Man Utd get OK for rail seats

Manchester United hit the headlines in April 2020, when the club announced that it had received permission to install rail seats at Old Trafford. After months of discussions with the safety authorities, the club had been given the green light by Trafford Council’s Safety Advisory Group to create a trial area of 1,500 rail seats in their world-famous stadium.

Since November 2018, all clubs in England and Wales with grounds governed by the all-seater policy have been permitted to install rail seats as a safety enhancement in areas of their grounds where fans stand persistently. This has been the case for some years in ‘J Stand’ at Old Trafford and so the club had sought permission to enhance spectator safety in that area by fitting rail seats.

When the announcement about the go-ahead was made, the club’s managing director, Richard Arnold, said: “This announcement is the latest step in what has been a long journey with our fans. We have listened to their feedback, in particular the representations made by MUST, and worked with Trafford Council to develop and approve this proposal.”

He added that the club believes that the rail seats “will enhance spectator safety in areas of the stadium where – as with other clubs – we have seen examples of persistent standing. It also allows us to future-proof the stadium in the event of any changes to the current all-seater stadium policy. If the trial is successful, we may consider further implementation of barrier seating in other parts of the stadium.”