Villa Park Redevelopment

[PeterWithesShin]

Liverpool isn't comparable as we'd be replacing an entire stand, not just adding a tier. I doubt anything of the current North would be left, it would all go. As probably would parts of the Witton and Trinity so as all 3 are a connected horseshoe.

[Ads]

Apart from the stand at Anfield they did replace completely by building behind it.

[SoccerHQ]

Nothing will be done until after the 2028 Euros.

I imagine we'll host 3-4 games with the make do and mend facilities and then perhaps redevelopment will start soon after as there may be no more Heck....and no more Emery so ambitions may be a little more modest in that period.

In an ideal world it's a shame we didn't start improving a year or two before 2019 as the 18 months of being locked out while covid hit would've been a good time to start the work on the North.

Now we're lagging behind while other clubs are moving grounds or announcing extensions to 50k +.

Good job we have a World class manager to paper over those cracks but Unai won't be around for eternity so there will inevitably be a period where ambitions are readjusted (and possibly prices aswell).

[PeterWithesShin]

Annie Rd and main stand were both adding tiers.

[Sexual Ealing]

I'm no architect, and I'm certainly no builder, but it takes me around six hours to put an Ikea desk together on my own. I'm also no mathematician, but I reckon a team of 300 builders ought to be able to get a stand together over the course of a summer. Why don't they ever try anything new?

You didn't cost out the HS2 job by any chance?

No. They were too scared.

[Ads]

Barely anything of the Main Stand at Anfield survived, bar a profile of the first few rows of what is now the new lower tier. It's a complete rebuild. There's no reason we couldn't do the same. The Main Stand is ginormous too and dwarfed what was there before.

Time lapse video for anybody who likes that sort of thing.

[DB]

A new ground is more likely than a new stand…IMO.

[Percy McCarthy]

We've already caught up and competed for 9/10s of the season against sides with 60,000 seater stadia and commercial revenue that dwarfs ours.

We're a rare example in history of Great Man Theory actually working. We have 3; Emery, NS and WE. That triumvirate is what allows us to compete. 10,000 extra on the gate will make it easier, not as easy as regular Champions League football and if you're thinking that was all that stands between greatness and mediocrity (a new North), then you need to re-read Percy post on the SHA Thread about what a minor miracle it is that we've done what we have.

Cheers Ads. It was a good post wasn’t it? 😊

[PeterWithe]

Id find it strange and a little incomprehensible if the plan was ‘no big stadium spend until we are shit again and wont need the extra seats’.

[Ads]

Id find it strange and a little incomprehensible if the plan was ‘no big stadium spend until we are shit again and wont need the extra seats’.

The best we've been in 40 years is papering over the cracks too. Fuck me.

[SoccerHQ]

A new ground is more likely than a new stand…IMO.

I think so aswell.

Even with a new North stand we can only get to 52k. Getting 60k + is a pipe dream with the housing restrictions behind the Witton.

I struggle to believe in the near year since the North Stand development was shelved that the club haven't been looking at possible sites at a 2-3 mile radius around VP to stick a possible 60k ground but ultimately what are the costings and access links compared to what we have now.

Ideally you place something close to the eventual HS2 station.

[chrisw1]

We wont need 60k+ unfortunately.  Everton had a blank sheet of paper and came to a conclusion 53k was the right balance.  Trying to flog the extra 7,000 seats means reduced prices and less demand for the GA+ offer.  So they get a tighter stadium and retain a high demand.  I think it would be sufficient for us too.   

[cdbearsfan]

There's no point in knocking down a stand for a poxy 10,000 increase. Plan has to be to get 60,000.

[paul_e]

We wont need 60k+ unfortunately.  Everton had a blank sheet of paper and came to a conclusion 53k was the right balance.  Trying to flog the extra 7,000 seats means reduced prices and less demand for the GA+ offer.  So they get a tighter stadium and retain a high demand.  I think it would be sufficient for us too.   

and what if we do have a run of CL qualifications? 53k might be enough to the demand today but I'm not sure that's true longer term. I'm also not sure your idea that more seats means lower GA+ holds up as well as you think. It would in Villa park with the ropey + elements but in a new stadium with those areas built in fully I think you'd still get a strong uptake of those seats even if GA tickets were easier to get.

Under Purslow the plan was always to do the North and then have a 2nd phase to increase again up towards 60k. I see no reason why that wouldn't be the minimum plans going forward.

[Gareth]

One thing I am definitely less sure of now than I was 12 months ago is that the club wouldn’t go down the line of trying to get CPO’s….i know it’s probably paranoia but when you have a clear uber-tw@ at the helm with zero humility he isn’t going to look at the moral and human issues with a decision like that