Villa Park Redevelopment

[Dogtanian]

I suppose the counter to that is neither was Stratford but the construction of a stadium there regenerates the area and brings visitors and investment.

Exactly, you spend £1bn on an area and it attracts other investment and can be part of a wider regeneration project. It already has Aston Hall and a state of the art Villa Park next door to it gives you two visitor pulls in close proximity.

The idea that the area could never be attractive just because it isn't now is a bit silly really. There's already been a big investment there with all the new units and businesses moving in. That's jobs and people coming in and out of the area on a daily basis. Why wouldn't these people want somewhere to eat and drink and why wouldn't people want to move into an area with lots of job opportunities?

The potential is there.

[Villan82]

Strong hints in Athletic the North Stand is staying due to cost cutting and definitely no bigger plan. Booo

[Dogtanian]

Strong hints in Athletic the North Stand is staying due to cost cutting and definitely no bigger plan. Booo

It doesn't say that at all. It says what has already been put on here several times, that losing the revenue of the stand for two seasons right now when we need every penny to hit FFP targets would limit our ability to improve the squad for next season.

As for a forward plan, it talks about feasibility studies taking place for a better solution. That's exactly what people on here have been saying too.

The costs going up have also been discussed and the idea that it's an expensive investment to make when it still leaves you with problems in the rest of the ground, which is why they will be looking at alternatives.

https://theathletic.com/4815655/2024/01/12/aston-villa-financial-fair-play/

[PeterWithe]

I suppose the counter to that is neither was Stratford but the construction of a stadium there regenerates the area and brings visitors and investment.

£12bn has been invested in regenerating Stratford though. According to my son who is studying it for his A Level geography ( and has a mock exam on it today)

But presumably the first bit of that £12b was the stadium, that was the ‘anchor’ that led to the rest of the investment.

In the past it was said you couldn’t possibly expect bankers etc to travel away from the City to the east end, and then the Docklands were redeveloped.

The fairly shitty areas around Digbeth have been redeveloped and now attract visitors, why not Aston in the future?

Edit: sorry a point already made a few posts above.

[Villan82]

We will still be looking at the North Stand after Heck has moved on to his next big job and we will be wondering how we didn't get a shiny new stand out of this era.

Edit in response, the current stand has to be one that earns us the least in a season and has more than paid for itself over the past 45 years

[PeterWithe]

I console myself that if you wanted someone to come in and slash costs and put prices up, you could do it an awfully lot cheaper than dragging someone across the pond from a very well paying job to scrawl red lines through plans.

[aev]

I think it will be a new ground, walkable to the city centre with the aim of year round use.

No idea where, or how long it takes, but it solves the major problem of where do we play when Villa Park is rebuilt.

[Villan82]

I console myself that if you wanted someone to come in and slash costs and put prices up, you could do it an awfully lot cheaper than dragging someone across the pond from a very well paying job to scrawl red lines through plans.

His first decision, within days of arriving, was to cancel the launch of the round badge planned for the final home game.

His next decision was to scrap the round badge and start again (delivering us Lerner badge mark 2, it would seem).

His big December announcement via an internal villa PR interview was to say he had studied carefully the North stand development from day one and considered it a 'thoughtful' proposal but ultiamtely we aren't doing it now.

[Hopadop]

The area around the Spurs stadium wasn't, and still isn't, a 'destination'. It's had a lot of money spent on regeneration, particularly after the 2011 riots, but the High Road remains much the same.

Spurs eventually (after a lot of wrangling with Haringey council, threats to move to the Olympic stadium) built their new stadium in one of the most deprived parts of the country. I don't see why Villa couldn't stay put.

[Villan82]

It's worth remembering renewal of Aston and Witton was a big part of our pitch for the new stand and there was a fan consultation about three years ago on the future of Villa Park.

[tomd2103]

City centre location is a non-starter. Even if, for the sake of argument, we had found the site and had permissions etc...who's paying for it? Construction costs are astronomical now. How much would it cost to totally redevelop an area in the city centre with appropriate transport links and build a cutting edge stadium? £1bn? £2bn?

If it were to be right in the in the city centre, the transport links are already there surely?

[brontebilly]

Strong hints in Athletic the North Stand is staying due to cost cutting and definitely no bigger plan. Booo

It doesn't say that at all. It says what has already been put on here several times, that losing the revenue of the stand for two seasons right now when we need every penny to hit FFP targets would limit our ability to improve the squad for next season.

As for a forward plan, it talks about feasibility studies taking place for a better solution. That's exactly what people on here have been saying too.

The costs going up have also been discussed and the idea that it's an expensive investment to make when it still leaves you with problems in the rest of the ground, which is why they will be looking at alternatives.

https://theathletic.com/4815655/2024/01/12/aston-villa-financial-fair-play/

There's never going to be a right time to improve the North Stand.

Other worrying note in that article is the likelihood a Luiz or Kamara might have to be sold to balance the books. I'm not sure how we improve by doing that.

[PeterWithe]

I console myself that if you wanted someone to come in and slash costs and put prices up, you could do it an awfully lot cheaper than dragging someone across the pond from a very well paying job to scrawl red lines through plans.

His first decision, within days of arriving, was to cancel the launch of the round badge planned for the final home game.

His next decision was to scrap the round badge and start again (delivering us Lerner badge mark 2, it would seem).

His big December announcement via an internal villa PR interview was to say he had studied carefully the North stand development from day one and considered it a 'thoughtful' proposal but ultiamtely we aren't doing it now.

Badges, smadges.

My point is that any of us could have cancelled the NS project for a day rate.

Why employ someone with his CV to just cut costs when you could put an ad in Erdington job centre?

[chrisw1]

I suppose the counter to that is neither was Stratford but the construction of a stadium there regenerates the area and brings visitors and investment.

£12bn has been invested in regenerating Stratford though. According to my son who is studying it for his A Level geography ( and has a mock exam on it today)

Including one of the largest shopping centres in the UK.  There's no comparison whatsoever between Stratford and Aston.

[PeterWithe]

I suppose the counter to that is neither was Stratford but the construction of a stadium there regenerates the area and brings visitors and investment.

£12bn has been invested in regenerating Stratford though. According to my son who is studying it for his A Level geography ( and has a mock exam on it today)

Including one of the largest shopping centres in the UK.  There's no comparison whatsoever between Stratford and Aston.

Isn’t that the point? There is no comparison now, there was a stark comparison with how Stratford used to be before the stadium and investment