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Author Topic: NSWE Investment  (Read 622136 times)

Offline KRS

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #975 on: July 27, 2019, 08:27:19 PM »
I’d rather we stay where we are for purely historic reasons, but I have no emotional attachment to any of the 4 stands since both the Holte and Trinity were rebuilt.

In these modern times where Birmingham City Council are planning to nuke Perry Barr and the flyover, is it not realistic that the Trinity Road could cease to be a road and a large investment into the area to enable a full rebuild of Villa Park?

Trinity Road isn’t a main road and all traffic can continue from Perry Barr to Aston via Witton Lane, so if the road itself is taken out of equation then surely we’d have enough space to rebuild as a modern stadium?

Offline paul_e

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #976 on: July 27, 2019, 08:37:09 PM »
I’d rather we stay where we are for purely historic reasons, but I have no emotional attachment to any of the 4 stands since both the Holte and Trinity were rebuilt.

In these modern times where Birmingham City Council are planning to nuke Perry Barr and the flyover, is it not realistic that the Trinity Road could cease to be a road and a large investment into the area to enable a full rebuild of Villa Park?

Trinity Road isn’t a main road and all traffic can continue from Perry Barr to Aston via Witton Lane, so if the road itself is taken out of equation then surely we’d have enough space to rebuild as a modern stadium?

You'd have to do a  full rebuild and get the council to agree to give up part of the park as well as the road. Even then you'd still be penned in by Nelson Road Unless the parea of park you took was massive and gave us the room to re-orientate with the pitch running almost perfectly north/south. We'd have something 18-24 months without a ground in that case as well.

Offline GordonCowansisthegreatest

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #977 on: July 27, 2019, 08:38:43 PM »
Be interesting to see what Tony's plans look like!

Online KevinGage

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #978 on: July 27, 2019, 08:46:21 PM »
I don't look at the Stadium of Light or the Riverside/ BT Hellnet whatever it's called and feel envious.

In fact it concerns me that Herbert Douglas Ellis in his dotage looked at those monstrosities and decided we needed a bit of that for the outside of the new Trinity.

I don't know how practical it would be (I believe there used to be a lake at the Aston Lower Grounds close to the land we now play on) but I have always wondered at the possibility of building down rather than up.  The lower tiers of the Nou Camp, Bernabeu are set below street level and add to the impact when you step in. Think Porto's old ground had that as well.

Would still allow us to have four distinctive stands and reap the benefits of the extra capacity - particularly if safe standing ever truly becomes a thing.

Online algy

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #979 on: July 27, 2019, 09:20:47 PM »
Until this summer I'd say a big "no" to moving from Villa Park. But to hell with it, if we want to be a big time club then we need to act like a big time club.

Brand new, purpose built ground in the city centre. Keep the feel of Villa Park, in particular keep the exterior style of the old trinity road stand / new Holte End. Make it a trademark as it were. The stately home of football and all that.

But also where you see (or walk past) The Bullring, HS2, all that stuff to get to the ground. Make sure everyone knows (a) we're a big deal in football terms and (b) we're the biggest thing in Birmingham. Not the biggest football club. Not the biggest stadium. Villa Park being as iconic a landmark as the Bullring, the thing you associate the whole city with.

You just can't do the absolute domination of the entire country from B6. As was said earlier, there's no way Ramsey, McGregor and Rinder would turn down the chance to move to the city centre right now.

Offline Ger Regan

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #980 on: July 27, 2019, 10:02:35 PM »
I'm all for optimism, but let's wait until we get into the real action before we see if a new expanded ground is merited. I'd love it to be the case, but even during the relative success at the start of the lerner years it wasn't as if we were consistently selling out our current ground. Things *might* be different now, and obviously there's no harm in discussing it theoretically, but we're miles away from being able to discuss it as a viable option right now.

In any event, i would have thought that the north stand could be re-developed to get us up to around 50,000?

Offline paul_e

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #981 on: July 27, 2019, 10:07:40 PM »
I don't look at the Stadium of Light or the Riverside/ BT Hellnet whatever it's called and feel envious.

In fact it concerns me that Herbert Douglas Ellis in his dotage looked at those monstrosities and decided we needed a bit of that for the outside of the new Trinity.

I don't know how practical it would be (I believe there used to be a lake at the Aston Lower Grounds close to the land we now play on) but I have always wondered at the possibility of building down rather than up.  The lower tiers of the Nou Camp, Bernabeu are set below street level and add to the impact when you step in. Think Porto's old ground had that as well.

Would still allow us to have four distinctive stands and reap the benefits of the extra capacity - particularly if safe standing ever truly becomes a thing.

It's not about being envious, it's about having the space to have a modern stadium. It's a great example because Roker Park, whilst not as big as Villa park, was a storied old ground which had seen the club win trophies but it was built at a time when most fans visited by foot so being in amongst the houses was great and a lack of facilities didn't matter and space to expand wasn't a consideration. I know lots of fans up there and I don't know anyone who, within a year or 2, thought they'd made a mistake by moving.

