Manchester United have asked season ticket holders whether they would welcome the return of safe-standing at Old Trafford as part of a 20-question survey that was sent out on Thursday. The selected supporters needed to state which three parts of the ground they would prefer to see safe-standing brought back to if the club were to go ahead if the idea.
United are the first Premier League club to bring it up with fans
The tragic disaster at Hillsborough that took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans during an FA Cup semi-final clash between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989 saw the introduction of vast amounts of seats to replace standing rails at numerous English football stadiums, with United following the trend and removing the last section in 1994.
It is understood, however, that the Red Devils are the first club in the top tier to ask for its supporters' opinions on the matter and senior officials visited Celtic Park in October to have a look at Celtic's current safe-standing area with a capacity of up to 4,000.
Initial talks have been held between Premier League clubs
It is understood that all Premier League clubs apart from Everton have held initial discussions about the prospect of bringing back safe-standing areas in their stadiums and will continue the talks in the new year. One of the biggest benefits in the minds of the league's chiefs is atmosphere and how much it'd be improved if plans were to go ahead due to the apparent drop in recent times among the bigger clubs' fanbases like United and Liverpool, arguably the two largest clubs in the country.
Despite there currently only being all-seater grounds in English football, it's a common thing in foreign countries like Germany with Borussia Dortmund's 'Great Yellow Wall' arguably being the most well-known of all so if talks continue to be positive we could well be seeing something similar closer to us in the future.