Villa Park Redevelopment

[Mister E]

When do we think a suitable time would be to get cracking on the North Stand? Surely this time next year, if we are established in the top half of the PL again, would be as good a time as any? Or too soon?

March 2020.
Oooops.

[algy]

I'm sick of all the North Stand hating, it's a brutalist masterpiece and I like sitting up there.

Sort the bloody **** ***** stand out first, that's the real disgrace. It may look a bit better on the outside, but it's terrible inside and it's basically a cut-and-shut job of two stands. It's fitting tribute to the name it was given.

+1 from me.  Might be just because I tend to sit in the North Stand Upper myself, but I like it ... the view's great in the upper tier, and I love a bit of brutalist architecture myself.

[LeeB]

I'm sick of all the North Stand hating, it's a brutalist masterpiece and I like sitting up there.

Sort the bloody **** ***** stand out first, that's the real disgrace. It may look a bit better on the outside, but it's terrible inside and it's basically a cut-and-shut job of two stands. It's fitting tribute to the name it was given.

+1 from me.  Might be just because I tend to sit in the North Stand Upper myself, but I like it ... the view's great in the upper tier, and I love a bit of brutalist architecture myself.

When I was a kid, the brutalist buildings were the nice new places that you wanted to go to, the Victorian buildings were cold and scary looking, but basically my whole stance can still be boiled down to Wyndley swimming baths vs Erdington.

[Brazilian Villain]

A rebuilt North Stand to mirror the Holte (with additional corporate facilities) would take us up to c. 50k, and presumably wouldn't cost that much in the grand scheme of things.  That's probably all we can do realistically without a rebuild where we shift the stadium 10 yards into the North Stand car park, and to be honest would do us for the next 10 years. If we are consistently successful at that point, then a wholescale redevelopment might be the only way to go.

This for me, two tiers (so as not to overshadow The Holte) and top notch corporate facilities. An exterior facade similar to The Holte (with mosaic and steps etc) and the McGregor statue given pride of place with it renamed The (William) McGregor Stand. Increasing the capacity from 7K to circa 13.5k would bring us close to 50k overall and design the lower tier so that it can be converted to rail seating with minimal fuss/cost.

[Drummond]

All this discussion has just made me pissed off that one of the stands is named after the ex, ex, ex, chairman and was when he was still here. There's just no club that has that sort of issue. (Barring perhaps Sheffield Utd who signed CHed Evans with a rape conviction and had to remove the name of the Bramall Lane stand after bizarrely naming it the Jessica Ennis Stand, when the aforementioned took umbrage at the signing.)

[chrisw1]

The problem with fan consultations is that there are as many different opinions as there are fans.  I don't pariculalry want my clubs future and development of the ground dictated by the few who stamp their feet the loudest.  Thats how you end up with banners which say 'Here come the Aston Villa'

Everton, Tottenham, City, Arsenal etc have taken the difficult decison to completely redevelop / move grounds to be able to compete (with varying sucess I agree).  Undoubtedly large parts of their support would have been against these moves but Spurs and Arsenal in particular now have world class stadiums.  I'm sure the club get that most football fans lean towards 'traditionalist' views and rightly so.  But if we need to fill in some corners to get up to a capacity to compete with these clubs, then so long as it's done with some sympathy and common sence I hope they have the commercial sense to make that difficult decision.

I want Villa Park to retain it's magic and hope there will always be a famous Holte End.  But mostly I want Villa to be successful and have a place at the top table and if that means some compromise on stadium design, I'll live with it.

[Sexual Ealing]

The problem with fan consultations is that there are as many different opinions as there are fans.  I don't pariculalry want my clubs future and development of the ground dictated by the few who stamp their feet the loudest.  Thats how you end up with banners which say 'Here come the Aston Villa'

Everton, Tottenham, City, Arsenal etc have taken the difficult decison to completely redevelop / move grounds to be able to compete (with varying sucess I agree).  Undoubtedly large parts of their support would have been against these moves but Spurs and Arsenal in particular now have world class stadiums.  I'm sure the club get that most football fans lean towards 'traditionalist' views and rightly so.  But if we need to fill in some corners to get up to a capacity to compete with these clubs, then so long as it's done with some sympathy and common sence I hope they have the commercial sense to make that difficult decision.

I want Villa Park to retain it's magic and hope there will always be a famous Holte End.  But mostly I want Villa to be successful and have a place at the top table and if that means some compromise on stadium design, I'll live with it.

Not much to disagree with there, except that the Emirates is a hole of a place and has robbed Arsenal of the class that they used to have.

[Pat Mustard]

The problem with fan consultations is that there are as many different opinions as there are fans.  I don't pariculalry want my clubs future and development of the ground dictated by the few who stamp their feet the loudest.  Thats how you end up with banners which say 'Here come the Aston Villa'

Everton, Tottenham, City, Arsenal etc have taken the difficult decison to completely redevelop / move grounds to be able to compete (with varying sucess I agree).  Undoubtedly large parts of their support would have been against these moves but Spurs and Arsenal in particular now have world class stadiums.  I'm sure the club get that most football fans lean towards 'traditionalist' views and rightly so.  But if we need to fill in some corners to get up to a capacity to compete with these clubs, then so long as it's done with some sympathy and common sence I hope they have the commercial sense to make that difficult decision.

