Men In Blazers on AFCB

Back to the ‘dig down’ and considering suggestions further up that this may not necessarily mean shuffling the pitch over a touch… on inspection of the east stand yesterday, I think you could add 3 rows, maybe 4 at a push within the existing inner advertising board perimeter, and therefore within the existing pitch dimensions. Not sure on minimum distances required between spectators and pitch.

The existing walkway and stair arrangement would no longer work. I think a solution would be to structurally modify the number and location of the entrances from the concourse, with direct access to stairs - think Madejski stadium as an example. Not too tricky.

There are approx 750 front row seats. So 750 x 4 rows = 3000 increase (assuming that other stands have a similar current distance to the advertising boards as the east stand does).

Bit of an underwhelming solution…
 
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I also looked at the rake of seats in the East Stand yesterday. It is quite steep and I think you could retain the current pitch dimensions even if the pitch were lowered by, say, 1.5 or even 2 metres without ruining sight-lines.

All speculation, of course, but if you also moved the pitch 5 or 6 metres to the south you could add several rows to the front of the North Stand and fill in the existing north end corners. That might add about 1,600 seats but would require a new roof (Bill mentioned a new North Stand roof, so that makes sense.)

Shifting the pitch southwards means you could also tack another 200 seats onto the southern end of the East Stand taking the away fans section up to the required 1,900. I don’t think the plan should be to add seats to the front of the Main/East stands. That would make sight-lines difficult unless you narrowed the pitch.

Then a new two tier stand at the south end - the footprint will be tight, but presumably the upper tier could extend over the public footpath behind - and a further tier above the existing main stand, predominantly “posh” seats. The main stand could also be slightly extended to the south.

I can see how that would all add up to 19,000 seats, with about 17% (3,250) premium/corporate seats as Bill described. As Yoof says, a bit underwhelming but presumably relatively easy to get through planning. Can only see it going ahead if Structadene have agreed to sell at a reasonable price.
 
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I haven’t had a chance to listen to the interview but are we set on the idea of digging down means lowering the pitch and not just digging down to build a new tier over the top of the current main stand?
 
If we’re planning on staying at DC and increasing the capacity, why the delay in officially announcing it?

I always assumed we were going for a new stadium built where the existing training pitches are and had to wait for the TG to be ready to formally announce it.
 
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Fulham fan on the radio last night. New stand built, stadium upgraded... allowing for the football tourists to buy those seats and spend their money. He said there was no atmosphere as there are no 'legacy supporters. Every week someone different sitting next to him.
ManUre upping their prices to drive out the local supporter, with football tourists waiting to buy those new tickets.

Discussing our new stadium capacity is pointless for us. Any increase in capacity won't be there for local, legacy, heritage(?) fans.
We'll probably buy a South Korean and a Japanese player and have a couple of thousand tourists at every match.
 
I also looked at the rake of seats in the East Stand yesterday. It is quite steep and I think you could retain the current pitch dimensions even if the pitch were lowered by, say, 1.5 or even 2 metres without ruining sight-lines.

All speculation, of course, but if you also moved the pitch 5 or 6 metres to the south you could add several rows to the front of the North Stand and fill in the existing north end corners. That might add about 1,600 seats but would require a new roof (Bill mentioned a new North Stand roof, so that makes sense.)

Shifting the pitch southwards means you could also tack another 200 seats onto the southern end of the East Stand taking the away fans section up to the required 1,900. I don’t think the plan should be to add seats to the front of the Main/East stands. That would make sight-lines difficult unless you narrowed the pitch.

Then a new two tier stand at the south end - the footprint will be tight, but presumably the upper tier could extend over the public footpath behind - and a further tier above the existing main stand, predominantly “posh” seats. The main stand could also be slightly extended to the south.

I can see how that would all add up to 19,000 seats, with about 17% (3,250) premium/corporate seats as Bill described. As Yoof says, a bit underwhelming but presumably relatively easy to get through planning. Can only see it going ahead if Structadene have agreed to sell at a reasonable price.
Interesting take. Good read
 
Fulham fan on the radio last night. New stand built, stadium upgraded... allowing for the football tourists to buy those seats and spend their money. He said there was no atmosphere as there are no 'legacy supporters. Every week someone different sitting next to him.
ManUre upping their prices to drive out the local supporter, with football tourists waiting to buy those new tickets.

Discussing our new stadium capacity is pointless for us. Any increase in capacity won't be there for local, legacy, heritage(?) fans.
We'll probably buy a South Korean and a Japanese player and have a couple of thousand tourists at every match.
Before our match at Fulham I spoke to some blokes who had come over from Boston. They'd looked at other London PL options (IIRC Spurs and West Ham were also at home that weekend). However Fulham was easy to get tickets for (that big new stand) and it sounds like Fulham actively market themselves to that audience for the US flying into Heathrow.

