STAN COLLYMORE Right time to Bet Barton can get his ban cut stand up for safe standing
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport THE fact that safe standing is back on the Premier League agenda gets a massive thumbsup from me.
I’m a big admirer of the way they have pulled it off at Borussia Dortmund, with one of the world’s biggest ends behind the goal.
So I see no reason why we can’t do it safely in the top flight now.
As a former Liverpool player, I realise as well as anyone that it’s an emotive issue, and I understand why they have said no.
And to those families of the 96 killed at Hillsborough, who believe standing should never be brought back, I absolutely respect your view.
But I know other families, who lost loved ones that day, that are behind a return to standing – provided every safety check has been passed.
Louise Brookes, whose brother Andy died in the tragedy, has become a good mate in the past year or so and we have had conversations about safe standing.
Atmosphere
Louise always says: “Andy used to stand and he loved it, so, if we can be sure we can make it safe, then, absolutely, that is what we want.”
I know Aston Villa want to add safe standing to the Holte End to enhance the atmosphere, while West Brom announced yesterday they would be keen to be involved in a pilot scheme.
Celtic have already brought it back and have made it work very well. And I’d love one day to see the Kop at Anfield and Manchester United’sed s St Stretfordet o d End all geared up for safe standing as well, with the seats that fans can push back behindnd them and fold up p nicely.
They can have the safe rail in front of them where they can put their coffee, Bovril or beer.
And then, when it comes too UEFA games, thehe seats can be broughtught forward again andd bolted back down.
I have seen whath can beb done with the safe standing roadshow and the way it has worked in Dortmund means we can be optimistic.
Of course, some of you will say: “Hang on, Stan, we haven’t had a disaster since Hillsborough, so why even risk it again?”
But times have changed and we have a much better capacity and technology to handle large crowds at sporting events, concerts, wherever.
Back in 1989, football fans were treated very differently than they are today.
They were neglected back then, treated like scum, pigs, cattle… I went to games, home and away, where I was thrown around,a jockeyed out and generallyg treated that way.
The Taylor Report, after Hillsborough, was the start of a long process that allowed fo football fans to be treated as th they should be.
Febrile
And sometimes it seems it’s now gone so far the other way that we are looked on only as fleeceable consumers.
From a safety perspective, of course, things are much better, but the downside is that the buzz inside the stadiums has been lost. who have seen what can now be done, then the majority say: “Absolutely, we want it back.”
So, as far as I’m concerned, the technology is there, it is proven, it works at Dortmund, with 25,000 people behind the goal.
It would make pricing better, it would make atmospheres better.
It would allow people to take banners to games and make football matches more vibrant occasions again, rather than a game that is played in a sanitised stadium.
I’d be all for it. I KNOW of a player losing a Chinese restaurant during a game of cards on a team bus.
I know of another losing a six-figure sum to a team-mate and I’ve seen team-mates getting sweaty, edgy, even argumentative before games because one has lost a bet to another.er.
So Joey Barton (right) is correct to say gambling has always been a part of football and there’s a lot of hypocrisy over his 18-month ban for it.
He makes a good point when says that, collectively, the length of all the bans Luis Suarez, John Terry and Eric Cantona received for their infamous misdemeanours was the same as his for betting on matches.
And that biting someone or launching a kung-fu kick at them would be punishable in a court of law while placing a bet with a bookie isn’t.
With even a half-decent lawyer, Barton’s argument would be very persuasive for reducing his ban.