Debbie Cook interview

Are the stairwell exits of the Upper Findus one-way fire exits or could they possibly be used to allow fans to enter each end of the Upper? The current entrance is such a bottleneck and fairly uncomfortable from about 2.45. Possibly a daft suggestion but I think if you sat towards either end of the Upper and didn't need a urine or a bovril, you'd be likely to use it

Brand new website maybe they should  check the content?

Quoted from immariner

I honestly hadn't realised our crowds were that low in the first few years in the Conference, averaging fewer than 3000 home fans the first couple of years. Understandable obviously but in my mind's eye I'd have gueesed we averaged 3.5-4000 . That drop from 18k in 1950 to 4k within 20 years is quite something

Our crowds have always been pretty volatile. The best example I can think of is in the late 60's early 70's were a low of 1800 odd turned into regular 10,000 crowds culminating in 23000 for the final game of the season. That involved no ground improvements, no long-term plan or any plan, just a manager (McMenemy) and a galvanised team and public who had had enough of struggling.

It is sad but true that in the Buckley second-tier times support was surprisingly low, but I think football is in a different place today - in many ways, it is so popular and almost defines a town if the football club is on the up or down.

I think this current surge will be long-lasting because the foundations are being built to keep the fan base and build on it year on year.

Those fans who regularly saw big crowds of 10,000 plus took it all for granted, but there is no credible reason why we should not join other less fashionable towns with much bigger crowds than we could have hoped for in the recent past.

Quoted from immariner

Are the stairwell exits of the Upper Findus one-way fire exits or could they possibly be used to allow fans to enter each end of the Upper? The current entrance is such a bottleneck and fairly uncomfortable from about 2.45. Possibly a daft suggestion but I think if you sat towards either end of the Upper and didn't need a urine or a bovril, you'd be likely to use it

Absolutely! I’ve said it before but that stairway and access/egress to the upper is an accident waiting to happen.

Also not sure how it would work logistically but surely the toilets that are situated in one of those stairwells could be used at half time? Going to the single set of bogs at half time is perilous unless you go 5 minutes either side.

Quoted from ginnywings

I don't think you can just declare what capacity you feel like, and even if we did, the corner holds 600, which isn't 10% of 8000.

Our fans seem to have an obsession with upping the seating capacity at BP, when in all probability, even with the amount of season tickets we have sold, I doubt we will sell out every week.

If we sell 6000 season tickets and give the away team 1200, that still leaves about 1800 to fill. A lot of season ticket sales will be regulars from last season converting from match to match ticket buying like myself and my brother. Walk up fans may not be able to choose where they want to sit as in previous seasons, but there will be seats available somewhere.

We should know by now that the new owners are not daft and if it becomes clear that BP is bursting at the seams, then yeah, look at ways of increasing capacity, but as we stand now, we are not yet at that point.

For my money, we need to be looking at upgrading the facilities for the fans that we have now. Toilets and refreshment outlets are going to be seriously strained. We also have to weigh the cost benefits of introducing extra seating and/or more away fans with the costs of hiring said seating and extra security.

I realise that this may be an unpopular view on here, but let's see what happens regards capacity and trust that the board are keeping a close eye on developments.

If our season average goes up by 2000, we will still be well in capacity.

I thought the corner was 800. Anyhow, if the findus, ponny and main are nearly sold out with season tickets, and the Osmond holds what 1800 or 2000, then where are the extra 1000? The Stockport game las season was a home sell out, they filled their end, and the attendance was 7818. No way another 1200 seats available. I’m pretty certain the 9k figure is based on including temporary seating.

Anyone know anywhere it states what the capacity of each stand is?

Quoted from Roast Em Bobby

Anyone know anywhere it states what the capacity of each stand is?

On the official site:

[url]https://gtfc.co.uk/visitors/[/url]

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

You can't just set aside any issues, I'd  have no problem with them seeing if a scheme is feasible through  the pre application  process but whatever emerges has to be factored into the scheme. That all cost money though.

As for costs I've seen enough  design  team estimates for refurb/renovations for large capital schemes and in my experience they rarely come in cheaper than clean site rebuilds especially when phased over several  years.

I'm not doing very well here; perhaps the best way to explain my point is to assume, as you suggest, we've got a positive pre-app for up to 13k capacity on the site, which used to have 24k capacity on it 40 years ago and 17k 30 years ago. Lets also assume that the planning pre-app response requires the replacement stand roofs to create no greater shading of adjoining residential properties.

The central part of the Findus side of the ground has no residential behind so let's assume we can build a bit higher - here is my precendent [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomond_Park#/media/File:Thomond_Park.jpg[/url]  - a smaller version of this down the whole Findus stand side - maybe 5k capacity. And for the rest of the ground a wrap around version of this on 3 sides - possibly including a safe standing element- capacity 8k [url]https://gleventsstadia.co.uk/case-studies/matmut-stadium/[/url].
Drains and utilities are already on site and sized for the historic capacity. Would this cost more more than a complete new build off Freeman Street?

I'm not saying this is my preference, in fact, a new stadium off Freemo would be my preferred location, but I would definitely prefer a Blundell Park redevelopment to a souless out of town stadium. And going back to Debbie, there was repeat of the 1878 line that a new stadium is not being considered at all at the moment, despite Blundell Park having fewer than 2000 home seats available on match days this season, even with the extra 600 in the Osmond / Main Corner. JS, AP and DC, are highly competent and succesful business professionals, they will be starting to plan now what GTFC might do - if say we were promoted again. In which case, Blundell Park at present would be wholly inadequate with teams like Lincoln, Barnsley, Wednesday visiting - probably £150k plus of lost revenue just for those 3 games...

I like Debbie she’s a good calibre exec who’s learning as she goes, she’s positive, accessible and in a relatively short space of time has understood a lot about what the club is about and what it means to our support.

Appointing this role is one of the best things Jason & Andrew have done as it’s someone who thinks about and more importantly addresses the stuff that never used to get done.

Small things matter, she went to the London Stadium on foot (not all the way) walking up with the supporters, the previous regime would have gone in “his” Merc.