With the Portman Road standing controversy becoming increasingly heated, TWTD thought it might be an idea to find out whether all clubs are enforcing the policy. We spoke to editors of a number of Premier League fan sites, and here's what they had to say:

Paul Wood from Aston Villa's Holte Enders said: "At Villa Park, there are a few pockets of fans that stand and have continuing battles with the stewards. At the end of last season, their seat numbers where taken down, and so it is possible that they had letters sent too. When I've been away however, I saw an area of fans that stood throughout the Leicester match. I presumed it was some sort of supporters' club that were 'unofficially' allowed to stand. And we all stood the whole game without any hassle (there was one tannoy announcement). At Ipswich we tried to stand, but the steward got really arsey, and even got the police involved."

Bradford fanzine editor Dave Pendleton of City Gent said: "We've had problems at Valley Parade. It was only last summer that we lost our terraced Kop. Built in '86 and safe as houses. Last season the stewards caused all sorts of problems, this time they're more relaxed. But a few folk have been pulled for standing. Away fans can get away with standing all the match."

Chelsea's, Nick Brown from BlueAndWhiteArmy.net spoke of the situation at Stamford Bridge: "Probably the best match at Chelsea last year was Barcelona at home, when the West Stand and Harding Lower stood up throughout. Generally though, the stewards make sure everyone's seated. Though some sections of these stands still stand up for long periods of the game."

Neville Hadsley of Coventry's Gary Mabbutt's Knee said: "We have an area call the West Terrace (or Westend as it is called by supporters) in which most people stand. It's almost a tacit thing. I'm not aware of any attempt by the club to clamp down on it."

Leicester's The Fox, edited by Gary Silke said: "At Leicester a block of the Kop stands constantly and has done ever since it was seated. The club put out an announcement to sit down every game and are roundly jeered. This is usually the signal for many more to stand. They can't kick everyone out. They were threatened with having the block shut down because the safety certificate wouldn't be issued by the council, but nothing came of it. You'll Never Seat the Spion Kop!"

Leeds, To Elland Back, Mark Monk said: "No such Politbureau tactics at Elland Rd yet. There were a few Anglo-Saxon exchanges throughout last season, but most people seem to have got the message and in the 2 games so far, there has been no real problems. For the big Euro games, everyone stands anyway - it will be interesting to see what happens against Milan."

Sal Robinson from Middlesbrough's, Fly me to the Moon said: "The North Stand at the Riverside pretty much stands up when it feels like it, but stewards come to the very back row of even the corners if there's anyone in a minority standing, which causes many arguments. They argue it's dangerous, we argue they're being petty. I was threatened with eviction from the ground for putting my foot on the back of the seat in front last season, my block at the time had around 12 empty rows in front of me and my seat is my season ticket. I threatened said steward with a "name 'em and shame 'em" piece in the fanzine regarding 'little Hitlers' and he buggered off. Sign of the times I'm afraid, but I've yet to find anyone ejected for plain old swearing, which is just as well, or Boro's average gate would be around 2,000.

Plus, you're not allowed to smoke outside within our stadium, but you can happily puff away in the concourse packed with people and food. Marvellous. Synchronised clapping and Mark Page telling you to not throw your litter down as it will spoil the pitch; no wonder I love going to lower league grounds in the cup!"

Southampton's The Ugly Inside spokesman Clive Foley said of the Dell: "Maybe we have the only all standing end left in the Premiership at Southampton. It all stemmed from a Newcastle night game a few years back.

Trailing 1-0 about a hundred fans tried to get things going by standing up and chanting. An announcement came over the tannoy for those fans to sit down or face ejection. En Masse the whole end stood up and gave it loads, it was a case of "I'm Sparticus".

We ended up winning the game 3-1 and have been standing ever since, although unfortunately we haven't been winning ever since. There have been noises about making us sit down but so far everyone has stood firm (pun intended). The biggest threat comes when we move to our new stadium next August and if the club start to employ private security rather than the current club stewards."

No hard and fast policy to prevent standing throughout the country then, although the majority of clubs seem to be more relaxed than Town, particularly with regard to away fans. Perhaps the club should speak to some of them and discuss how ro bring about a situation which is more tolerable for fans and club alike.

Please feel free to give your opinion on this issue on the Town Topic section of the website.

Photo: Action Images

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