Really not sure why we would believe someone we know nothing about on a colchester message board. Also even if - and its an if - the West Stand has a problem thats no reason to call the game off - just do what Birmingham and doing and move people to other seats My only issue with the club at this stage is lack of information - it would be good if there were some explanations for these last minute changes as at the moment we are all guessing and coming up with all sorts of explanations - most of which are probably wrong
Same here though I would like some explanation as to why tickets were withdrawn from sale for both this and the luton matches. I cant get to either game anyway but it would be nice to know whats happening
When the club went in to administration in 2002 two local businessmen Peter Jones and Alan Sherriff( former chairman of Barnsley building society) approached Patrick Cryne and they formed a consortium to buy the club from administration but Mr Cryne did not make a a large enough bid and lost to Mr Doyle. Peter Jones was a shareholder of the old BFC Ltd and contacted all shareholders such as myself regarding trying to do something to save the club. Peter sat only 5 yards or so from me at Oakwell and so after the initial contact I spoke to him on a regular basis and he divulged to me information regarding the club which he had obtained due to him being part of that consortium. Although the consortium failed he kept in touch with Mr Cryne. I was informed that when Mr Cryne finally took over the club he looked into demolishing the west stand because it not have many fans using it and savings could be made regarding business rates,maintaining it, stewarding it etc. He had a survey done and the report came back that there was a lot of asbestos in the basement insulating utility pipes etc and the cost of specialist removal and demolition would wipe out any short and medium term savings. Regarding the structure of the west stand Michael Spinks informed me a few years ago that the only timber part of it are the structures that the seats are attached to in the upper stand and they are sat on concrete.The rest of it is iron girders,concrete, bricks. I am no expert but looking at the roof it looks like cement bonded asbestos sheeting which used to be used years ago on garages etc.
youd think so but there could be a grey area if there were doubts about the floor in the upper for example so its fine with only half the fans but might be at risk if full. That doesnt fit the lower though as that can only be at risk if the top might fall on it
But….. it’s not largely wooden is it? The seats and terraced seating floor are, but not the real structure or roof…. So I suspect it would be relatively straight forward to gut the inside and fit modern terraced seating within. Issues with the timbers aren’t therefore likely to be as major as any issues with the structure itself. Would there be any issue with heritage status for one of the oldest stands in world football? I don’t know. For my money, a lot of people talk with authority about the standard of the West Stand with minimal & 4th hand info. I suspect it’s part of ongoing discussions between parties with different agendas and a bit of a useful red herring, but this is a massively ill informed guess on my part.
I agree, its about opinions & I'm fed up of people slagging off the west stand & stating things as if they are fact when basically no facts have been made public
It is not fit for purpose in the 21st century, when re-developed a good architect could make maximum use of the space from the red wall is now to pitch side running track and from the ponty end to the side of the police observation stand; but that could well cost in excess of £10M. If demolished and left we would still be left with a capacity of 18000.
Not really that simple tbf; As I see it, there’s two aspects to this which at face value may not appear to be different, but which really are; 1. Is it structurally safe? 2. Is it safe under match day conditions in the way the club will steward and run it. People have a tendency to think that any issues comes under point 1. I wouldn’t be so sure… but don’t know for a fact….
If i win the Euromillions tonight, I'll donate 15 million to have it knocked down and something more modern constructed. I'll also have that bloody bridge finished.
Well, it's dilapidated and can't be used to its full capacity. Pretty sure that equates to eyesore and waste of space.
My season ticket is West Lower and I’ve not heard anything from the club. I really hope we don’t turn up tomorrow to get told we need to find a seat elsewhere, that would be some free for all. I can’t see why we would though, just a few rumours on the Coventry site and other people putting 2 and 2 together making 44?