A petition demanding the return of standing to the Premier League is halfway towards forcing MPs to consider a parliamentary debate on the matter following a backlash against the sports minister’s refusal to approve a pilot.

Having attracted barely 5,000 signatures since being posted on the parliament.uk website in December, the call for safe standing areas to be allowed in the top flight and Championship had topped 50,000 on Saturday, three days after Tracey Crouch claimed only a “vocal minority” wanted them.

After passing the 10,000 mark, the petition is entitled to a response from the Government - which was still pending last night - while 100,000 signatures would see it considered for debate in parliament.

Crouch provoked outrage on Wednesday when she claimed in apparent defiance of her own safety experts that the answer to persistent standing in the game was not necessarily rail seating.

That was after she rejected an application by West Bromwich Albion to pilot such seating in one section of The Hawthorns.

The man leading the campaign for safe standing areas in the English game, Jon Darch of the Safe Standing Roadshow, told the Sunday Telegraph: “Her actions and out-of-touch comments have roused fans into a response and the 50,000-plus who have now signed the Government petition calling for clubs to be allowed to introduce safe standing show just how strong the feeling is.