Get it built !!!

[Flatulent_Bob]

I don't see the point in building more capacity until we are regularly at capacity in the seats we currently have. I'd say that 4/5 games have or would have completely sold out this year. I don't want to build another 3.5k seats for Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool fans to sit in when they sell out their allocation. We'd also probably have to close some of the ground for a period whilst we improve existing areas so we'd lose capacity in the short term as well.

I'm not too fussed about the academy, we obviously have a strategy where we aren't using academy players, whether that's because they aren't good enough or because we don't have the margin for error, we need an academy of course but not concerned if it's not the best in the country.

Training ground needs to be state of the art, it's a player attraction tool as much as anything else.

We've pretty much sold out every game. 30,000 attendance for every game in a season has never been reached before. Season Tickets couldn't go on general sale, and I know several long time season ticket holders who missed out because they didn't get in on the early bird deals. The only matches that haven't officially "sold out" have only really had the restricted view tickets left or odd tickets so I think your comment about tourists coming to the big games just wouldn't be true as at the moment we it's pretty much impossible for a new or young fan to get tickets to see us. The vast majority of those extra 3,000 seats would sell for most games if the loyalty points and availability are set right, and I don't think that can be in question.

The option is to do it now and meet the demand, OR, look to do it in a few seasons when you are going to have to turf out a large number of season ticket holders out the ground for half a season or so. It just seems too much of an opportune moment for it to go ignored.
I absolutely agree with your last line.

That could also be phased in – start with say the back 10 rows and if popular just keep replacing them towards the front. As an idea, that would be about £100/seat. Some fans have crowd sourced some of the costs for this at other clubs.

I'd be up for that. Just to put a myth to bed, safe standing doesn't give any capacity increase for the same area does it?

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Cheers for shitting on my dreams. Bastard.



I had no idea about all of that. Makes perfect sense. How did you find out about the 650mm depth? You didn't take a ruler to a game, did you?!

I'm sure many would be happy to take the reins on a crowdsourcing initiative for us should it come to that. Shrewsbury did it to great success, if memory serves me correctly. Wouldn't the law need to be changed for those particular seats to be installed in the top two divisions?

I have looked into it a bit previously – not tape measure wise I should stress, but more from a feasibility point of view. 650mm is the amount given as the existing “tread dimension” – the bolt on seating at the back was proposed to have 850mm (you may recall on the images that it had a slightly higher incline vs the rest of the stand).

 

[originaltrueblade]

Boosting the first team should be the priority then the ground

 

[s4-blade]

We couldn’t do exactly that under existing regulations unfortunately.

On the Kop, the seating row depth is only 650mm – that’s extremely narrow by modern standards, and a reminder of the age of the stand (the recommendation now is 800mm and some new stadia have rows even deeper than that). 650mm limits the options available to us on the stand, and makes the sort of independent barrier at Wolves a non-starter, I'm afraid, as their barrier takes up 85mm of the row depth (the existing Kop seats will take up around 280mm from front to back when tipped up). That would only leave a 'clearway' of only 285mm, which is well below the permitted minimum.

There are different seats on the market (that are rail seats with an integrated barrier on them), that have been used in areas converted at other grounds. Those could be options within the stand’s limitations (the seats when tipped up would take up just 100mm), though there would be cost implications. To be honest I think at the very least an improvement would be to rip out the existing seats and install these in their place – particularly if we’re unlikely to do anything major save for removing the pillars.

That could also be phased in – start with say the back 10 rows and if popular just keep replacing them towards the front. As an idea, that would be about £100/seat. Some fans have crowd sourced some of the costs for this at other clubs.

Yeah but fuck the rules

 

[metalblade]

What would you all say to starting again with a new Stadium at ............................... Norton

 

[Jon Bon II]

That could also be phased in – start with say the back 10 rows and if popular just keep replacing them towards the front. As an idea, that would be about £100/seat. Some fans have crowd sourced some of the costs for this at other clubs.

Surely logic dictates that you'd start the standing at the front and work backwards..?

 

[Kenny Powers]

Surely logic dictates that you'd start the standing at the front and work backwards..?

Not really, otherwise, given the shallow rake, the first few rows of seats wouldn't be able to see over those standing. Working from the back doesn't create the same problem.
UTB

 

[S64 Blade]

I wonder if the last bit in the statement where he says we'll have more good news soon maybe the Kop extension!?

My bet would be the training ground.

