NSWE Investment

[pablo_picasso]

Is this new investment from Altiros (or whatever they’re called) or confirmation of what was agreed in principle about 6-months ago.

Confirmation.

[Baldy]

From looking at the aerial shots, Villa Park is too much roof and not enough seats!! Look at the Bernabeu in comparison. It's capacity is approx 80,000.

Get some interior designer, architect, engineer etc to redesign what we already have to increase the seating capacity.

Build upwards.

You've heard of bunk beds, howsabout bunk seats?

[Drummond]

This shit area thing is really bizarre. Which football grounds are in what anyone would deem to be nice?

There's no need to be in a different place, we're in the perfect spot for access, albeit with a few amendments. Better train stations, shuttle bus, one way system for those in a car.

Rebuild? Perhaps, but it would inevitably mean a soulless bowl, like all the others are.

We could invest in the area, and make a huge difference, and increase capacity too.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they would rebuild Villa Park, there are a variety of options, including reconfiguring the layout, taking some of the park, whilst giving some land back.

Moving is a risky business and we already know there are no obvious sites around the city.

[olaftab]

Groundshare like Bayern and 1860 did, and then when Blose end up in League 2, do what Bayern did and buyout their tiny rivals, so that they can move to a 15,000 capacity stadium.

How dare you, tiny rivals...never!
I lived in Munich towards the the end of last century and Sechzig (Sexy ) were club of my choice as I found Bayern and their fans to be totally detestable. So bad that I was happy when manure robbed them but please don't tell anyone.

[Baldy]

This shit area thing is really bizarre. Which football grounds are in what anyone would deem to be nice?

There's no need to be in a different place, we're in the perfect spot for access, albeit with a few amendments. Better train stations, shuttle bus, one way system for those in a car.

Rebuild? Perhaps, but it would inevitably mean a soulless bowl, like all the others are.

We could invest in the area, and make a huge difference, and increase capacity too.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they would rebuild Villa Park, there are a variety of options, including reconfiguring the layout, taking some of the park, whilst giving some land back.

Moving is a risky business and we already know there are no obvious sites around the city.

Yes, keep it in Aston. Afterall, we are called 'Aston' Villa.

Don't fancy beeing called Bell End Villa or Cock Hill Villa or something like that.

[olaftab]

When the original Holte was demolished my Dad would take me up during the summer because for a time you could see on to the pitch and the rest of the ground through the demolition.  I know the ground has changed but the walk still feels the same to me. Some days we would sit on the hill of Aston Park and look across at the ground. Sitting on the hill looking across, the ground has changed but the view still feels the same to me.

I have been to many stadiums, here and around the world, both for football and cricket and there is nothing absolutely nothing like seeing Villa Park emerge in front of you as you walk past the hall and make your way down particularly in early or late season.

[Villan82]

Really enjoying the recent posts. We need to think very carefully about this.

If they want to more or less rebuild on the site, yeah, ok, fair enough, but moving away- that is a massive decision that could really go badly wrong given what we'd be giving up.

[LeeB]

This season is also the first time I think I’ve found the ’matchday experience’ (not my words Lynne) a bit of pain in the arse.

why is that mate?

A bit of everything really mate, travelling to and from, actually getting through the turnstiles can be a pain, the facilities once in there have been done to death, the Bartons closing along with all the other boozers nearby, it's starting to feel like a bit of a chore which feels really odd given the general high level of performance on the pitch.



Maybe I'm just getting old

[kippaxvilla2]

This shit area thing is really bizarre. Which football grounds are in what anyone would deem to be nice?

There's no need to be in a different place, we're in the perfect spot for access, albeit with a few amendments. Better train stations, shuttle bus, one way system for those in a car.

Rebuild? Perhaps, but it would inevitably mean a soulless bowl, like all the others are.

We could invest in the area, and make a huge difference, and increase capacity too.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they would rebuild Villa Park, there are a variety of options, including reconfiguring the layout, taking some of the park, whilst giving some land back.

Moving is a risky business and we already know there are no obvious sites around the city.

Yes, keep it in Aston. Afterall, we are called 'Aston' Villa.

Don't fancy beeing called Bell End Villa or Cock Hill Villa or something like that.

Cockshut Hill Villa has a ring to it.

[Chris Harte]

Having had time to sleep on it, I'm still dead set against moving from Villa Park. However, if we were to do similar to what Spurs have done then that might be acceptable to me.

I'm thinking literally that we move over to the other side of Witton Lane. This would of course mean buying the housing estate opposite the current site (so, Holte Rd, Yew Tree Rd, Village Rd, etc) and so would be potentially unpalateable to many people, not least the residents. That said, if Villa (or the holding company) are prepared to compensate existing residents adequately/fairly then, combined with a local government who are skint then it perhaps could be a goer.

I envisange the new centre spot being roughly in line with the back of the present Holte End giving a potential footprint from it that extends out to a 150m radius (similar to Spurs and Arsenal, see image below). I imagine then that new stands would be built to mirror (in location, if not in design) the North, Doug Ellis and Holte End stands. The new stadium opens with only the three new stands, meanwhile the existing Villa Park is demolished allowing the final stand to be built over the existing Witton Lane and existing Doug Ellis stand. The advantage of this is that, unlike Spurs, we don't have to decamp elsewhere during construction. Instead we move into a new, three-quarters built stadium (presumably with a capacity around that or more of the current Villa Park).

Also, with this suggestion, pre- and post-match habits don't have to change significantly if people don't want them to. They can park where they do presently, go to the same pub and chippy as they do presently. Even if this isn't a big deal to yourself, you'll certainly know other fans for who it would be a big deal.

