Exclusive:Sheffield Wednesday to press on with safe standing plans after SAG talks
Sheffield Wednesday are exploring the options for areas of safe standing to be installed at Hillsborough after discussions with authorities, The Star understands.
The subject of safe standing at S6 has been the subject of long-held discussions with outline plans for its implementation having been a subject of conversation behind the scenes as early as 2024. The scale of events surrounding the club over the last year or more effectively shelved those plans for several months but sources have suggested to The Star that following discussions with Sheffield City Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), efforts to prepare for safe standing are being revisited.
The Advisory Group are said to be ‘very keen’ to have the renewed provisions in some areas of the ground. Though the up-to-date scale of what will be required is not yet clear, plans drawn up towards the end of 2024 took in up to 5,000 seats in three areas of the stadium at a potential cost of around £250k.
It is understood that the safe standing seating would be focused centrally on areas in which there is already persistent standing from supporters; chiefly the end of the North Stand that looks onto the stadium’s north west corner, areas of The Kop and potentially the Upper West.
The implementation of safe standing could be required as early as next season and with the months ticking down, Wednesday administrators at Begbies Traynor have taken a proactive approach to picking up the exploratory work already undertaken so as to avoid any potential timescale issues for the new owners later down the line. Depending on how discussions go from here, it could be that contractors are booked-in in the coming weeks with a view to undertaking the work before the new campaign starts on the weekend of August 8.
With time of the essence, The Star understands it could well be that a first wave of plans are completed to satisfy any SAG concerns before further resolutions are produced in the years to come.
Proactive efforts would seek to avoid any risk of the close-run thing experienced last year, when SAG slapped a prohibition notice on Hillsborough’s North Stand in July last year amid concerns over spectator safety. The stand was re-opened with just days to go before the first game of the 2025/26 season following work undertaken in the weeks leading into the new campaign.
It is understood that further remedial work is required on the North Stand and other areas of the stadium, though these have become something of a routine in recent years. Should the club’s preferred bidders Arise complete their process to acquire the club, decisions will be made on investment into the stadium along with other areas of the club.