Villa Park Redevelopment

[Chico Hamilton III]

I know the club don’t allow it any more, and it probably isn’t factored in to any commercial decisions, but I wonder how many fans’ ashes have been scattered across Villa Park over the years. Hundreds? thousands?

 Build a new ground if you want but don’t move location please. As someone said on here recently, I’d rather sit in traffic for an hour, knowing that I was going to see us at Villa Park, than get easily into some venue that has no historical relevance to Villa.

[aev]

Is there any spare land near Curzon Street? I am sure this has been asked and answered before...?

[Gareth]

My suspicion is they are going to test that waiting list this summer by issuing eye watering renewal prices that will see a lot more unable to renew.

We aren’t fans or supporters to the likes of Heck, we are nothing more than consumers and all they will want is a bum on a seat, matters not if it’s someone who has been going 50 years or if it’s someone first game.

I also wonder if the new TV deal might have something to do with the decision, should we maintain or position as a side in European competition a lot more of our games will be on Sundays which Sky will show all Sunday games live….this may satisfy some of those on the list.  Or the club might think that.

I would have been happier if they had said we are putting the development on hold for 12 months whilst significant analysis on the waiting list is carried out, by this I mean speaking to everyone on the list and doing some research to understand the likelihood that each person would purchase if offered a season ticket, where they would want to sit and what they would pay.  Would also be interested in how many season tickets were made available last summer to the waiting list and how many purchased/ deferred/rejected the offer.  Still think there are a lot of people on that list who are essentially blocking those (a number of who are on here) who are desperate to get tickets.

I am pleased for those in the North who will be able to retain their seats and those they sit with for a while longer, I would presume a lot have had their seats for a number of years through a lot of the dross so good they can enjoy the current stuff together.

Hope the end game is still to rebuild that stand but hope the final one is more ambitious than the one proposed and that it is built in a way that doesn’t boot everyone out for a couple of seasons.

Also hope they follow through on the commitment to improve facilities around the ground, hopefully they’ll remember that the ground extends beyond the hospitality areas and the rest of us need proper toilets, decent catering facilities and decent standards of staff to dispense that catering.

[London Villan]

The 2k-3k added seats is just a stop gap
 Comcast have obvs come in and want to do a new feasibility study and plan of the stadium as part of the deal. I don't think anything is off the table.

Which would be fine and understandable - just tell the fans and be honest about the process.

[Ads]

It's much more fun watching productivity crash as people lose their minds about inconsequential things like badges and ponder planning/development instead.

[ChicagoLion]

Unless they sort the ground out our ability to invest on the pitch will be at significant disadvantage to our peers, and the longer they leave it the greater the gap grows.

Completely agree.

Which is why I think the North Stand has been kiboshed. I think they realise that they could end up chucking a lot of money on the other three stands and still not be as competitive as a new-build stadium.  So if you may have to rebuild, why chuck £100m+ at a new stand right now?

The thought of playing in something like West Ham now play in disturbs me greatly

Tottenham's ground is great supposedly...

If you like sanitised utilitarian space with no atmosphere then great, but at least it is built close to WHL

[Ads]

Spurs ground is a great stadium. Proper on top of the pitch, with a huge end that would belt out some noise if they weren't regularly getting turned over by us down there.

I find the additional layer of corporate that hangs back in the lower tier a bit of an odd choice, as presumably its not a great deal of fun sipping Pimms behind an away end going full limbs when Watkins scores.

The concourse is good, facilities good, sight lines good, everything about it is impressive. By far and away the best of the new grounds.

And now I feel filthy for having admitted it.

[LeeB]

Spurs ground is a great stadium. Proper on top of the pitch, with a huge end that would belt out some noise if they weren't regularly getting turned over by us down there.

I find the additional layer of corporate that hangs back in the lower tier a bit of an odd choice, as presumably its not a great deal of fun sipping Pimms behind an away end going full limbs when Watkins scores.

The concourse is good, facilities good, sight lines good, everything about it is impressive. By far and away the best of the new grounds.

And now I feel filthy for having admitted it.

I agree on all points, in particular the weird 'Club Wembley' tier of corporate you mention, I was on the back row last game and there's no way I'd want to see my mug or hear my thoughts on Spurs' 'title challenge' if I'd paid that much.

But other than that it's spot on, and I've enjoyed the corporate hospitality there too.

The numbers they are doing in comparison to the old ground are mind blowing and shows where the future lies I'm afraid. I'm all for staying on emotional grounds but it's impractical, if we had a stadium up the road we could use whilst we knocked it down and rebuilt then great, but we haven't so a new site is probably the only way forward unless we get hold of Aston Park.

I think the pause in works is to properly explore these options, potential sites, land deals etc.

[Ads]

I agree. A New North solves none of the issues which will make is deficient compared to Arsenal, Spurs, Man City, Liverpool, Everton etc.

New ground and whether it's a rebuild where we are or somewhere else, I think that's the plan.

[aev]

I agree. A New North solves none of the issues which will make is deficient compared to Arsenal, Spurs, Man City, Liverpool, Everton etc.

New ground and whether it's a rebuild where we are or somewhere else, I think that's the plan.

I agree - I think it will be somewhere else to enable us to continue playing at VP until the new one is ready with a few extra seats squeezed into VP somewhere.

I wonder if the new hospitability is there to gauge how much demand their is so that any new build is designed appropriately?

[PeterWithe]

Is there any spare land near Curzon Street? I am sure this has been asked and answered before...?

I was under the impression that HS2 was coming into Curzon Street in a tunnel from approx Caste Vale, which would have made the land above it useable and in need of development. But the plans I could find didn't confirm that, it looked as though it was at ground level. Its also some way away from completion obviously.

So in short, I don't know. Glad to have helped.

[LeeB]

Is there any spare land near Curzon Street? I am sure this has been asked and answered before...?

I was under the impression that HS2 was coming into Curzon Street in a tunnel from approx Caste Vale, which would have made the land above it useable and in need of development. But the plans I could find didn't confirm that, it looked as though it was at ground level. Its also some way away from completion obviously.

So in short, I don't know. Glad to have helped.

I've no idea either really but vaguely thought that tunnel would start around the old DAF site, and that site itself could be a potential location.

[LeeS]

Is there any spare land near Curzon Street? I am sure this has been asked and answered before...?

I'd be looking at all that industrial land off Newtown Row, Summer Lane etc. Spurs built their stadium on similar (not on the footprint of WHL). Pay the cash and people in warehouses and scrap yards will move out. Its walking distance from town, on the tram line and would attract more of the city corporate types.

[Ads]

A city centre ground would be the beans for a multitude of reasons. None more so than the absolute pettiness of how upset it would make about 23,000 residents of Birmingham/Solihull.

[frank black]

Is there any spare land near Curzon Street? I am sure this has been asked and answered before...?

I'd be looking at all that industrial land off Newtown Row, Summer Lane etc. Spurs built their stadium on similar (not on the footprint of WHL). Pay the cash and people in warehouses and scrap yards will move out. Its walking distance from town, on the tram line and would attract more of the city corporate types.

It’ll also result in more fans drinking and eating elsewhere. They’ll want us somewhere more inconvenient