Wandy

it will never happen. They know they struck gold with the location. Finding the sweet spot around that location is the head scratcher. But if regeneration or relocation within a few hundred yards isn’t possible then they will make do with what they have got. Thing is though, they will definitely find a way to add at least another 8k seats. But I still think a grand plan to remodel the entire Leazes plot of land is what will happen.

No hyperbole, just 100% fact. It’s a relic from a time when architecture was at it’s very worst. It’s mad how dewy-eyed people get about SJP. The location is stunning but the stadium itself is seriously flawed.

NUFC’s stadium will never leave the city centre. Whatever happens over the next 10 years, it will remain pretty much where it is, give or take maybe a few hundred yards.

The London Stadium isn’t even a football stadium. Wembley’s problem is its size. The Emirates is definitely looking a bit dated already though. Definitely don’t agree about the Etihad though. On the outside it’s pretty mundane but inside it’s a great looking stadium and continues to get better. It’s pretty well designed to create an atmosphere too. Everton’s new stadium is a perfect example of how new stadiums can be built to have character. They have also specifically designed it with atmosphere in mind.

Which stadium are you thinking of when you say soulless?

Anfield is slowly turning into one of the best stadiums in the country. If they extend the Kop to match the new Anfield Road then the stadium will look seriously impressive.

It’s pretty antiquated compared to the standards of the best stadiums now. The East Stand is an embarrassing shithole and the Milburn is pretty basic for a stand that is supposed to be the ‘luxury’ part of the stadium, as its suites are garbage. There is going to need to be a LOT of leeway given by various authorities to get SJP anywhere near the required standards.

I mean, it's about as simple as you can get. The club provide two links. The first to access the ballot, and then the second link to access the queue.

The craic is that the atmosphere will be pitiful. That is unacceptable. The answer is simple. You enter the ballot to get a chance to access the ticketing queue, which will only have the 15k who won the ballot. Its basically a way of whittling down the queue to only 15k people. And then you select your seat in the way that you always have done.

The ballot system isn't really the problem here. It's not perfect but under the present circumstances, with a "small" stadium & legions of fans from the last 30 years trying to get back in, it's probably the least worst option. The fuck up is how they have come up with the seating arrangements and this is what needs to be reversed. Is it really going to take losing matches at home, and a mute atmosphere playing a part in that, to make them see the error of their ways? Even under the ballot system I think people will find a way to attend matches. But there's little they can do about the club deciding where they sit.

Well it's basically a decision that keeps me out of SJP indefinitely. I bet I won't be the only one too, as people quickly get pissed off with being shoved into a seat that they hate.

So they aren't ever going to let people select their own seats? Wow.

So not only is this new ticketing system a fiasco but the map that showed the categories was also out of date, meaning that Level 7 wasnt entirely the family section and some poor sods will now end up there when they at least thought they would be in the Leazes or Gallowgate. Lovely stuff. If they have anything about them, then the club will be making sure that fans get to choose their own seat for the Liverpool match & onwards.

The trouble with that is I'm not convinced it's the current ST holders who make the noise at SJP.

Yep, it's going to make the stadium a haven for day trippers. It's all very well trying to entice new fans to witness the "SJP Experience", but that very experience was created by the very people who might now be locked out. In a football stadium you need a base level of fans you can rely on in every game to help get the team through sticky patches. Again, this new system might just have removed that base level. I don't know why they couldn't just keep the que system and then also introduce a ballot alongside it. Split the available seat allocation in half, and then distribute each half via the two systems. I'm morbidly curious to see what the atmosphere is going to be like next Saturday.

That's exactly what I see happening, unfortunately. Last season's hitty-missy atmosphere might seem like a cauldron compared to what could be coming this year. I just don't see how having the rowdy elements sitting miles apart from each other is going to produce anything but a mute stadium. Would love to be wrong mind.

Let them know that not being able to select your own seat is unacceptable. Youse have decent clout with them so you might get somewhere with it.

A display about the ticketing situation?

It's not about being sat next to others, it's about being in a seat with a view you find acceptable & in amongst people who are like-minded in the nature of their support.

I wouldn't even mind if they took the money up front, as long as I get a range of seats to actually choose from.

They might have beaten you to a seat, but I'd bet that you would get another one pretty close to the one that you wanted. And for the next match you apply for you might get your exact seat. Law of averages, and all that. It's ten times better a system than one that could easily put you in the very front row...or very back row...of a stand. And you having no say in that.

The point is that the queue was the gateway to getting into the ticket selection section. There is absolutely no reason why the ballot cannot be made to be the new gateway.

It's not impossible though is it? The old system let you sit where you want, once you got through the queue. If that kind of accessibility does not come back then I seriously doubt I will be attending any more games at SJP. I'm not being dictated to as to where I'm sitting.

That's the concern. The club wreck the system but then give a little bit back to shut people up. Knowing our fanbase it will probably work too.

I can't believe people will continue to tolerate being thrown into one big category and then allow the club to decide where you sit within it. What an absolutely shite system.