Excessive use of netting off seats in Sheffield

[Sheffsteel]

Ive been hearing all week how Wednesday how today's match with Wolves was a sell out days ago.
Apparently Wolves have terrible support becuase they've hardly sold any tickets, so of course Wednesday had extra tickets in the away end.

But the callers to Radio Sheffield failed to say that it was £36 for Wolves fans
And only £18 for home fans (cheaper than what we charge).

So with their half price ticket deal for their only match over the Christmas period what was the gate?

The official sell out was 30,549, so that's 9,000 empty seats.
Most of those were netted off and not for sale but there was large blocks of unsold seats on all 4 sides of the ground. Also restricted view tickets weren't put up for sale either.

So it's now official......anything at S6 approaching 30K means it's a sell out.

Joking aside...it does highlight a serious point about the excessive safety aspect in Sheffield.

Example for a Spurs-Arsenal Derby or a Manchester derby they net off about 200 seats and have a thin line of stewards separating rival fans.

In Sheffield we keep away fans in totally seperate stands but SU still net off 2,500 seats every match
But it's even worse at Hillsboro where they net off a good 5,000+ seats.

This type of safety doesn't even happen at Millwall when they have mis behaved.
So what's going on in Sheffield and can the clubs claim compensation for being ordered to reduce capacity?

 

[SRBlade]

I'm quite puzzled why the H block on the south stand has about 300 seats netted at all times.

Very strange that many derbies across the nation can cope with one line of police and stewards yet United need netting on both seats and above the BL lower tier

 

[Tyler Durden]

The club is losing revenue with the Bramall Lane lower tier being off-limits. That should be the designated away section with the upper tier allocated to potentially 3,000 more home fans.

If this is the clubs doing then they are fucking idiots. If it's the local authorities' doing then they are cunts (nothing new there mind).

 

[Leonardo Green]

because the stewards and police here are seemingly too lazy to do their job properly

 

[JohnDenver]

Ive been hearing all week how Wednesday how today's match with Wolves was a sell out days ago.
Apparently Wolves have terrible support becuase they've hardly sold any tickets, so of course Wednesday had extra tickets in the away end.

But the callers to Radio Sheffield failed to say that it was £36 for Wolves fans
And only £18 for home fans (cheaper than what we charge).

So with their half price ticket deal for their only match over the Christmas period what was the gate?

The official sell out was 30,549, so that's 9,000 empty seats.
Most of those were netted off and not for sale but there was large blocks of unsold seats on all 4 sides of the ground. Also restricted view tickets weren't put up for sale either.

So it's now official......anything at S6 approaching 30K means it's a sell out.

Joking aside...it does highlight a serious point about the excessive safety aspect in Sheffield.

Example for a Spurs-Arsenal Derby or a Manchester derby they net off about 200 seats and have a thin line of stewards separating rival fans.

In Sheffield we keep away fans in totally seperate stands but SU still net off 2,500 seats every match
But it's even worse at Hillsboro where they net off a good 5,000+ seats.

This type of safety doesn't even happen at Millwall when they have mis behaved.
So what's going on in Sheffield and can the clubs claim compensation for being ordered to reduce capacity?

I'm guessing part of the reason is that an area populated by season ticket holders will be easier to police that random ticket buyers. I was sat in H block when we played Leeds in 2003 and it was a chaotic mass of Burberry baseball caps you never saw at other games.

 

[Harry's Game]

In Sheffield we keep away fans in totally seperate stands but SU still net off 2,500 seats every match
But it's even worse at Hillsboro where they net off a good 5,000+ seats.

This type of safety doesn't even happen at Millwall when they have mis behaved.
So what's going on in Sheffield and can the clubs claim compensation for being ordered to reduce capacity?

I happen to know both clubs are frustrated by this but can do absolutely sod all about it. South Yorkshire Police have them by the curlies, they sign off on the ground safety certificates and insist on the loss of all these seats, both clubs have made representation, pointing out segregation set ups at other clubs but with absolutely no dice, SYP won't budge and that is that.

Unlesss there is a sea change in the culture at SYP and they can put the spectre of previous monumental fuck ups behind them there will be no change in policy.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Against Spurs in the cup semi final the other year it was a sell out a few days before the match but
over 2,500 below capacity.

Why do we need 2,500 empty seats to separate home and away supporters?

It's lost revenue and I've wondered how stadium capacity negotiations work.
Remember when we played Wednesday a few years ago when alternate rows on the BLUT were left empty.
It seems the Satefy Certificate Officers make it up as they go along.

