Villa Park Redevelopment

[Risso]

Didn't Heck say they are doubling the size of the existing club shop? Seems to rule out rebuilding further back on the current site?

Even that announcement was laughably bad. "And don't be surprised if we double the size of the club shop!"

Don't be surprised? Are you doing it or not?

I imagine they're just going to use existing space in that building to peddle more tat.

[London Villan]

That will generate millions... or maybe not in the days of online shopping...

[Chico Hamilton III]

Bit of a tangent, but 3 years ago this week (according to my Facebook memories), we played at Fulham and they were just starting to build their new Riverside stand. 3 years on and it’s still not fully opened. Shocking.

[pauliewalnuts]

Bit of a tangent, but 3 years ago this week (according to my Facebook memories), we played at Fulham and they were just starting to build their new Riverside stand. 3 years on and it’s still not fully opened. Shocking.

Building on the banks of a river, mind, that's got to be particularly tricky.

[PeterWithesShin]

I reckon that the odds of us spending 3-4 years playing at another ground while VP is completely rebuilt are zero.

Why would it have to be that long? The Spurs ground was shifted slightly off its original footprint so that construction could begin with the old stadium still in use. They then knocked all of WHL down in June 2017. The stadium was built by September 2018, but problems meant it wasn't properly open until April 19. Without the electrical problems it would have been a year, but even so it was still less than two.

Initial work prepping the site started a couple of years before. Everton stadium will be 4 years. Emirates took over 2 years to build but that was just the stadium build on a blank site, it didn't include actually clearing the site. We are so hemmed in that early work would most likely be minimal. And regardless of build time, it's years away from being possible because of Witton Lane and the houses.

[chrisw1]

I think you're going to be very disappointed ADS.

Why do you think Comcast investment vehicle has bought into the parent group? Do you find it coincidental that the plans are almost immediately halted to rebuild the North? Did you believe the rebuild would provide parity with Everton/Spurs?

For avoidance of doubt, Oliver Stone is a crank and LHO shot Kennedy on his own, like the good Marine marksman he was. But this doesn't require a 200 ticket Zapurder film on the grassy knoll in Aston Park.

I just think you've got the wrong end of the stick.  Of course I could be wrong, but it feels more to me like scaling down not up.

Didn't Heck say they are doubling the size of the existing club shop? Seems to rule out rebuilding further back on the current site?

The costs of this are nominal.  It won't have any impact on long term decisions for the site as a whole.

[Risso]

Initial work prepping the site started a couple of years before. Everton stadium will be 4 years. Emirates took over 2 years to build but that was just the stadium build on a blank site, it didn't include actually clearing the site. We are so hemmed in that early work would most likely be minimal. And regardless of build time, it's years away from being possible because of Witton Lane and the houses.

A complete rebuild would take years in terms of all the planning, any CPOs etc, but that doesn't mean we'd playing in another stadium for 3 or 4 years.

[LeeB]

The only comparison I can think of is somewhere like Wrigley Field in Chicago, where seats have been shoehorned onto the roofs of adjacent buildings to increase the capacity and make the most of the properties overlooking the field. This could be done in the corners...

This is one of my favourite photos ... from Dundee United when their stand was under construction ...

Ha, 2 tickets for the Fuck That! stand please.

[Risso]

The pre-war Norwich ground, The Nest took some beating:

[Ads]

Since when did scaling back require extra investment? We'll find out, but logically, the timing, the parties involved- it makes no sense to believe the 200 ticket nonsense.

[LeeB]

That place is mindbendingly brilliant.

[chrisw1]

Since when did scaling back require extra investment? We'll find out, but logically, the timing, the parties involved- it makes no sense to believe the 200 ticket nonsense.

I don't believe the 200 ticket nonsense either.  As others have said, my suspicion is it's more down to lack of confidence in the demand for premium / GA+ tickets in the new stand.

[Ads]

And that lack of confidence happened 4 days after the investment vehicle for Comcast (who own multiple stadiums in the US) decide to buy into the parent group. And that doesn't smell remotely fishy to you? It's all scaling back?

[Sexual Ealing]

The pre-war Norwich ground, The Nest took some beating:

The only time I ever smoked crack was in a house just behind there.

[dave.woodhall]

There may well be 200 empty seats on average but a lot of that is down to the perception that you can't buy them. If the club announced at the start of the week how many were left and they're on general sale, then updated two days before the match, they'd sell.