RDS To Close And Become 'Banner Area'

Last updated : 18 April 2013 By Stand Free Ed

Due to falling attendances, the support has been spread out amongst Pittodrie leading to a poor matchday atmosphere.

The club has therefore taken the step of closing the top deck of the Richard Donald stand, as hinted at by the heavily skewed supporters survey earlier this season.

An AFC spokesman said: "The club recently conducted a supporters survey aimed at identifying the various initiatives and changes needed to create a better match day atmosphere at Pittodrie, with one of the main outcomes being to try and ensure greater numbers of supporters in fewer areas around the stadium.

"The club also attempted to contact all season ticket holders currently seated in the upper section of the Richard Donald Stand to ascertain their views on whether they would be willing to relocate next season to a different part of the stadium.

"The overall response from the vast majority of supporters contacted was that they would be willing to relocate and as a result - in addition to the feedback from our recent fans survey on the match-day experience at Pittodrie - the club has taken the decision to close the RDS Upper Deck for the 2013/2014 season.

"With almost three quarters of Aberdeen fans stating they would like to sit in the more heavily populated areas of Pittodrie Stadium, we hope this move will encourage the migration of our supporters to areas of the stadium which are less concentrated."

The club has added that the RDS upper will be open for certain games during the season if there is demand, and that the area will become a permanent display area for supporters banners.

The spokesman said: "AFC would invite any supporters who wish to display a banner in the RDS Upper Deck for next season to contact the Club and we will make the necessary arrangement for these to be displayed on a permanent basis for the duration of the season."

Hopefully this is just the first in a raft of measures introduced to improve the fans' "matchday experience", including playing good football, not treating the paying punters with disdain, and being involved in a league set-up where the championship is not over for 92 per cent of the teams before a ball is kicked.

Discuss the Pittodrie atmosphere in our Matchday Experience forum