NSWE Investment

[john2710]

Maybe they’ll partially build the new North Stand behind the existing stand, fill in the corners, whilst still using the existing stand. They may even move the pitch 10 - 20 yards towards the North Stand which allows them to extend the Trinity & Witton stands. When you look at the aerial view of the stadium the depth of the North Stand is half that if the Holte.

[andyh]

The new build will have no impact on our ability to fulfil matches.
I doubt the pitch will be moving anywhere.

[Ad@m]

For reasons already mentioned I just can't see how we can redevelop the Witton.

There are only two reasons to do so - to increase capacity and to improve facilities. To increase capacity would result in a loss of light for all the houses that side which the council wouldn't accept and to improve the facilities you need a much bigger concourse on the ground floor which is impossible without tearing up the road which the council wouldn't accept.

Unfortunately, I think we're stuck with the Witton as is. The best thing we can do to improve it is to change the sign on the side.

[john2710]

The new build will have no impact on our ability to fulfil matches.
I doubt the pitch will be moving anywhere.

The pitch wouldn’t have to move until the new stand is complete.

[SaddVillan]

Any new stand at Villa Park should be clad in redbrick externally with bloody great mosaics - we've never replaced the ones that stood on the Trinity Road.

Fully agree about the Witton - it really is too shallow.

We could of course buy up the houses on McGregor Close and Holte Road and move Witton Lane back by 40yds, thereby giving us some decent room for a proper 15,000 stand - after all it's not as if Birmingam City Council is disinclined to change road layouts - they've done it enough times in and around the city centre over the years.

[Ad@m]

And what if the people who live around Witton Road don't want to move?

I don't want the Villa to do what Liverpool did to the local residents around Anfield.

[Brazilian Villain]

Any new stand at Villa Park should be clad in redbrick externally with bloody great mosaics - we've never replaced the ones that stood on the Trinity Road.

That's pretty much what I put in the VP survey.

We could of course buy up the houses on McGregor Close and Holte Road and move Witton Lane back by 40yds, thereby giving us some decent room for a proper 15,000 stand - after all it's not as if Birmingam City Council is disinclined to change road layouts - they've done it enough times in and around the city centre over the years.

Others will know more about the local dynamics but surely if you offer the residents a fair market value plus a sufficient premium they might be persuaded to sell up and enable us to expand it into Witton Lane. Aston isn't exactly Bel-Air.

[Brazilian Villain]

I don't want the Villa to do what Liverpool did to the local residents around Anfield.

Neither do I but didn't that involve letting the area get run down over time and then offering derisory amounts for the properties?

[saunders_heroes]

Maybe a smart, sloping roof that has lots of angled bits to reflect light back onto the surrounding area, or something fancy like that, would be possible.

The problem is that the sun rises over the Trinity, so going higher on the Witton Lane just casts a bigger shadow.

Maybe they could sell the houses at put Blose there instead.

I used to sit in the lower Witton Lane and the sun would set behind the Trinity so maybe it wouldn’t be such an issue when it comes to rebuilding it??

[Brazilian Villain]

The problem is that the sun rises over the Trinity, so going higher on the Witton Lane just casts a bigger shadow.

Maybe they could sell the houses at put Blose there instead.

I used to sit in the lower Witton Lane and the sun would set behind the Trinity so maybe it wouldn’t be such an issue when it comes to rebuilding it??

I believe that was a metaphor as we let in yet another 'injury time' goal.

[Ad@m]

I don't want the Villa to do what Liverpool did to the local residents around Anfield.

Neither do I but didn't that involve letting the area get run down over time and then offering derisory amounts for the properties?

The trouble is, "market value" for a terraced house in the shadow of a football stadium doesn't give the owner enough to buy elsewhere. So I'm pretty sure Liverpool offered that, which some residents accepted and some didn't.

Once that happens it's not fair for the club to to pay some residents significantly more than others which means the remaining residents try to hold the club to ransom but actually end up living in a ghost town for years while their house steadily loses value.

Ultimately you can't force people out of their own homes and when they know a Premier League club want to buy their house there will be some who see it as their way out of relative poverty (understandably) and will try to get as much out of it as possible.  Unfortunately this pretty much scuppers any quick solution.

[dave.woodhall]

With the housing market as it is, it's going to take a lot of persuading for the council to allow perhaps a hundred to be demolished and the current residents to find somewhere else in the vicinity.

[Dante Lavelli]

I’d hope Villa have been buying properties on the road as they become available and also others in the area so they can offer to relocate people in their current community.  It might take decades but would be a good investment.

[eamonn]

We haven't got decades. We'll be dead and so will our planet.

[pauliewalnuts]

We haven't got decades. We'll be dead and so will our planet.

Vlad is going to shit the bed pretty soon and we'll all be scrabbling around for radioactive rats to eat.