Leeds United will move visiting supporters out of Elland Road’s South Stand for the first time this weekend – on the recommendation of manager Simon Grayson and the club’s players.The Championship side are to begin housing away fans in the stadium’s West Stand during Saturday’s match against Portsmouth, in a move which Grayson believes will be a “big advantage” to his team.Leeds have spent in the region of £300,000 redesigning the West Stand to create effective segregation between home and away supporters, and the change will allow United’s fans to take up seats behind both goals at Elland Road for the remainder of the Championship season.Away crowds have traditionally occupied part of Elland Road’s South Stand and South-East corner, but Portsmouth’s allocation of 1,100 tickets and all future allocations will be situated to one side of the pitch.
Chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “The changes are taking place this weekend and Portsmouth’s supporters will be in the West Stand.
These are always the last seats to be sold even when sell-outs occur and it’ll allow us to police and manage visiting supporters more economically.
“But the manager and the players also felt it would be a big advantage to have our own supporters behind both goals. That was a major consideration.”
United, meanwhile, have announced further changes to their fixture list with the club’s game at Barnsley on New Year’s Eve set to kick off at 1pm on police advice.
The fixture at Oakwell was originally scheduled for a 3pm start.
The club also confirmed that their game at Doncaster Rovers on Friday, October 14 will begin at 7.45pm, rather than 8pm.
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