Away fans move causing debate at Palace (From Your Local Guardian)

Away fans move causing debate at Palace

2:00pm Wednesday 14th July 2010

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After Crystal Palace confirmed visiting supporters would be moved to the opposite end of the Arthur Wait stand, a mixed response has been given towards the decision, with a majority of fans unhappy.

Some believe the atmosphere at Selhurst Park will become dull once again, just as the mood started to improve.

After the emotional end to the campaign last season and the roller-coaster ride Palace fans were put through during the summer, many were looking forward to the return of local rivals Millwall.

Now, Palace fans have to find another way to create a vibe in which visiting teams would find hard to ignore, with the excuse of Police finding it a growing concern that the visiting supporters were too close to the more vocal Palace fans a good enough reason to move the visiting fans.

Another concern is that the more vocal, and sometimes aggressive fans, such as Millwall and Leeds will be next to the Whitehorse Lane End , in which the majority of the younger Eagles supporters sit.

Some believe that if a situation was to a rise in a game that had something at stake, then it may not be appropriate that away fans should be seated near young children.

Having said this, it's not all negative, with the main reason behind the choice being that the policing costs would rise, which in turn meant that the majority of the games would be a higher grade, leading to the costs of policing and various other costs totalling around £60,000 for the upcoming season alone.

With the new consortium eventually taking over the club and promising that the first thing they will do is ensure that the club is successful over the years and funds are kept to a minimum, maybe this is the right move for Palace in the future and if the same atmosphere is created around Selhurst Park, then this may not be such a negative move.

My opinion is that if Palace fans keep the same belief that we showed last season, then this season could be a fresh start for the Club and the key to a promising future for our club.

With three acquisitions already and at least a further two being linked with the club, it seems that the club is in for a busy few weeks.

With the visit of Premier League champions Chelsea on Saturday as well, it's suddenly very exciting to be a Palace fan, although the experience of being a Palace fan has not been short of surprises in the past 10 years.