15 years ago

[martin@ardenley]

May 14th 2000 against Man Utd was the last home game played in front of the old Trinity Road stand, that's fifteen years since the old Trinity Road stand was knocked down and the new one was built. It has bedded down at Villa and the recent works with the new signs and the Macgregor stature have made the stand better, but it still lacks the character of the old stand

Yes the new stand has better facilities, more corporate rooms and greater leg room, but I think Villa Park has lost a bit of character since 2000. I think a few questions need to be asked. Firstly, how was the old stand not listed? Similar stands at Rangers, Fulham and even Arsenal who have moved, were not allowed to knock their old stands at Highbury, due to their listed status.

Secondly, why did Doug obviously go out of his way to create a red brick frontage of the Holte, when it was rebuilt, only not to bother replicating a similar style when the Trinity was demolished? I remember at the time there was talk of simply replacing the roof, but that was quickly changed to a total demolition job.

Thirdly, even if they had to do a new stand could they not have had a replica gable? Other clubs such a Sheffield Wednesday and Notts  County have done this.

Finally, was there ever a planned redevelopment of Villa Park post Taylor report? I mean yes we have got a good stadium, and yes Doug did some good work, but the stands don’t all add up. I mean the Doug Ellis/aka Witton could perhaps been linked up with the Holte better as some seats in the lower Holte have restricted views. Also when they redid the stand why did they not have a corner stand up with the North Stand and just left the old Trinity, as I would guess the capacity would be about the same as it is now anyway.

I don’t know what Randy really wants regarding stadium development, but if he ever wants to re do the North Stand I hope it is planned well and adds to the character at Villa Park.

[aj2k77]

All questions can be answered I guess by the fact Doug lacked any vision and was a cheapskate.

[itbrvilla]

I'm amazed at how much those stands cost say compared to the Emirates.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Whenever a new stand was built at Villa Park, Doug always seemed to have the builders round his house at the same time. A bit of an extension here, or a new roof there.
But before anybody thinks that Doug may have awarded a big building contract at Villa Park as long as they threw in a bit of freebie work on his house I am not for second suggesting that. Just saying, coincidences happen with football chairman. 

[Lucky Eddie]

One small crumb of comfort is that we still have four individual stands and retain a degree of historic British architectural heritage.

Those part wrap arounds like Forest and smallest heath look ridiculous.

[TopDeck113]

I'm with you, Martin: the combination of a more enlightened custodian of the club's heritage and a sympathetic architect would have overseen a new stand that combined the best of both worlds.  Yes, it would have cost more, but by incorporating elements of the old stand's distinctiveness Villa Park would have remained far more reminiscent of the stadium we all remember so fondly. 

[West Derby Villan]

The most unanswered question is, why was the Lion mosaic not kept and relocated into the new stand

[PeterWithesShin]

The most unanswered question is, why was the Lion mosaic not kept and relocated into the new stand

I'm sure i've heard/read that when they took it down it basically fell apart.

Didn't someone rescue it from a skip?

[martin@ardenley]

This one?

[London Villan]

The most unanswered question is, why was the Lion mosaic not kept and relocated into the new stand

Cost too much to do... Which sums up DE. Of all the new stands built in that era the Trinity's external design is by far and away the worst. There wasn't a single piece of thought put into it, just shockingly poor trading estate, cheap architecture.

[Pat McMahon]

One small crumb of comfort is that we still have four individual stands and retain a degree of historic British architectural heritage.

Those part wrap arounds like Forest and smallest heath look ridiculous.

Apart of my pride in Villa Park disappeared when we knocked down the Trinity - it was a grand old facade and we should have retained some features such as the lion mosaic, or at least incorporated the style into the new stand.

Lucky Eddie, I am not sure what you mean by retaining some part of our architectural heritage as the ground has 4 stands with nothing in common and only the Holte was bequeathed some character.