Depends how many seats are in the ground. Say as things stand with league positions of the top two and who's in the bottom three in the premiership we could have a silly sized stadium of for example 40,000 and sell out for a lot of games even if it means giving teams like Man United and Newcastle 10,000 away followings knowing they would sell them out. After a brand new west stand though we'd have to fill in a couple of corners and look to putting an upper tier on the Ponte which would look damn good. The new west stand would have to be at least the size of the current east stand but much more modern. The slightest bit of rain has puddles because the drainage is **** and they don't give stewards sweeping brushes to sweep it onto the gravel track out of the way. Companies would prefer corporate boxes with balconies too so when it's warm they don't have to watch the match from behind a screen.
If we ever need to expand the capacity of the ground the best solution will be to extend the East Stand around into the Ponty, forming a single two tiered stand around two sides of the ground. Getting 7500 people out of the West Stand would be difficult, whereas people can exit the other two directly into the car park where there's more room. If anything I'd rebuild the West Stand brick by brick, and then convert the upper to wheelchair bays, with seats for friends/assistants. We could even put solar panels on the roof.
If you look at the actual footprint of the West Stand it goes narrow near the Ponti End. IMO it would be good to sweep round with the same sized stand as the West Stand - which looking at the layout would mean pushing Grove Street further over towards the current position of the school. If we desire another season in the Premeirship we need a stadium capacity of 30K - because it would be full in these days of high profile football. Increased capacity means a new West Stand (with some of the old roof features incorporated). And as some of the others have suggested - players entering the field where they traditionally used to !!!
True I've recently been working on the designs for a new stand for a football league club that will remain nameless and the whole name of the game is future expansions and potential for increased capacity based on foreseeable success
No it doesn't. The west stand is the same depth at each end. Are you talking about the space BEHIND the west stand (not part of the stands footprint)? As I said, the distance from pitch to external wall at the narrow end is the same as that of the east stand.
Nudger has had this idea a couple of times in the past, it usually resurfaces when we are about to, or rumoured to be selling an expensive player. Truth is, the school should have been purchased years ago and become the administrative HQ for the club, freeing up space in the stadium for football and supporter facilities. And when the West Stand is eventually replaced, it will be a modern centre-piece replica of what is there now, with a little more height for aesthetic balance. No, I'm not interested in the Chief Executive position, I'm purely a free, visionary thinker. You're welcome...
I think they slipped up a bit by not moving the ground a but further back when they built the east stand and ponty.
Definitely. The school should have been purchased years ago. Could have had some excellent facilities built into it but the chance went. Imagine redfearns bar in the main hall of the school.
IMO a football stand is the place where supporters sit PLUS all the other facilities that come with that eg toilets, catering etc. And it's nice to hear a comment from you that's sort of thought out
no need to increase capacity,we cant fill what we've got.If by some miracle we ever get in the premiership for more than one season and the west stand has been sold out to capacity then i would imagine theres room on that site to build a new stand and increase the overall size of the ground
Redfearns (or a supporters bar) should have been included in the vast chasm that is under the East Stand. The waste of space under there is criminal. It's not just the concourse. If you look up, they could have put another floor in.
You love me really just like you know I love you really. Fair point about the stand being the area including toilets and things too, I've always considered the stand to be the physical structure and the stuff to the rear as being 'behind' the stand. What actually is behind the west stand anyway?
Under the stand is the catering booth. Then the toilets are separate 'buildings' which link to the back wall where the turnstiles are. I'll be gutted when they do change that stand, I love it's uniqueness.
The Catering booth is actually under the stand not behind it - the only things actually behind the stand are an open area and the turnstiles and the famous Bogs which should be a listed building.# The catering, turnstiles and toilets could be incorporated into a new stand like they are in the East Stand so there is no reason for space why a new stand couldn't be built on the land the club owns already. It would be a sad day though as the West Stand is part of our history and I would be sad to see it go. In any case there is no need to do anything at the moment as long as the stand is structurally sound as we never fill it anyway. The bogs were ruined a few years ago when someone decided to put a roof on them