Thetownend.com

There I have said it. Maybe a few of you will think im a little crazy but in fact it makes perfect sence. Granted we have been able to take the piss over our yellow friends from down the road but lets be honest: At the end of the day they have a new stadium and we have a ground which looks worse every season!
 The latest scenario for STFC's new stadium is the possibility of ground re-development. However do you honestly think this will happen? I remember the residents in Shrivvy road objecting to any development of Stratton Bank in years gone by.
 I personally think that if we are to stay at The County Ground then the best way forward would be to redevelop the Town End and Arkell's Stand to mirror the existing Nationwide Stand and fill in the corners between. This should generate a capacity of around 20,000 which is more than adaquate for a club our size at present. I would have Stratton Bank removed and have the land there landscaped. At the end of the day we would have a much better ground and the local residents will be far happier. Its a win-win situation for all and should stop complaints from local residents over redevelopment issues.

Any thoughts?

It's all about Street cred and i dont think  our board will want to be associated with a three sided stadium.  If you think i'm being silly over the Street cred bit i'm not, Paul Sturrock lost his job at the Saints over it

Surely its better to have a nice 3 sided up to date stadium than one which is old and looking old.  What's the point in having a 25,000+ stadium when we're struggling to get 6000 fans!!!!!!  3 sided stadiums have to be more cost effective. Less stewards needed ect.  We've got to be realistic now. We are a league one team and r showing no signs of becomin otherwise.  Lets not look outside of our needs.

I'd sort of agree with the Reaper apart from the demolition of the stratton bank. It does a job and i dont really see what advantage we'd get from demoloshing it

Just renovate it a little (better toilets and catering) and jobs a good 'un - stick the away fans on it.

I couldnt give a shit what shrivvy road residents think. They did buy a house next to a football ground after all.

How can Stratton bank be doing a job? Its just er...there. It only gets used when we have a large number of visiting fans which is like once a season when City come. I still think its better to get rid of it altogether and have something else there that looks better than 100's of empty seats! How about a nice flower bed with the STFC logo incorparated?
Besides away fans can be accomodated in a newer larger Arkells Stand!
You have to get the residents on our side as they will only prevent future development by objecting to the council!

Everybody's thinkin of a new stadium idea.  Why not ground share with oxford. Local teams sharing works on the continent, why not hear. Between us and them we should be able to make a decent stadium.

I wouldn't like a three end ground. It just wouldn't look right.
Stratton bank can be used as a standing stand.

How can SB be used as a standing stand? Its illegal now and the goverment will never reverse that rule. Forget, move on with the times.
Groundshare with the Oxford?
Not as bad as it sounds really. If it was located say in Faringdon then it could work.

Can't imagine that would be very popular. :nono

Exactly! its there!  could be used as overflow for away fans or prefrebly for away fans full stop so they get wet.

Whats a better idea, have 2,500 seats in a shitty stand that looks terrible or a flower bed?

What would happen if we got MAN U/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool in the cup at the CG?

It would sell out and we'd lose £37,500 (2,500 @ £15 a ticket) beacuse of the Grim Reapers flower bed behind the goal.

Don't mind the cup, we will get them in the league in a few years. But you are right.

I would rather spoon out my eyes than share a ground with poxford  :evil:

Amen to that sister. if that ever happens we should arrange a special eye spooning ceromony

yeah and then do a raffle to raise money for some glass eyes for me.  I would be known as mrs spoon eyes

We could have a big rock face instead of the Stratton bank, like the Boavista stadium they used in Euro 2004 - that was pretty cool!

I think the idea of redeveloping the Arkells and Town End is a good one, but why not just leave the SB where it is! There is no point getting rid of it because there would be the odd occasion where it could be used o bring in an extra £20,000 for a game if it was filled. (Wild guess at figure based on ticket prices!)

Okay so a flower bed would look very pretty.
What about after a few months when we reach winter, the weather is cold, it pisses it down, and the flowers have taken an absolute battering from Matt Hewletts shots. (Unless you put them near the goal!)

To say you'd rather spoon ur eyes out is a bit silly. At the end of the day it would be in the interest of both clubs to ground share.  Should we let an old rivalry stand in the way of future sucess. Its not like we're in the same league as oxford or likely to be in the near future.

its not in the intrests of both clubs to share - we'd be paying oxford rent.
We'd also have to travel for 45mins to get to a home game. its a fucking shite idea.

Its not the idea of ground sharing I dislike. Its the idea of getting to the games and having a ground THAT SUITS STFC!

We want a ground that will bring money into the club. Paying Oxford to borrow the Kassam is hardly going to do that is it!

 Apart from the fact its Braga.

 I've said it before so I'll say it again the reason SB never happened was because we couldn't afford it.....the residents raised their legitimate concern , but the club dropped it anyway through lack of cash.

 Only about a third of SB is near houses the majority backs onto CG extension.

If like grimereaper said, we could build a ground half way between oxford and swindon it would work better. But at the end of the day, the kassam is a new stadium

We want a stand like the one they had at The Dell then :)

 I envisage, something like filled in corner with the Arkells.....and bolt on extra into the CG extension, then a decent stand along two thirds then either sloping or stepprd a bit like Wrexham into the corner or perhaps have an emergency entrance tunnel and police surveillance and TV box in the problem corner.

I am with the eye spooning people. No way should we ever share with Oxford and 4 stands is the way to go.

If anything ditch the Town End out of that and the stratton bank, turn it into executive boxes or summat

Groundshare with Oxford!!! what an idiotic idea. We would lose fans left,right and centre doing that. For a start a lot of fans just would not share with the scum and secondly us fans from further afield could not afford to travel even further every week.

Can't see the point in demolishing the SB either, it can always be used as an overflow on a big match day and even when it's empty I prefer it to a flower bed or a fence (Bournemouth / Oxford). Looks shit. Still, not as bad as that mural Arsenal had of the North Bank when the were redeveloping though eh, that was shit.

That's my first ever post on here, for what its worth. :D

Ok so the flower bed idea is not the best idea i had but all i was trying to do was throw ideas into a pot. Leanving SB there as it is will see it rot away even more. Its an eyesore. The laughing stock of our ground. Ask away fans to name crap grounds in our division and ours comes out near the top! Redeveloping the county ground but leaving SB as it is seems ludicrous and would actually look worse than not being there at all!
 One benefit of a three sided stadium is that the end with no stand can be utilised for things like concerts. You can build a tempory stage and light rigging etc. Things like this will generate money for the club more so than hoping Swindon will draw ManU in a cup game, like how often does that happen?

I quite like the County Ground as it is and I don't give two shits what away fans think.

By the way, the Stratton Bank is open to away fans every game now at a reduced price. Towards the end of the season I think you'll see more and more people on there.