Villa Park Redevelopment

[pauliewalnuts]

Moving stadium and location is a double whammy in terms of losing emotional attachment. Spurs and Arsenal’s new grounds are pretty much next door to their old ones, meaning no impact on how fans get to the ground so they can maintain long held pre-match rituals. Something we would never be able to do.

But at the same time, White Hart Lane was for ages considered a bit of a bastard to get to, yet they've moved next door.

I could see us buying chunks of Aston Park from BCC and creating space for a new stadium, and having upgrading rail links as part of that deal.

[curiousorange]

Where is an example of a good new stadium?

The new Wembley is alright, although the only time I've been there was the victorious playoff final in the posh bit, courtesy of Risso, so I don't know that I had a representative experience.

Wembley as a ground seems fine. Wembley as a location is an absolute ball-ache.

Is it, though? The location I mean.

It has its own railway station, tube stations, and is very near the main A road taking traffic out of London.

I've never found it particularly bad if you use your nous about coming and going. Last time I went, for the CC final, we got an uber to a location a five minute walk away from the stadium, and after the match sat and had a few drinks and waited whilst the crowd disappeared before wandering up to get the tube.

Although admittedly, we were in Club Wembley gold seats, so access to a decent bar to wait in much easier.

For the Liverpool semi final, I drove and parked in one of the MSCPs at the stadium. Again, no real problem getting away.

I've only ever done coach trips there, so might have been the method of getting there that was more of a problem. I have bad memories of idling in traffic for silly amounts of time.

[curiousorange]

Some people on socials seem convinced the NEC is the ultimate plan should we move. Is that realistic?

[chrisw1]

I don't like the way Club Wembley cuts the stands in half.  It gets away with it because of the sheer volume of fans, but a similar tier in a smaller ground would dominate.

Spurs is excellent.  Everton looks great and I think the location is brilliant, but it's a bit small.

In terms of older stadiums, the Millenium in Cardiff may not look all that, but it is brilliant.  An example of how a new stadium can still generate a superb atmosphere.

The stadia I'm most jealous of are those next to the City Centre where fans can walk to the ground.  They may not be the best in terms of pre-match income, but for fan experience and a feeling of community they are great fun.  As much as I love VP, there's no fun in getting to the ground or spending time near it.

[London Villan]

Has a new stadium ever been developed in tandem with a new railway station?

The red tape and wider implications of new stations create a massive problem - look at the three stations on the Camp Hill line. Planned for over 15 years - still not ready and they require no new tracks, sidings etc... All the stuff at Witton is superficial - queueing and access - not an increase in the number of trains or the number of carriages. These decisions are well beyond the influence of football clubs and (bankrupt) local authorities.

[curiousorange]

The Millennium Stadium seems to be in an ideal location. Must be great pre- and post-match.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's no way we'd be moving somewhere we'd need to be building new railway stations.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Moving stadium and location is a double whammy in terms of losing emotional attachment. Spurs and Arsenal’s new grounds are pretty much next door to their old ones, meaning no impact on how fans get to the ground so they can maintain long held pre-match rituals. Something we would never be able to do.

But at the same time, White Hart Lane was for ages considered a bit of a bastard to get to, yet they've moved next door.

Yep, they originally put a bid in for the Olympic Stadium.

[chrisw1]

Some people on socials seem convinced the NEC is the ultimate plan should we move. Is that realistic?

I don't think there's space there.  It's probably the worst of all worlds for me.

[Risso]

The Arsenal and Spurs new grounds are very, very similar inside (and both are similar again to Wembley). The Spurs one looks a lot nicer from the outside, but that's about it. What should the Arsenal one have that it doesn't have now? I was there last season for the terrible game under Gerrard, and the atmosphere was very good if you were an Arsenal fan, pretty much a wall of noise for 90 minutes.

[curiousorange]

Has a new stadium ever been developed in tandem with a new railway station?

The red tape and wider implications of new stations create a massive problem - look at the three stations on the Camp Hill line. Planned for over 15 years - still not ready and they require no new tracks, sidings etc... All the stuff at Witton is superficial - queueing and access - not an increase in the number of trains or the number of carriages. These decisions are well beyond the influence of football clubs and (bankrupt) local authorities.

I can't recall one in this country. Munich did for the Allianz Arena.

[pauliewalnuts]

Some people on socials seem convinced the NEC is the ultimate plan should we move. Is that realistic?

I don't think there's space there.  It's probably the worst of all worlds for me.

I struggle to think of anything worse.

[LeeB]

I don't like the way Club Wembley cuts the stands in half.  It gets away with it because of the sheer volume of fans, but a similar tier in a smaller ground would dominate.

Spurs is excellent.  Everton looks great and I think the location is brilliant, but it's a bit small.

In terms of older stadiums, the Millenium in Cardiff may not look all that, but it is brilliant.  An example of how a new stadium can still generate a superb atmosphere.

The stadia I'm most jealous of are those next to the City Centre where fans can walk to the ground.  They may not be the best in terms of pre-match income, but for fan experience and a feeling of community they are great fun.  As much as I love VP, there's no fun in getting to the ground or spending time near it.

My brother commented at Spurs that despite 60k being there the atmosphere was shit, and that's one of the better ones.

[curiousorange]

Some people on socials seem convinced the NEC is the ultimate plan should we move. Is that realistic?

I don't think there's space there.  It's probably the worst of all worlds for me.

I struggle to think of anything worse.

I think you'd have the same problems with trains as we currently do as well. Busier line but how many trains would cater for fans?

[Risso]

I don't like the way Club Wembley cuts the stands in half.  It gets away with it because of the sheer volume of fans, but a similar tier in a smaller ground would dominate.

Spurs is excellent.  Everton looks great and I think the location is brilliant, but it's a bit small.

In terms of older stadiums, the Millenium in Cardiff may not look all that, but it is brilliant.  An example of how a new stadium can still generate a superb atmosphere.

The stadia I'm most jealous of are those next to the City Centre where fans can walk to the ground.  They may not be the best in terms of pre-match income, but for fan experience and a feeling of community they are great fun.  As much as I love VP, there's no fun in getting to the ground or spending time near it.

My brother commented at Spurs that despite 60k being there the atmosphere was shit, and that's one of the better ones.

Newcastle is the best ground in my opinion for the reasons Chris says. A short walk from the city centre, and a very good ground once you get there. I don't like Spurs because it's a pain to get to and like Villa Park, there's not much around it. Arsenal is one tube stop from Kings Cross and the area around Islington is superb. Man City is a good, well designed ground but part of a vast, faceless complex that feels like it's part of dystopian sci fi film. Old Trafford is just shit, in a crap area and a rubbish, falling down pile of shite.