and echoed a bit under the low roof. It felt more like the Old Covered End.
Henners you think we ought to campaign for a change in the rules so you can stand for re-election.
;)
Thanks but no thanks. I'm voting for Golfie
No one could promise that. Impossible.
Slight problem is that we already have bottled beer.
Next directors role will be to move the club to Selhurst park and then bring us home so restoring the sense of common purpose for all the fans, build and lead a firm that will take on the worst in the land and get the ground capacity up to 40k
I'll settle for the flags, the away tickets, the minutes applause and a lot more people knowing we have a supporters' director - even if they think he's he a **** : - )