I was suddenly faced with quite a few tweets as soon as the Championship fixtures came out from Charlton fans. They were very interested in coming to Dean Court for the first game of the season, but what they were most wanting to know is how many fans could get in the new temporary covered stand and would it all be for away fans?
All I could say is that no decision had yet been made on whether it was for Bournemouth fans, away fans or to be shared. While the stand will be covered, it will not have anything in the way of facilities so fans will have to visit the Main stand or the East stand for refreshments.
Charlton fans seemed surprised that it might not be for away fans and that they could still be squashed into part of the East stand, I began to think that it maybe that we will not see that many away fans at our ground next season simply because there will not be enough space for them.
We have been told the new South stand will hold 2350 people, increasing Dean Court's capacity to around 12,000. Rob Mitchell, AFCB's Commercial Director suggested at a recent AFC Business meeting that the capacity might only go up to 11,500.
If away teams ask for allocations of 2000 or more seats for fans I would expect that the South stand would be given up for away supporters alone. At least it would be easier to police than a split stand with both sets of supporters. I believe the east stand can hold around 1500 away supporters or so.
While our own AFCB season ticket sales continue to rise the need to find more home supporter space will put pressure on the club to restrict the amount of away supporters comming to the ground. We have some interesting decisions for the club to make on the temporary covered stand. What do you all feel about it? Does it give away teams an advantage if they have all of the temporary stand with their supporters all at one end? Are you happy with away fans being in the East stand?
New pictures of the Temporary stand preparations and the ground are now up on AFCB's facebook page today.
This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.
In an ideal world, I'd love to see Home fans behind both goals. However, it doesn't make sense to me, to split the East Stand into 2 sections losing precious seating, unless we're going to give up the whole of the East stand to away fans, how many Season Ticket Holders would be prepared to move?? So I can see only one option, The South Stand for away fans!
ReplyDeleteHome fans, nothing better than having your team behind the goal
ReplyDeleteIt's a tricky one, but I say temp stand, give afcb all of 3 stands, 10,000? Better atmos! Can see opposite argument though!
ReplyDeleteHalf and half would be good would create a great atmosphere and cut the size of the original away end.
ReplyDeleteAgree Stu - The existing segregated blocks for away fans holds 1750 approx -Not many clubs will bring more than that
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