Villa Park Redevelopment

[Ads]

I'm not mad keen on a move, but I have to say that new Everton ground looks impressive up close, in a really eye-catching setting. No way they could have done it in their current location.

One thing to be said about that ground though: it looks like a pain to get to.

It will be, Liverpool is as bad as Brum in terms of getting around.

Easily walkable from the city centre.

If you're driving, go to Newton le Willows and train to Lime Street and onto James Street or Moorfields. Shit tonne of good pubs round there and then about a 10/15 minute walk up to BMD. Will be like Newcastle away.

[PeterWithe]

I don't know what to make of the comments about increasing the capacity, he didn't seem to be screaming ambition to make the ground bigger, but without doing that he's never going to increase matchday revenue.

[Sexual Ealing]

His interview reminded me of a speech I was once witness to before a round of redundancies were announced. I took redundancy.

[LeeS]

I went with a mate to the Palace v Bournemouth game and they have a tidy little “fan park” set up outside. It was heaving and seemed to have lots of food and drink options. If you do something like that then people turn up early and that spreads the traffic. People can also stay behind and ease the flows after the game.

[BC Villain]

Villa Park is what makes us unique, and is the one ever present as new generations of fans come along and old generations depart to that Holte End in the sky.

I'd rather sit in 2 hours of traffic to walk up Witton Road, smelling burgers and hotdogs with the glorious Holte End in the distance any day, than take a turn off the motorway into some tarmacced plateau servicing a soulless, plastic bowl.

Really starting to take a dislike to this new guy. If being successful means that we have to set light to our history, then I'd rather not thanks.

Ultimately he will be driven by what makes the most money, not by what is more historic

[jon collett]

I wonder if it’s just posturing as cannot get assurances re infrastructure, transport….
No way Brum would want to miss out on the Euros. Unless Heck is thinking beyond that to a new stadium and not just a top up of VP…bigger commercial opportunities with a showcase stadium.

I think this is the one hope.

That he is deliberately playing at being ignorant and out of his depth.

And that behind it all is an ingenious strategy to get things moving!

[Ads]

He doesn't strike me as somebody out their depth. He strikes me as somebody that gives not a single fuck; he's on a mission and that is to generate cash, even if it means pissing us off.

What are we going to do about it? What sort of nutter would get off the Villa bus now? You've had years of shite. He knows this, he doesn't care or if he does, is calculated enough to roll on anyway.

[Billy Walker]

 In fairness to Heck, he's paid to make big decisions and this is another big one. 

[Nii Lamptey]

His interview reminded me of a speech I was once witness to before a round of redundancies were announced. I took redundancy.

Nailed it - I've been in meetings like this too. On the money, SE!

Really don't like how he glossed over stopping the North Stand development either. So what exactly IS the plan regarding capacity going forward then Mr by'eck??

[PeterWithe]

Is us having Euro Champ games dependent on us upping the capacity?

[Toronto Villa]

If we commend NSWE for almost everything they do then this decision ultimately is theirs also. Or at minimum it has their blessing. I can see the rationale behind this with the surrounding infrastructure issues not resolved. And I wonder if this is a veiled threat to the local government to make things happen with the station or financing also.

[Risso]

He doesn't strike me as somebody out their depth. He strikes me as somebody that gives not a single fuck; he's on a mission and that is to generate cash, even if it means pissing us off.

What are we going to do about it? What sort of nutter would get off the Villa bus now? You've had years of shite. He knows this, he doesn't care or if he does, is calculated enough to roll on anyway.

It's a load of vision-less, short term drivel though. Using the current good run of form at home as an excuse, the prick. The thing is with all investments, is that they require a degree of short term pain in return for the long term benefit. You pay into a pension, you have less cash each month to spend now, but when you retire you have a pension pot to full back on. So yes, a reduced capacity at Villa Park for a couple of years, but then a 50,000 capacity ground for every year thereafter.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."

[VILLA MOLE]

At some point we have to bite the bullet and knock it down ,30000 people on a waiting list .  If the Infrastructure around the stadium is no t there what can we do about it  ?

[Villatillidie25]

Slightly deflating news. It basically feels like CH has put the breaks on everything that was in flight when he joined, which might not be a bad thing as it did feel like the plans for the North Stand were fraught with a lot of hurdles to overcome. I'm happy enough to give him the benefit of the doubt when he starts bringing his own plans to the table but he could do with some discernible wins sooner rather than later. Substantially improving the match day experience should be high on the agenda and really shouldn't be that difficult. As others have said, it feels like expanding VP is off the table for the foreseeable, which would suggest a new stadium in order to increase capacity. This would be really gut wrenching.

[AV82EC]

His interview reminded me of a speech I was once witness to before a round of redundancies were announced. I took redundancy.

Nailed it - I've been in meetings like this too. On the money, SE!

Really don't like how he glossed over stopping the North Stand development either. So what exactly IS the plan regarding capacity going forward then Mr by'eck??

I think the fact its been said that only 5,000 people have actually purchased a ticket in the last few years in a 30k ST waiting list maybe gives us a clue as to potential take up of an extra 10,000 seats? Added to a rather lukewarm response to TV and UG has maybe made him realise the NS development isn't necessarily the best investment at this stage and a more considered approach to increasing capacity is required.

Either that or we're looking at a new ground.