NSWE Investment

[Chris Smith]

I reckon this summer the club will announce plans to build a new stadium ready for the 2028/2029 season. Something like that. All these changes behind the scenes are about a much bigger picture than renovating the current stadium and area.

Seems a little optimistic when they don’t yet have anywhere to build it.

[Chico Hamilton III]

People will naturally be a little upset.

Yep, a little upset, that’s a good way to describe how a lot of people might feel.

[Drummond]

Why must a new stadium always be considered soulless? Why can’t it be designed to create the best atmosphere possible. Or have a design that is both modern and in some way commemorates our past. There are times Villa Park is very quiet so it’s on us in large part to create that atmosphere wherever we play. I just don’t want to get left behind the sides we are not wanting to compete with because we need to sell our best players. That formula never ends well.

I'm sure they are designed to be lovely places. The issue really is that they are becoming more gentrified and they want younger fans going, which negates some of the natural atmosphere. The more corporate they become, the worse the atmosphere.

We mock Spurs, Arsenal, ManU and ManC for atmosphere but they all have huge corporate offering which also means lots of day-trippers, which again means worse atmosphere. Just look at that middle section at their place yesterday, empty seats for a good while after half time, and I bet it wasn't because they were all stuck waiting for a pint.

A new stadium would have to be something utterly amazing for a lot of fans to want to change I think.

The regeneration of Aston, new, bigger station, North Stand rebuild, potential rebuild of Villa Park, without CPOs, but utilsing some of the park instead might be the plan.

[Paul.S]

I reckon this summer the club will announce plans to build a new stadium ready for the 2028/2029 season. Something like that. All these changes behind the scenes are about a much bigger picture than renovating the current stadium and area.

That would be interesting

I just hope that if thats announced it isnt greeted with negativity from our fans. After everything our owners have done for us we got to back them if thats their vision for the future

If it is announced, then some fans will be unhappy. There are fans who've spent the best part of their lives going to games at Villa Park, and any move away from there, regardless of the wider benefits to the club, will feel "wrong".  I'm not one of them, but I will completely understand their feelings on the matter.

The reality is with a fan base of our size, there will be almost no change the owners can make, to anything, that will produce a 100% universal approval rate from the fan base.  Just because some fans don't like it, doesn't make it a bad thing.  And just because a number of fans do like something doesn't make it a good thing.

Moving stadium would be one hell of a significant step for us to take.  It's something that will affect the club for a hundred years, so if it's going to happen, I hope it's done right. 

Another way to look at it is that a stadium move is an inevitability.  As the game moves one, so do the expectations of the fans, so does the need to compete financially.  So whether it's now.  In a decade, or in twenty years, the chances are we're going to have to move at some point, or buy a LOT of houses around VP to expand properly - and if something like that is going to have to happen, then I trust our current owners to do it the right way ahead of any of the others we've had in charge in the last forty years.

I’d definitely struggle with it, I’ll admit that. I massively appreciate what the owners have done for us and wouldn’t turn up outside Villa
Park with a pitchfork but I don’t know if that would be the end for me.
Sounds stupid and I’ll always love this club but for me Villa Park is just a special place. It’s part of this club as much as the football itself.

[Gareth]

The ‘triggers broom’ analogy did it for me….im ticking on 50 so there is no part of the ground that I don’t outdate - sitting in the Witton Upper I also experience truly garbage facilities every home game.  Whilst it would be sad to leave Villa Park I’ll be happy enough to pack up the memories and go somewhere new to make a whole load of new ones…happy in the knowledge that I can wash my hands after a pee & my other half won’t have to queue for the half a dozen cubicles for all the ladies in the stand :-)

The football industry has moved on, we either go with it & try to compete or we stagnate & regress

[walsall villain]

The ‘triggers broom’ analogy did it for me….im ticking on 50 so there is no part of the ground that I don’t outdate - sitting in the Witton Upper I also experience truly garbage facilities every home game.  Whilst it would be sad to leave Villa Park I’ll be happy enough to pack up the memories and go somewhere new to make a whole load of new ones…happy in the knowledge that I can wash my hands after a pee & my other half won’t have to queue for the half a dozen cubicles for all the ladies in the stand :-)

The football industry has moved on, we either go with it & try to compete or we stagnate & regress

I agree with you. I’ve seen the ground change so much in the 60+ years I’ve been going and I obviously love the place and all the memories I have from there but…… this is the first period in all those years where we are regularly almost if not full week in week out. We are led to believe thousands more want to come too. I don’t think the area around  the ground is suitable for the sort of expansion we would need. I think we might have to move but no idea where.

