Liverpool FC supporters back rail seating

January 2017. In what is believed to be the biggest ever poll of Liverpool fans’ attitude towards safe standing an overwhelming majority have agreed that their club should consider following Celtic’s lead and look to install rail seating at Anfield.

The operators of multi-award-winning podcast The AnfieldWrap frequently run polls on their Twitter account, which is followed by over 110,000 Liverpool fans. Normally, they say, they get around 1,200 votes. In January 2017, they decided to run a poll on safe standing. The level of response was astonishing. Instead of the usual 1,200, nearly 8,000 LFC fans wanted to have their say. And 83% supported the suggestion put to them that Liverpool should consider something similar to the safe standing section at Celtic Park.

Coming just months after 93% of the members of Liverpool’s leading supporters’ group The Spirit of Shankly voted for their organisation to adopt a formal position on rail seating, the result of the TAW poll gives the lie to the assumption that Liverpool fans en bloc oppose safe standing. After a comprehensive consultation exercise, Spirit of Shankly will be formally adopting their position on rail seating in mid-2017. If the TAW poll is representative of the view of the match-going Liverpool fans, then it looks likely that this position too will be a supportive one.