After Aston Villa, Derby County are the next to declare their support for safe standing in some areas of Pride Park. This comes after Football Supporters Federation visited the city with their campaign promoting this solution.

After Aston Villa and earlier also Populous architect John Barrow, this time it's Derby County manager Nigel Clough who says standing areas deserve a place at his club's stadium, the Pride Park.

“As a club that places great importance on customer care, we recognise that a not insignificant number of our fans prefer to watch football standing up, but we currently do not have the opportunity to satisfy this customer preference,” said Clough.

“However, having seen a demonstration of rail seats, we believe that the concept has merit and could provide us with a safe and well-managed means of doing so. We therefore request that the relevant authorities take a close look at the rail seat system with a view to defining appropriate criteria under which it could be introduced in future at grounds such as ours.”

Clough is the latest in a long line of significant figures to have backed safe standing. Back in November 2011 John Barrow of architects Populous said safe standing areas could be introduced “without any problems at all”.