how good villa park could have been...

[georgevilla]

Was thinking earlier about which grounds have been the most largely unchanged since hillsborough (hillsborough ironically being one of them) and it got me thinking how much better villa park could’ve looked today if we’d followed suit. the holte could’ve been kept and filled in with seats just like at leeds and sheff wednesday or even reprofiled as the kop at bramall lane was. that’s always seemed like such a shame to me. the trinity of course we all know about. anyone know why it wasn’t just reprofiled and instead completely demolished and rebuilt? seems a mystery to me. anyway, as great as villa park is now, it could’ve been so much better in my opinion.

[PeterWithesShin]

From what's been said over the years, the Holte was too big to just bolt seats onto the terracing and the Trinity would have fallen down sooner rather than later (a slight exaggeration but it wasn't in the greatest of condition by then).

[AV82EC]

Still absolutely hate the Holte being two tier, it’s ruined it for me. There is so much space behind the Holte  to have created a great single tier stand with huge concourses and lounges but as ever Doug couldn’t see beyond the end of his chequebook.

[Ad@m]

Still absolutely hate the Holte being two tier, it’s ruined it for me. There is so much space behind the Holte  to have created a great single tier stand with huge concourses and lounges but as ever Doug couldn’t see beyond the end of his chequebook.

Not sure it would've worked.

Yes, there's plenty of space behind the centre of the Holte but Trinity Road already cuts away at the corner of the upper tier as it is so going further back would've either resulted in moving the road (which BCC were unwilling to do as we saw with the new Trinity Road Stand) or extending it over the road which would've cost an absolute fortune I imagine.

For me, the North Stand redevelopment is the obvious choice to build a massive single-tier stand a-la Dortmund's Yellow Wall.

[maidstonevillain]

Still absolutely hate the Holte being two tier, it’s ruined it for me. There is so much space behind the Holte  to have created a great single tier stand with huge concourses and lounges but as ever Doug couldn’t see beyond the end of his chequebook.

Not sure it would've worked.

Yes, there's plenty of space behind the centre of the Holte but Trinity Road already cuts away at the corner of the upper tier as it is so going further back would've either resulted in moving the road (which BCC were unwilling to do as we saw with the new Trinity Road Stand) or extending it over the road which would've cost an absolute fortune I imagine.

For me, the North Stand redevelopment is the obvious choice to build a massive single-tier stand a-la Dortmund's Yellow Wall.

I do wonder whether it is feasible to extend the Holte over the Trinity Road now the precedent has been set with the Trinity Road stand.

[West Derby Villan]

Wasn't it mentioned at the time that a "one tier" Holte would mean that the spectators at the back would be a very long way from the pitch, which would provide a bad view (and probably out of breath if they walked up from the front)

[Toronto Villa]

Corporate sales means it is very unlikely a new North will be one tier.

[garyshawsknee]

Maybe a two tier with safe standing if that ever comes in.

[Ad@m]

Corporate sales means it is very unlikely a new North will be one tier.

Spurs have managed it in their new stadium and I doubt they have less demand for corporate sales than us.

[PeterWithesShin]

They've done it with one stand, same as we have one stand with no boxes. I have no doubt they other 3 stands have far more corporate than we, and most other clubs, do.

[Ad@m]

They've done it with one stand, same as we have one stand with no boxes. I have no doubt they other 3 stands have far more corporate than we, and most other clubs, do.

You're making my point for me.

A club like Spurs, which will have huge demand for corporate hospitality and could no doubt have sold a bunch of corporate boxes in their South Stand several times over have chosen instead to build an iconic single tier stand for their fans.

If they can justify it, I'm sure we can.

[Des Little]

Whatever we build to replace the North Stand needs to have a grass bank on the back to slide down when it's been raining.

[PeterWithesShin]

They can fit more corporate in three stands than we could in four, which is why they can build that one stand. You think if they were rebuilding one stand at WHL it would be a single tier with no corporate? The fact they could have added boxes is a total irrelevance. You are suggesting we reduce our corporate areas using a club that has added a load of corporate as an example of why we should do it.

[berneboy]

Whatever we build to replace the North Stand needs to have a grass bank on the back to slide down when it's been raining.

And no railings either ...

Even as a little un  I couldn't understand how it was allowed

[KRS]

You simply can't compare the corporate facilities between VP and WHL when they've done a complete stadium redesign and build, and we rebuild one stand at a time with little foresight for any future developments. WHL will be one of the best (if not, the best) modern football stadiums in Europe (or at least the UK) and it has a price tag to match, whilst our stadium developments have been managed and restricted by both costs and infrastructure.

As someone mentioned on the other thread, the new Trinity Road stand from the outside could and should have been designed to be a thing of beauty especially considering what it was replacing, however it is an eyesore and looks like an industrial factory designed and constructed on the cheap. The same could be said of Witton Lane.