Ok then , New Ground time

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Ok, so it’s probably not the time but, it’s always a point that needs addressing. So just a quick thought on the short term issues we are facing potentially

Temporary seating I believe could be an issue with regards to how the ground has changed but the club are addressing it.

Season ticket sales (COULD) top 5000 from the good will that there seems to be around at the moment.

I would say, there are probably 4 teams capable of selling their away allocation. With possibly 6 more selling well over half of it.

Is there any way of addressing the roof pitch on both the Osmond and main stand so that views are no longer only available if you lay on a lilo

I still think that extending the lower to the 6 yard box in both goals is probably the best short to medium term solution

They had problems with the foundations, when building the Findus, so on paper looks like a good idea, but reality the cost would out weigh any benefits.

Quoted from DaleH

A new ground is not, I repeat, is not going to happen. And frankly I am delighted about that, because I love Blundell Park and the history around it.

But, what you will no doubt see, will be ground improvements, on the existing footprint, perhaps even including the rebuilding of the Main Stand and Osmond End.

Yes we know that parking is a nightmare at BP, but that has always been the case, even when we had significantly more fans than we do today.

I think that we have learned a very good lesson in recent months, that Blundell Park is fit for purpose and can be improved so so much. But perhaps more importantly, as the club makes improvements to BP, the real emphasis for improvement and the priority, should be for continual improvement in the way the club operates, engages with supporters and the wider community, and  the manner in which it supports the manager and his staff. That is what makes success, which we are already seeing even after a relatively short period of time.

BP is not fit for purpose even in the short to medium term. The disabled facilities are an absolute disgrace for starters. The place is slowly falling apart. The Main Stand would need completely rebuilding as would the Osmond Stand. People rightly expect unobscured views from their seat and easy and free movement when they getting to and from their seats. Most of BP provides neither of those things and it puts people off attending.

As Roy Schneider said when he first saw the shark ‘we are going to need a bigger boat’

Quoted from Kris2

Improvement to training facilities and structure must be the priority now to advance the club, we can't go backwards on that to become a Darlington with a huge arena we can't even fill while back in the NL because we spunked everything on it and didn't invest where we needed to in the facilities and the squad.

As exciting as a new shiny ground seems it doesn't make sense to me when we only fill up our current ground on special occasions, as soon as we have a losing run in the league the attendance drops a ton too so we only get 3-4k, people will only show up when we are winning. That won't happen if we are skint and investing all money into new ground pipe dreams that don't go anywhere like the previous regime or in a 10,000-20,000 white elephant.

No one is suggesting building a Darlington type stadium with 25,000 seats. But a 12-14,000 seat stadium with the scope to increase it a bit if we ever needed to expand would be good.

The sort of stadiums that Rotherham & Doncaster have and gives them a huge competitive advantage over clubs like us.

Where does the money come from to build a new stadium? The core tenant at most sites were supermarket type developments which are now out of fashion, so other money has to be sorted, but from where?

Redevelopment of BP is also going to cost a few £100K and at the moment most of the budget will be on bringing in new players and the new training ground. As I've said I'm all in favour of developments to the ground but it does have to be financed.

Quoted from DB

Where does the money come from to build a new stadium? The core tenant at most sites were supermarket type developments which are now out of fashion, so other money has to be sorted, but from where?

Redevelopment of BP is also going to cost a few £100K and at the moment most of the budget will be on bringing in new players and the new training ground. As I've said I'm all in favour of developments to the ground but it does have to be financed.

A few 100k?!?!?

Preston’s final new stand holds 3,700. That’s the sort of size stand we could fit on the Main Stand side of the ground. It cost them over £9m in 2008. It does however have an NHS walk in centre built into it. PNE did this and it increased there building costs from £6m to £9m but brings in a guaranteed rent of over £500k a year on a long lease.

Quoted from DB

Where does the money come from to build a new stadium? The core tenant at most sites were supermarket type developments which are now out of fashion, so other money has to be sorted, but from where?

Redevelopment of BP is also going to cost a few £100K and at the moment most of the budget will be on bringing in new players and the new training ground. As I've said I'm all in favour of developments to the ground but it does have to be financed.

Grants. Levelling up funds (if we put the right community assets into the development). Mortgage.

We only finished paying off the Findus Stand mortgage in 2020 didn’t we?

Quoted from GollyGTFC

No one is suggesting building a Darlington type stadium with 25,000 seats. But a 12-14,000 seat stadium with the scope to increase it a bit if we ever needed to expand would be good.

The sort of stadiums that Rotherham & Doncaster have and gives them a huge competitive advantage over clubs like us.

What competitive advantage exactly? Fleetwood have a smaller ground than us capacity wise and still don't fill it, they also drunk the NL and League Two while we struggled away and finished above Doncaster this season. If you look at the top end of the table what you find in common is these are large clubs with fantastic facilities, not just in a big ground but the infrastructure of the club, how well they look after players and more importantly what they offer players financially. Fleetwood have got away with just that last one with sub 5000 crowds in L1.

A new ground isn't a terrible idea but it needs to be the right time and right situation. When the recruitment and facilities are much better, when we are filling our current ground up and leaving money on the table by not expanding, when investment and interest is in place in a new development. Lot of issues go into a new ground, location has always been one of them since everyone wants a new ground but only not anywhere near them or in a place that inconveniences them. Investment is always an issue, we had our best chance with Great Coates, a sponsorship and commercial investment in place but taken down by a few NIMBYs. I expect it to be some time when we are in such a position again and any plans can easily be taken down if anybody near the proposed site throws a fit.

Quoted from DaleH

A new ground is not, I repeat, is not going to happen. And frankly I am delighted about that.......

Is it only me, or did this come across as a bit arrogant? It must be great to have such insightful insider knowledge?

Also love the history and Love the atmosphere at BP and would be happy to spend the rest of my days watching the Mariners climb the leagues there. But as it stands it is simply not fit for purpose. I guess we confuse its old school charm and gladly accept the antiquated toilets, various restricted views, dreadful parking and facilities in general.

I cannot see how a new ground (in the real world) can be financed.

But surely significant improvements / replacements can be made on the original BP. I’m not on about additional portaloos, portacabins, temporary seating, licks of paint here and there. How about completely new stands, fit for purpose in the 21st century? Again, I haven’t the foggiest how these changes would be financed. But I cannot see how doing nothing significant at all is an option.

Doubt we would get planning permission to build new stands at BP. It's hemmed in by houses and their owners would fight tooth and nail to stop any more building, just like the Great Coates residents did.