Best ground for atmosphere

Quoted from White_shorts

You could argue it was a mistake to build a new stand at all at Blundell Park. Lots of people owned cars by 1982. The lack of parking spaces must have been an issue even then.

Did GTFC make any effort to acquire the land where Sainsbury's and Alexandra Retail Park were built? Could the Fishing Heritage Centre and Heritage House have been incorporated into a new stadium at Garth Lane?

It annoys me that the club seems to have had its head in the sand for decades with regard to relocation. We paid a big price in 1995 when BP was made all-seater. Ground capacity and atmosphere was lost.

Prime land in the centre of town. It would cost a fortune just to buy it.

There was a reluctance to build new stadiums in the centre of towns, hence they were built out of town. It probably wouldn't have been given planning permission back then.

As has been discussed before, the Pontoon was paid for by supporters (in the '60's, I think?). For that reason alone, it should remain a home stand.

It was that way right in the early days of the club. When it was mooted that we move to land in the open space between Grimsby and Cleethorpes (to what became Blundell Park) one director proposed that we leased the adjacent land to develop a multi-sports club. The board decided not to and just lease sufficient space for the football ground. If they had leased all the land we’d have space now for a swanky big stadium.

Quoted from White_shorts

You could argue it was a mistake to build a new stand at all at Blundell Park. Lots of people owned cars by 1982. The lack of parking spaces must have been an issue even then.

Did GTFC make any effort to acquire the land where Sainsbury's and Alexandra Retail Park were built? Could the Fishing Heritage Centre and Heritage House have been incorporated into a new stadium at Garth Lane?

It annoys me that the club seems to have had its head in the sand for decades with regard to relocation. We paid a big price in 1995 when BP was made all-seater. Ground capacity and atmosphere was lost.

There were a number of possibilities at the time that would have resolved the problems. The new stand was to be the offices and changing rooms etc. and a new stand built to replace the Main Stand. It was believed that there could be land available from the railway for car parking but this came to nothing as in any case the Ramsden era came to an end and the money dried up. The full reasons for that remain obscure, at least to me.

As to other possibilities, the first new ground proposal I heard of was when FA Would was still chairman in the mid 1960s and offered the club what was known as the Woolco site. This was on Cambridge Road where the Cambridge Park estate is now. Woolco was the wholesale arm of Woolworths and a warehousing unit was planned for the site which would also have had the new BP. The club was not keen, probably the distance from the town had something to do with it. Anyway the deal fell flat.

Quoted from grimps

I’ve always thought that we should have the Osmond stand as our home end , the acoustics are much better even if you can’t see the pitch  

Isn't the Osmond Stand still our home end in the second half of every game? I can't stand change....

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

There were a number of possibilities at the time that would have resolved the problems. The new stand was to be the offices and changing rooms etc. and a new stand built to replace the Main Stand. It was believed that there could be land available from the railway for car parking but this came to nothing as in any case the Ramsden era came to an end and the money dried up. The full reasons for that remain obscure, at least to me.

As to other possibilities, the first new ground proposal I heard of was when FA Would was still chairman in the mid 1960s and offered the club what was known as the Woolco site. This was on Cambridge Road where the Cambridge Park estate is now. Woolco was the wholesale arm of Woolworths and a warehousing unit was planned for the site which would also have had the new BP. The club was not keen, probably the distance from the town had something to do with it. Anyway the deal fell flat.

Never knew that RRFC. Thanks.

Quoted from White_shorts

I think the club literally made a huge mistake in 1982 with the Findus Stand. There was no all-seater requirement at that time. They should have just built a fully-covered standing terrace.

If I was GTFC chairman with several million pounds in my bank account, I would dismantle most of the upper Findus and use the seats to extend the lower tier and Main Stand. The ground capacity would be the same, but there would be a much better atmosphere, especially at the Pontoon end.

I would also remove the windows from the corporate boxes, as people sat behind glass don't make any noise for the team.

The Lower Findus was standing when it was built

When I said acquire the land, I meant secure a deal to piggyback a stadium onto the retail element. I assume Sainsbury's paid for the site at Corporation Road.

I did a little bit of internet research. The supermarket opened in September 1988 and the Heritage Centre in 1991. Some might say the club was unfortunate to just miss out on a potential development partner after the all-seater ruling was made. I would argue GTFC should have had more foresight.

Tesco on Hewitt's Ave was under construction in 1990, the same year as the Taylor Report.

I don't know when Morrisons at Laceby Acres was built, but there is a huge field behind it.

Quoted from lukeo

Don't start this debate again! I've said before they should switch it around and chuck away fans in the pontoon but get shot down because its tradition

It's not because it's tradition, it's because it's been done before and it was crap. Have you ever tried watching a game from the back of the Osmond?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

There were a number of possibilities at the time that would have resolved the problems. The new stand was to be the offices and changing rooms etc. and a new stand built to replace the Main Stand. It was believed that there could be land available from the railway for car parking but this came to nothing as in any case the Ramsden era came to an end and the money dried up. The full reasons for that remain obscure, at least to me.

As to other possibilities, the first new ground proposal I heard of was when FA Would was still chairman in the mid 1960s and offered the club what was known as the Woolco site. This was on Cambridge Road where the Cambridge Park estate is now. Woolco was the wholesale arm of Woolworths and a warehousing unit was planned for the site which would also have had the new BP. The club was not keen, probably the distance from the town had something to do with it. Anyway the deal fell flat.

I imagine the club were not prepared to pay the asking price, or maybe the port authority did not want to allow vehicular access via Wickham Road.

Were the Ramsdens bankrolling the club? I wonder if we could have had another push for promotion to the top flight if we had kept Wilkinson and Drinkell.