Thetownend.com

Anyone know what happened last night? Did anyone actually go?

From the Trust site

"It certainly wasnt a waste of time though the turn out was a little disappointing.

It's still fairly early stages as far as planning but a few quick points :-

- The club and council do seem to be singning from the same hymn sheet on this now.
- Bob Holt made a specific commitment to inlcude provision for conversion to safe standing in the design although under current lefislation it would have to be configured as seating initially.
- St Modwens have said they can do better than Stoke or Reading with the CG site. "

I know you go on that site MR but not sure if everyone else does.

Cheers Jan77, truststfc had not been updated when I looked earlier.

That is very good news.

Very happy with the safe standing being mooted, sounds like what they want is exactly like they use in the German league with a fold away seat on each person's allocated space.

Nice noises from St Mowden to, The Britannia is not a bad stadium at all to be attempting to top.  One of the concerns I had with the old bowl on Shaw tip was that the early plans looked a little soulless.

I don’t think the turnout is anything to be concerned about.  I think most fans are at the point after seeing two new stadiums go up in smoke in recent years that they will believe it when they see something a little more concrete.

Any indication whether we are looking at a total redevelopment?  I got the impression that we could have been looking at a partial development with one segment at a time but from St Mowden’s comments it may well look like they are going to go all out and re-build completely.  

Unless the new stadium is going to be situated away from the CG then that could leave us having to play at an alternative location for at least a season.

No noises from the natives yet either, which is good news.

 I was there, its a bit difficult to get too excited by last night, because of the overwhelming sense of fan apathy, incompetence from the powers that be on the Board and Machiavellian tendencies amongst the politicians.

 The most interesting bit was Mr Flibble.....having a rant about refusing to sit down....and Holt pointing out as I've done on numerous occasions that the roof on the SB never happened because of the club not submitting the revised plans, it had to be lowered a bit,  so this shouldn't provide too much of a problem if anything ever happens......IF

Was anything mentioned about how redevelopment would be funded and how the club would generate it's own revenue from it?

No......other than the Council wont be putting up any money, it will have to come from the Board or developer, so obviously they will want something substantial to make a profit.

 This will involve the cricket ground going and athletics track, but the plan is to leave some sports facilities....bowling green and tennis courts and a football pitch were mentioned  as green space for the locals...oh and the Shrivenham Road trees and green bit.

 Not sure this will be acceptable to the residents, and begs the qustion of where the cricket and athletics will go.

Bob Holt mentioned at a West Oxon supporter's club meet that the cricket pitch is a few yards too small to host County cricket and the Athletic's track is two lanes too short for competitive usage or somethng, so a move for both may be in their interest.

Interesting stuff, maybe that's the carrot to get the donkeys moving.

Tthe kind of thing that worries me though is that in a recent chat I had to senior cricket club people, they say that nobody talked to them about  moving when Shaw Tip was on the cards, and nobody has talked to them about CG redevelopment.......to be fair this was back at the end of November.

Not another potential Johnny Doyle is it?  

That said they may actually have a fair enough point this time round if no one has actually bothered to consult them.

This is just the sort of thing we should be doing at this stage after the Tip top cock up.  

It's likely that we have a few whinging councillors vying for publicity anyway and no doubt a few resident NIMBYs with nothing better to do but if club are going to seriously hope to progress they really are going to have to cover all of the bases with this one.

Interesting about the cash Reg, does that definately rule out any funds from the City Centre re-development scheme as well?

Oh and any sort of approximate time frame or date of the next step mentioned?

cricket is gay anyway! Still think that there is probably enough space for an athletcs track and cricket pitch there anyway.... just be like a big jigsaw fitting it into the space.

Latest from Trust site, I haven't even read it yet but here goes.

http://www.truststfc.co.uk/meeting_13_01_2005.php

 If you've ever faced a six foot plus fella who's on a mission to put you in hospital, armed with nothing more than a bit of wood, some pads for your legs and a bit of plastic for the old nagers, then cricket is definiterly not for gays......nevertheless poncing round in a pair of flimsy shorts, being concerned about the alice band in your hair, and taking a goal scored as an excuse for a bit of serious homoerotic touchy  feely  may be. :oops:

  Although the New Swindon Company are involved in what Justin Tomlinson called 'steering " the club, as to what may be acceptable in terms of their plans.....the ground is technically outside their  redevelopment zone, so I'd imagine it rules out any financial activity from them.

 Further  he noted that  they would not welcome developments which trod on their toes,  but would be happy to see say niche retailing outlets for sports being built, which could then be sublet.

western daily press say we are going to have talks with Bath about a groundshare.  :o

They say many things. Like Swindon are capable of...anything!

What's all this about a loan from St Mowden then?

Presumably going to be used to cover the balls up someone made by calculating this years tax on previous years takings.

I have to say having given it a little thought it's hard to understand what St Mowden still see in developing the Stadium.  Having already spent a million paying off the debenture and after the Shaw tip went tits up it’s hard to see how they could justify pumping more money into a project at such an early stage.

Reading the minutes from the meeting and subsequent posts on the Trust site I get the impression that any development is unlikely to be from scratch instead incorporating parts of the existing ground and site.  Revenue streams being looked at are a hotel, retail outlets and exec boxes with some low-density housing.

Considering we don’t have two pennies to rub together and the council have now confirmed they won’t be coughing up presumably this leaves St Mowden to pay the lions share.

With the housing market petering out I can’t see how low density housing alone is going to finance development of the whole site.  Even if were talking luxury apartments without a major loss of green space it’s hard to understand just what a large development company now see in the project, let alone be so keen they will inject more money into the club (guaranteed by the Wills family or not).

The fact that they are pumping in the cash I suppose if anything is a positive sign that at least for themselves they smell a nice kick back and maybe just maybe there will be a slice of the pie left in it for us.

Just come across this little nugget:




Link:

http://www.planet-rugby.com/News/story_40952.shtml

Bit worrying, not sure what basis that tit-bit is based on but clearly it's not from the WDP article where they poached their quotes and I presume it’s not a work of complete fiction.

I wouldn't worry too much about that Dazzza, clearly froth.

 I love the bit about the Rec being intimidating......probably got confused by original burberry wearers........The Den it isn't

BATH RUGBY, BATH RUGBY, RAH RAH RAH!!!!!

Now THAT is intimidating.