Villa Park Redevelopment

[pauliewalnuts]

I wonder if the development will be based on the bid winning, which in turn will give the city access to money to upgrade Witton Station.

No, it won't be anything to do with that.

[eamonn]

Will Ireland qualify as co-hosts? It's the only feckin' way we will 

I seem to remember hearing that as there are effectively five co-hosts they wouldn’t automatically qualify.

Say it ain't so, fat Sam.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Two out of the 5 host countries will qualify automatically.

No idea how they plan to choose the two.

[AV82EC]

Two out of the 5 host countries will qualify automatically.

No idea how they plan to choose the two.

The return of the Home Internationals with added RoI. Top 2 qualify, 1 in the play offs.

[Dave P]

Be interesting to see guests from all across Europe standing in a mile long queue for the train at Aston.

They'll be no queue straight after as they'll all be drinking Amstel out of a plastic beaker for £8 in Villa Live.

[Chris Smith]

Have North Stand season ticket holders been given any notice of what will happen during the redevelopment?

[LeeB]

Have North Stand season ticket holders been given any notice of what will happen during the redevelopment?

No.

[Brazilian Villain]

Two out of the 5 host countries will qualify automatically.

No idea how they plan to choose the two.

The return of the Home Internationals with added RoI. Top 2 qualify, 1 in the play offs.

I was going to suggest England as automatic hosts and then the other 4 play for 2 spots but that seems fair enough.

[Brazilian Villain]

They don't have to have a NI one if they don't have a stadium to host it in.  Surely this weakens the bid as a whole as it's clearly not big enough when there's probably a dozen alternatives elsewhere?

I'd guess that politically, a venue in NI is an absolute necessity if there is one in Dublin, however small it is.

Watching the NI News tonight there was a segment on the new Casement Park and the chat was that it could be built, with the help of the UK and Irish govts, as opposed to it will be. It also mentioned that Northern Ireland fans have released a statement saying they only want to host games if it's at a football stadium (i.e. not a GAA stadium like Casement Park). Then add in the current impasse at Stormont and its availability looks far from certain.

As I've mentioned before I have my doubts it will be ready in time, at which point they could possibly use Croke Park as an alternative venue. That's an extra 40-50k seats per game and from a political point of view they can say to NI that they were listed in the initial 10 stadia and had their chance to host.

[eamonn]

Why don't they just bring Windsor Park up to scratch? Lower cost and risk.

[Brazilian Villain]

Why don't they just bring Windsor Park up to scratch? Lower cost and risk.

Waste of time and money, won't be needed when there's a United Ireland team.

[astonvilla82]

Why don't they just bring Windsor Park up to scratch? Lower cost and risk.

some how I can't see GAA sports being played there if they do improve it

[tomd2103]

Why don't they just bring Windsor Park up to scratch? Lower cost and risk.

Waste of time and money, won't be needed when there's a United Ireland team.

Yep, couldn’t see many games being played in what would become like a war zone again.

[VILLA MOLE]

I still think they will need to do something with Witton Lane to try and get up to Spec  ,before a major tournament

[Villan For Life]

I still think they will need to do something with Witton Lane to try and get up to Spec  ,before a major tournament

Presumably the bid has been signed off on how the stadiums are projected to look like at the start of the tournament. At the moment there are no concrete plans to do anything on that side of the ground so come 2028 the Witton Lane will look pretty much like it does today.