[john e]

Why must a new stadium always be considered soulless? Why can’t it be designed to create the best atmosphere possible. Or have a design that is both modern and in some way commemorates our past. There are times Villa Park is very quiet so it’s on us in large part to create that atmosphere wherever we play. I just don’t want to get left behind the sides we are not wanting to compete with because we need to sell our best players. That formula never ends well.

Everyone I’ve been to has been soulless
I was at Man City the other week it’s absolutely rubbish inside and out even their own fans think it’s crap

Even now ask fans of West Ham, Arsenal, Man City, where they’d rather the be for atmosphere and it isn’t lost souls living in a fishbowl

[Ads]

West Ham and Man City are converted athletics stadiums. Highbury had zero atmosphere.

[Drummond]

It may be Trigger's broom, but so is the team, we don't have the same players, staff, blades of grass but it doesn't mean we need to move. The club and ground have evolved over time, we don't need to move if the problems we have are fixed. We all know they can be too, despite some folk wanting an easier journey to a city centre location.

Aston and Villa Park is home. we should rebuild there if we really must have a new stadium, but most of the issues people moan about are service-related, and that's all fixable.

It's almost impossible to create a feeling, an atmosphere, and those idiosyncrasies that only traditional grounds have. Spurs is shiny, but really what's the difference between that, Spurs, Arsenal etc?

Give me Anfield, Barnsley, Bramall Lane, over any of them, and Villa Park even more. The money we'll generate isn't the matchgoers, it's TV and the sponsors.

Make it about the fans, not the people who want a prawn-fucking sandwich and a comfy seat. Give me a standing space, a pie and a pint. Give me the chance to buy them, a chance to piss and shit them out after and let me get to and from the ground. If the area is a shithole, help the community have some pride, invest money in that and welcoming local people to the club and give them something too.

[Ads]

No, they can't.

[Drummond]

No, they can't.

Yes, they can. New station, one-way system. Special bus service. Pay staff more.

[Ads]

Who builds the travel infrastructure? Who makes Aston somewhere you'd want to visit right now for a drink, something to eat etc? How do you bridge the city centre to get that foot traffic all year round?

Talking one way systems and increasing staffing costs as if its a panacea, meanwhile West Ham win trophies and qualify for European football on a regular basis.

People make the atmosphere. The Emirates was far nosier yesterday than Highbury, even with all the Tally Ho Tarquins. That away end was raucous. Classic dumps like the Molineux impinge the ability to create an atmosphere. What would stop me or anybody on the current Holte singing on a much bigger version? Where people.will have more ale in them because they've actually been served?

[chrisw1]

What we can't do is drive the sort of commercial revenue from Villa Park that most of our competitors drive from their stadiums. 

I think most fans are enjoying going fairly deep into a European competition and I'm pretty sure most are enjoying beating 'Big 6' clubs regularly this season.  The truth is if we are going to compete with the elite regularly, then our stadium and it's potential to drive commercial income needs to compete too.  Sadly I don't think it ever will in B6.

I was for all the North Stand as it could have made a significant difference in the short term - hopefully whilst Emery was still our manager.  But long term, I can't really see VP being capable of driving the revenue needed to sustain an elite team.

[tomd2103]

It may be Trigger's broom, but so is the team, we don't have the same players, staff, blades of grass but it doesn't mean we need to move. The club and ground have evolved over time, we don't need to move if the problems we have are fixed. We all know they can be too, despite some folk wanting an easier journey to a city centre location.

Aston and Villa Park is home. we should rebuild there if we really must have a new stadium, but most of the issues people moan about are service-related, and that's all fixable.

The club can't just fix the major problems on their own and would be heavily reliant on other bodies.  The transport issues and any expansion on Witton Lane are going to require a number of bodies to agree to them and be involved.  Then there is the issue of non-matchday revenue and getting people to the ground on non-matchdays. 

There is also the issue of where we play while any major redevelopment takes place at Villa Park?

[aj2k77]

West Hams income was £19m more than us last season and they had Europe. I'm willing to bet ours is on par with them this season if not higher.