Villa Park Redevelopment

[algy]

To go back a bit, because this thread has got away from the original point which was whether there were better ways to go about things to allow stadium expansion than what Liverpool did. No one thinks a CPO is perfect or that there won't be some residents would be unhappy but it's clearly a better way of doing things and is the ONLY thing the club should be looking at if the decision is that we need that space to expand the ground.

I'd wonder if that was likely in the foreseeable future, though.

- The North Stand & Trinity Road stand improvements will take us to 50k.
- If we do go for something approaching 1:1.8 rail seating for the Holte End, that will take Villa Park up to 60k - which is the stated ambition - without needing to change the footprint.

Maybe if we get to a point when we need a stadium that holds much more than 60k, we might have to start looking at other options.  But that's a long way off.

[paul_e]

To go back a bit, because this thread has got away from the original point which was whether there were better ways to go about things to allow stadium expansion than what Liverpool did. No one thinks a CPO is perfect or that there won't be some residents would be unhappy but it's clearly a better way of doing things and is the ONLY thing the club should be looking at if the decision is that we need that space to expand the ground.

I'd wonder if that was likely in the foreseeable future, though.

- The North Stand & Trinity Road stand improvements will take us to 50k.
- If we do go for something approaching 1:1.8 rail seating for the Holte End, that will take Villa Park up to 60k - which is the stated ambition - without needing to change the footprint.

Maybe if we get to a point when we need a stadium that holds much more than 60k, we might have to start looking at other options.  But that's a long way off.

I think the bold bit is a big assumption. That may be 1 option but I'd suggest it's more likely that we'd make improvements to both the holte and witton lane to make up that number.

[algy]

To go back a bit, because this thread has got away from the original point which was whether there were better ways to go about things to allow stadium expansion than what Liverpool did. No one thinks a CPO is perfect or that there won't be some residents would be unhappy but it's clearly a better way of doing things and is the ONLY thing the club should be looking at if the decision is that we need that space to expand the ground.

I'd wonder if that was likely in the foreseeable future, though.

- The North Stand & Trinity Road stand improvements will take us to 50k.
- If we do go for something approaching 1:1.8 rail seating for the Holte End, that will take Villa Park up to 60k - which is the stated ambition - without needing to change the footprint.

Maybe if we get to a point when we need a stadium that holds much more than 60k, we might have to start looking at other options.  But that's a long way off.

I think the bold bit is a big assumption. That may be 1 option but I'd suggest it's more likely that we'd make improvements to both the holte and witton lane to make up that number.

Well, either way we get to 60k without changing the footprint of the ground.

But I still think a 24k capacity, single tier, rail seated Holte End is the best solution to our problem. It’s not that much to ask for a stand that’s bigger than 58 of the other 91 league club’s entire grounds, is it?

[Drummond]

Let's see where 50k gets us. It's a good number and should last a little while; until we are challenging properly at least.

I think talk of 60k is premature.

[paul_e]

Let's see where 50k gets us. It's a good number and should last a little while; until we are challenging properly at least.

I think talk of 60k is premature.

It is, but as I said earlier, it's something that will take a long time to do if the choice is to upgrade that stand and add extra capacity and facilities. If the club is even considering it then they need to be making plans now, not when we're selling out a 50k stadium with a 15-20k backlog on season tickets.

[OCD]

42k capacity and 27k on the waiting list, currently sat in mid-table. It might not be as far as off as you might think and these sorts of things have to be planned for well in advance.

[eamonn]

Maybe lets ask them first 

If you want, head down and go knocking on their door, they'll tell you to fcuk off 

[eamonn]

I'm pretty pissed off that I may lose my seat of 20+ years in the Holte with the introduction of safe standing. So I can't imagine how people would feel when someone rocks up with a CPO to take their home.

Yeah, but what if we promised your own plus coporate seat at...Stamford Bridge? Can't say fairer than that as an upgrade (whistley-emoji from H&V forum version: circa 2005-2010)

[Zouch Villa]

I think talk of a whole stand being converted to rail seating is a long reach to being achievable.  Likelihood is at best we might see various controlled zones adapted to safe standing (as others have suggested, parts of corner sections and lower tier back rows), so will only realistically add a few thousand extra capacity.

[Londonvilla]

I put this here as I think hearing opposition fans' points of view is important.

My take is that rails seats have to be part of the future to improve the atmosphere, as the cost of season tickets means a lot of hardcore fans are being priced out of the game.

[Lastfootstamper]

Why do you think rail seats will be cheaper?

[Lastfootstamper]

And, from what I can see from the UT, everybody, and I mean everybody in the Holte spends the entire game standing up.

[Londonvilla]

Why do you think rail seats will be cheaper?

You can get more people into the available space

[Mellin]

I wish that was how capitalism worked.

You might be right, but 9 times out of 10...fatter margins.

[Lastfootstamper]

Why do you think rail seats will be cheaper?

You can get more people into the available space

In the old days, yeah. Not now. I don't see anywhere that's introduced it at a higher rate than one seat = one standing.