Pompey went north of the border today, when Club Director and PST Board Member John Kimbell visited Glasgow to view the new ‘rail seating’ that Celtic FC installed over the Summer.
The club installed 2,975 ‘rail seats’ in the north-east corner of Celtic Park during pre-season and fans populated the safe standing area for the first time in during the clubs 2-1 friendly win over Wolfsburg in July, after the Scottish champions were granted a safe-standing licence in June last year by Glasgow City Council.
Kimbell visited Celtic Park as part of a fact finding trip as Pompey continue to investigate all possible options for the future of Fratton Park.
He said “It was good to visit Celtic Park and speak to the people responsible for implementing safe standing. I met with Robin Buchanan (Stadium General Manager), Ronnie Hawthorn (Head of Safety, Security and Operations) to discuss how the installation was planned and implemented as well as meeting Ferco, who are the company that supplied the rail seats”.
John went on to say “Safe Standing is something the Club and PST are passionate about. It’s about giving fans a choice and creating a safe environment at our stadium that gives those fans that wish to stand during a match the opportunity to do so. Obviously we are some way from actually implementing it ourselves (the Government needs to change the legislation around standing at Football grounds first), but it was a great chance for us to gather some really useful information and we are grateful to Celtic for giving us the opportunity to view their safe standing section and discuss it with them”.
PST Chairman and Club Director Ashley Brown added "Both the PST and PFC are supportive of safe standing and follow the potential adoption of it in England with interest. Should the go ahead be given we would be sure to look favourably at the option alongside any ground development the club may undertake"
More information on Safe Standing can be found at the Football Supporters’ Federation website - http://www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/safe-standing.