 

[Jon Bon II]

Not really, otherwise, given the shallow rake, the first few rows of seats wouldn't be able to see over those standing. Working from the back doesn't create the same problem.
UTB

True but it would look all cock-eyed doing it the other way round. Damn you Paul Woolhouse, Stephen Hinchliffe, En Tout Cas and your shallow rake! Damn you all to hell!

 

[Harry's Game]

Leading the way on safe-standing would be brilliant and potentially a great bit of PR for the club

Enter South Yorkshire Police and SAG.....

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Never got the clamour for a return to standing. I bet half those all in favour have never stood for 90 minutes at a football match, probably all about 20 years old.

Give me my seat any day.

 

[wadblade]

I get that but the days of owners doing the best thing for the fans are long gone. Football is now a business whether we like it or not and on that basis ANY ground improvement will be judged on how long it takes to get a ROI.

Completely redoing the kop just doesn't make any sense from a business point of view whatsoever.

Does no one remember the impact building the South Stand had on our football development

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Surely logic dictates that you'd start the standing at the front and work backwards..?

Given a good chunk of the back rows already stand it would be a good way of improving (and increasing the safety) of their existing environment. Plus, doing it at the front would inevitably make one or two seated rows behind it impossible to sit on.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

I had a season ticket on the back row of the kop for years. Never sat on it once in that time. I'm in favour of safe standing, even though I would probably choose to sit now to be honest. people should have the choice.

 

[YES Blade]

What would you all say to starting again with a new Stadium at ............................... Norton

I don't want to move, but I'd rather move than build the current Kop and South Stand extention plans.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I get that but the days of owners doing the best thing for the fans are long gone. Football is now a business whether we like it or not and on that basis ANY ground improvement will be judged on how long it takes to get a ROI.

Completely redoing the kop just doesn't make any sense from a business point of view whatsoever.

Wouldn't it increase capacity and therefore bring more revenue into the club?

 

[Wards]

Never got the clamour for a return to standing. I bet half those all in favour have never stood for 90 minutes at a football match, probably all about 20 years old.

Give me my seat any day.

Not in my case! 37 this year and stood at many away matches, and at BL for that matter in the very early 90’s. Love standing whenever I’ve followed us away and at non league games and if you can’t do so for 90 mins then go in a seated area... I think you’d be surprised at how many prefer it to being cramped up in a seat that’s far too small. I sit down for 40hrs a week at work plus however many (too many) hours sat in front of a tv - no need to get any more splinters in my arse.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I'll admit, I have a blindspot. I'm worried I'm missing something. Be gentle with me. Explain how improved Academy FACILITIES increase the chances of producing Academy PLAYERS who reach the First Team. Obviously, I get that your chances are worse if kids are training on council parks & changing in bus shelters. But the facilities at Shirecliffe are not that bad, surely. It's recruitment & coaching & leadership which bring Academy players through to the first team isn't it? Not better shampoo in the showers & hotter water? It's flesh & blood, not bricks & mortar.

I don't know Phil.

A mate of mine is at Hallam FC. I can't remember the player's name, it's a few years ago, but he said this kid of theirs had a chance to join our Academy. I can't remember now whether he did or not, but I know at some point Man City came in for him to join their Academy and they picked him up from Sheffield, took him to their Academy, guided tour and all that, and it was breathtaking apparently. The facilities were out of this world. It made the kid want to sign up there and then - and he did.

I'm sure it didn't escape the lad's attention that Man City are a bigger and more successful club than us, so no doubt that was a big factor. But if the same situation had involved us and a club more of our level, but we'd got these amazing Academy facilities and they didn't, do you not think that might sway them heavily in favour of signing for us? I think it would me if I was a young footballer.

Then again, I am easily impressed by such things. When I was playing junior football, the training facilities that my prospective admirers had, in a fairly new wooden shed up Ringinglow, far outstripped the cow byre at Dungworth that my current team had. Therefore, I put my transfer request in immediately when I knew Presto Pond Street were interested in me.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Senior blades section on lower tier for access and eyesight benefits. (Thinking ahead for selfish reasons ).

Attractive females in short skirts - Upper section only!

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Never got the clamour for a return to standing. I bet half those all in favour have never stood for 90 minutes at a football match, probably all about 20 years old.

Give me my seat any day.

