Villa Park Redevelopment

[algy]

Assuming the joint 2030 bid goes ahead what would be the 12 stadiums? The following would be a strong list with not much work required.

Wembley (Final), Tottenham, Emirates, Villa Park, Anfield/Everton, Old Trafford, St. James' Park, Millennium, Hampden, Celtic Park/Murrayfield, Aviva, Croke Park (assuming GAA approve). Possibly Casement Park in Belfast if it's redeveloped to the required standard.

I'd go for the following (organised in geographic groups of 3 grounds to keep travel down during the group stages):

Wembley (Ldn)
Millenium Stadium (Cdf)
Everton's new ground (Liverpool)

Old Trafford (Mcr)
Olympic Stadium (Ldn)
Villa Park (Brum)

Hampden Park (Glasgow)
Murrayfield (Edinburgh)
St James Park (Newcastle)

Anfield (Liverpool)
Aviva Stadium (Dublin)
Casement Park (Belfast)

[algy]

Even with the expansion to 48 teams, England could easily host the World Cup alone. Adding the Celts makes it less likely to pass as the rest of Europe aren't going to want to surrender five of their sixteen qualifying spots. In any case, such a tournament would likely just be England with a tiny handful of games elsewhere as a token.

England plus one other qualify automatically, the other countries get to go through their normal qualification routes?

For me, the point would be more that it's unlikely that Republic of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland would be able to host a world cup without the involvement of England.  I'd be happy to see those 4 countries host the important games (final etc), and just use the English grounds to make up the numbers rather than building a 120,000 all seater stadium in Cowdenbeath.

[Brazilian Villain]

A similar list but I wouldn't have 2 venues in Liverpool similar to London. Better to have 3 in London and 1 in Liverpool not to put Manc and Brummie noses out plus there's the accommodation to think of.

Personally I doubt Casement Park will done in time for a bid and will only hold 40k. Croke Park is the third biggest stadium in Europe and an easy walk from the city centre. FiFA would prefer an extra 30-40k seats to sell.

[Brazilian Villain]

Even with the expansion to 48 teams, England could easily host the World Cup alone. Adding the Celts makes it less likely to pass as the rest of Europe aren't going to want to surrender five of their sixteen qualifying spots. In any case, such a tournament would likely just be England with a tiny handful of games elsewhere as a token.

England plus one other qualify automatically, the other countries get to go through their normal qualification routes?

For me, the point would be more that it's unlikely that Republic of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland would be able to host a world cup without the involvement of England.  I'd be happy to see those 4 countries host the important games (final etc), and just use the English grounds to make up the numbers rather than building a 120,000 all seater stadium in Cowdenbeath.

Agree with this, some pragmatism would be required. Maybe
1) England as hosts with the other 4 playing a mini tournament for another host spot or
2) England and Scotland as hosts but the semi-finals to be played in Cardiff and Dublin.

I agree with CD that it would be nice to have the 2030 tournament in South America, then 2034 in the British Isles.

[cdbullyweefan]

You'd want sixteen grounds, judging by the 2026 effort. They generally only allow the capital to have more than one ground in the World Cup so no Man City or Everton. Bristol City, MK and Plymouth were all included in the last bid, I think.

For England World Cup:

Wembley
One more London: probably Arsenal or Tottenham
Man U
Liverpool
Newcastle
Sunderland
Leeds
One of the Sheffield teams
Villa
East Midlands team: Leicester, Forest or Derby
Norwich
Reading
Bristol City
Milton Keynes
Southampton
Plymouth

For a Celtic Euros:

Hampden
Celtic Park
Murrayfield
Hearts or Hibs
New Aberdeen Stadium
New shared Dundee Stadium
Millennium Stadium
Swansea
Redeveloped Wrexham (they can afford it now...)
Lansdowne Road
Croke Park
Redeveloped GAA ground somewhere in West of Ireland

[eamonn]

A similar list but I wouldn't have 2 venues in Liverpool similar to London. Better to have 3 in London and 1 in Liverpool not to put Manc and Brummie noses out plus there's the accommodation to think of.