 

[spongebobblade]

Slightly off topic but this was the opposite end to us today as the teams came out. It's the same end that we had last year. Surely it would have been better to give behind BOTH goals to Utd instead of a limited 1200 in the side stand? I'm sure we could have sold them today

 

[Leonardo Green]

there shouldn't be a single netted off seat in the lane, the bl lower is 3000 and naturally segregated.

 

[Sheffsteel]

there shouldn't be a single netted off seat in the lane, the bl lower is 3000 and naturally segregated.

Totally agree.

At most other places they have bowls with fans in the same stand but hardly any seats netted off.

The logic reminds me of the whole "safe standing debate"

Sheffield Council: We don't want standing becuase it's dangerous.
SU: Ah but it's safe standing and evidence proves it's safer than seating
Sheffield Coucil: We're not interested, no standing will ever be permitted in Sheffield as it's dangerous.
Etc etc.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I happen to know both clubs are frustrated by this but can do absolutely sod all about it. South Yorkshire Police have them by the curlies, they sign off on the ground safety certificates and insist on the loss of all these seats, both clubs have made representation, pointing out segregation set ups at other clubs but with absolutely no dice, SYP won't budge and that is that.

Unlesss there is a sea change in the culture at SYP and they can put the spectre of previous monumental fuck ups behind them there will be no change in policy.

The ones looking for a reason to knock the club will just ignore that, like they have done every other time it's been explained.

 

[coolhandluke]

Ive been hearing all week how Wednesday how today's match with Wolves was a sell out days ago.
Apparently Wolves have terrible support becuase they've hardly sold any tickets, so of course Wednesday had extra tickets in the away end.

But the callers to Radio Sheffield failed to say that it was £36 for Wolves fans
And only £18 for home fans (cheaper than what we charge).

So with their half price ticket deal for their only match over the Christmas period what was the gate?

The official sell out was 30,549, so that's 9,000 empty seats.
Most of those were netted off and not for sale but there was large blocks of unsold seats on all 4 sides of the ground. Also restricted view tickets weren't put up for sale either.

So it's now official......anything at S6 approaching 30K means it's a sell out.

Joking aside...it does highlight a serious point about the excessive safety aspect in Sheffield.

Example for a Spurs-Arsenal Derby or a Manchester derby they net off about 200 seats and have a thin line of stewards separating rival fans.

In Sheffield we keep away fans in totally seperate stands but SU still net off 2,500 seats every match
But it's even worse at Hillsboro where they net off a good 5,000+ seats.

This type of safety doesn't even happen at Millwall when they have mis behaved.
So what's going on in Sheffield and can the clubs claim compensation for being ordered to reduce capacity?

It's called " murdering 96 fans and doing their best to show they've learned their lesson " .

It'd be pure comedy gold if it wasn't so tragically true .

South Yorkshire Police - the worst force in the history of British Policing .

 

[madeinsheffield]

there shouldn't be a single netted off seat in the lane, the bl lower is 3000 and naturally segregated.

Stewards don't need to rugby tackle pitch invading fans, especially when Coventry come. Less stewards, less police, no doubt less money

 

[Trigger Blade]

Slightly off topic but this was the opposite end to us today as the teams came out. It's the same end that we had last year. Surely it would have been better to give behind BOTH goals to Utd instead of a limited 1200 in the side stand? I'm sure we could have sold them today

Yes, completely baffling. What made it even more difficult to understand was that there was no segregation between where we were (Family Stand down the tunnel side), no netting, just a fence between us and their hospitality area, although they had Leon Clarke in there for protection

There were some of our 16 year olds posturing, but none of them dared to get over the fence and it makes me wonder if the netting is routinely unnecessary.

 

[Leonardo Green]

Stewards don't need to rugby tackle pitch invading fans, especially when Coventry come. Less stewards, less police, no doubt less money

nonsense, they have the same amount of stewards guarding the netting on the upper tier.

in our last premier league season all fans got the lower tier with no problems.

 

[Broomhall Blade]

You must have got the pigs ticket prices wrong. They don't do special prices.
While we do kids for a quid and give 10,000 free tickets to schools every game.
Well according to Porktalk.

But seriously the netting of of parts of stands is silly in Sheffield. Why is the bottom corner of the South stand near the away end permanently netted off.
Boxing Day against Oldham who brought about 300 and were in a totally different building on a different level, the bloody milk tray man would have struggled to get to the Oldham fans.
It looks like it was the same at Hillsborough today bottom corner netted off next to the away end. The away fans were in the upper tier only about 1000 of them, with Wednesday fans in the bottom tier.
Apparently it's all down to SAG, (Safety Advisory Group).
Which consists of you've guessed it
People from our wonderful Council, SY Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, lollipop person dept, Parks and Gardens, women's institute, Boys and Girls Brigade,
Wheel tappers and shunters club, and people who won a crackerjack pencil.
But none of them can explain why they do this. And also why other places like London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle or Sunderland have not adopted this wonderful idea.

