Boxing Day Attendance

One more thought: is it segregation on the concourse that is the issue?

For example, were there barriers that sperated the concourse when the away fans were in the original position?

Would allowing more home fans in mean there would be no way to separate home and away downstairs?

Not sat in the south since Hereford in '96 Soni really don't know what is down there.
 
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Frozen Horse said:
One more thought: is it segregation on the concourse that is the issue?

For example, were there barriers that sperated the concourse when the away fans were in the original position?

Would allowing more home fans in mean there would be no way to separate home and away downstairs?

Not sat in the south since Hereford in '96 Soni really don't know what is down there.
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Barriers can be moved, reconfigured.
As they were when the away end was relocated.
 
Frozen Horse said:
One more thought: is it segregation on the concourse that is the issue?

For example, were there barriers that sperated the concourse when the away fans were in the original position?

Would allowing more home fans in mean there would be no way to separate home and away downstairs?

Not sat in the south since Hereford in '96 Soni really don't know what is down there.
Click to expand...
Memory fades but I would say some of the biggest away followings at the Riverside stretched the full South and into the SE corner. Hednesford springs to mind. Segregation must be possible.
 
50 feet of segregation seems over the top for a game against Wigan as mentioned its not Millwall or Sunderland

About 559 tickets left that are shown on the stadium plan.

If the new capacity is 32.5k and Wigan were given 1500 - A potential 31k for Boro less segregation. Probably the most Boro fans is 30k
 
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NorthumberlandBoro said:
Barriers can be moved, reconfigured.
As they were when the away end was relocated.
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Course they can be moved. But at what cost? They were moved, and reconfigured for a permanent change of layout, not for one match.

Like I also mentioned in my other post, there's other considerations such as concourse facilities and access/egress. Are these all currently suitable if you reduce the away end? Will there still be disabled/mens/women's toilets in that section? Is there the correct amount of fire exits in that section? Do the entries into those blocks work with where the new segregation fence line would need to go?
 
Gains said:
Memory fades but I would say some of the biggest away followings at the Riverside stretched the full South and into the SE corner. Hednesford springs to mind. Segregation must be possible.
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I would guess increasing an away fan section is less complex than decreasing, for the reasons I gave above. You are likely increasing facilities rather than decreasing. We also had various segregation points along the south stand where the divide could be placed, where I'm sure all those things had been considered. I'm not sure the new position in the east stand has the same flexibility.

In those days we also had a much larger stewarding and police presence in the stadium. Also one home/away divide instead of two. As the south west corner isn't joined to the away fans.
 
IF moving barriers is difficult, long term it would worth having 2 sets. For matches like Boxing Day, one set might end up separating Boro fan from Boro fan, but that's not really a problem is it?

Might be a bit optimistic for them to pop up by this time next week, but it's not as if this situation won't arise again.
 
Frozen Horse said:
IF moving barriers is difficult, long term it would worth having 2 sets. For matches like Boxing Day, one set might end up separating Boro fan from Boro fan, but that's not really a problem is it?

Might be a bit optimistic for them to pop up by this time next week, but it's not as if this situation won't arise again.
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In the south stand, I seem to remember they had 2 or 3 positions where the concourse gates could be shut?
It would be good to have something similar in the east stand to give the flexibility.

It might require a rejig in the concourse of bars / fast food / toilets etc so would need to be done between seasons I would think and a bit of up front cost from the club so I guess they would assess whether it was worth it. Realistically how many times have we been in a situation where we could have sold more tickets by reducing the away allocation in the last few years? Could probably count on one hand. If we were selling out every week and had empty away ends then I would understand the fuss. But we aren't in that situation. It's a one off. We haven't been selling out on Boxing Day for a good few years now.
 
My main issue is the size of the no man's land. It could be reduced by moving the netting.
Ok maybe not that simple, but I'm sure it's not beyond the wit of man or MFC.
 
All irrelevant how many other games are we going to get close to 30k attendances this season if we stay where we are in the table not many i would imagine

Then should we get promoted teams bringing a couple of hundred supporters to the Riverside will be few and far between
 
Redwurzel said:
50 feet of segregation seems over the top for a game against Wigan as mentioned its not Millwall or Sunderland

About 559 tickets left that are shown on the stadium plan.

If the new capacity is 32.5k and Wigan were given 1500 - A potential 31k for Boro less segregation. Probably the most Boro fans is 30k
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It should be a good occasion - hopefully crowned by a Boro win.
 
NorthumberlandBoro said:
My main issue is the size of the no man's land. It could be reduced by moving the netting.
Ok maybe not that simple, but I'm sure it's not beyond the wit of man or MFC.
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I'm not saying it's beyond the wit if man. It's probably just not feasible.
By reducing the netting you are moving the segregation in the concourse, so everything we have said above applies....

There will also be a risk assessment where MFC have put controls in place to prevent crowd trouble etc. As part of that risk assessment we will have listed our controls and no doubt one of those is the no mans land. You can't just remove that without putting in an extra control. Stating "it's only Wigan and not Millwall" probably isn't going to cut it. Extra stewards/policing for a one off match is another issue. Not sure who would have to accept changes etc but there is probably a number of stakeholders that would need accept a change and there will be timeframes.

I'm sure if it was an easy fix, MFC would get the seats open and sell them...
 
If you look at all the sizeable clubs when they have a capacity crowd most don't have huge swathes of empty seats for segregation.
I'm sure they have faced and overcome all the obstacles listed above.
I'm not saying it's necessarily easy but there will be a way.
 
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