I want Villa Park to retain it's magic and hope there will always be a famous Holte End.  But mostly I want Villa to be successful and have a place at the top table and if that means some compromise on stadium design, I'll live with it.

Not much to disagree with there, except that the Emirates is a hole of a place and has robbed Arsenal of the class that they used to have.

Absolutely right about The Emirates - it has robbed Arsenal of their identity and is a soulless place to watch a football match.  Even the supposedly successful examples like Spurs, though, are still pre-pack stadia with small tweaks, rather than places with their own character.  As I said earlier, the new WHL is basically a ground that is 3/4s the same as The Emirates, The Etihad, Benfica's Stadium of Light and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, just with a big single-tiered end.  I'm certain it's possible to create a ground that suits our needs and will bring far more income without going down this route.

[KevinGage]

I'm sick of all the North Stand hating, it's a brutalist masterpiece and I like sitting up there.

Sort the bloody **** ***** stand out first, that's the real disgrace. It may look a bit better on the outside, but it's terrible inside and it's basically a cut-and-shut job of two stands. It's fitting tribute to the name it was given.

+1 from me.  Might be just because I tend to sit in the North Stand Upper myself, but I like it ... the view's great in the upper tier, and I love a bit of brutalist architecture myself.

++ for me.

It was the first of its kind in the country and the last stand that links us to the successful teams of the 70s and 80s.   Gut the concourses and go to town reprofiling the back of it. But don't level completely when the Witton is far more deserving of that fate.

[Brazilian Villain]

Not much to disagree with there, except that the Emirates is a hole of a place and has robbed Arsenal of the class that they used to have.

Agree with that and feel that if we ever move from Villa Park we'd lose some of our class/soul too. Hard to beat that feeling as you walk down Aston Park and The Holte End (one of the most famous ends in football) looms into view.

[The Edge]

A rebuilt North Stand to mirror the Holte (with additional corporate facilities) would take us up to c. 50k, and presumably wouldn't cost that much in the grand scheme of things.  That's probably all we can do realistically without a rebuild where we shift the stadium 10 yards into the North Stand car park, and to be honest would do us for the next 10 years. If we are consistently successful at that point, then a wholescale redevelopment might be the only way to go.

This for me, two tiers (so as not to overshadow The Holte) and top notch corporate facilities. An exterior facade similar to The Holte (with mosaic and steps etc) and the McGregor statue given pride of place with it renamed The (William) McGregor Stand. Increasing the capacity from 7K to circa 13.5k would bring us close to 50k overall and design the lower tier so that it can be converted to rail seating with minimal fuss/cost.

A North Stand built built on the same scale as the Holte would hold considerably more. The Holte has a whole corner of it lopped off due to the Trinity Rd being adjacent. A North stand rebuild wouldn't have such restrictions.

[The Edge]

I'm sick of all the North Stand hating, it's a brutalist masterpiece and I like sitting up there.

Sort the bloody **** ***** stand out first, that's the real disgrace. It may look a bit better on the outside, but it's terrible inside and it's basically a cut-and-shut job of two stands. It's fitting tribute to the name it was given.

+1 from me.  Might be just because I tend to sit in the North Stand Upper myself, but I like it ... the view's great in the upper tier, and I love a bit of brutalist architecture myself.

++ for me.

It was the first of its kind in the country and the last stand that links us to the successful teams of the 70s and 80s.   Gut the concourses and go to town reprofiling the back of it. But don't level completely when the Witton is far more deserving of that fate.

It would seem that the North stand is fast becoming marmite or at least on here it is. My two Bob's worth is I hate brutalist architecture with a passion and find the current North stand about as bland as it gets to look at. The cost of refurbishing it and adding the necessary 7,000+ seats would be far more expensive than demolition and a total rebuild. It would end up a cut n shut type mishmash that HDE would have been proud of.

[Brazilian Villain]

A North Stand built built on the same scale as the Holte would hold considerably more. The Holte has a whole corner of it lopped off due to the Trinity Rd being adjacent. A North stand rebuild wouldn't have such restrictions.

Even better if it would push us over 50k. I've no problem with it having a bigger capacity than the Holte, just don't want it to be a single bank that would dilute the Holte being the 'home' end. Plus I imagine we'd need to incorporate hospitality suites from a revenue point of view.

[CT]

I just hope we never leave.

I’ve spoken to several West Ham fans since their move, and they hate it. An awful bowl, no identity to them at all. Good for gigs, not for football.

Some of the new identikit grounds are just soulless and devoid of any character.

A ground with red seats... is it Southampton, is it Stoke, is it Middlesbrough? They all look exactly the same.

[Sexual Ealing]

I just hope we never leave.

I’ve spoken to several West Ham fans since their move, and they hate it. An awful bowl, no identity to them at all. Good for gigs, not for football.

Some of the new identikit grounds are just soulless and devoid of any character.

A ground with red seats... is it Southampton, is it Stoke, is it Middlesbrough? They all look exactly the same.

They're right, it's shit.