NSWE Investment

[Risso]

Surely physical location needs to be a factor. It's not just size of stadium, it's other facilities like transport and local infrastructure like hotels and the like. Not having anything between London and the North West would be a disgrace.

[eamonn]

Exactly. Brum is Best.

[LeeB]

Instictively we all want Villa Park used, but actually is it that a big a deal? And what do the we get out of it? I seem to remember talk previously of how in effect the stadium becomes part of Uefa/Fifa for the duration and day-to-day Villa stuff like the ticket office and club shop have to fuck off.

[Pat Mustard]

Whether there's a rule in place or not I think VP needs to be 50k+ to host as the competition's so stiff.

Obviously all 4 nations will be represented (I don't think NI has a stadium of any note?) and I can see them having groups of stadia to make security and travel potentially easier.

So you end up with:

Wembley
Hampden
Millenium
Aviva

Plus the North West stadia:

OT
Anfield
Etihad

And the big London venues:

Spurs
Emirates
West Ham

That gives you 10 and Euro 2020 only had 11 venues.  When you throw in the potential for Croke Park, Celtic and Ibrox and I can see VP being overlooked if the capacity isn't north of 50k.

Yeah, I agree there.  With it being held between England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland - I don't think a stadium with <50k capacity could (or should) be used.  There'd be no need, you've got plenty of grounds that are above 50k:

• Wembley (90k)
• Croke Park (82k)
• Old Trafford (74k)
• Millennium Stadium (74k)
• Murrayfield (67k)
• London Stadium (62.5k)
• Spurs (62.5k)
• Celtic Park (60k)
• Emirates (60k)
• Emptihad (55k)
• Kings Dock / Everton (55k)
• Anfield (53k)
• St James Park (52.5k)
• Hampden Park (52k)
• Aviva Stadium (51.5k)
• Ibrox (51k)
• Stadium of Light (49k)
• Villa Park (42.5k)

Sorry, but no way are you picking Villa Park on that list - it's too small in comparison to the other stadiums, even if you take out the two non-football grounds in the list.

And interestingly given that list, even if you raise VP to 50k it doesn't change the conclusion.  It needs to be a conscious political or operational decision for VP to end up as a host venue.

However, there is usually a rule in place that you can only have one city that has more than one stadium, which immediately knocks out a chunk of those - you will only get Old Trafford or the Etihad, not both, the same with Glasgow.  On top of that, there are also requirements about the amount of accommodation available in a host city, which probably rules out places like Sunderland and a redeveloped King Power.

In reality, I reckon the final list will probably look like:

London - Wembley
London - Olympic Stadium
Glasgow - Hampden (redeveloped) or Celtic Park
Edinburgh - Murrayfield
Cardiff - Millennium Stadium
Dublin - Aviva Stadium
Belfast - new stadium (if it is a UK and Ireland bid then Belfast will be included somehow)
Manchester - Old Trafford
Liverpool - Anfield or Bramley Moore dock
Newcastle - St James Park
Birmingham - Villa Park
Leeds - Elland Road (redeveloped)

There might be a call to get a couple of other grounds in to get a better geographical spread (e.g. Brighton or Southampton), but in the main I can only see the biggest cities being chosen to host games.

[Risso]

Prestige, presumably some UEFA ill-gotten, big boost for local businesses, will piss off all of our smaller neighbours.

[LeeB]

Prestige, presumably some UEFA ill-gotten, big boost for local businesses, will piss off all of our smaller neighbours.

Yeah, I suppose. You're right that it would be a disgrace if the midlands were overlooked, but would it be a surprise?

[pauliewalnuts]

I wouldn't be hugely surprised to see the Etihad as the Manchester ground rather than Old Trafford given that the latter apparently is a decrepit cess pit these days.

[LeeB]

'these days'?

[algy]

However, there is usually a rule in place that you can only have one city that has more than one stadium, which immediately knocks out a chunk of those - you will only get Old Trafford or the Etihad, not both, the same with Glasgow.  On top of that, there are also requirements about the amount of accommodation available in a host city, which probably rules out places like Sunderland and a redeveloped King Power.

In reality, I reckon the final list will probably look like:

London - Wembley
London - Olympic Stadium
Glasgow - Hampden (redeveloped) or Celtic Park
Edinburgh - Murrayfield
Cardiff - Millennium Stadium
Dublin - Aviva Stadium
Belfast - new stadium (if it is a UK and Ireland bid then Belfast will be included somehow)
Manchester - Old Trafford
Liverpool - Anfield or Bramley Moore dock
Newcastle - St James Park
Birmingham - Villa Park
Leeds - Elland Road (redeveloped)

There might be a call to get a couple of other grounds in to get a better geographical spread (e.g. Brighton or Southampton), but in the main I can only see the biggest cities being chosen to host games.

They did have plans to build a big multi-sport stadium at the site of the old Maze Prison, but the NIFA (or rather, the supporters) campaigned against it in favour of staying at Windsor Park.  Casement Park (Gaelic Football) is just undergoing renovation to take the capacity to ~34k, so guess they're neither going to be moving from there in the near future, nor extending it much beyond that capacity - they had plans to make it 40k capacity, but they were rejected.

Think the NIFA need to either redevelop Windsor Park or move away, though, because there's some structural problem or other with one of the stands.  It's a bit of a mess really, you could imagine there being pretty decent justification for building a ~40k capacity stadium in Belfast - but it'd need to be a multi-sport affair, and I'm not sure that'll happen.

[LeeB]

On the old version of Champ Manager I play, the Euro's get awarded to Ireland (from the bid from a few years back) at the start of the game but the stadiums haven't been updated, so you end up with England vs Germany in the semis at the Showground in Sligo in front of 8,354 people.

[DB]

Just hope our owners get the plans confirmed for Villa Park ready for 2028....if it comes here of course.

[Drummond]

I don't care if they are held at our ground or not, other than the potential knock-on effect of improving travel arrangements to the ground.

[DB]

Well, I wouldn't mind going to a game Drummond, but yeah, if it's the driver to improve things in and around VP then great.

[Ad@m]

Surely physical location needs to be a factor. It's not just size of stadium, it's other facilities like transport and local infrastructure like hotels and the like. Not having anything between London and the North West would be a disgrace.

You keep telling us VP is the worst football stadium in the history of football to get away from at the end of the game!!   

[Risso]

Surely physical location needs to be a factor. It's not just size of stadium, it's other facilities like transport and local infrastructure like hotels and the like. Not having anything between London and the North West would be a disgrace.

You keep telling us VP is the worst football stadium in the history of football to get away from at the end of the game!!   

It is! Getting to Brum and staying somewhere nice is a bit easier than Newcastle though.