Everton offer to trial standing area
Mar 16 2007 EXCLUSIVE by by Caroline Innes & Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily
Post
EVERTON FC chief executive Keith Wyness has revealed the club would be
interested in the possible return of a limited standing area, if they
proceed with a proposed move to a new stadium.
In what is certain to be a controversial speech, the Goodison official told
a House of Commons seminar that Everton might be interested in a pilot
scheme if the Government changed the current all-seating ground regulations.
Mr Wyness stressed he was aware of the sensitivity of the issue after
standing was originally banned following the Lord Justice Taylor report into
the 1989 Hillsborough disaster when 96 Liverpool FC fans lost their lives.
Mr Wyness told the seminar: "As you can all imagine, this is a very
sensitive issue because of where we are situated. We are looking for a new
stadium and one of our options is that we could have a standing area.
"I personally went to Germany recently and watched a game at Cologne and was
amazed by the atmosphere in the standing area.
"If the Government will discuss it, we may be prepared to offer ourselves as
a trial if necessary."
Phil Gatenby, who was at the Commons as the Football Supporters'
Federation's
safe standing officer, said: "Keith Wyness stood up with a microphone in
front of 50 people to make his comments."
Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has tabled a motion in Parliament for the
return of standing areas and attended Wednesday's seminar about safe
standing at football.
Mr Hancock said: "Mr Wyness said he understood it was a sensitive issue,
because of the location, and out of the respect the club has for its
neighbours.
"They would want to do it along the lines of covered seats that could be
taken out or locked away as they do in Germany, which I favour as a very
good system.
"They only said they were looking to see if it could be done as they build
the new stadium.
"The standing areas would not be huge, nobody is suggesting that.
"Perhaps 10% of the stadium could be made available for certain games - for
example, European games are covered by UEFA rules and must be seated.
"He said in this process, if it was to be looked into and one club was to
try and experiment, he would want to offer the club, only because it is a
new build.
"To be fair to him, he said he understood and respected the sensitivities in
Liverpool and made that quite clear."
The official inquiry into the Leppings Lane crush at Sheffield Wednesday's
Hillsborough ground, conducted by Lord Taylor, blamed poor policing and
inadequate facilities for the tragedy, but the main recommendation was for
the introduction of all-seater stadia and the removal of perimeter fencing.
Now 136 MPs have backed Mr Hancock's Early Day Motion for "the Government to
re-examine the case for introducing, small, limited sections of safe
standing areas". Conservative Party leader David Cameron has agreed to talks
if elected.
Everton FC was the only Premiership football club represented at the
seminar.
Last night, Hillsborough justice campaigner Jenni Hicks, who lost daughters,
Sarah, 15, and Vicki, 19, in the tragedy, said: "I don't want to say
anything personal about Everton, but I am surprised that another Liverpool
club is wanting to do this.
"I'm definitely against standing in football grounds."
But fellow campaigner Shaun Smith said small, well-supervised standing areas
could be acceptable in future.
He added: "The bottom line is, as long as the standing area is not
extensively large and is well monitored, we would be supportive of that."
Everton fans, too, approach- ed the idea with caution.
Richard Lewis, of independent group Everton Shareholders 2005, said: "I'm
surprised, as we meet with Keith Wyness quarterly and there has never been
any mention of this.
"It's a backwards step from when stadiums didn't have the technology to
provide seats on different tiers.
"But if supporters want it, the club wants it, and it's completely
controlled and monitored, I imagine it would be harmless."
Amanda Mathews, from Stand Up Sit Down, a group campaigning to give support-
ers the choice, praised Mr Wyness for taking part in the debate. She said:
"This is a brave step, as this was a public meeting.
"We very much hope that Everton's open-mindedness on this issue will cause
other Premiership clubs to follow suit and join in the discussion on behalf
of their supporters."
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