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HomeNewsOpen letter to Northampton Town FC from Standing At Sixfields

Open letter to Northampton Town FC from Standing At Sixfields

Below is an open letter to Northampton Town FC in support for safe standing from the Standing At Sixfields safe standing campaign group. The group has been in liaison for some time with the football club. The club commissioned a 2017 survey carried out by Northampton Town Supporters’ Trust in which 85% of respondents replied that they would be in favour of having a choice of a safe standing area at Northampton.

The club then began to develop its own barrier system which is different to the rail seat safe standing in place at Celtic and Shrewsbury Town. The club commissioned a second survey for fans in the North Stand to get their views on safe standing. Their report in the survey reported that “the general comments made in response to the survey did raise genuine concerns of the risk that the club may lose a fair number of season ticket holders if safe standing was introduced”.

Standing At Sixfields was moved to write the following letter in response, co-signed by 144 supporters. The co-signatories were limited to fit on the page but there were many more offers to sign.

Dear Kelvin Thomas, David Bower and James Whiting,

Thank you for the hard work that has gone into the safe standing process so far.

NTFC’s 2017 safe standing survey returned with 85% of respondents stating they would like the choice of a safe standing area at Sixfields. The EFL’s  “Stand Up For Choice” survey found that 94% of those sampled believed that clubs should have the ability to provide licensed standing and seated accommodation.

With the FA Cup windfall, there could be an opportunity to invest in rail seat technology which is the gold standard in safe standing.

Rail seating offers multiple benefits including:

  • Offers the choice for fans to stand or sit as they do at Northampton Saints rugby but with increased safety via rail seats.
  • Applicable if the club were to reach the the Championship or Premier League.
  • Eradicates the trip danger of fans falling over standard seat backs & potential health and  safety implications..
  • Associated atmosphere benefits evidenced at Celtic Park, Shrewsbury Town and high level clubs across Europe who utilise rail seat safe standing.

The EFL found that 84% of under 35’s would prefer to stand and it could be a progressive move to invest in our passionate fans and the next generation of lifetime supporters.

Kilmarnock FC have a rail seat section for their under 16 supporters for this reason. Walsall are the latest similarly sized club which are in progress to achieve rail seat safe standing.

We’d be happy to arrange a meeting with the club to listen to any fans’ concerns, to see what obstacles there are and and how we can work together as a fanbase to overcome them.

There is the potential to recoup some of the costs via a rail seat sponsoring scheme.

We appreciate that this is a very busy time, thank you for taking the time to read this letter and hope that a meeting can be arranged in the next week or two. 

Good luck to Keith and the team on Friday night versus Derby in the FA Cup.

The following people are signing this letter of support for the installation of safe standing at Sixfields. *Standing At Sixfields

Tom Reed*                           

Craig Lovesey                

Kieran Legg                  

Keeley Townsend

James Clarke*                    

Ben Barker                     

Luke Toreson              

Thomas Miller

Gary Buckseal                    

Jack Archer                    

Jack Thompson          

Dave Naylor    

Thomas Batchelar          

Haydn Davies               

Corey McSheen           

Jonathan Payne

Gary Batchelar                  

Richard Milne               

Mason Frost                  

Chris Leonard

Tim Owen                            

Roger Dainty                 

Jo Wilkins                        

 Jack Archer

Ben Wright*                           

Jamie Hughes               

Kiefer Grimes               

Brendan Walsh

Dan Pearce                         

Harrison Young          

Joshua Weston             

Peter Darbon

Phil Garlick                         

Neil Edgerton              

 Nathan Burn                   

Tom O’Neill

Adam Clarke                     

Edward Rivett               

Nigel  Bishop                  

Graham Beesley

Daniel Owens                   

Dominic Bird                

 George Clarke               

Paul Hardman

William Oelrich                

Rob Careless                

 Lee Dray                           

Jack Savage

Paul Fenton                        

Steve Murphy               

 Daniel Hurley                

Ian Gill

Lewis Kingston                

Gavin Foster                  

Josh Loakes                    

ConorRutherford   

Ciaran Myers                     

Austin Getter               

Kieran Shead                  

Jack Muscutt

Karlan Taylor                    

Adam Barby                   

Patrick Payne                 

Harry Mellors

John Marlow                     

 Steven Tomlin              

 Jake Thomas                 

Sam Milne

Callum White                    

Ryan Lorefice                

Nathan Ivey                    

Luke Thoday

Craig Abbott                      

James Niven                   

Darrell Ambidge        

Daniel Fellows

Paul Gillam                         

 Matt Howes                    

Rob Ambidge              

 Andy Roberts

Mike Fuller                          

Ryan Bradwell                

James Ambidge         

Gareth Loake

Len Bailey                             

Jamie Hughes               

Paul Smith                       

Keith Buckby

Rob Spick                             

Ryan Sharp                      

Jamie Allen                    

Neil Skeats

Joe Sullivan                         

Sean Spicer                      

Simon Hedges            

Richard Dams

Dan Martin                          

Phil Ashby                       

 Lisa Hedges                  

Leigh Baker

Will Dunkley                       

Brian Hayward              

Joe Cox                            

 Sara Turner

Luke Willmott                  

 Matthew Mannion      

Ethan Delafield            

Amy Captainino

Frank Savage                     

Matt Wootton                

David Nash                     

Steve Sharman

Ben Corbett                        

Chris Kelly                       

Ciaran Reynolds         

Steve Watkins.

Adam Page                          

Nile Hollowell               

Ian Maddock                 

 Haidan Emery

Tony Baker                         

 Martyn Ingram             

Joe Bomben                   

Matthew Gill

Luke Wilson                        

Cameron Bassett       

Charles Commins          

 James Ball

Marc Lyon                            

Connor Hawkins                       

Adam Long       

Chessie Coleman

Simon Dadge                    

Ben White                        

Danny Brothers              

Mark Josiah

Adam Clark                        

Tom Townsend                   

Dave Knight        

Marc Robinson

 Sam Jones                      

Jonathan Hillyer               

Joseph Perry                  

Matt Amos

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