This whole idea of 'The Kop' is all well and good but it's going to be larger than the Park Lane lower/corner of the Shelf and everyone stands up there anyway. We have less fans in those areas now than we will do in the 'Kop' area. I really don't think that it will be the 'wall of noise' that everyone says it will be. The fact remains, unless ticket price adjustments are made to allow younger people in this end, I can't see it being the atmosphere revival everyone hopes it will be. Under current legislation, it will still be an all-seater stadium (and section) and the stewards have a job to do - to ensure that people are sitting down in that section. That means we'll probably get a situation close to WHL now whereby for the smaller games a lot of people at the first few rows will be pestered to sit down all the time and for bigger games it won't be so much of an issue.
It's a new stadium after all. It won't really feel like 'ours' until we've been in for a few seasons and the memories of the Lane have faded. I just feel that it doesn't really matter what ground you're at within the Premier League, there is no such thing as an 'intimidating atmosphere' and the same will go for the new WHL.
If, for example, there could be a change of legislation by the time it is built whereby people are allowed to stand behind their seats in a designated area - then that could help. This would ensure that the 'singers' are at least grouped together and are not hassled by fellow fans or stewards to sit down. Even if the 'Kop' is built, then there will still be fans that go there not expecting to stand up for 90 minutes just like the current Park Lane lower.
Anyway, I hope that English football moves on and allows our fans to stand up in peace and create an atmosphere worthy of the best league in the world, but we're still far away from that happening. If sense was actually used for such a decision then we'd have it by now!
