MANCHESTER WITHINGTON MP John Leech has called for 'safe-standing' to be reintroduced into English football.
The recent report into Hillsborough did not blame the disaster on the fact that there were terraces, they blamed poor decision making by those in charge of the emergency services.
Leech, is a twenty-nine year long season ticket holder at Manchester City, and is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport.
"With ticket prices going through the roof, football is in danger of becoming only affordable to the rich," he says. "Safe standing would be a way of reducing ticket prices, offering more choice to fans and improving the atmosphere at games.
Leech reckons that it's time to make that change to safe-standing. He thinks that for years, no-one over here would talk about the issue. This was because a generation of football fans were scarred by the tragedy at Hillsborough, when 96 innocent Liverpool fans died.
John LeechThen after the Hillsborough tragedy, the metal fences, put up as a result of hooliganism in the 1970s and early 1980s came down, and all-seater stadiums were introduced. But the recent report into Hillsborough did not blame the disaster on the fact that there were terraces, they blamed poor decision making by those in charge of the emergency services.
Leech claims that safe standing’ is supported by many fans groups, including the Football Supporters Federation and Supporters Direct. Several countries in Europe and worldwide, like Germany, Austria, Sweden, Canada and the United States, have 'safe standing' for domestic fixtures.
Last December, Leech became convinced that standing could again be accommodated within in British grounds once more when he went to see Borussia Dortmund at their stadium. For league games, Dortmund operate 'safe standing', with tickets from about 14 Euros (£12.50) and this gives them a capacity of 80,600 (15,000 more than for Champions League Games).
