Men In Blazers on AFCB

YankCherry said:
The United States declares Bournemouth is now officially American. We are willing to buy it or invade it. Lmao sorry too much time in the Trump thread.

Come on you cherries!!!
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Ill be on Bournemouth beach to welcome US troops and Trump as our new leader, as BCP becomes a new state of the US ;)
 
I understand the whole "it's not my money" thing but I'm still struggling with capping the potential capacity, including a post rebuild expansion, at 23k.
I've posted this list before:

List of stadiums in the United Kingdom by capacity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

23k would put us 43rd on the current English football club list but, by the time it's done, I wouldn't be surprised if other developments and expansions pushed us down a couple more places. That would mean when it came to capacity we'd still be League 1.

I understand the real money is in the hospitality but if Bill truly gets English football then he'd know what made it different and why the tv deal got to be so big compared to other countries is down to the fans.

Somehow the prospect is both incredible to know something bigger is coming but also feels like a potential missed opportunity. And yes, I know how entitled and greedy that sounds.

I'll wait to hear what they finally put in but I really hope they aim for something that could potentially be expanded much further in the future.

22k which could go in stages to 26k then 30k, if we needed it, would be plenty and put us firmly in that group of clubs who are usually at least Championship midtable.

Even a triple expansion stage if they initially only want to get the 19k: 19k --> 23k --> 27k --> 30k as the club continues to build its fanbase.

Fingers remain crossed here they decide on the new build with much more potential for expansion built into the design.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
You'd also need to extend the north and east stands at the other end so they run the full length of the pitch. One issue is that the concourses in those stands would be the same size which could cause issues with space and toilet provision. I suppose they open up the back these days but you'd think they would need to have enough space without that.

Presumably the club offices, shop etc. can be moved once the training ground is done. Perhaps you could knock it all down and build a big main stand with the current one still in use.
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Good point re extending in the other direction.

Yeh the turnstiles, concourse and exits into the concourse would be a challenge.

Lots of assumptions, but if you’re digging down, want to keep playing at DC, and don’t want significant temporary capacity reductions, I think you’d be looking at this type of phasing -

South
  1. Build new top tier and roof behind existing south (think Anfield Road End or how they did Huddersfield’s two tier stand behind the goal when that was first built)
  2. Open top tier
  3. Demolish temp stand
  4. Build new bottom tier
Main
  1. Demolish existing offices and relocate to training ground area
  2. Build new top tier and roof behind existing main
  3. Demolish existing roof
  4. Open top tier
  5. Demolish existing main terrace
  6. Build new bottom tier
Lower and move pitch

East
  1. Rebuild roof
  2. Extend towards south
  3. Extend into ground
North
  1. Rebuild roof
  2. Extend towards main
  3. Extend into ground
 
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yoof said:
Good point re extending in the other direction.

Yeh the turnstiles, concourse and exits into the concourse would be a challenge.

Lots of assumptions, but if you’re digging down, want to keep playing at DC, and don’t want significant temporary capacity reductions, I think you’d be looking at this type of phasing -

South
  1. Build new top tier and roof behind existing south (think Anfield Road End or how they did Huddersfield’s two tier stand behind the goal when that was first built)
  2. Open top tier
  3. Demolish temp stand
  4. Build new bottom tier
Main
  1. Demolish existing offices and relocate to training ground area
  2. Build new top tier and roof behind existing main
  3. Demolish existing roof
  4. Open top tier
  5. Demolish existing main terrace
  6. Build new bottom tier
Lower and move pitch

East
  1. Rebuild roof
  2. Extend towards south
  3. Extend into ground
North
  1. Rebuild roof
  2. Extend towards main
  3. Extend into ground
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Final phase could be a massive corner section between the new south and main stands to create a lopsided ground like this..

1000026576.jpg
 
davidwhitehead said:
That looks awful. A proper eyesore, reminds me of Man City's old ground, all four stands different shapes, sizes and designs. Where is this, btw ?
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Yeah it's Bradford. I personally like when stands are different. Bradford is in an awkward plot with a massive hill on the near side meaning you have to walk up loads of steps to get to ground level. There's a road jutting in on the left which is why the big stand doesn't run the length of the pitch.
 
