Confirmed: Sheffield United's Bramall Lane set for big change next season | OneFootball

The Kop is set to look very different next season as a result of these changes.

Bramall Lane is set to undergo a major change, with Safe Standing set to be brought to the home of Sheffield United.

The Steel City and Safe Standing in football are heavily linked with one another, and forever will be, because of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster that led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters.

In 1994, off the back of the tragedy, all clubs in the top two divisions of English football were made to implement full seating arrangements at their stadiums, doing away with the terraces that, for good and for bad, had become synonymous with football in this country.

Now, more than 30 years later, United are set to bring back a standing area for supporters at Bramall Lane. 3,000 of these positions will be implemented into the Kop, as part of the renovations currently going on in S2, as well as a portion of the away end.

Sheffield United set to introduce Stafe Standing at Bramall Lane

The statement released by the club described the upcoming changes. It said: "An independent rail will be fitted around the existing seats across the back of the Kop with installation work continuing between home fixtures."

The project isn't expected to be completed in time for the Blades' first home game of the 2025/26 campaign, against Bristol City, but the club have said that they hope the changes will be in place before the end of this year.

On the upcoming changes at Bramall Lane, United's CEO, Steve Betts, stated: "Whilst Safe Standing was always viewed as a long-term project, it has now become more viable from a financial perspective. We can now improve safety and crowd management while maintaining compliance from the relevant authorities.

"Safe Standing has dominated our meetings with the FAB [Fan Advisory Board] and we are delighted that our consultations have brought us to this position where we will implement in the near future.

"Hopefully this is seen as a win-win situation and members of the FAB should be congratulated for their tenacity in petitioning for what the supporters want Bramall Lane to look like."

The FAB have been central to this decision, requesting that the changes be made. They met with Betts back in April to discuss the Safe Standing idea. Their chair, Bob Dyson, added: "We too are delighted with the decision. Safe Standing has been the constant number one ask from the fans to the FAB since our formation.

"The Kop is pivotal to driving the atmosphere, replicating that of away games and getting Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane back to its vociferous best.

"We'd like to thank Stephen and the club, together with Joe of Stand United, for the hard work and support in making the vision a reality."

Sheffield United's Safe Standing step is a seismic one for Sheffield football

This is a huge step for the Blades to make. Given the history of standing supporters within the city, for them to make the decision to bring Safe Standing back to one of the areas major clubs is a real statement.

Sheffield Wednesday, whose home unfortunately played host to the horrible disaster back in 1989, have held discussions about introducing Safe Standing at Hillsborough, but no plans have been announced.

United aren't pioneers in this field, countrywide. A number of other clubs in the top two divisions have already implemented standing areas for supporters. That's on top of the many lower-league grounds that never had to make such seating changes in the first place in the 90s. They are, though, blazing a trail within Sheffield, one that could be very important.