casbahowl Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 As discussed @ last nights meeting with Milan. Ground too big (at the moment) so reduce capacity to bring fans closer to the pitch to increase matchday atmosphere. We currently play to a 3 sided ground at home with very often zero atmosphere. Why not take a lead from Ken Bates who six years ago closed the entire upper half of the massive East Stand @ Ellend rd to bring their then average 16000 home crowd nearer the pitch. He then re;opened it for bigger matches & when the average got above 25k. We could emulate this by closing the Grandstand & the top of the Kop or North Stand & open up the Leppings Lane lower to home fans. This would give us a 4 sided home ground with an atmosphere to match any away game & the Leppings Lane upper (approx 2800 seats) enough to accomodate any visiting fans, even pigs. What other club in the country would give an entire side of the ground holding 7500 people, to 250 Hartlepool fans ? And we wonder why we have no atmosphere at home ? If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danblakemore Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Deffo close grandstand. Not sure about anywhere else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussieowl87 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 i like that idea, but how would you manage the ST holders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danblakemore Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Also, empty seats should be covered with flags instead of empty seats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BirdonaMaguire Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 As discussed @ last nights meeting with Milan. Ground too big (at the moment) so reduce capacity to bring fans closer to the pitch to increase matchday atmosphere. We currently play to a 3 sided ground at home with very often zero atmosphere. Why not take a lead from Ken Bates who six years ago closed the entire upper half of the massive East Stand @ Ellend rd to bring their then average 16000 home crowd nearer the pitch. He then re;opened it for bigger matches & when the average got above 25k. We could emulate this by closing the Grandstand & the top of the Kop or North Stand & open up the Leppings Lane lower to home fans. This would give us a 4 sided home ground with an atmosphere to match any away game & the Leppings Lane upper (approx 2800 seats) enough to accomodate any visiting fans, even pigs. What other club in the country would give an entire side of the ground holding 7500 people, to 250 Hartlepool fans ? And we wonder why we have no atmosphere at home ? If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got ! Whilst in essence the idea has legs, lets be right L**ds crap gates were due to high prices and throw football, we can argue about the latter but the former isn't really an issue. I'll be honest I wouldn't like to be shifted out of my seat on the North as it offers a great view and easy access to facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattitheowl Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Closing the grand stand is the only workable idea really. The North is pretty full most weeks. The Kop I don't really know how closing part of it would work/look. There is no point opening up the Lep to home fans if you have closed other parts of the ground to reduce capacity. Just not bothered... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBoyBeevers Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 (edited) There was trouble when Strafford tinkered with the Grandstand- people sitting up there didn't like being asked to move IIRC. That is the problem- convincing ST holders that they need to move is difficult, especially when they might have spent many years in that seat. I would like to see the Grandstand closed and the wide left and wide right blocks in the upper tier of the Kop closed and covered with flags, leaving just the band and the upper middle seating. Pricing seats at the front of the Kop cheaper than everywhere else in the ground could also make a difference- maybe knock a couple of quid off and charge £14 for adults and £3 for kids for the first 5 rows? That then gives you the problem of policing it though- if there are 3000 seats to choose from on the Kop, making people sit in the first few rows and ensuring they stay there is difficult to do. Edited May 5, 2011 by TheBoyBeevers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Duran Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 There was trouble when Strafford tinkered with the Grandstand- people sitting up there didn't like being asked to move IIRC. That is the problem- convincing ST holders that they need to move is difficult, especially when they might have spent many years in that seat. I would like to see the Grandstand closed and the wide left and wide right blocks in the upper tier of the Kop closed and covered with flags, leaving just the band and the upper middle seating. Pricing seats at the front of the Kop cheaper than everywhere else in the ground could also make a difference- maybe knock a couple of quid off and charge £14 for adults and £3 for kids for the first 5 rows? That then gives you the problem of policing it though- if there are 3000 seats to choose from on the Kop, making people sit in the first few rows and ensuring they stay there is difficult to do. Especially if its weeing it down and the wind is blowing into the kop !! Agree with you ideas of closing the Grandstand / upper wings on the kop thou.. but would be difficult to do with ST holders in their and they both are pretty good views.