It sounds like a fully intentional growth push by Fulham's owners to pay for that stand. If you're shelling out to fly across the Atlantic for the Premier League, then sure you'll pay £90 for a seat compared to £45.
 
Before our match at Fulham I spoke to some blokes who had come over from Boston. They'd looked at other London PL options (IIRC Spurs and West Ham were also at home that weekend). However Fulham was easy to get tickets for (that big new stand) and it sounds like Fulham actively market themselves to that audience for the US flying into Heathrow.

It sounds like a fully intentional growth push by Fulham's owners to pay for that stand. If you're shelling out to fly across the Atlantic for the Premier League, then sure you'll pay £90 for a seat compared to £45.
Fulham have always struggled to sell out. Remember when the stand we sit in used to be a neutral block and an away block. For games against the top six that meant a total away block.
 
Fulham fan on the radio last night. New stand built, stadium upgraded... allowing for the football tourists to buy those seats and spend their money. He said there was no atmosphere as there are no 'legacy supporters. Every week someone different sitting next to him.
ManUre upping their prices to drive out the local supporter, with football tourists waiting to buy those new tickets.

Discussing our new stadium capacity is pointless for us. Any increase in capacity won't be there for local, legacy, heritage(?) fans.
We'll probably buy a South Korean and a Japanese player and have a couple of thousand tourists at every match.
I think you are right regarding lack of future opportunities for local supporters, based on the latest plans from the interview with BF. He sounded keen to 'change the demographic' of home fans in DC, as we all know it has basically been a closed shop for most of the last decade. He says he wants to get more youth, women and more families attending future games but I just don't see how his thoroughly underwhelming plans for DC will enable that. Trying to shoehorn some extra seats into an already cramped area, and then making the vast majority of them 'corporate' so that he can maximise the income from this, seems a contradicting approach and will do absolutely nothing to encourage or enable a more vibrant younger support or get more families attending. They simply won't be able to afford it.
 
This isn't fulham and london, do you seriously think they will be looking at tourists to fill 9000 seats?
No. I have consistently said I would like twice as many seats for home fans as we currently have.

Despite losing a generation that couldn't get a ticket to Dean Court I still believe the local demand is there.

Fulham have a lot of better and/or cheaper options within an hour's public transport, we only have relegation certainties the other side of the forest.
 
No. I have consistently said I would like twice as many seats for home fans as we currently have.

Despite losing a generation that couldn't get a ticket to Dean Court I still believe the local demand is there.

Fulham have a lot of better and/or cheaper options within an hour's public transport, we only have relegation certainties the other side of the forest.
They also have 100s of thousands of tourists looking for tickets. Who do you think the majority of these extra tickets are for?
 
Christ more negativity, what a bunch of moaners, we have an owners who's invested 100m's in the team, 10m's in a training facility, and now looking to increase the capacity by 80% plus, but still not good enough for some
Who’s moaning? A little conversation weighing up the merit of squeezing extra seats into an already constrained site vs the new build that had been suggested as Bill’s preferred option in previous interviews. Fairly reasonable, no?
 
Fulham fan on the radio last night. New stand built, stadium upgraded... allowing for the football tourists to buy those seats and spend their money. He said there was no atmosphere as there are no 'legacy supporters. Every week someone different sitting next to him.
ManUre upping their prices to drive out the local supporter, with football tourists waiting to buy those new tickets.

Discussing our new stadium capacity is pointless for us. Any increase in capacity won't be there for local, legacy, heritage(?) fans.
We'll probably buy a South Korean and a Japanese player and have a couple of thousand tourists at every match.
Your absolutely right. Any expansion in capacity isn't intended to increase the number of season tickets or let local fans come to the match, it's all about milking the tourists who buy the £££ hospitality tickets. Any expansion will not lead to more local regular fans being able to get tickets, let alone benefit those who have been paying over the odds for almost 10 years to attend via the points system.
 
Who’s moaning? A little conversation weighing up the merit of squeezing extra seats into an already constrained site vs the new build that had been suggested as Bill’s preferred option in previous interviews. Fairly reasonable, no?
From what I can see both options are 19k rising to a potential 23k. I'm happy with either
 
Your absolutely right. Any expansion in capacity isn't intended to increase the number of season tickets or let local fans come to the match, it's all about milking the tourists who buy the £££ hospitality tickets. Any expansion will not lead to more local regular fans being able to get tickets, let alone benefit those who have been paying over the odds for almost 10 years to attend via the points system.
Your deluded, who's paying over the odd? Where are these tourists, they could buy hospitality tickets now
 

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