Personally I doubt Casement Park will done in time for a bid and will only hold 40k. Croke Park is the third biggest stadium in Europe and an easy walk from the city centre. FiFA would prefer an extra 30-40k seats to sell.

Would be bigger if the Dubs didn't insist on keeping their beloved/crumpled Hill16 terrace.

[The Edge]

This debate does raise the issue of much needed redevelopment at Villa Park. In the long history of our club the stadium has always been considered an elite venue for holding major football events. Sadly this is not the case anymore. As much as we love it half the stadium isn't anywhere near the required standards now. We are in danger of being left behind and overlooked. We need our place back among the elite football stadia in this country and we have owners capable of building their own legacy on and off the pitch. Let's get our club back where it belongs amongst the very best.

[Toronto Villa]

Whatever we do we cannot lose the essence of what Villa Park is in terms of its aesthetic appeal and most importantly the football environment it creates. I don’t disagree aspects of the ground need to be brought up to date. Man U fans are saying much the same thing about Old Trafford.

[LeeB]

Whatever we do we cannot lose the essence of what Villa Park is in terms of its aesthetic appeal and most importantly the football environment it creates. I don’t disagree aspects of the ground need to be brought up to date. Man U fans are saying much the same thing about Old Trafford.

We should look to build exterior facades in the style of the Holte, and sort the Trinity in the same manner if possible.

[Villa Lew]

It's wrap around stadium for me, lose too much capacity having 4 stands. Spurs stadium I reckon is superb.

[hipkiss92]

You'd want sixteen grounds, judging by the 2026 effort. They generally only allow the capital to have more than one ground in the World Cup so no Man City or Everton. Bristol City, MK and Plymouth were all included in the last bid, I think.

For England World Cup:

Wembley
One more London: probably Arsenal or Tottenham
Man U
Liverpool
Newcastle
Sunderland
Leeds
One of the Sheffield teams
Villa
East Midlands team: Leicester, Forest or Derby
Norwich
Reading
Bristol City
Milton Keynes
Southampton
Plymouth

For a Celtic Euros:

Hampden
Celtic Park
Murrayfield
Hearts or Hibs
New Aberdeen Stadium
New shared Dundee Stadium
Millennium Stadium
Swansea
Redeveloped Wrexham (they can afford it now...)
Lansdowne Road
Croke Park
Redeveloped GAA ground somewhere in West of Ireland

I could see them having Arsenal and Tottenham rather than including Reading in the list. If Crossrail is sorted by 2030 Reading will essentially be a Borough of London anyway.

[paul_e]

I hate wrap around stadiums. Redo the North stand to make it a similar size to the Holte (there's plenty of space) and then we can look at the options for Witton Lane because the concourses in there are a massive problem, it would be tough though as we'd need to have the road moved to stand any chance and I can see a lot of opposition to that.

[UK Redsox]

It's wrap around stadium for me, lose too much capacity having 4 stands. Spurs stadium I reckon is superb.

Build a copy of the Spurs stadium somewhere just north of Worcester and move Villa there

Sorted

[Pat Mustard]

There has to remain a separate identity for each of the stands, at least in the upper tiers.  You can fill the corners with boxes, corporate seats, restaurants, craft breweries, cheese rooms or whatever else we want, but whatever we do it needs to remain recognisably as Villa Park.  As good as Tottenham's new ground may be, when it is filled with fans three quarters of it looks no different to the Emirates or Etihad, or any number of large new builds in other countries. 

[itmustbe_it is!]

It's wrap around stadium for me, lose too much capacity having 4 stands. Spurs stadium I reckon is superb.

Both Spurs and Etihad had almost zero atmosphere. Emirates seemed better for some reason. And if you're high up like we were at Etihad (or Wembley) it's like watching a game of Subbuteo.