I'm with you to a point on that, but, it was a great atmosphere back in the 70's when standing and you could pack so many more folk in. I got shoved, pushed, crushed, covered in beer, and piss, and semen, but I enjoyed it so much - it was far more heady and intoxicating and collective.

Nowadays, like you, I much prefer having a seat. I like knowing that there's a space for me to be able to see the match in relative comfort, even if I'm late. But judging by the number of fans who prefer to stand, especially at away games, I think there's a demand for standing. And I think it would be a good thing. It might get rid of some of the "standing" in seating areas fans for a start. The ones who need to go for a piss and a pint every 10 minutes. Then I could just continue to keep my knees covered in my tartan blanket, sip oxo from my thermos flask, and eat my potted meat sandwiches at half-time without being disrupted.

 

[Jon Bon II]

Does no one remember the impact building the South Stand had on our football development

Indeed. A behemoth from the days of casual racism, sexism, smoking everywhere, innocent people being fitted up by the filth etc... We should tear it down. There's no place in the modern world for such outdated idealism.

 

[benn5712]

Senior blades section on lower tier for access and eyesight benefits. (Thinking ahead for selfish reasons ).

...and a section for division 4 veterans.

 

[SHOREHAMST.com]

Relegation can happen to any club (6/7 aside) at any point in the PL. The prospect of that happening shouldn't stop us developing our stadium.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

You know...this does look nice and it's growing on me. However, I am a bit curious as to the structure in the far corner. What is it? Another office block?

Why do we need to have another office block?

Wouldn't we be better off having a Wm. Jackson Grandways supermarket, (later to be "Kwik Save") like they used to have at Hull?

 

[Booker4]

My bet would be the training ground.

Think you'll be right there too, and arguably its more important.

 

[Joey1889]

I got shoved, pushed, crushed, covered in beer, and piss, and semen

Ok, but now tell us about the football.

 

[PaulHalfway]

Thinking about the land we have, our location and the Prince's penchant for gridiron. I think we could purchase the land across from Bramall lane reroute Bramall lane around it and fit a Spurs size stadium on our land as per the picture below. Due to our location and the fact that the North West teams have already developed their stadiums. We could be the American football venue for the North but also we are less than an hour away from Leicester Derby Nottingham (all straight down the M1. We are also close to the M62 corridor with its huge conurbation and have our own large conurbation. It would allow a huge revenue stream to build up from the gridiron as well as the Prem. We started as a two sport stadium why not utilise our stadium to make money from another sport again? It would be a massive boost to the "sport City" with huge visitor numbers also. Just a thought.
View attachment 84432

Never going to happen, Spurs ground cost 800 million plus, they have a much bigger fan base than us
We need to improve the academy facilities, improve the kop and invest in the first team
PL stability is the main priority to keep moving forward and continual improvement in all aspects of the club, infrastructure and fan base

 

[Jon Bon II]

View attachment 84489

You know...this does look nice and it's growing on me.

Come on, what Blade wouldn't be proud to call this place home? Eh?

 

[jt64]

Just to put a myth to bed, safe standing doesn't give any capacity increase for the same area does it?

It should do. Go onto the Wiki page of any Bundesliga club and check the difference in figures between league games where they can stand, and international matches, where the cowards at UEFA say no

 

[Houston_Blade]

We've pretty much sold out every game. 30,000 attendance for every game in a season has never been reached before. Season Tickets couldn't go on general sale, and I know several long time season ticket holders who missed out because they didn't get in on the early bird deals. The only matches that haven't officially "sold out" have only really had the restricted view tickets left or odd tickets so I think your comment about tourists coming to the big games just wouldn't be true as at the moment we it's pretty much impossible for a new or young fan to get tickets to see us. The vast majority of those extra 3,000 seats would sell for most games if the loyalty points and availability are set right, and I don't think that can be in question.

The option is to do it now and meet the demand, OR, look to do it in a few seasons when you are going to have to turf out a large number of season ticket holders out the ground for half a season or so. It just seems too much of an opportune moment for it to go ignored.
I absolutely agree with your last line.

Not sure I agree about why we haven’t sold out this season. We’ve also had the novelty of a first season in the PL so if we aren’t selling out easily then in my view the demand isn’t there.

We have a core home support of 15k plus 10k who come when things are going well and another 5k+ who come when it’s going really well. I really don’t think there is ever going to be a situation where we get 30k plus for a whole season after the novelty has worn off. The exception would be if we somehow become a top 10 side consistently, a big ask.