Shrewsbury Town hear concerns on safe-standing bid
Around 100 Shrewsbury Town fans were allowed to raise concerns about the club’s safe-standing bid as the Supporters’ Parliament hosted a consultation meeting.
Chairman Roger Groves, former chairman Mike Davies, members Chris Wynn and Martin James, chief executive Brian Caldwell and media manager Ian Whitfield were present to liaise with supporters affected by the proposals and those keen to learn more.
Last week Town’s fans’ parliament announced plans for Shrewsbury to become the first club in England to introduce a safe-standing area.
Two-hundred and thirty fans will be directly affected by rail seating potentially being installed – subject to plans being passed.
A number of those were in attendance, voicing their concerns about moving away from their usual surroundings and the little communication between the parties beforehand.
But the club revealed they had to be vigilant about sharing any of the plans with third parties before the press release, as it could have directly affected funding – which is being taken care of by crowd-funding experts Tifosy.
“I’ve received a lot of emails in the last couple of weeks in regards to why we’ve chosen the South Stand and not the West,” Davis said in the question and answer session.
“A lot of that comes down to line of sight. You cannot see the goal from certain positions if it was installed in blocks 18 and 19. It also came down to discussions we had with Brian and that Brian had with the manager.
“We wanted a vocal support behind the South Stand. That’s not taking away from anybody that sits there currently.
“Tifosy will offer rewards for crowd-funding. That can be anything from a certificate to say you’ve donated £5 or – if we get the go-ahead – the chance to go and stand on the Yellow Wall in Dortmund.
“We’re confident that the majority of blocks 18 and 19 will move from there to the safe standing, that’s the feedback we’ve had.
“The fans that remain there, whether they stand or not, is a call for our safety officer (Alan Roberts) to make.”
Emails have been sent to the Supporters’ Parliament from Reading and Gillingham supporters, who hailed the decision as ‘truly amazing’, ‘doing every football fan a service’ and promising to chip into the crowd-funding campaign.
There was an emotional message from a follower of Shrewsbury and Liverpool, who was present at Hillsborough in 1989, who claimed the news ‘brought a joyful tear to my eye’.
Claims were heard from disgruntled current South Stand season-ticket holders that they had yet to have a discussion on the ‘inconvenience’.
“There were various reasons why we weren’t able to discuss it with our supporters,” added Davis.
“No deals have been signed, we’ve put in a formal proposal. Ninety per cent of the response was positive from 2,000 votes. Surely the whole Shrewsbury Town fanbase should have the opportunity to vote.
“The question is does Shrewsbury Town want safe standing? If it does then logistically the only place we can have it is in the South Stand. If it doesn’t, then we don’t want it.
“We’re doing this because we believe there are a large number of Shrewsbury Town fans that want to stand. We want to do it in a safe way and a way to improve the atmosphere.
“Myself and Rog are season-ticket holders. We believe this is going to benefit our club.
“The proposal will annoy people but if it goes ahead we want to work with you guys to move you to a suitable area of the ground that you will be happy in.”
Caldwell helped allay the fears of one supporter, who sits with nine others in the South Stand and previously attended Gay Meadow together, that they would be split up.
The chief executive announced that the club would work in helping them move together to a different location.
Affected supporters voiced their frustration at not receiving notification prior to the press release being issued. The club sent letters out on the previous day, designed to reach the doormats that morning.
Town are keen to clarify points of contact with supporters, as it was proved with some email addresses being out of date.
One supporter, who fully added his backing to the campaign, remarked: “As a football club, we’ve got to do whatever is possible to make sure the concerns raised in this room are dealt with sensitively, correctly and that people are listened to.
“If one area could generate noise, atmosphere and momentum, then the rest of the ground picks up on it.”
The supporters’ parliament encouraged anyone with questions to email sp@stfcsupporters.com or attend the next meeting on Tuesday at the Prince of Wales pub, starting 7pm.
