Relegated

[FatSam]

I blame the architectural community at the time.  It was riddled with middle class snobbery.  If Villa Park had been a theatre or a railway station or law courts there would have been a nationwide outcry at the loss of part of our Victorian architectural history.  But it was only a football ground populated by the great unwashed who kept coal in the bath.

Sweeping generalisation (which I'm not suggesting is a problem on an Internet forum). It's not the architectural community who would be to blame for this, it's the conservationist community. If there is one city in the UK that has done most to obliterate its cultural heritage, it's Birmingham (my own sweeping generalisation!).

[Jimbo]

It follows a familiar pattern in this city. A nice old building is either in need of repair, or demolition and replacement with a soulless utilitarian structure. Option B is easier than option A. Option B might even make somebody, somewhere, a lot of money. A bullshit reason why the building must be demolished is circulated, and people accept it with a shrug. The building is demolished and replaced with a soulless utilitarian structure. The world gets duller and more corporate. Repeat ad nauseam.

They tend not to fall for the same crap in Glasgow.   

[dave.woodhall]

It might have looked nice but the point remains that it was described as potentially dangerous - and you can't just shout "Liar" at anyone who said so. It was also woefully outdated by 2000 and would have been even more so now. Corners were cut in its replacement but for modern football the new stand is many times more suited.

[saunders_heroes]

As new stands go, the new Trinity is decent. Pity we couldn't have replicated the old stand (like we did with the new Holte) but it's still pretty impressive.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Sad article from Inglis ( featuring one of the old posters on here..)

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2000/may/14/newsstory.sport8


 

[Jimbo]

They managed a compromise at Ibrox. The Trinity looks pretty good from the pitch, but cheap and nasty from every angle on Trinity Road.

[oldhill_avfc]

A couple of thoughts.

In order to retain the identity and aura of the club you need a degree of continuity; this could be the ground/stands, location, key board members etc.  Only the location remains teh same - it's a massive shame that the old Trinity could not have been incorporated in a more integrated and far reaching ground develoment - but those sort of decisions were symptomatic of the late part of Ellis's time.

Secondly, I've said before that if Lerner had any real ambition or indeed business sense then there was no option other than to extend the ground - and then fill it.  There's no other way of competing with the ever increasing list of clubs that have revenue coming from grounds that care massively bigger than Villa Park.

[VILLA MOLE]

They did a good job with the Holte with the front  with the entrance. I do not know why they couldn't  have done something similar

when rebuilding the Trinity, It doesnt  have a focal point , and the sheets of metal are awful.  I thought they shoulld cover them up

with bronze  murals of legends of the past.  McGrath, Little withe   imposing themselves as you walk up   

[maidstonevillain]

It is a shame the facade at least was not retained, although I appreciate that would have been difficult and expensive.  I bet Doug is regretting not doing so.  It would have been his legacy, because I anticipate the Doug Ellis stand will eventually change name afetr a suitable period of respect, and the other stands will only have a limited shelf life.  Having said that the way the club is going we will be ground sharing with Sutton Town before long.

[not3bad]

We're going down
But we'll come back brighter

[Ads]

The problem they had with the new stand is the lack of space to do anything impressive from the outside, as it goes over the road. Perhaps towards the north stand they could have included some red brick design as they have with the back of the Holte. Perhaps they still could, its all for show and wouldn't be structural.

[VILLA MOLE]

The problem they had with the new stand is the lack of space to do anything impressive from the outside, as it goes over the road. Perhaps towards the north stand they could have included some red brick design as they have with the back of the Holte. Perhaps they still could, its all for show and wouldn't be structural.

I understand the space thing , but all the corrugated metal is awful

[KevinGage]

Naturally I am biased, but the original frontage was the best entrance to a club ground in British football, and probably one of the best in world football. I went to the Switzerland v Holland game at Villa Park in 1996, and there were loads of Dutch and Swiss fans taking pictures outside it. Supporters of other clubs who I would bring over from time to time would always comment on it.

The current set-up looks like a slightly bigger version of the BT Cellnet (or whatever Boro are calling their ground now, or the Stadium of Light, or the hundreds of other dull, indentikit main stands.

It wasn't just the entrance either, the gable and the ornate panelling between the enclosure and the upper tier are all things that should have been retained (or replicated as best as possible).

But then the original stand was commissioned at a time when the mindset was only the best is good enough for Aston Villa.  The new Trinity is the embodiment of the 'That'll do' mindset that blights the club and the country at large.

[andyh]

Love him, like him or loath him, it's quite sad when an elderly fan like Doug says he hopes he is still alive to see us return to the top league.
I suppose the same can be said for many of our elderly fans, I sit next to a few and during our half time chats they have said similar.
It's all very sad.

[FatSam]

I'd like the corners filled in and the roofs connected.

I'm very firmly of the opinion that Villa Park should remain a ground with four legibly separate stands, rather than a stadium with connected stands. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't relate or coordinate with one another, or that piecemeal re-development is good.

Until recently, progress in terms of stadium redevelopment in this country has been in pursuit of a singular Old Trafford-esque bowl. The resulting indentikit stadia like Leicester, Cardiff, Southampton etc. are perfectly rational, efficient, and ultimately soul-less. They occupy industrial estate sites on the edge of town, allowing for easy expansion should the club be promoted beyond their traditional level.

Villa Park has its character precisely because of the constraints of its site, and because of the gradual process of development over time. Of course, the post-Taylor report reality has meant that three sides of the ground have been built in a relatively short period of time, which has eroded this somewhat. However, I've always considered the biggest factor in the character of Villa Park to be the way that Trinity Road cuts into the corner of the ground, and you get the view of Aston Park between the Holte End and Trinity Road stands.

I've never been comfortable with the new North stand scheme that fills the corner between it and the Trinity Road stand. It just seems like a thoughtless pursuit of this perfect bowl that is ultimately unattainable on this site. I'm excited by the new main stand at Anfield which seems to be showing that there is another way to redevelop and enlarge a historic ground with four separate stands.