Villa Park Redevelopment

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ Long term certainly. Need to be sure the demand is there at current ticket prices. If we have to discount them to sell out it defeats the objective for the owners.

Happy with the imagination shown by the NS expansion. I wonder if we could get many more seats in the Witton Lane Stand by re-profiling the lower tier to use the space between that and the pitch? No need to impact the houses behind it then.

Also, if safe-standing could go from a ratio of 1:1 to 1:1.4 or something we could go higher still. Purslow used to talk about 1:1.8 which would be fantastic.

[Gareth]

We should be aiming for a minimum of 60,000 capacity, preferably more if possible. This could be achieved by north stand rebuild plus another tier on the Doug Ellis.

Unless you have a couple of streets of homeowners willing to sell up to allow demolition you will struggle to get another tier on that stand….agree it would be the nirvana however as you would have to build backwards so you could sort out the existing concourse issues in there already.

[Percy McCarthy]

My first article published in H&V was titled ‘Dreams Can Come True’ and made the case for why we should have a 60k stadium. That was in 1994 and in the next issue there was an article by Martin Maine calling it a pipe dream. I’d be delighted if it happened. I wonder if he’s on here? He’s still right… so far!

Anyway, it’s idle and fun chatter amongst us but I’m sure the Atairos bods on the board are exploring every avenue.

[Ads]

The Witton isn't particularly well utilised. I reckon we could go over the road with supports and all sorts to make it bigger. Equally the Trinity 3rd tier could be expanded too.

[eamonn]

My first article published in H&V was titled ‘Dreams Can Come True’ and made the case for why we should have a 60k stadium. That was in 1994 and in the next issue there was an article by Martin Maine calling it a pipe dream. I’d be delighted if it happened. I wonder if he’s on here? He’s still right… so far!

Anyway, it’s idle and fun chatter amongst us but I’m sure the Atairos bods on the board are exploring every avenue.

Can you scan it for posterity and nostalgia-pangs please?

[pauliewalnuts]

The Witton isn't particularly well utilised. I reckon we could go over the road with supports and all sorts to make it bigger. Equally the Trinity 3rd tier could be expanded too.

The problem is the sight lines of the houses behind, the top of the roof would obstruct their access to light.

It was the same when we built the current stand, they bought the houses behind, demolished them, and the gardens were added, as that space between houses and top of the stand had to be big enough to satisfy light requirements.

[Rico]

Might just have to accept filling in the corners on all sides of the ground to get anywhere near 60k

[VILLA MOLE]

It is a pretty steep stand .  I wonder if they can make it lees steep but deeper (going over the road) without infringing on the light? 

[cdbearsfan]

Can we not just have fucking massive dug-outs? There's another few hundred seats.

[Percy McCarthy]

My first article published in H&V was titled ‘Dreams Can Come True’ and made the case for why we should have a 60k stadium. That was in 1994 and in the next issue there was an article by Martin Maine calling it a pipe dream. I’d be delighted if it happened. I wonder if he’s on here? He’s still right… so far!

Anyway, it’s idle and fun chatter amongst us but I’m sure the Atairos bods on the board are exploring every avenue.

Can you scan it for posterity and nostalgia-pangs please?

Sorry, I can’t. I’ve probably got it somewhere but no idea where to start looking.

[Villan82]

It is a pretty steep stand .  I wonder if they can make it lees steep but deeper (going over the road) without infringing on the light?

Came to make the exact same point. I think we could compromise on the height of the stand if we could go back further and build out to the far edge of the road. Modern stadia roofs are more translucent, also, so that might be a possibility with any new works on the witton and affecting light with those houses.

They have proven their credentials with this North stand redevelopment so the brains are there to do something clever.

[pauliewalnuts]

It is a pretty steep stand .  I wonder if they can make it lees steep but deeper (going over the road) without infringing on the light?

Came to make the exact same point. I think we could compromise on the height of the stand if we could go back further and build out to the far edge of the road. Modern stadia roofs are more translucent, also, so that might be a possibility with any new works on the witton and affecting light with those houses.

They have proven their credentials with this North stand redevelopment so the brains are there to do something clever.

You can go back further, but you're still reducing the height of the stand in relation to the houses, and therefore the access to light.

They have proven their credentials with this North stand redevelopment so the brains are there to do something clever.

Go to the Birmingham City Council planning portal and search for the plans for the (Purslow) North Stand there, and you can see the detail of the documents they have to submit in terms of impact on access to light for residential dwellings. And that was the back of the North Stand, where houses are a decent distance away.

It's very complicated.

[eamonn]

My first article published in H&V was titled ‘Dreams Can Come True’ and made the case for why we should have a 60k stadium. That was in 1994 and in the next issue there was an article by Martin Maine calling it a pipe dream. I’d be delighted if it happened. I wonder if he’s on here? He’s still right… so far!

Anyway, it’s idle and fun chatter amongst us but I’m sure the Atairos bods on the board are exploring every avenue.

Can you scan it for posterity and nostalgia-pangs please?

Sorry, I can’t. I’ve probably got it somewhere but no idea where to start looking.

No worries. I think DW once had plans to digitise the fanzine-archive for Golden Muppets/discerning subscribers. I'd definitely be in for that.

[john e]

We should be aiming for a minimum of 60,000 capacity, preferably more if possible. This could be achieved by north stand rebuild plus another tier on the Doug Ellis.

We don’t need anything more than 55-60k capacity
once you go over that your getting an events arena not a football ground
People think the bigger capacity the better the atmosphere when it’s just the opposite imo

[Dante Lavelli]

^^ Long term certainly. Need to be sure the demand is there at current ticket prices. If we have to discount them to sell out it defeats the objective for the owners.

Happy with the imagination shown by the NS expansion. I wonder if we could get many more seats in the Witton Lane Stand by re-profiling the lower tier to use the space between that and the pitch? No need to impact the houses behind it then.

Also, if safe-standing could go from a ratio of 1:1 to 1:1.4 or something we could go higher still. Purslow used to talk about 1:1.8 which would be fantastic.

Isn’t the lower tier of the North Stand ripe for safe standing?  It would complement the holte end well and make both ends of the ground hostile (can’t think of a better word).  Might push the total capacity up a few thousand too.