At todays Supporters Consultative Group (SCG) meeting the club then put forward their idea of having the away fans moved from their current position in the Jewson stand to the ‘naughty corner', and have home supporters housed in the Jewson stand. Apparently the concourse area there is quite wide (something that has been commented on via other forums) and the club would like to investigate having this area set-up as a form of sports bar facility.
Such a move would reduce the potential away following from the current maximum of 6,000 to the FA minimum requirement of 3,200. Being honest this is still sufficient for the majority of matches at the Ricoh and will allow a good singing section of the Sky Blue support to sit behind the goal and add to the atmosphere. It was noted that at
Ken Sharp commented that Oggy felt that having home support behind the goals was worth at least 3 goals per season and further helped the home ‘keeper.
Access to and from the proposed new away area would actually be quite good with away supporters being able to enter and exit via the ramp way behind block 17, though there would be the obvious need for segregation in the concourse area, either by roller shutter or a wall. This block also has the additional benefit of existing disabled areas being available for the away support, so there would be no additional construction cost which would be necessary if the away support were to be pushed towards the gym side of the Jewson stand.
The club are investigating various possible initiatives such as having a dedicated PSL holder seating area, and providing a window for existing season ticket holders, and especially those already in block 17, to relocate to this new area.
Nonetheless this was very positively received by the SCG and the club hope to be in a position to confirm if this is going to proceed, by the end of January 2007.