Villa Park Redevelopment

[London Villan]

A handful of times in witton lane, that Arsenal 2-1 was the most memorable.

[tomd2103]

I got chased out of the Witton by Rangers fans,
oh what lovely times they were

My uncle was at it and he said it was the most scared he's been at a football match. As I was only 6 I wasn't allowed to go.

I recently read a thread on one of their forums about that game. The general consensus seems to be that the level of violence that day was the worst on all their travels home and abroad, which is probably saying something. They also had a grudging respect for the Villa fans as they reckoned the Brummies had more fight in them than say, the Geordies and the Mancs.

Not me I’m afraid
I was a young teenager shitting my pants

Met an older Glaswegian couple on holiday a few years ago and he asked if I knew about it.  I said I did as my Dad was there and has talked about over the years. 

He said they were marched into town after the game was abandoned and put on buses back to Glasgow.  The drivers were then instructed to drive back to where they had come from without stopping.  I'm sure thecoaches going back to Scotland weren't smelling too clever by the time they got back.

[Oklahoma]

I was at the Rangers game with my old man, uncle & Grandfather. We had season tickets on the halfway line in the WLS. Most Rangers in the Holte (I guess they arrived early) and Villa at the Witton End terrace before meeting on the pitch to slug it out.

Has there been any decent solution to adding capacity to the DE (or Holte) or is the road(s) too much of an obstacle?

[tomd2103]

Quite a few from the Holte spent some time in the old Witton Lane when the former was being rebuilt. 

[Ad@m]

Has there been any decent solution to adding capacity to the DE (or Holte) or is the road(s) too much of an obstacle?

I thought it was less the road (you can just build over it like we did with the Trinity, although that scuppers any plans to get a decent sized concourse) but more the light issues on the houses behind the stand.

For us to get planning permission to extend the Witton I'd imagine those houses would have to go and I'm not sure I like the idea of a Liverpool-style campaign to evict people who live next to the ground.

[algy]

Has there been any decent solution to adding capacity to the DE (or Holte) or is the road(s) too much of an obstacle?

I thought it was less the road (you can just build over it like we did with the Trinity, although that scuppers any plans to get a decent sized concourse) but more the light issues on the houses behind the stand.

For us to get planning permission to extend the Wotton I'd imagine those houses would have to go and I'm not sure I like the idea of a Liverpool-stylr campaign to evict people who live next to the ground.

I agree, we should be doing whatever we can to ingratiate ourselves with the local people, not turf them out of their homes.

[AlexAlexCropley]

Has there been any decent solution to adding capacity to the DE (or Holte) or is the road(s) too much of an obstacle?

I thought it was less the road (you can just build over it like we did with the Trinity, although that scuppers any plans to get a decent sized concourse) but more the light issues on the houses behind the stand.

For us to get planning permission to extend the Wotton I'd imagine those houses would have to go and I'm not sure I like the idea of a Liverpool-stylr campaign to evict people who live next to the ground.

I agree, we should be doing whatever we can to ingratiate ourselves with the local people, not turf them out of their homes.

We have been for many years

[Villan82]

Could it be that simple? If it's the light to the houses that is the issue and not the road then you would think there would be an easy solution. Build a much deeper stand, over the road, but at a slightly lower height to the other stands? Maybe even a large single tier to match the new North and Trinity? Might add a couple of thousand seats and would certainly improve the concourses and hospitality offering.

The current Witton Lane stand is about the same height as the current North Stand but isn't deep which impacts its capacity and concourses.

[pauliewalnuts]

Could it be that simple? If it's the light to the houses that is the issue and not the road then you would think there would be an easy solution. Build a much deeper stand, over the road, but at a slightly lower height to the other stands? Maybe even a large single tier to match the new North and Trinity? Might add a couple of thousand seats and would certainly improve the concourses and hospitality offering.

The current Witton Lane stand is about the same height as the current North Stand but isn't deep which impacts its capacity and concourses.

I think it'd be much more complicated than that - you might not be making it higher, but building closer to the houses will still have an impact on light.

Also, single tier stand with improved hospitality are two things that don't go together, I suspect.

[Pat Mustard]

The plan is to add another 2-3k capacity in a refurbished Witton Lane in the next phase isn’t it? The lower tier could definitely be re-profiled to add more seats at the front and back (which would also bring about 100 seats in the Holte that can’t be sold currently back into play), with the replacement of the current boxes with ‘premium’ seats. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a pavilion arrangement added in the corner between Witton and Holte similar to the one on the Trinity corner, as the control rooms etc that are currently there are moving to the new stand I believe.

Beyond that there wouldn’t be much scope for further increases unless we bought up the Holte Road houses and re-routed Witton Lane. Presumably that would cost an absolute fortune and would add another 6-7k. It would only really have made sense to do that if we were planning a Spurs style re-build by moving the whole ground sideways away from the cut off corner by the park.

[IFWaters]

I think light to those houses is the issue. Perhaps we could be the first stadium in the world to have a flip top roof or entire upper part of the stand on hydraulic jacks to make it a 'temporary erection' during matches. Fnarr

[Kevin Dawson]

Rename it The Viagra Stand....

[Nii Lamptey]

My season ticket used to be on the very back row of the Witton Lane, looking right across the centreline.
Once the Trinity was finished, Villa wanted the tv cameras moved from that stand to Witton Lane so that the new stand formed the backdrop on the telly. We each received letters asking us to relocate as they were putting the cameras in our seats. I’m now on the opposite side, but whenever I see Villa on the telly, the view is pretty much from my old seat! 😉

[Flin5tone]

Loads of availability for wolves , you do wonder if we can't sell out for a local derby will we often end up with 7000 empty seats

[eamonn]

New year, same worries.