Aston Villa make a stand to introduce rail seats into Premier League
Villa today declared almost half the clubs in the Premier League are interested in allowing standing at their stadiums.
The club has offered to conduct a trial of 'rail seats' at Villa Park, as a solution to safe standing at grounds.
A demonstration took place at Bristol City's Ashton Gate ground yesterday which showed what could be expected if the Football League is successful in lobbying the Government for a change in the legislation.
City unveiled a 'demonstration block' of 33 seats to the assembled governing bodies.
Rail seats, which are commonly used in Germany's Bundesliga, have seats that flip upright attached to crash barriers, and include a safety barrier on every row, so can be used for either standing or sitting.
City will install 3,700 more if full approval is given.
Villa claim 96-97 per cent of fans want a return to standing.
Their football operations manager Lee Preece said: "There are at least seven or eight clubs that have said they're also interested. We've identified areas for a small-scale trial at Villa Park so the rest of football could see if it works."
Villa, Cardiff, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Swansea and Hull have officially backed the Football Supporters' Federation's safe-standing campaign and Albion are among six more clubs who have an "open mind".
More than two-thirds of the Football League's 72 clubs voted in favour of trials.
Regulations currently prohibit rail seats in English football, so they will initially be used for rugby games at Ashton Gate. Wolves became the first English club to debate safe standing with the FSF in May 2011 and they hosted a demonstration of a model of rail seating.
All-seater stadiums have been compulsory in the top two divisions since the Taylor Report following the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, when 96 Liverpool fans died.
Standing is allowed in Leagues One and Two, but Championship grounds must be all-seater at clubs in the second tier for at least three seasons.
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