Villa Park Redevelopment

[Monty]

It will never have the character of that old red brick façade and the knowledge that, when I go there, I'm going to the same ground as my father, grandfather, and great-grandfathers.

[Rory]

It will never have the character of that old red brick façade and the knowledge that, when I go there, I'm going to the same ground as my father, grandfather, and great-grandfathers.

Are they still there, queuing for a pie and pint they decided they fancied at some point during the first Gulf War? 😉

[Monty]

It will never have the character of that old red brick façade and the knowledge that, when I go there, I'm going to the same ground as my father, grandfather, and great-grandfathers.

Are they still there, queuing for a pie and pint they decided they fancied at some point during the first Gulf War? 😉

*Boer War, but yes.

[Rory]

Our facilities for the 140-year olds are a frigging DISGRACE.

[pauliewalnuts]

West Ham sold their soul when they moved to the Olympic stadium.  Aston Villa should stay where they are.

This, over and over again. If you haven’t seen a game at the London Stadium, go and do it and see if you’d fancy that for us every other week.

True, but then again, not every move to a new ground necessarily has to be to one as bad as that, ie to a stadium already in existence, built for another sport.

You could equally say, anyone who fancies moving to a new ground, go to the Spurs stadium as see how much you'd fancy that.

[rougegorge]

I would not be averse to moving if it meant better facilities and better access and more modernity.

I love VP,  but we all follow the team not the stadium and the memories would not be lost. Moving doesn't necessarily enhance prospects of success, but saying put doesn't either.

It will be an improvement with the planned redevelopments,  but we can't regenerate the whole area, and I don't know whether it will entice people to arrive much earlier or leave later.

Also, I think if the club do want to relocate, there would be possible sites and options, as 'where there's a will..'...

[Risso]

It will never have the character of that old red brick façade and the knowledge that, when I go there, I'm going to the same ground as my father, grandfather, and great-grandfathers.

My great grandad went to Wellington Road, so I don't have that attachment

[CT]

West Ham sold their soul when they moved to the Olympic stadium.  Aston Villa should stay where they are.

This, over and over again. If you haven’t seen a game at the London Stadium, go and do it and see if you’d fancy that for us every other week.

True, but then again, not every move to a new ground necessarily has to be to one as bad as that, ie to a stadium already in existence, built for another sport.

You could equally say, anyone who fancies moving to a new ground, go to the Spurs stadium as see how much you'd fancy that.

I found the Spurs stadium equally soulless. The lack of atmosphere made by 60,000 people was hard to believe. A flashy stadium, looks like it made primarily for the NFL games with its three layers of flashing advertising boards etc.

Mind you, Chelsea at SB was probably the quietest set of fans last season - maybe football is just heading that way regardless of the stadium.

[wince]

The Foo Fighters. The band Nirvana could have been!

The lead singer looks like nirvanas drummer…….

[tomd2103]

Looking at where the 76s play, it's an out of town arena, next to the NFL stadium and the MLB ballpark. As an anchor venue, the NEC is probably the only similar, feasible size location - but geographically it's all wrong.

Wouldn’t be in favour of a move to the NEC site at all.  Too far out and I think we would lose our identity somewhat. 

A city centre site and the possibilities that might bring would probably be the only real option I think would be palatable.

Palatable? You’d move just to be nearer B1? As a 2nd city with a population of over 1 million where we’re located in B6 is about as close as we can get or could expect to get. Why would the club even consider moving if it has already invested in academy facilities?

I'm not advocating a move of ground, but if it meant that we could potentially take that next step up off the field and compete comercially then it would be something worth considering at least. 

The only location I could see offering that in the area would be the city centre.  As others have pointed out, I think part of the issue and maybe why we haven't been able to make that next step off the field is the location of VP and the fact it is only really visited in numbers on match days.  A city centre location would offer a lot more options.

All that said, there would have to be clear benefits before it would be considered really and I'm not sure it is a real prospect anyway.

[Goldenballs]

We're told that if you want to progress then you need to sign better players, regardless of how fond you may be of the players that are already here, who helped us get where we are. Bin them off and buy better ones.

If you want to progress in an even bigger jump, bin off the old stadium and build/move to a better one, regardless of how fond you may be of the existing one.

A similar, if a bit of an extreme comparison, or not?

[algy]

I've been thinking, and have decided that even a move to the city centre isn't something I think would be a good thing.

The best we could hope for in terms of moving would be a B1 location and a pastiche of Villa Park. But I don't really want a Disneyfied version of football. We play at a glorious old ground, it's borders defined by the streets of the community it represents.

It's a bit sketchy, the transport is far from perfect, there aren't so many places to drink because the local population aren't big drinkers, ... but the ACR, the fact even rats won't eat at the Villa Chippy, the walk to the ground, ... Nothing you can put a price on, but something more valuable than anything you could ever buy.

[tomd2103]

I've been thinking, and have decided that even a move to the city centre isn't something I think would be a good thing.

The best we could hope for in terms of moving would be a B1 location and a pastiche of Villa Park. But I don't really want a Disneyfied version of football. We play at a glorious old ground, it's borders defined by the streets of the community it represents.

It's a bit sketchy, the transport is far from perfect, there aren't so many places to drink because the local population aren't big drinkers, ... but the ACR, the fact even rats won't eat at the Villa Chippy, the walk to the ground, ... Nothing you can put a price on, but something more valuable than anything you could ever buy.

With a redeveloped North Stand and improved transport links, that's the conclusion I would probably come to as well.  It depends on how the hierarchy at the club view it though I suppose. 

[Monty]

A new stadium is just such a red herring. How much real extra revenue would it bring in? How much extra capacity? Enough to counteract the debt the club would be saddled with? And with all the intangibles we'd lose as well.

The Emirates is soulless. The Etihad is soulless. New White Hart Lane is soulless. The London Stadium is unbelievably soulless. And I'm here to tell you that the Aston Villa Arena brought to you by Dystopic Asian-Facing Bookie would be no different.

[pauliewalnuts]

There are a few issues we currently have at Villa Park which are, basically, nuts.

We are spitting distance from a major motorway interchange at the centre of the country's motorway network - but it takes ages to get there, and made much much worse by the refusal to reinstate the one way system on Aston Hall Road.

We're sandwiched between two train stations - but they are an absolute nightmare to use because yes, the platform is too small at one of them, but also because the way are operated sees trains leaving far from full whilst people wait over an hour outside.

Not only that, but those stations don't even get serviced by more trains on match days.

The ground isn't even that far from the city centre, but there isn't any coordinated bus shuttle system bar an absurdly expensive trial last game of last season.

All these are problems that could be chipped away at without the need to spend millions of pounds but the parties involved won't even do that.