Town have issued a statement on the seating of North Stand fans in the South Stand. As season tickets have gone out supporters have discovered that they are no longer sitting with all their regular comrades. Although the people next to them are their usual neighbours those behind them or in front are not.
This has annoyed some fans who have sat in groups which previously took up a number of rows. Already TWTD has heard from some fans who used to have a group sat together across three rows in the old stand. They now find themselves sat 100 seats away from some of the people they have sat with for many years.
Given the difficulty of getting seats in the central areas of the North Stand in recent years supporters have often ended up sitting behind or in front of their friends. Some may now find themselves stuck half a stand away from their friends amongst people they don't know.
Town director of communications Alesha Gooderham says that this is a consequence of the difference between the old stand and the new: "It was always our intention to move the North Stand supporters en bloc to the South Stand for one season, however, the South Stand seating configuration has not matched that of the old North Stand. Trying to match a stand which was built some decades ago to a brand new stand has unfortunately proven impossible."
"To try to achieve the best possible outcome for North Standers we tried to keep those supporters who sat together previously — staying together. However where the number of seats per row didn't match we continued on to the following row which has disturbed the seating patterns in front and behind. Changes like these have caused immense frustration and disappointment amongst our North Stand fans for which we sincerely apologise. We have done our utmost to keep fans in a similar locality to their friends fully appreciating the importance of matchday camaraderie amongst North Standers.
"Any new stand development brings with it unfortunate inconvenience and disruption for the fans and club alike. We have done our best to try and minimise this, however the 12-month objective for us all is a new North Stand with a greater capacity — which will help us challenge in the Premier League."
What do you think of the way the club has handled the move? We've set-up a Town Topic for your opinions, click the link on the Message Board: http://www.twtd.co.uk/messages