Port Vale confirm plans to make Hamil Road a home stand in 2023
Port Vale have confirmed that following successful talks with safety authorities, the Hamil Road stand is set to become the home end in early 2023.
Official statement
A proposal to make a permanent change to where home fans will be situated has been met with broad approval by the Club’s Board, the Local Authority and the Blue Light Services (The Safety Advisory Group).
Following those positive initial discussions, Port Vale Football Club will now seek planning permission to make the Hamil Road Stand a ‘home end’ which will see travelling supporters housed in the Bycars Stand.
The most recent move of away fans was approved on one match basis to test the viability of housing visiting supporters in the Bycars Stand.
The permanent switch will not happen immediately and the club will need to make necessary changes in both stands with the hope to make the move early 2023.
In that time, plans and consultations will continue behind the scenes and we will provide updates as and when they become available.
At this time, those who have purchased Season Tickets in the Bycars Stand will remain unaffected and any changes will be communicated with you directly, you do not need to contact the club.
When changes occur, current Season Ticket holders in the Bycars Stand will be given priority notice and will be given first choice to take up a similar seat on the opposite side of the stadium or in another available home stand.
Background
Two “experiments” using the Hamil Road End have been enthusiastically welcomed by Vale fans. Firstly, when a “beamback” of the away game at Exeter City was shown, home fans were housed in the Hamil End, a move which received much positive feedback. This prompted the club to switch ends for the crucial play-off game against Swindon Town. The reasoning behind the move was that more fans could be housed in the Hamil End and it had better facilities. The feedback from fans after the game has been almost universal praise for the move.
Darrell Clarke’s comments on the Hamil Road stand
Speaking after the play-off semi-final match with Swindon Town, manager Darrell Clarke told the Sentinel newspaper:
Our supporters were absolutely outstanding, the changeover of end was magical stuff. The atmosphere was a thousand times better and I would really like the club to look for that in the future because it cranked up notches. The fans got us over the line…
The argument for making the Hamil Road stand a home end
- The stand has better facilities than the Bycars stand with more exits/entrances and also bars serving beer (the Bycars refreshment counter cannot sell beer as it in sight of the pitch and contravenes FA rules). It makes sense to give home fans, rather than away fans, the best facilities possible.
- With Vale Park’s reduced capacity, a campaign of League One football and increased optimism under the Shanahans it’s possible there could be more big crowds at the ground. In this case, the extra capacity of the Hamil End could be useful.
- Having home fans in the Hamil End also opens up the possibility of making the Tommy Cheadle’s bar a home fans venue again.
- With both the Hamil and Railway stands as home areas, it means the whole area including the ticket office and club shop becomes a “home” area – this could allow (for example) an extension of the popular fanzone and also makes it easier for home fans to exit onto Hamil Road.
- The club want to make the unused side of the Lorne St stand into a family stand. However, there were worries it would be next to the away stand. This move would allay those concerns.
- Finally, the move has been hugely popular with fans and appears to have the backing of the manager – both of which could be big factors.