In terms of infrastructure, there would now be space for a "Villa Live" type venue, as well as an improved club shop and whatever attractions they can dream up, giving people a reason not to just rush off after games (at least for sensibly timed weekend games). And with the space thats available after the demolishion of old VP, possibly a new rail station with multiple platforms to get people away to New St, Erdington/Sutton, Walsall and beyond. I know this last bit needs a lot of co-operation with multiple third parties, but if we're going big then why not? Also, if they is co-operation with local authorities then a temporary one-way system down Aston Hall Rd towards Spaghetti Junction (like they used to do).

I also realise this doesn't answer the obvious "what's in it for those providing the funds?" question, but if they've done this sort of thing elsewhere then why not for us?

[Ads]

I've been going down to Villa Park over 30 years and I've never been in the Park, the Hall or the 1000 year old church.

I have no desire to be wedded to an anchor out of sentiment. Clubs like West Ham, absolute non-entities, are regularly qualifying for European football, winning trophies. Their income dwarfs ours. They'd be nowhere near it if they were still at their old place. Their current ground, much like Man City's is dire as its not a purpose built football ground. Nobody is suggesting that.

I'd like something City centre to replace St Philips as the religious centre of the city. We absolutely are a Birmingham club, we absolutely are the biggest for miles which ever way you spin the compass; so let's have a ground that reflects that. A new massive 20k+ capacity Holte can still have the red brick Ellis built or the fancy mosaic Lerner added. But let's have something that gives us the opportunity to compete.

I dont want us to be held back by middle aged blokes lusting after days when they were a lad, in a ground that has 1 stand tops from their glory years. I want to win things, I don't want to sit in a museum singing about old glory before I was born.

[The Man With A Stick]

When the original Holte was demolished my Dad would take me up during the summer because for a time you could see on to the pitch and the rest of the ground through the demolition.  I know the ground has changed but the walk still feels the same to me. Some days we would sit on the hill of Aston Park and look across at the ground. Sitting on the hill looking across, the ground has changed but the view still feels the same to me.

I have been to many stadiums, here and around the world, both for football and cricket and there is nothing absolutely nothing like seeing Villa Park emerge in front of you as you walk past the hall and make your way down particularly in early or late season.

That's approach I used to take as a kid, as my Dad always used to park up on Upper Sutton St, and there's no better view in the land than walking over that park on a wintry afternoon with the floodlights on.

I'm really torn on this as it's all just about that rectangle of grass and not the stands in particular for me.  The oldest one of those stands is the same age as me and I wish to god we'd tear it down as I'm sick of the sight of it, but the Holte and Trinity don't need changing.  But 90% of me says knock the lot down and start from scratch, build something special.  Really like Chris' plan above, that gets my vote.

[The Man With A Stick]

The only way I can see a new super stadium in the city centre is by ground sharing with that lot .

Who knows Heck may of even been intouch regards the wheels site.

He wouldn't dare, would he? Giving up Villa Park would be bad enough without something like that. Surely that would be like Rule No. 1 on a  list of things Not To Do in the club CEO handbook?

Hopefully the fact that ol' baldy down the road has been mouthing off about us this week rules out any prospect of us jumping into bed with them at any point in the near future.  Christ only knows what we'd catch if that were to happen.

[Risso]

I've been going down to Villa Park over 30 years and I've never been in the Park, the Hall or the 1000 year old church.

I have no desire to be wedded to an anchor out of sentiment. Clubs like West Ham, absolute non-entities, are regularly qualifying for European football, winning trophies. Their income dwarfs ours. They'd be nowhere near it if they were still at their old place. Their current ground, much like Man City's is dire as its not a purpose built football ground. Nobody is suggesting that.

I'd like something City centre to replace St Philips as the religious centre of the city. We absolutely are a Birmingham club, we absolutely are the biggest for miles which ever way you spin the compass; so let's have a ground that reflects that. A new massive 20k+ capacity Holte can still have the red brick Ellis built or the fancy mosaic Lerner added. But let's have something that gives us the opportunity to compete.

I dont want us to be held back by middle aged blokes lusting after days when they were a lad, in a ground that has 1 stand tops from their glory years. I want to win things, I don't want to sit in a museum singing about old glory before I was born.

Agree with every word. My long dead great great ancestors were going to Wellington Road. Despite my previous comments about how shit the area is (and it really is), I love going to Villa Park as I've been doing off and on for the last 40 odd years.

But what do we want? Do we accept that to be a success in the modern Premier League, we need a much bigger income and therefore a much bigger ground, or do we want to keep always being the bridesmaid and never the bride, just so that us middle aged tossers can think wistfully about the past over our pints of real ale? If we want to compete, then we either need to knock down the entire existing ground and start again, or we need to move.

If we build something new on the existing footprint, then we've got the existing transport issues to solve, and also find somewhere else to live for a couple of years. If we move elsewhere, then we've got to find a suitable venue, but as a regular visitor to Brum you can't tell me there's not an area we can't find that doesn't just have a load of ratty warehouses on them?

Let the rags build their shithole on some infected wasteland an hour out of town, it'll suit their zombie looking crowd perfectly. They cab be like MK Dons, a shit crowd rattling around in a ⅔ empty stadium that lets them all change ends at half time.

We should go for a modern best-in-class stadium as central as we can get it. Get talking to the skint pricks at the council about transforming an area of the city that puts us and them on the world class map. No need to worry about transport if everybody can get to it with a short walk from the city centre after getting a bus or a train in.

[Demitri_C]

Obviously if we can sort the transport issues ariubd VP no one wants to leave. But if we can find a site with better transport links that will increase revenue then im afraid it will be buy bye villa park for me

But i personally think we will stay at villa park