There have been a number of comments of late to the Trust about empty seats at the Liberty especially in the North Stand – Away End. The issue was discussed at the last Trust Board meeting and Supporter Director, Huw Cooze gave an update on proposed changes to the North (Visitors) Stand.

The segregation in the North Stand is about to change for certain games. Unfortunately the amount of work required and the related planning consent etc all takes time to arrange and the forthcoming close season will be the first opportunity to complete the work.

The main issue has been the need to re-configure the area beneath the Stand. If parts of the seating in the current “away end” are to be configured so that home fans can use some of it when visitor numbers are low, similar segregation is necessary in the area beneath the stand. This means two sets of catering and toilet facilities. The installation of another toilet block will be one of the major pieces of work, The changes will mean that when visiting fan numbers are low some of the allocation we are required to give to visitors can be used for home fans.

Seats in other parts of the ground can be empty for all sorts of reason including the failure of the ticket holder to turn up for the game. In addition a small number of seats in the West Stand are allocated as part of sponsorship arrangements. From time to time these are not taken up by the sponsor but the Club rarely gets sufficient notice to allow the tickets to be re-sold.