Town's 5-Year Goal To Net New Stadium

[quote=2757]one question we should perhaps ask is will BP as it presently stands be a usable facility for 5 more years? Personally i
doubt it,surely its only a matter of time before the wooden shambles we call the main stand is denied a safety certificate
and the rusty iron girders holding  up the roof of the Osmond are an embarrassment,as are the wilderness areas in the corners,
the new stadium was first muted 20 years ago and i am totally fed up with it all now, 1 year delay, 2 years delay,council district
changes, red tape,newts, bull sh1t, more bullsh1t, Great Coates NIMBYS and now we are told it could still be 5 years away and
in a location so bizarre its bound to start the merry go round of objections all over again.
Lets just  revamp BP, concentrate on improving our league status and re-visit this in the future,otherwise we could find ourselves
with both with an even more embarrassingly  decrepit ground and still no sign of a new stadium
My opinion, i'm sure plenty will disagree..[/quote]


The problem with trying to develop BP has been mentioned many times and it still wouldn't help the club in having non-football income streams. I'm absolutely convinced that planning permission wouldn't be allowed for any alterations or development. There is also the problem of car parking. At present I don't believe there is any car parking for fans and it is completely unacceptable in this modern age to expect fans to park in side streets on peoples fronts. The congestion on some of these side streets is horrendous on match days now and will progressively get worse when we get back in the league. The world has moved on a lot since BP was last upgraded. The present location, surrounded by terraced housing, harks back to a bygone age and the club ( and fans ) must move with the times.

Quoted from rancido

[quote=2757]one question we should perhaps ask is will BP as it presently stands be a usable facility for 5 more years? Personally i
doubt it,surely its only a matter of time before the wooden shambles we call the main stand is denied a safety certificate
and the rusty iron girders holding  up the roof of the Osmond are an embarrassment,as are the wilderness areas in the corners,
the new stadium was first muted 20 years ago and i am totally fed up with it all now, 1 year delay, 2 years delay,council district
changes, red tape,newts, bull sh1t, more bullsh1t, Great Coates NIMBYS and now we are told it could still be 5 years away and
in a location so bizarre its bound to start the merry go round of objections all over again.
Lets just  revamp BP, concentrate on improving our league status and re-visit this in the future,otherwise we could find ourselves
with both with an even more embarrassingly  decrepit ground and still no sign of a new stadium
My opinion, i'm sure plenty will disagree..[/quote]



The problem with trying to develop BP has been mentioned many times and it still wouldn't help the club in having non-football income streams. I'm absolutely convinced that planning permission wouldn't be allowed for any alterations or development. There is also the problem of car parking. At present I don't believe there is any car parking for fans and it is completely unacceptable in this modern age to expect fans to park in side streets on peoples fronts. The congestion on some of these side streets is horrendous on match days now and will progressively get worse when we get back in the league. The world has moved on a lot since BP was last upgraded. The present location, surrounded by terraced housing, harks back to a bygone age and the club ( and fans ) must move with the times.

Plan B could be the most sensible short/medium term alternative regardless of parking issues and JF's talk about the state of BP. One reason why it is in such a state is that the prolonged new ground saga has led to neglect and the notion of just doing enough repairs to pass H&S inspection. The other point of course is that crowds of 5000+ are unlikely on a regular basis even if the club gets back in the league. A new stadium won't alter that. Moving with the times? This might be the times we move with!

It would be relatively simple to alter BP with replacement stands if need be and still have plenty of capacity.

Redeveloping what can be redeveloped at BP still needs cash though, and this is why JF is so keen on a new ground, it involves far less financial input from the club (or him). I think that is the real reason why BP will never be his favoured option.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Plan B could be the most sensible short/medium term alternative regardless of parking issues and JF's talk about the state of BP. One reason why it is in such a state is that the prolonged new ground saga has led to neglect and the notion of just doing enough repairs to pass H&S inspection. The other point of course is that crowds of 5000+ are unlikely on a regular basis even if the club gets back in the league. A new stadium won't alter that. Moving with the times? This might be the times we move with!