Offline OzVilla

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #982 on: July 28, 2019, 11:12:50 AM »
Just seen this thread. If they need to redevelop VP they can do, Atleast 2 stands could by bulldozed and replaced IMO.

 But it would be unthinkable to me that we moved from VP. It's our home.

Offline Border villan

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #983 on: July 28, 2019, 11:19:29 AM »
It is our home, but has not always been. Difficult as a move would be for all of us who have spent decades going to Villa Park and are used/resigned to the present ground we should consider those who will follow on from us in the next 140+ years.

Offline ktvillan

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #984 on: July 28, 2019, 11:36:14 AM »
I'm all for optimism, but let's wait until we get into the real action before we see if a new expanded ground is merited. I'd love it to be the case, but even during the relative success at the start of the lerner years it wasn't as if we were consistently selling out our current ground. Things *might* be different now, and obviously there's no harm in discussing it theoretically, but we're miles away from being able to discuss it as a viable option right now.

In any event, i would have thought that the north stand could be re-developed to get us up to around 50,000?

I agree to an extent.  There is a difference though, even during the early Lerner years we were not signing bums on seats players or playing bums on seats progressive football.  We now have everything in place - owners/investment, Chief Exec, coaching team, scouting team, PL status, TV wonga - to do that and build on it, which is why I think many fans are more excited and optimistic than in the Lerner years.  Plus we've been outside the "promised land"for three years and the appetite has grown.  The effect might wear off if we don't do well, it might not. 

As for VP I'd prefer to develop where we are.  From inside, the ground looks pretty good and replacing the North stand with a whopping great bank would make it look even better.  There is  plenty of space to do that and take us up to 50k.  The issues for me are the facilities and space within the existing stands.  They are a classic case of Doug having the right ideas but then trying to implement them on the cheap.

Whether we've got the space to improve and expand those is another question.  There are "right to light" issues behind the Witton Lane, the Holte is boxed in, and one end of the Trinity is limited for space.  Surely the Trinity Road could be built over again like we already have, or slightly diverted a little further into the park? 

As for transport links, a decent train service would solve a lot of issues.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2019, 11:37:46 AM by ktvillan »

Offline AV82EC

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #985 on: July 28, 2019, 11:54:00 AM »
I want more than a redeveloped North Stand. As someone prepared to part with my hard-earned disposable at the home of the club I love, my experience of trying to do that in the two bits of the ground I use these days are
Lower Holte, useable pre-match, miss 10 minutes of the game at half time
Upper Trinity, I'm starting to be consumed by dread that there'll be more than three dozen of us trying to use it this season.

It's customer service from another era.

I’ve gone Upper Trinity this season and after my experiences of last season I’ve decided I will be drinking away from the ground and arriving at the last possible moment. Despite a bit of extra room it’s as bad as the Upper Witton Lane.

Offline Simon Page

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #986 on: July 28, 2019, 01:49:56 PM »
Anfield overcame a similar problem to that faced at Villa Park; in a triangle and bordered by terraced streets. If we could buy the land/houses behind Witton Lane we could increase there and at the Witton End. It's pretty immaterial though as we haven't yet developed the need for a bigger stadium.

The Commonwealth Games stadium is a non-starter I reckon. Apart from being designed for athletics, so miles from the pitch, the extended capacity is open temporary seats. Lovely in January.

Offline Risso

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #987 on: July 28, 2019, 02:04:14 PM »
Anfield overcame a similar problem to that faced at Villa Park; in a triangle and bordered by terraced streets. If we could buy the land/houses behind Witton Lane we could increase there and at the Witton End. It's pretty immaterial though as we haven't yet developed the need for a bigger stadium.

The Commonwealth Games stadium is a non-starter I reckon. Apart from being designed for athletics, so miles from the pitch, the extended capacity is open temporary seats. Lovely in January.

West Ham arguably didn't need a bigger stadium, yet last year they averaged a crowd of 58,000.  7 clubs now have a stadium that holds 50 thousand or more, it's time we had one as well.

Offline Simon Page

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #988 on: July 28, 2019, 02:17:39 PM »
I'd love us to be able to justify that kind of outlay and fill the bugger. It's a leap to suggest Stratford FC has done it so we can too, but you could be right. I think we're a club that's just been promoted, splurged on exciting but unknown quantities, had a good pre-season and are now in danger of extrapolating to Wolves levels, but I'd like more than anything for all this hope and optimism to be proven understated.

Thankfully I don't have to make the decision.

Offline paul_e

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Re: NSWE Investment
« Reply #989 on: July 28, 2019, 02:39:51 PM »
I get the argument that this is getting ahead of ourselves but the Liverpool example took years and even moving would take a lot of work so I'd hope the club are having these discussions.

If we want to establishvourselves in the top half  of the league again we will need to massively increase our commercial revenues and a modern ground with far better facilities is a big part of that.

 


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