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casbahowl Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Closing the grand stand is the only workable idea really. The North is pretty full most weeks. The Kop I don't really know how closing part of it would work/look. There is no point opening up the Lep to home fans if you have closed other parts of the ground to reduce capacity. Think your missing the point Mat. We currently play to a 3 sided ground with no atmosphere. If we can make it a better atmosphere with fans nearer the pitch by closing down , in the short term,sections of the ground which are in the gods& having a 4 sided ground again it will give us the away day experience @ home games. If we only close the Grandstand it will reduce the capacity by approx 5k, still giving us 33k & a 50% full/empty ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plonk Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Think theres some merit in this. Grandstand upper Leps and top left and right of kop are all worth looking at. As someone else said big flags (instead of blue netting!!!) covering. It would also increase demand by reducing supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wednesday-Wonderland Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Fully agree. Problem will be season ticket holders with a chip on their shoulder. Like that one on here who's always moaning about not being able to sit in his seat for cup games etc, can't remember his name, lairy f*cker full of bluster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinburghowl Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I agree with those saying close the top of the Kop and the Grandstand for quieter games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cactus Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Think your missing the point Mat. We currently play to a 3 sided ground with no atmosphere. If we can make it a better atmosphere with fans nearer the pitch by closing down , in the short term,sections of the ground which are in the gods& having a 4 sided ground again it will give us the away day experience @ home games. If we only close the Grandstand it will reduce the capacity by approx 5k, still giving us 33k & a 50% full/empty ground. Capacity is 3000, and as it is very rarely more than half full I don't see what real effect it would have without closing other parts of the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Starling Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I would be reluctant to move from ther Grandstand as the facilities are good and view is excellent. I was on the Kop last season and my lad had a struggle to get a decent view. If we were made to move then we would end up having to have pick from either the North Stand were most of the best seats would be already taken or the South Stand for an increased price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyto Alba Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I can understand this issue, but shutting down parts of the ground is looking down rather than looking up imo. Let's try playing some decent football and winning a few games. The atmosphere and fans will return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eckington owl Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 L**ds close the top part of their big stand which makes to bottom tier look full. But would it make much difference to us? There's only a couple of hundred who sit up in the grandstand anyway. As for the kop, you would have to disrupt quite a few season ticket holders to close any part of it really. Can't see it happening tbh. As already said, someone would go against the idea of having to move seats but to be honest, if someone has had a season ticket in the same seat for a number of years i could kind of see where they're coming from if they did moan. Still, i'm all up for the idea, but the chances of it bothering me in the north are very slim as it's quite busy every game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Meadows Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I've thought for years we should close the grandstand and upper Lep (unless there's a massive away following) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cersei Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 If you move people down the kop you move people from top middle to behind the pillars, the kop is onl really empty in the crap seats, I think the club see it as more hassle than its worth, you have people with sts for the grandstand wings, they would have to move to the north, the facilties on the grandstand are amazing, so thy stop buying food and drinks cus the north is pants, then the people top middle of the north have to move to far ends of the north, Its a great idea but too many people would kick off, the families that have sat where they sit for years and years wouldn stand for it, I think the best thing the club can do now is get some people in the rubbish seats where noone sits, look at the areas noone sits in and sell them to kids and schools and other places, community groups etc, then improve the facilities for selling food and drink once they start selling more, WE NEED EVOLUTION Revolution took place before Christmas, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trev Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 We would need to get rid of the posts on the kop before we can start closing areas. As it is you have to choose your seats carefully on the kop due to fear of getting stuck behind a post or the post covering the goal etc. But, this would be massively expensive, and to be honest we have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Nice idea though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesteel Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I agree something temporary should be done. How many people sit on the Grandstand? It seems the obvious choice but it would also be a shame to close down the part of the stadium that is the most modern, has seen the most investment. It would be interesting to see how much money that stand actually makes on a match day from higher prices, beer etc. Would we also have to re-fund season tickets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now