My pet subject!
There comes a point where the 'do nothing' option is simply no longer viable. We are pretty much the
only club to have done precisely nothing to our ground during the last 20 years - the last major work undertaken being the construction of the Don Rogers Stand (or the Intel Stand, as it was then) back in 1994. I still think of that as the 'new' stand, and it's 20 years old now.
Sooner or later, we are just going to have to get on with it. A substantial ground redevelopment is now so far overdue that, as others have said, it will be forced upon us before long. I respect the owner's strategy of concentrating on the field of play and his focus on youth, but he may soon find the matter taken out of his hands.
I must have bored the regulars on here rigid about this over the years, so apologies for the repetition. A quick search pulled up a few other comments, just for good measure...
Interesting that ground redevelopment is rising up the agenda now. Every year that nothing happens on this front is another year that we fall further behind. The redevelopment is now not just overdue - it's 20+ years overdue. Most of our competitors/rivals have, on the whole, received a significant boost at some point in the last few decades from a ground move or redevelopment, but we still have that to come.
We're starting to stand out as one of an increasingly small number of clubs that is still living with the same facilities it had a generation ago...albeit with a lick of paint here and there. The stand I sat (stood) in on Saturday is completely recognisable as the same stand the groundsman was shooting pigeons from in 'Six Days to Saturday' nearly 50 years ago. Sentimentally nice, but also not right. A redeveloped ground, done properly, will give this club its biggest lift in years. Sooner or later, we're going to have to stop talking about doing something, and actually do it.
On the redevelopment point, I don't think Lee Power will have a choice if he's intending to be around for the 5+ years he talked about and the ground starts falling apart in front of his eyes. As a club, we're starting to stand out as being one of a very few who have failed to invest for a long period in stadium infrastructure. To think that we can carry on doing that indefinitely is extremely naive.
I agree. The Manager delivered in 2012, and seems to have a plan for the next stage of delivery - the goal being promotion to the Championship. But the lack of progress/news with regard to ground redevelopment is starting to stand out. We must be one of only a handful of clubs that has done precisely nothing to its stadium (OK, we rent it) during the last 15 years. Without improvements to the ground - which, much as we all love it, is essentially a 1970s ground with 1990s bolt ons - we will not be able to move to the next level, regardless of what happens on the pitch.
This is one of the reasons I was disappointed with the Chairman's comments on Saturday. Maybe there are plans out there that are being kept under wraps for good reason - and I hope that's the case. But SWP's comments at the weekend did make it sound as if, yet again, the issue of ground redevelopment had been kicked in to the long grass.
I know I'm sounding like a broken record on this (so sorry in advance), but I'm going to be highly suspicious of any new ownership that does not have a clear intention to either redevelop or relocate. (And personally, I have a preference for the former.) No ground plans, for me, will smack of wanting to tread water (best case) or something worse. Because the ground is now the elephant in the room. You can't go on ignoring it much longer...and the Club's longer term prospects depend on bringing the stadium in to this century.