 

[Ricky]

Yep, all down to SYP and their ingrained backwardness and retardation.

Maybe United and Wednesday could try and take it further/make stronger cases to them - because SYP simply don't have one.

 

[sitwell]

If South Yorks police had to do a Manchester derby at Old Trafford ,the crowd would be 23,000

 

[s4-blade]

Has anybody actually seen any of South Yorkshire's finest inside the ground this year because I know I haven't. So if they deem it safe enough to not have a police attendance, why do they think football fans need to be kept in separate post codes. Baffling.

 

[Paulus]

Occasional dick head incidents from H block brought this about and it was all the excuse the safety police ever needed to close us down in the way described - there is no logic in it but you just know that the pig loving twats at the council will enjoy having a joke about it with SYP every time the safety certificate comes up for renewal.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Yep, all down to SYP and their ingrained backwardness and retardation.

Maybe United and Wednesday could try and take it further/make stronger cases to them - because SYP simply don't have one.

The additional in depth scrutiny SYP have even under for the past few years, after the PL season is the root cause. So it's easier to do this rather than actually get their house in order.

 

[metalblade]

Where's the local MP when you need him Paul Blomfield allegedly a Blade maybe he could have a word with his mates on the council, he was quick enough to stick the boot in when it was looking like Ched Evans was going to train at the club.

 

[RammyBlade]

It's called " murdering 96 fans and doing their best to show they've learned their lesson " .

It'd be pure comedy gold if it wasn't so tragically true .

South Yorkshire Police - the worst force in the history of British Policing .

Yes without doubt SY police are the most corrupt,dim and arrogant set of neanderthals of any police force in the UK. I live in Lancashire and have been to quite a few of the big grounds who dont have the same problems as we do

 

[sitwell]

It wasn't an easy game for the stewards and cops at Bury today ,we had some knuckleheads down the front today ,but they were organised and cheerful which helps enormously. Actually to be fair the stewards and five oh on duty at the Lane are pretty good, its the nobheads in charge at SYP who are beyond useless.

 

[vorpal blade]

yep, Cool Hand Luke has it - the over-cautious approach is simply an overreaction to the Hillsbrough disaster - I thought some months ago that they would take the opportunity offered by the coincidence of Hillsborough Inquest, Rotherham Child Sex and Cliff Richard faragos to disband South Yorks Police and lump it in with another slightly more competent force

- they missed their chance.

 

[metalblade]

yep, Cool Hand Luke has it - the over-cautious approach is simply an overreaction to the Hillsbrough disaster - I thought some months ago that they would take the opportunity offered by the coincidence of Hillsborough Inquest, Rotherham Child Sex and Cliff Richard faragos to disband South Yorks Police and lump it in with another slightly more competent force

- they missed their chance.

Don't forget Orgreave, more legal fees to come out of the council tax. Never has a Police force been so incompetent and corrupt as the one in South Yorkshire, now that cash strapped they can't even afford a helicopter.

 

[JJBlade]

30,549
Good crowd

But there's a chance (if we keep going the way we are) that we'll beat that

 

[mancunianblade]

Maybe the netting corollates to cost. Say an agreement with SYP e.g.. more netting equals less Officers required hence the lack of them in the ground and the lower the cost to the club.I guess this is a seasonal arrangement and not a per match one as the amount of lower attended games will outweigh the near sell outs so it's a no brainer for the club.

I have no proof of this being the case just seems logical. That or SYP are terrified of any further bad press. Don't remember too much netting in the PL? Also helps atmosphere too concentrating fans in a smaller area. Although I doubt this has any bearing on it

 

[Sheffsteel]

30,549
Good crowd

But there's a chance (if we keep going the way we are) that we'll beat that

Don't believe it's possible to beat 30,549 unless we ban away fans, which won't happen.

Whilst we have away fans the SYP seem to have reduced our current capacity from 32,702 down to 30,200.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Don't remember too much netting in the PL?

There was 900 seats netted off in the BL Upper tier for the 1st match at home to Liverpool
But after that all the netting totally disappeared and we had the full 32,609 capacity available.
So not sure why the SY Police have such variable rules with no obvious logic.