Shrewsbury Town will be first EFL club to install rail-seating
Wednesday 23 May 2018 08:08, UK
The first rail-seating at a football ground in England and Wales - allowing safe standing during a game - will be installed at Shrewsbury Town's Montgomery Waters Meadow Stadium on Thursday.
The seating arrived at the ground on Monday ahead of installation in the back seven rows of the Salop Leisure Stand, holding 555 safe-standing spaces for fans.
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Shrewsbury raised £65,000 through a crowd-funding campaign to pay for the rail-seating.
The League one side expect the seats to be in place for the first home game of next season, although their first use could be when Lionel Richie plays the Meadow on June 13.
Shrewsbury are in the League One play-off final and if they are promoted they will be able to use the safe-standing area in the Championship, despite other clubs in the division being barred from installing them themselves.
The club will then get three seasons to make the Montgomery Waters Meadow all-seater, as was the case when Burton reached the Championship.
Legislation prevents Premier League and Championship clubs from having any safe-standing areas, although on June 25 Parliament will debate this following a petition reaching 100,000 signatories which meant by law Parliament had to consider allotting time for this in the House.
