The new safe standing section at St James' Park is starting to take shape ahead of what promises to be another memorable campaign for Newcastle United.
Newcastle have enlisted the help of Stadia by GL Events and KH Stadium Seating Solutions, who have manufactured and installed rail seats at Anfield, Elland Road and Molineux. In fact, it was these experts who helped fit the 600 rail seats you might have spotted in the away end at St James' last season.
They have now returned 12 months on. Seats were removed from Strawberry Corner last month and new independent safe standing barriers have since been fitted alongside the newly-attached seats in this section of the Gallowgate End.
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This will be a trial initially, enabling around 1,800 supporters to stand, and a similar provision will be provided for away fans up at Level 7 at the Leazes End. This has gone down well with the majority of Newcastle fans and a poll previously conducted by ChronicleLive revealed a whopping 74% of supporters were happy to see safe standing at St James'.
More than 4,000 supporters provided feedback to the club in an online survey and three-quarters of those surveyed were in favour of licensed standing while over 70% felt the Gallowgate was the ideal location. Seventy fans then attended a working group session at St James', which was led by head of support services Sarah Medcalf, to provide more detailed feedback. Given how Strawberry Corner already had a vocal presence, this section of the Gallowgate quickly emerged as the overwhelming choice for the standing section.
So what can fans expect? Well Joshua Scott, the head of operations at QPR, said the standing section in the Lower Loft at Loftus Road made a 'big impact' during a rollercoaster campaign last season where their support was certainly needed.
"It was supporters who wanted this to go in so they gave it a little bit of an extra effort to make it more atmospheric," he told ChronicleLive. "Even at the top of the league, you could tell that was the bouncing area. It was amazing the difference but, despite the on field performances that we have had, and the slide down the table, that has still been the loudest area."
Newcastle are also in the process of improving concourse and hospitality facilities to ensure St James' is Champions League ready.
