Quote: Stu M "You do make a good point and I have to say that now as a Dad, I prefer seating for the home games but I do like standing away from home as it tends to be the more vocal fans away from home, so all standing together creates a good atmosphere. My eldest lad has just turned 14 so is big enough now not to have his view restricted whilst standing- my youngest lad who is 11 has no interest in going to games.
I think you are never going to please everyone, be it an all-seater, predominantly standing or a mixture of both.'"
That's part of the problem I have with them Stu. Our 10 year old absolutely hates them as she simply never gets a good view. If she decides she doesn't want to go that's a minimum of 3 lost ticket sales and could be as many as 5 on some occasions. My dad stopped going to away games completely because of the standing. That's unnecessary ticket sales lost because of some archaic belief that it's ok to make people stand for 3 hours for a restricted view. Bizarre! I also have never heard of someone going to a game because it's standing so the losses aren't balanced by any gains.
I also take issue with the assertion that it creates a better atmosphere. It doesn't. It's just people conflating two very different things. The atmosphere is best when there's a good travelling support and that goes for both home and away games. Whether they're standing or not has no positive bearing on that whatsoever. In fact I'd argue the opposite if anything as some fans become disengaged through an inability to see properly, getting tired through standing in one spot for 3 hours or not even going in the first place.
As I said in the last post, the best atmospheres last season were Catalans away and Hull KR at home and there was no standing at either. What they did have in both cases is an excellent travelling support. Standing works against that as it puts some people off going.
