Villa Park Redevelopment

[The Edge]

From Twitter

Well done to our owners and
@chrisheck76
 - I do think we should now name the new stand The Prince of Wales Stand which would reflect very well on the club
@tommyjordanav
 
@KensingtonRoyal

What kind of mentalist thinks that's a good idea?

I WONDER

John McGinn has been instrumental in our rise to where we currently sit as a football club. We were languishing at the bottom half of the championship when he was bought in with very little fanfare for 3.5 million. What a signing he's turned out to be.
Therefore I'd like to propose his name should go on the new stand, The Meatball End.

[Brazilian Villain]

Well done to our owners and
@chrisheck76
 - I do think we should now name the new stand The Prince of Wales Stand which would reflect very well on the club
@tommyjordanav
 
@KensingtonRoyal

What kind of mentalist thinks that's a good idea?

Someone here wanted it to be called 'The George Burrell Ramsay Stand'. It's one thing naming it for our most famous fan, quite another partly naming it after his mother's butler.

[pauliewalnuts]

Well done to our owners and
@chrisheck76
 - I do think we should now name the new stand The Prince of Wales Stand which would reflect very well on the club
@tommyjordanav
 
@KensingtonRoyal

What kind of mentalist thinks that's a good idea?

Someone here wanted it to be called 'The George Burrell Ramsay Stand'. It's one thing naming it for our most famous fan, quite another partly naming it after his mother's butler.

I believe the person who tweeted the Royal naming suggestion is a poster on here, too, as it happens.

[Brazilian Villain]

I believe the person who tweeted the Royal naming suggestion is a poster on here, too, as it happens.

I've no idea who that might be, the only Tommy Jordan I know is the brother of the Dervish lead singer.

[AV82EC]

I don’t think Wills would be too enamoured tbh. And which forelock tugging lickspittle came up with the idea?

[PeterWithesShin]

Has to be The Jack Grealish Stand. With a statue of Super Jack outside.

[rob_bridge]

Ron Saunders Stand  it is long overdue

[FatSam]

It seems like a more sensible approach than the previous scheme. The idea seems to be to get the capacity up to 50k by trying to work with what we’ve got, rather than demolishing the NS and starting from scratch. The warehouse is clearly part of the same approach.

It seems that the design has been developed around a construction methodology; adaptive re-use of the existing NS, and presumably avoiding some of utilities diversion works that seemed to be a stumbling block previously.

I’m assuming that it will be a more economical build as well. It looks as though it’s quite a stripped-back aesthetic, with the existing structure exposed, and lightweight cladding. Because it has a smaller footprint than the previous scheme, and re-uses the existing structure, there is less accommodation below the bowl, which presumably just about works due to the warehouse being right there.

All in all it feels like it’s about testing demand over the medium term, without committing more resources than are necessary. If we consistently sell-out 50k over a number of years there will be some decisions to make further down the line. At that point any further expansion on the existing site is clearly not going to be as much of an easy win as this project, and is going to require proportionally greater investment.

Whilst there is high demand for tickets at the moment, it hasn’t been sustained over a particularly long period. Clubs who have built new stadia (i.e. Spurs, Arsenal, Everton) have generally exhausted all of the options to expand their previous grounds. Even then, Everton haven’t had the confidence to increase capacity by more than about 10k. The NS has been crying-out to be redeveloped for 20 years (think of HDE’s scheme), but we haven’t been successful enough to justify it until now.

[FatSam]

I’m not a big fan of naming stands after people. I think it should be the Witton End Stand, for reasons of history and geography. As long as we’re at Villa Park, then that’s what I think the area behind that goal should be known as. The same as when it was a mound of earth behind a cycling track, before being re-shaped, and then partially replaced by the current stand. I’m all for having the Ron Saunders suite, or lounge (or the Jack Grealish one for that matter).

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ That’s all very logical and sensible. I’ve always thought that the owners are sort of lucky that we could get up to 60k+ for about half-a-billion. Maybe even less with this development.

[dave.woodhall]

I don’t think Wills would be too enamoured tbh. And which forelock tugging lickspittle came up with the idea?

Martyn Smith.

[KevinGage]

It should be renamed the Penrice Pig Pen, obv.

If we can't acknowledge one of the true greats maybe go with that Jovial/ Amazing I AM fella's idea of sucking up to the least worst Windsor bloke.

[Brazilian Villain]

I don’t think Wills would be too enamoured tbh.

Agreed, plus it'd sound too much like a pub. Just leave it as it is until we rename it in 2045 when Unai leaves.

[Dante Lavelli]

I think fat Sam has nailed it with his summary.

Was there anything in the Purslow scheme that unlocks the site for further development that this solution prevents? Namely extending the Witton or Trinity Stands?
 

[GarTomas]

Stop fannying around with trains and build an underground shuttle. Think big NSWE ffs.

I demand a monorail!
With lines running from every direction for all our fans in our massive catchment area.