It would be relatively simple to alter BP with replacement stands if need be and still have plenty of capacity.

Redeveloping what can be redeveloped at BP still needs cash though, and this is why JF is so keen on a new ground, it involves far less financial input from the club (or him). I think that is the real reason why BP will never be his favoured option.

I still don't think we would get planning permission to develop BP.

Not sure if I am reading it correctly but it seems to me that this 5 year plan is just to get to the point of applying for planning permission, how long after that would it take to get the new build started?

How many times do people need to be told that redeveloping BP is no longer an option? Getting a new ground isn't just about how many people we can get in to a stadium to watch GTFC  or even replacing the old for the new. Football is a business, not just a sport anymore therefore we need income outside of football and to do that we need extra land for other facilities such as a gym, 5 a side pitches, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels or whatever else the club decide feasible. None of this can happen at Blundell Park which is why the club need to relocate to progress long term as a business. 24/7 income is now fundamental for professional football clubs.

Quoted from jimgtfc

How many times do people need to be told that redeveloping BP is no longer an option? Getting a new ground isn't just about how many people we can get in to a stadium to watch GTFC  or even replacing the old for the new. Football is a business, not just a sport anymore therefore we need income outside of football and to do that we need extra land for other facilities such as a gym, 5 a side pitches, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels or whatever else the club decide feasible. None of this can happen at Blundell Park which is why the club need to relocate to progress long term as a business. 24/7 income is now fundamental for professional football clubs.

True enough, it is a business. Though the club would not be entitled to any income stream from those things would it? The club will not own or manage the site and may not even own the stadium. And it is those extras that are the real problem with the siting of the new ground aren't they? The original supermarket idea would have meant traffic 24/7 for instance. Now we have the possibility of housing estates up the Parkway. It is a conundrum without an ideal solution.

Quoted from jimgtfc

How many times do people need to be told that redeveloping BP is no longer an option? Getting a new ground isn't just about how many people we can get in to a stadium to watch GTFC  or even replacing the old for the new. Football is a business, not just a sport anymore therefore we need income outside of football and to do that we need extra land for other facilities such as a gym, 5 a side pitches, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels or whatever else the club decide feasible. None of this can happen at Blundell Park which is why the club need to relocate to progress long term as a business. 24/7 income is now fundamental for professional football clubs.

I may have missed something but would GTFC actually own any of the land, in that case then there would not be any income for GTFC from those you are mentioning.

As a matter of interest Jim, what sort of percentage of clubs outside of the prem and top Championship clubs have the sort
.of facilities you describe? Most i would suggest survive  by relevant success in  their respective leagues, cup runs   a
good marketing plan, or a combination of the three, even though i am sure all aspire for such facilities - lets be sensible we are still
a non league club and no-one knows how long this will be the case.
As others have posted, this 'plan' will take a MINIMUM of 5 years - can you imagine the state of BP by then ?Its 50/50 we will still have
4 workable stands ffs!
I am not a Peakes Parkway area nimby, i would love to see GTFC in a nice new stadium as much as anyone else, but all we have seen
for 20 fecking years is delay after delay and IMO this state of total inertia shouldn't be allowed to continue, even if it means taking all
the grants available to improve BP, after all i am sure 5000 can find a place to park when in the past 15-20000 have managed to do it.

[quote=2226]Just wondered if this means Mr Fenty and board are now willing to prop the club up financially for this 5 year period, or it doesn't stack up.

If that's the case the future is bright   [/quote

Over to you John.

Of course I'm not saying we own any hotel or supermarket or the like, that's the enabling development helps the project off the ground, that's what the additional acres of land are for. The non football income we could generate comes from corporate events, weddings and other celebratory events, potentially a built in restaurant and even a gym could be housed in the stadium grounds. I'm not sure what the situation would be regarding the proposed on site training facility, and who would own that, but perhaps that's another option to rent out on an evening. There are plenty of extra ways to make money outside of football that are considerably restricted at BP.

As for what other clubs do this, I'd say pretty much all of the new stadia have similar facilities. A quick look at Rotherham United's New York stadium website shows what can be achieved.