Finally managed to listen to the interview. Doesn't sound like they are planning on moving the main stand or adding many normal seats, which would mean a smaller pitch. Beggars can't be choosers but that's underwhelming.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Finally managed to listen to the interview. Doesn't sound like they are planning on moving the main stand or adding many normal seats, which would mean a smaller pitch. Beggars can't be choosers but that's underwhelming.
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Just don’t see how the pitch can be any smaller. It’s small as it is, and very tight to the stands. The pitch would have to be moved if we’re digging down on all 4 sides.
 
james_AFCB said:
Just don’t see how the pitch can be any smaller. It’s small as it is, and very tight to the stands. The pitch would have to be moved if we’re digging down on all 4 sides.
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Agree. Also a smaller pitch dictates your style of football. No point in speculating we shall just have to wait and see I guess. To me we should do everything to develop the athletics stadium but it s not my money.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
It's not a small pitch atm. 105m x 68m. They could reduce, 90m x 45m is the minimum.
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A team so dependant on attacking down the wings would be shooting themselves in the foot by reducing the pitch width. Assuming that they have investigated reducing the pitch level, as it would not seem to be a remark that BF would make off the top of his head, the only viable way of achieving what he has described would be to demolish the existing east stand and adding say seven or eight new rows at the bottom of the main and north stands.
There is too much investment locked into the main stand to make demolishing that viable, and there is very little scope for extending the north stand backwards.
A real game changer would be if the club was willing and able to purchase all the houses built on the Brighton Beach End. A couple of big ifs there. Without that happening, and interpreting what Bill has said, I imagine that they are envisaging a new East stand with a wall of corporate boxes 2-3 storeys high behind maybe 8-10 rows of normal seating at pitch level. This would mean that to significantly raise ground capacity a massive new (possibly double decker) stand would need to be built at the south end where there is plenty of space available but some technical difficulties to overcome.
I can't see any of this taking place while Dean Court still belongs to Structadene.
Building a new stadium still seems to me to be the optimum option and one which surely offers much better value for money than messing about with the existing stadium.
 
TrevorMorganFanClub said:
Is it possible this is just a negotiating tactic to buy the current ground back cheaper, firstly by claiming we want it, then deciding we don't when we get a sale price?
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I'm not sure WHY it could just be a tactic but the thought has occurred to me.

As others have mentioned, making the current stadium work, is by far the most complicated solution imaginable and the logistics of doing it whilst we've got matches to play seem very complicated. Considering how complicated the whole build would be AND the fact that we have to buy the existing ground back first, I also think that it would likely be the most expensive option too.

Maybe the council have started acting like dicks over the original proposal for a new stadium and now we are saying "OK. Then you won't get a new and shiny leisure, conference and gastronomy venue any more, we are prepared to make our current football stadium work for us and leave you with nothing which will improve amenities in the town. Your call !"

This was a great interview by the way. The interviewer asked really good questions and not leading questions. They were questions people want to know the answers to and not just the usual guff where you already know the answer as soon as the question has been asked. He did a great job. Good stuff.
 
kirsikka said:
I understand the whole "it's not my money" thing but I'm still struggling with capping the potential capacity, including a post rebuild expansion, at 23k.
I've posted this list before:

List of stadiums in the United Kingdom by capacity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

23k would put us 43rd on the current English football club list but, by the time it's done, I wouldn't be surprised if other developments and expansions pushed us down a couple more places. That would mean when it came to capacity we'd still be League 1.

I understand the real money is in the hospitality but if Bill truly gets English football then he'd know what made it different and why the tv deal got to be so big compared to other countries is down to the fans.

Somehow the prospect is both incredible to know something bigger is coming but also feels like a potential missed opportunity. And yes, I know how entitled and greedy that sounds.

I'll wait to hear what they finally put in but I really hope they aim for something that could potentially be expanded much further in the future.

22k which could go in stages to 26k then 30k, if we needed it, would be plenty and put us firmly in that group of clubs who are usually at least Championship midtable.

Even a triple expansion stage if they initially only want to get the 19k: 19k --> 23k --> 27k --> 30k as the club continues to build its fanbase.

Fingers remain crossed here they decide on the new build with much more potential for expansion built into the design.
Click to expand...
All this is very interesting, but the fact is many of these clubs started with much bigger stadiums and redeveloped them. Not all but quite a few.

Our big error was creating a 12k stadium from a ground that once seen much larger crowds.

But even then, no one had the will nor the finances, nor the local authority on board to build anything better.
 
The stadium, as designed by Andy Noonan, was capable of having a second tier added, at a later date.

The foundations for the stands, were put in for a single tier.

To add a second tier, requires those foundations to be underpinned to support the extra weight.
 
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