Shrewsbury Town set for safe standing after hitting crowd funding target

Salop passed their £62,500 target this week, with almost 1,000 contributions - and has put the club further down the path of being the first league club in England to bring safe standing to fans.

Town plan on installing around 500 rail-seating places, and are set to get to work on the system which aims to be completed next year.

Shrewsbury Town chief Brian Caldwell was understandably ecstatic with the target being hit.

"We are delighted that Shrewsbury Town will be the flagship club in addressing this issue, which is so important to so many fans." he said, via Shrewsburytown.com

"We will now continue to work closely with our local SAG (Safety Advisory Group) to gain the necessary certification for the Safe Standing area within the Salop Leisure Stand at the Montgomery Waters Meadow, and we hope to have supporters watching home games from the safe standing area before the end of the season."

Roger Groves of the Shrewsbury Town Supporters’ Parliament echoed those sentiments and praised the collective fundraisers for helping the club achieve its goal.

"This is a remarkable achievement by the hundreds of fans and sponsors, especially FansBet, who have paved the way for the thousands more to bring standing back to matchdays at their clubs." he said.

"I am very proud that Shrewsbury Town has been at the heart of this."

FansBet offered sponsorship in the crowdfunding campaign to help secure the target number, offering a 'considerable contribution' to the scheme.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson acts as ambassador for the company, who believe Shrewsbury's safe standing push is an important one.

"We know exactly how important the issue of safe standing is to fans in helping generate the correct environment to enjoy watching football for supporters young and old.” they said.