Following feedback from our fans, the Club are reassessing different aspects of the match day experience for both home and away supporters. There are a variety of new initiatives that have come into place over recent weeks, particularly the Family Fan Zone, which launched at the home game against Coventry City, as well as the introduction of our Supporter Liaison Officers.
The Club's CEO Liam Scully answers questions on these matters, as well as explaining parking issues, the Sincil Bank segregation area, and an away singing section.
Will there be a designated smoking area for supporters at Sincil Bank and if so where will the Smoking Bubble be?
LS: Yes, we will be trialing a Smoking Bubble at the Port Vale fixture at the back of the Stacey West stand by gate E5.
We will assess and continuously monitor the smoking bubble as it evolves, but thank you to everyone who has provided the feedback which has guided our action on this matter.
How has feedback been on the introduction of SLOs?
LS: We are really pleased with how this has started but to reiterate it is just the beginning of the project. I would like to place on record my thanks to Paul Pyrah, Lindsey Warwick, Heidi Langham, Kevin Morley and of course Alan Long for all their hard work and dedication in particular as they’re pretty much giving up a large chunk of their enjoyment to help serve the rest of the fan base.
What did the Club make of the Family Fan Zone launch against Coventry City?
LS: Again, we’re really happy with how it’s started, and to outline our commitment we made a recent visit to Middlesbrough FC so we can see how their Fan Zone works as it’s highly-regarded as the best in the EFL.
We have got obvious limitations due to the size of the area and considering it is without cover, but we were pleased to see a wide range of fans participating in the activities in particular seeing fans young and old and from both teams enjoying the camaraderie, before cheering their respective teams on from the stands.
Is the Club looking to improve parking options around Sincil Bank?
LS: We are working with a range of partners in the Sincil Bank area, including the City of Lincoln Council, to see how we can ease congestion and parking issues. Fans can expect to see news on this early in 2018.
Why is our segregation area positioned as it is at Sincil Bank?
LS: A number of questions have come in as to why our segregation is (reportedly) so big compared to others. We can’t necessarily speak for others, but we have set our segregation at a level which is suitable for our infrastructure and environment. It is of course a compromise between the commercials and ensuring fan safety but this has been well tested in our research. I do believe we have got the compromise right for the setting we are in, however this will be evaluated on an ongoing basis.
Are we looking to be able to get more home fans in the Stacey West Stand when there’s a smaller away following?
LS: Where possible, we will retain the Stacey West Stand as the designated away end, but with this we are looking at how we can get more home fans in the Stacey West on the occasions this is used for the dual housing of fans.
To be clear the current home capacity within the Stacey West is capped at 201 purely due to foot flow and crowd dynamics in and around half-time & post-match. The matter is complex, but in summary we need to ensure the surge of fans coming from the Co-op doesn’t endanger the smaller crowd number who are also in transit from the Stacey West; both of whom are looking to use the same facilities in the Co-op/Stacey West corner.
Without making any promises, we are currently looking to develop catering and toilet facilities that would exclusively service the home fans in the Stacey West. Should we be able to achieve this then it will enable us to significantly increase the maximum home capacity when in use for the dual housing of fans.
Will there be a ‘singing section’ at away games in the future?
LS: We’re obviously aware that buying tickets through an automated system, or via POTG at an away game you can’t always get seated where you’d like to be. We are looking at ways at how we can get our supporters who would like to be part of the singing section seated together.
This will involve negotiation with the opposition club so it will be hard to set a rule for all, however this is certainly on our radar and the ticketing and safety team are working hard to ensure this happens, in particular at the higher attended away games.
