Someone must have been happy to sit in row A on their own.
On a different but slightly related topic for those who are interested (I know someone raised the question the other day) , I registered my son on the portal for the first time this morning - now up to supporter number 311k.
Also for those who missed out in the first batch - looks like more Cardiff tickets have been made available.
Re enlarging capacity... we're assuming that we have to sell out... Expanding capacity is not just for the now... It's called future planning... Again with the "If you build it..."
Who cares about having 3/4k empty seats if we've increased the actual bums on seats by 3/4k fans...!!! It's increasing supply immediately and offering even more for the games when we really need it...
You still see lots of kids around in Bournemouth shirts so whilst we 'think' we've missed an opportunity, yes we have, but it hasn't all being missed... So there is still the chance for younger fans to jump on in if they are given an opportunity...
It's not my money to play with but if there is any sort of long-term plan for this club then expanding DC has to be a priority... Even if it's just a slightly larger temporary structure...
I suspect the guy who's pumped £60m into the new ground would care. The actual gate receipts in the second tier would probably still be lower than the PL even with 3-4k extra seats.
As someone else has said, our gates would be similar to Reading's and would average 16-17k. It makes people very cross but you can see why they didn't go for it.
We are the odd one out on the South Coast connurbation wise.
Plymouth, BCP, Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton. The only one with a small stadium. Going to be a rocky road but we need to get the capacity over 15k somehow..
Bizarre that we paid £27mn (??) for Lerma and have shut up shop on the training ground and DC expansion. It’s just exasperating … how do we get out this mini-stadium dead-end? If only we could build it, then THEY WILL COME!
its not really that b&w is it. I must admit I dont want a bigger stadium, but if there was one.... the dynamics for selling more tickets would be completely different.
Yes, bizarre is the word … cos throwing those sums at player fees, wages etc was never going to BUILD the club. What was needed? … sensible combination of player investment with ground improvement. We got some dumb buys (Ibe - glory be!!) and total inaction on DC development.
Not just a sad story but one likely to hang heavy on the club for many years. If we can get back to the PL a radically different approach will be required.
Disagree SDD - some of the recruitment worked but some (including the most expensive) was ineffective at best or an outright fail. But that’s not all. How much effort went into strategic thinking about expanding the fan base - the critical long-term issue for the club? Our micro-stadium means thousands of local youngsters (like my own kids) never get to see live football at DC … and never become “embedded” as fans. The club can’t grow as long as we’re stuck in the present impasse.
Yes well we've been through all of this but as desirable as expanding the fanbase is for us as fans it doesn't yield a financial return to justify the expenditure. We don't own the ground therefore you can add £15m+ onto the total cost too.