Scotland leads the way - 7 grounds in 5 days

February 2012. Following the SPL's decision in December 2011 to entertain applications from member clubs to run trials of safe standing areas fitted with rail seats, the Safe Standing Roadshow visited 7 grounds in 5 days in February 2012.

The clubs visited included Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Dunfermline and Aberdeen.

The SPL has stipulated that any club wishing to do a safe standing trial must, when submitting its application, show that it has the agreement of its local police force and council building control officials. Attendees at many of the grounds therefore included police officiers and council safety experts. Further visits were made to see football administrators and a firm of stadium architects.

The final visit of the week was to Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium.

With the club due to move to a new ground shortly, there was great interest from club officials and the Supporters Trust in what might be possible in terms of standing facilities at the new stadium. For fans unable to attend the later open session, STV ran a report in the evening news (the photo on the left is a still from that report). The report can be seen in full here on the STV website