Swindon advertiser article

[Matt71]

Very good article on the advertiser website by Barry Leighton on how the council completely fucked the club over regarding the shaw tip stadium proposal and a few other things as well.no wonder we are still in a dilapidated old stadium while other clubs have moved to new stadiums or redeveloped their grounds with the help of forward thinking councils.

[Ardiles]

Before this thread gets much older, I'd change the title (so people know what it's about).  Small point of order.

[Batch]

Link?

[Matt71]

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10837997.The_Robins_are_not_welcome_in_the_forest/

[Batch]

Cheers.

[@mwooly63]

Yep - even our own council hate us

Pity those 2 bellends complained in 94 or we would have has a decent bank stand, would probably only get chance of outside cash again if we were in the prem

[Ardiles]

Much as I have resented the Council's shoddy treatment of the Club over the years - bizarre, when you consider that there is no other institution in Swindon that comes anywhere close to being able to attract crowds of 8,000 or 9,000 25 times a year - I'm glad they were so two faced back in 2004 when Shaw Tip was up for discussion.  It was a terrible location in one of the quietest, most inaccessible corners of Swindon.  Just look at the problems Oxford are having now, having themselves relocated to a similarly inaccessible spot.  Top of the league and now attracting sub-5,000 crowds.

We dodged a bullet with Shaw Tip.  The main prize - a properly redeveloped County Ground - is still up for grabs.  Just wish someone would get on with it.

[leefer]

Much as I have resented the Council's shoddy treatment of the Club over the years - bizarre, when you consider that there is no other institution in Swindon that comes anywhere close to being able to attract crowds of 8,000 or 9,000 25 times a year - I'm glad they were so two faced back in 2004 when Shaw Tip was up for discussion.  It was a terrible location in one of the quietest, most inaccessible corners of Swindon.  Just look at the problems Oxford are having now, having themselves relocated to a similarly inaccessible spot.  Top of the league and now attracting sub-5,000 crowds.

We dodged a bullet with Shaw Tip.  The main prize - a properly redeveloped County Ground - is still up for grabs.  Just wish someone would get on with it.

The flip side of course is Reading who were going nowhere fast for a hundred years untill they re located.
But yes i do agree that a revamped CG will benefit all i reckon.

[Ardiles]

The point I was making is that there are good relocations and bad relocations.  Reading's was, in the main, a good one; while Oxford's was most certainly bad.  Oxford are still paying the price for their botched relocation to an inappropriate and inaccessible site - and if you need proof of this, just take a look at the reams of commentary on their own message boards about poor atmosphere and poor crowds...both of which have been exacerbated recently by the closure of the only decent pub in the vicinity due to lack of custom.

That's what happens when you relocate to the arse end of nowhere, and that's what we nearly made the mistake of doing in 2004 with Shaw Tip.  I'm glad to this day that we did not.

[Reg Smeeton]

Yep - even our own council hate us

Pity those 2 bellends complained in 94 or we would have has a decent bank stand, would probably only get chance of outside cash again if we were in the prem

THis has been done a 100 times, but the SB stand was nothing to do with the residents, but becasue the club couldn't afford it.

Ardiles, there are a lot worse sites than Shaw Tip, which would have been a decent enough location. The proper arse end was Blagrove.

[Sippo]

I remember people complaining about the extra traffic - a few years later they build multiple car garages and an industrial estate. Even the driving test place is there!

Fucking NIMBY's

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Shaw Tip was an awful location Reg. Single.carriageway roads all around there and ths traffic is bad enough in rush hour there. Imagine it on a matchday? At least with the front garden you could see how the access would have worked. Right next to junction 16 for away fans and for fans travelling from outside of Swindon or indeed from the other side of Town. New roads would have been built too.

We really need to redevelop the CG in my opinion though. Keep the tradition and good location. The trouble is though the club doesnt have the cash and i doubt it ever will unless a rich benefactor wants to pay for it themselves.

[Ardiles]

Blagrove isn't great, I'll agree, in that it's still fairly remote from the town centre.  But the road links are there at least (I'm thinking via Great Western Way all the way round rather than Wootton Bassett Road).  And I also did wonder whether it would have been possible to build a halt style station on the Great Western mainline to serve as a stadium shuttle on match days and a Park & Ride facility for traffic coming in off at Junction 16.  Probably pie in the sky though, I'll admit.

Shaw Tip really bothered me though.  The routes in to town (and the motorway) would have been via the hideously congested Mead Way.  But it was the complete absence of any matchday infrastructure that fans at the County Ground take for granted that bothered me most.  Where are the pubs, the chip shops, the bookmakers, the train station?  In most cases, about 3 miles away in town or even further away in Old Town.  I suppose Shaw Ridge would have been just about walkable, but that's about it.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Woodlands Edge would have been the closest pub. But that would be shite. Anyone ever been to the arrow at Yeovil? Souless local suberb boozer as the matchday pub which is exactly what the WE would have been like.

[Reg Smeeton]

Shaw Tip was an awful location Reg. Single.carriageway roads all around there and ths traffic is bad enough in rush hour there. Imagine it on a matchday? At least with the front garden you could see how the access would have worked. Right next to junction 16 for away fans and for fans travelling from outside of Swindon or indeed from the other side of Town. New roads would have been built too.

We really need to redevelop the CG in my opinion though. Keep the tradition and good location. The trouble is though the club doesnt have the cash and i doubt it ever will unless a rich benefactor wants to pay for it themselves.

I can't be arsed to argue, but there are more ways of getting to a game than driving. Also as Swindon's infrastructure increasingly creaks and groans under incipient autogeddion...the planners are going to have to notice this.