Manchester United apply for rail seating at Old Trafford as safe standing backing continues to gather pace

Trial has already been planned to transform 1,500 seats at the Premier League’s largest stadium into rail seating

Manchester United have applied for rail seating to be approved at Old Trafford that could see safe standing introduced at England’s largest Premier League stadium.

A recent fans’ forum meeting revealed that United made the request to their local Safety Advisory Group (SAG) in December 2019 that could see up to 1,500 of the stadium’s 76,000 capacity replaced by rail seating.

The club have moved for the change as it believes it will “enhance spectator safety” in areas of “persistent standing”, according to the BBC, and has already notified season-ticket holders in the respective area of the north-east corner of the stadium that a trial is planned for later this season, should they receive the green light.

Wolverhampton Wanderers already have rail seating areas at their Molineux stadium, while Tottenham Hotspur incorporated “safe seating” in their new ground, with both able to be modified into safe standing areas should the Premier League get the go-ahead in the near future.

The news of United’s request comes a day after the government issued a report that stated rail seating is having “a positive impact on spectator safety”. The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) said that the new areas “mitigate the risk of crowd collapse” when compared to the impact of fans standing in normal seated areas, which follows the government’s promise to “work with fans and clubs towards introducing safe standing.

"It is fantastic news that the world's most famous club is seeking to enhance spectator safety in this way," said Jon Darch, of the Safe Standing campaign group, told the BBC.

"Hopefully, they will be very soon be able to not only install rail seats but also to operate any areas of Old Trafford fitted with this form of seating as official standing areas."