Newcastle United supporters do not want this remarkable campaign to end, but the first home game of next season already feels like it could be one to remember. Not only will that opener at St James' Park offer fans the chance to see the club's summer signings in action - safe standing will also make its home debut.
A standing section with space for around 1,800 supporters will be installed at Strawberry Corner in the Gallowgate End over the summer as part of an initial trial, and there will be a similar provision for away fans up at Level 7 in the Leazes End. While a number of Newcastle supporters have stood at games on the road, this will be the first time a generation will formally line up in a designated area at St James' since the introduction of all-seater stadiums in the '90s.
Among those who have welcomed the move is Wor Flags member Thomas Concannon, who has a seat in the section, and the Geordie hopes it is 'just the start'.
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"Eighteen hundred is still a relatively modest number," he told ChronicleLive. "It can certainly grow to be well into the thousands to have a real impact.
"We see that around Europe. Everyone knows about Borussia Dortmund and the scenes you see there behind the goal with 25,000 fans fully standing and everyone dreams of that.
"Certainly, from a Wor Flags point of view, we have wanted that before. We have wanted the Gallowgate to be our home end behind the goal. Having it in the corner is a good little start and hopefully it can grow."
Concannon and a number of Newcastle supporters have wanted to see safe standing introduced for some time - long before the takeover, in fact - after witnessing Celtic become the first British side to bring it in back in 2016. The club, therefore, were keen to ensure fans were at the heart of this decision and more than 4,000 supporters responded to Newcastle's online survey on the matter. Three-quarters of those polled were in favour of licensed standing being introduced while over 70% of fans identified the Gallowgate End as the preferred location.
Seventy supporters then attended a subsequent working group session at St James', which was led by Sarah Medcalf, the club's head of supporters services, to provide more detailed feedback. Strawberry Corner quickly emerged as the overwhelming choice of fans for the standing section given how that area already has a vocal presence at the stadium.
The hope is this part of the ground can be even louder and other areas of the stadium can feed off the visual sight of 1,800 supporters jumping up and down - even if this is on a much smaller scale compared to, say, Dortmund. The Bundesliga giants, after all, have Europe's largest free-standing grandstand, the South Terrace, where 25,000 supporters are all proudly on their feet.
Thorsten Hans was part of the so-called yellow wall for two decades before kindly passing on his season ticket to his son, Nik, and relocating to another part of the stadium, and the 43-year-old has no doubt that Newcastle 'won't regret' the trial.
"If you offer the fans the freedom at St James' Park, the choice, it's a massive opportunity to enhance the whole atmosphere," he told ChronicleLive. "Definitely. The noise will go up massively and it will ignite the whole atmosphere.
"I would definitely recommend it. Dortmund is living proof that it can work and that it does work. If the South Terrace starts something, nearly the rest of the stadium follows. You just have to feel it. Feeling the concrete shake under your feet when everybody is jumping? You can't describe it."
It is important to note that there is a recognition that some Newcastle fans in the Strawberry Corner do not want to stand or can't stand for the duration of a game. However, the hope is that those who take up the option will ensure there is a consistency to the atmosphere, regardless of the result or the opponent, and other season ticket holders will be given the chance to move into the licensed standing area if seats become available. Newcastle have contacted all affected supporters by email - giving them the opportunity to remain as part of the trial or opt out - and all fans with a disability will receive a call directly from the club's supporter services team to ensure their match day experience is as comfortable as possible.
Clearly, it has been quite an operation to get to this point. Unlike in Germany, stadiums in the first and second tiers in this country have had to be all-seaters since the Taylor Report in 1994, which was carried out after the Hillsborough disaster, when 97 fans tragically died after a crush. Nearly 30 years later, the government allowed Premier League and Championship clubs to introduce safe standing areas back in August following a robust trial, thorough evidence and modern engineering breakthroughs, which now mean that these rail seats can be folded away to create a safe standing area with barriers.
However, only clubs who meet strict safety criteria will be able to bring in licensed standing. These conditions include enhanced use of CCTV, improved steward training and fans being limited to one person, one space.
Even then, the success of rail seating goes far beyond meeting these conditions and getting the infrastructure in place. Cormac Ryan is a member of the Celtic Trust, who backed the original campaign for a safe standing section at Parkhead, and argued for its implementation in meetings with senior club officials at that time.
The trust have since supported the Celtic End campaign for a radically increased rail seating capacity, which would take in the entire Jock Stein Stand, and build on the impact and noise 2,700 standing fans have already made.
"Rail seating in and of itself doesn't make the atmosphere better," he told ChronicleLive. "It takes an awful lot of dedication, effort and organisation on the part of the supporters groups involved to make that happen.
"At times, these groups also need to be willing to fight their own corner in order to stay true to their principles and keep their autonomy as groups distinct from the official apparatus of the club. There also needs to be a willingness on the part of club officials to recognise that autonomy and to engage in mature and meaningful dialogue with supporters groups, taking their needs and concerns on board."
On the subject of meaningful dialogue, QPR are among those clubs who have held talks with supporters groups. The club first consulted with fans in late 2019 and, like Newcastle, listened to feedback from supporters on where they wanted the safe standing section to be.
It was by no means a cheap operation for a Championship outfit. Installing a single rail seat at Loftus Road last summer cost QPR upwards of five times as much as the traditional equivalent would and the club would not typically replace a thousand seats at once regardless. Yet there can be no doubt that it has been worth it.
The right side of the Lower Loft used to be a family stand, but it now tends to be the first area that sells out at the ground now. According to Joshua Scott, the club's head of operations, the standing section has made a 'big impact', particularly when QPR have gone from being a side at the top of the table at the start of the season to one now fighting relegation.
"The reason it worked is because it was a drive from our supporters," he told ChronicleLive. "It was not really us just saying, 'This is what we are going to do'. It was supporters who wanted this to go in so they gave it a little bit of an extra effort to make it more atmospheric.
"Even at the top of the league, earlier this season, you could tell that was the bouncing area. It was amazing the difference but, despite the on field performances that we have had, and the slide down the table, that has still been the loudest area. It's pointed out in other areas of the ground: 'Those guys are looking like they are having fun over there so that's the sort of area I want to move into.'"
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