council want to talk to Town about new stadium

Meanwhile back on the thread, I wondered if anybody had an idea how much a new ground, excluding land (council), would cost. I am sure that there are many grants available from the government to help, using the right terminology - regeneration grant, sports development grant, arts grant ( exhibition centre/ gallery in stead of palm tree) etc.

Then of course we have our very affluent council who are piling over £100K into renovating the Grimsby cemetery house, £800k for swings and slides not to mention £400k to help fund the new cycle track on the A180. So a slight change of wording could bring in a minimum of over £1 million from the council. You could even add a cinema for 7 million!

The sale eventual sale of BP would also bring a few £100k as a housing development site. I just wondered how much shortfall there would be between the cost of a new stadium and what was available. Some loans could also come from fans giving them a better return than bank/B Society to raise the extra capital.

To me, the most important thing for the club is to get back into the EFL, new training facilities but a future plan for a new stadium in, say, 5 years is viable if the sums start to add up. Finding £X millions appears daunting at first but in largish small amounts, it could all add up.

Quoted from DB

Meanwhile back on the thread, I wondered if anybody had an idea how much a new ground, excluding land (council), would cost. I am sure that there are many grants available from the government to help, using the right terminology - regeneration grant, sports development grant, arts grant ( exhibition centre/ gallery in stead of palm tree) etc.

Then of course we have our very affluent council who are piling over £100K into renovating the Grimsby cemetery house, £800k for swings and slides not to mention £400k to help fund the new cycle track on the A180. So a slight change of wording could bring in a minimum of over £1 million from the council. You could even add a cinema for 7 million!

The sale eventual sale of BP would also bring a few £100k as a housing development site. I just wondered how much shortfall there would be between the cost of a new stadium and what was available. Some loans could also come from fans giving them a better return than bank/B Society to raise the extra capital.

To me, the most important thing for the club is to get back into the EFL, new training facilities but a future plan for a new stadium in, say, 5 years is viable if the sums start to add up. Finding £X millions appears daunting at first but in largish small amounts, it could all add up.

£20-30 million to build it. So subject to grants, we’re 20 odd millions short.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

£20-30 million to build it. So subject to grants, we’re 20 odd millions short.

I was under the impression £20 was the figure for the Gt Coates site including the land. So without a cost for the land, the figure should be less.

Quoted from DB

I was under the impression £20 was the figure for the Gt Coates site including the land. So without a cost for the land, the figure should be less.

I think the £20 you have quoted was the figure that JF was prepared to put in himself 😉

I notice that in tonight's telewag the council announcing more plans with millions of funding ......an open square, a cinema, some flats, improved cycle ways linking top town and Alexandra Dock....


More importantly  " millions previously earmarked for developing new businesses around Victoria Mills has been scrapped" ..... pretty sure when this town deal money was announced it was supposed to regenerating that area, providing hundreds of new jobs, hundreds of new houses for the workers in the new jobs...blah blah.

The council are inept end of. Overspending on the b0ll0cks
they have already been playing with in Garth Lane, now the main spend in the whole scheme is ...........going to be a block of apartments !!!!  No long term jobs there, and take a look at Victoria Mills, one time big plan for "yuppie flats and loft style living" now renting out to drug and drink addicts and issues in and around there, the relatively new build posh flats opposite the old Freddie Frith site was taken on by social housing, proposed new build on the Car park where Freddie Friths used to be never even got started....and the jewel in the regeneration of the town centre is....a block of apartments. Way to go useless fckers.

Are you lads sure that this all makes sense?  Tens of millions to replace your ground?  Surely you dont think that there is much money coming from your Council?  If your new owners really have the money and the inclination to spend it on a new ground they will not be sufficiently well healed to also purchase a decent team for you as well?
Do up the one you have.  Plan for 10,000 fans and put up with its deficiencies and spend what money you have on the infrastructure to allow the development of more home grown talent. Then have the patience for the system to deliver.
Recruit the right people to support the system.
I know you are all happy at the moment but it isn't that long ago you were equally happy at having a bold and successful Manager and planning for a bigger future.  How long before you decide this new owner is also a Numpty?
I genuinely believe that this constant banging on about a new ground is an expensive distraction.  Please forget it.

We cannot stay at Blundell Park, it is completely unsustainable and un sustainable. There isn't the space, we wouldn't be able to build stands any higher than they already are because of the houses. The original reason for moving to Great Coates was because the council, at the time, said that they would refuse planning permission for any rebuilding of the ground. The list for moving is very long, the one for staying is one word, money. As others have pointed out, there has been many clubs, big and small, that have found the money and moved, so why not Town? Andrew Pettit has made his money in property development, and knows a thing or two about rebuilding. I am sure he will be looking at it, and will have the know how to deliver, unlike Fenty, who couldn't put up a shed in his own backyard!

Money is not the problem. There is more grant funding sloshing around now than there has ever been - with more relaxed state aid rules attached to it (thanks Brexit - and I’m no Brexiteer). Even before, money wasn’t really the problem. How did clubs like Rotherham and Donny get their grounds funded - both clubs had shite support at their old grounds so it certainly wasn’t coming through the turnstiles?Rotherham got £8 million from the EU and council loans, probably other grants as well from the FA / Sport England. It’s about competence - competence of the clubs directors and the council to put together a suitable site, grant funding packages that comply with state aid rules and other grant, loan funding and new investment. Up to now we’ve had utter incompetence on all fronts. From what we’ve seen from 1878 so far - we are half way there - we now have competence on the clubs board. As for the council - well maybe 1878 can project manage the whole show - just tell the council what grants are needed, how to get them, what loans are needed, how to make it legally compliant. We have a much better chance of making this happen than a year ago...

OK I can see that it would be nice for you to move to a new ground.  But there are examples of moving ground being unsuccessful.  Why do you want bigger stands? You could modernise what you've got and still house 10,000 people.  You will hardly ever need more capacity than that in the future.
You say that you HAVE to move.  They were saying that when I was working there a quarter of a century ago and somehow you have managed in the interim.
You arent a big rich club so why not spend whatever you can raise to set up a system that reduces the wage bill and the transfer budget instead of dreaming of new stadiums?

As a matter of interest, I have just read through the excellent Cod Almighty article on the Fenty years.

The bit I found to be interesting, concerning the Great Coates project was that the council had originally supported it, but then decided  that they wanted to redevelop Garth Lane instead. Since there was only room for one development that meant that the council would only support their own pet project, putting a massive spanner in the works for Town.

Fast forward to the present day, neither project happened, Great Coates and Garth Lane are still empty. Shafted by our own council for something they could not deliver.