Should I stay or should I go?

[chrisw1]

But doesn't he say the solution is to improve public transport rather than replicate (or indeed endure worse) problems at a new site?

If public transport could be improved, why hasn't it? Let's face it, it never will. Local infrastructure can't handle the crowds we have now, so adding 10K on to the capacity will just exacerbate all the problems. And much smaller clubs with far less wealthy owners than ours have built new grounds. I'm sure finding a new site for Everton wasn't easy, and they have the added complication of the sea forming a good portion of the area to the west of them!

But for Everton the redevelopment of the docks area produced a perfect solution.  It's an incredible location very close to the City and in an improving vibrant area.  Losing Goodison will hurt them, but the Everton fans are very lucky and will have a world class stadium in a brilliant location.

There is just no eqivalent for us that I can see.

[Drummond]

There's just no soul in a new stadium. They all look tidy, but there's just nothing to stir you at all.

[West Derby Villan]

There's just no soul in a new stadium. They all look tidy, but there's just nothing to stir you at all.

“Home is where the heart is!”

[sickbeggar]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

[Drummond]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

And yet any living thing sheds it's skin and develops a new one. Cells regenerate but it doesn't make it a new person, does it?

[LeeB]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

By far the most impressive stand for me when I first started going was the North Stand, all clean lines and shiny windows. I hated Victorian buildings, probably because of my infants school (Perry Common) and freezing at Erdington baths, the North Stand looked all modern and inspiring.

And now everyone wants to knock it down, bastards.

[sickbeggar]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

And yet any living thing sheds it's skin and develops a new one. Cells regenerate but it doesn't make it a new person, does it?

yeah of course but is Old Trafford still Old Trafford in any real sense?  If we could build a 50-60k stadium at VP i'd go for it, but you then have to persuade everyone else to accommodate it as well. The traffic infrastructure is the big one for me. You are talking millions and millions to upgrade rail links at least. The train operators don't have the stock, and Network rail or whatever its called now don't have the track capacity, and that's before you get onto road transport.

[sickbeggar]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

By far the most impressive stand for me when I first started going was the North Stand, all clean lines and shiny windows. I hated Victorian buildings, probably because of my infants school (Perry Common) and freezing at Erdington baths, the North Stand looked all modern and inspiring.

And now everyone wants to knock it down, bastards.

I have a soft spot for it. My mate used to get me in free for stuff like Full Members Cup games when i'd be the only person in the top tier.  It's possibly a superb remaining example of 1970's Football Architecture 

[eamonn]

Lets be honest apart from names there's not much left in a historical sense. Doug destroyed the last bit. I'd prefer to stay local but.....

And yet any living thing sheds it's skin and develops a new one. Cells regenerate but it doesn't make it a new person, does it?

Sounds like Jeff Goldblum's argument in The Fly

[dave.woodhall]

It's ironic that the North Stand is the only one that at the time it was built was genuinely groundbreaking. It was also the only one built under the chairmanship of Not Doug.

[Villan82]

Moving stadium would wipe a lot of our identity for me. Is there another club whose identity is so synonymous with their stadium as Aston Villa's is? just listen to the likes of Carragher, Neville etc to see how intertwined Aston Villa and Villa Park are.

[Simon Page]

If anyone does find Andy Street (maybe offer a party invitation?) the transport issue should really tie in with the transport issues for the whole of Birmingham. Are these wonder-buses for the Commonwealth Games going to survive after? If so, it shouldn't be too much effort to lay on football specials on matchdays along the A38 route and up College Road towards Sutton, Kingstanding, etc. Also, are the rail plans that were a big part of his original election going ahead? If so, tag on the Villa as an addition. I can see why it's hard to deal with the Villa Park question in isolation given the lack of use for most of the year, but it's surely easier to combine it with a Birmingham/WM transport plan.

[algy]

No mention of my monorail, cable car or tunnel solutions 

I for one am absolutely distraught that the proposed cable car & canal tunnel solutions were dismissed so quickly.  I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.  Poor show, Inglis.  Clearly knows nothing*.


* well, except for a load of buy-on-sight books about football stadium architecture.
---

One thing that really struck a bell was something Uli Hoeness (currently Bayern Munich's president) said recently:

We could charge more than £104 [for a season ticket]. Let’s say we charged £300. We’d get £2m more in income, but what’s £2m to us?

In a transfer discussion, you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan. We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk,

Football has got to be for everybody. That’s the biggest difference between us and England

here: https://www.essentiallysports.com/soccer-news-football-news-fans-are-not-like-cows-bayern-munich-president-slams-england-for-high-ticket-prices/

My feeling is that actually, the need for a 60,000 capacity stadium over and above a 50,000 capacity stadium is a bit exaggerated.  It's what, £5m over the course of a season at most.  Who gives a shit about that when we're spunking more than that each year on Danny Ings' wages?  We may as well stay where we are if that's the only thing we're getting out of it.

Absolutely down for massively upgrading the facilities at Villa Park.  And whilst we're doing that, we may as well increase the capacity of the ground where that's feasible.  But the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to leave.

[shirley_villan]

I honestly think the seats towards the front of the Upper North offer some of the best views in football. That I’ve encountered anyway. Shame about the legroom and facilities.

[Risso]

Moving stadium would wipe a lot of our identity for me. Is there another club whose identity is so synonymous with their stadium as Aston Villa's is? just listen to the likes of Carragher, Neville etc to see how intertwined Aston Villa and Villa Park are.

Liverpool and Anfield?