Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Down
Print
Author Topic: Finally the Penny Drops Regarding New Ground Locations  (Read 11607 times)
horlock07

Offline Offline

Posts: 18726


Lives in Northern Bastard Outpost




Ignore
« on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 12:57:07 »

The below is taken from http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/727590-out-of-town-stadia-a-mistake.html# however I think you have to sign up to read it so I shall quote it below;

'A KEY man behind the new generation of out-of-town football stadia across the UK believes the trend for building new grounds away from urban centres has been a mistake.

Ex-footballer Paul Fletcher helped mastermind developments like the Alfred McAlpine Stadium (now John Smith’s Stadium), home to Huddersfield Town, the Reebok Stadium for BoltonWanderers (now the Macron), the new Wembley Stadium  and Coventry City’s Rocoh Arena.

Fletcher, 64, now runs a company called StadiArena and has patents in 16 countries on a new concept which enables an indoor arena to be created inside a football ground.

But he reckons a trick has been missed by failing to provide community facilities and helping to regenerate the traditional areas where the old grounds were built in towns and cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Bolton-born Fletcher, a striker for Wanderers before he moved in one of the most expensive deals in English football to Burnley in 1970, became chief executive of the project to build the club’s £40m Reebok Stadium in the mid-90s, and even negotiated the naming rights with the sports shoe giant, which also has its roots in the town.

“Now, if I could turn the clock back 20 years, I’d do it where Burnden Park (the former Wanders ground), not far from Bolton centre, was,” he told TheBusinessDesk.

“I reckon they would have ended up getting up to 40,000 fans going there, instead of the 20,000 to 30,000 supporters the new ground accommodates.

“Because for many people, football has lots of memories, and when you walk down a road or a cobbled street, you remember, not only the game you’re going to, but going there with your granddad.

“You don’t have those memories with new stadia. New stadia are so clinical and safe – you remember the odd goal being scored there, but you don’t have the family memories of that type of thing.

“I think we could’ve done it at Bolton. But it’s nobody’s fault and I’m not pointing the finger at the directors of Bolton or anyone else.

“A lot of councils, mistakenly in my view now, want football clubs out of town because they think they’re moving trouble out of town, and because often with a football game there’s people urinating in the gardens and being drunk and fighting.

“So they think they move all that, and it does, but it doesn’t work for the area.”

Fletcher said that even as a 16-year-old apprentice footballer at Bolton he remembers looking round the empty Burnden Park ground and thinking “how can this be used for something else?”.

“You look at the current stadium and you think ‘there’s not much activity there’. It just stands idle through the week and only comes alive on match days.

“One of the analogies I use when I talk about this is: Imagine building a hotel that cost £40m and only opening once a fortnight. You’d never do it, but for some reason we do it when we build football stadia.”

It is that philosophy which has informed the thinking behind Fletcher’s current projects for the latest generation of multi-use stadia as part of the StadiArena concept and which has attracted more than £2m of investment from backers.

The first model of the new concept is currently under construction in Ahmedabad, India, supported by the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, although Fletcher said the new StadiArena concept has arrived too late to benefit football grounds in the UK

“The owners of this stadium are building a football ground with no team, but they’ve built a commercial building that will make a profit,” said Fletcher. “Eventually they will buy a football franchise.

“With the knowledge I have now – not wanting to seem like a smarty pants – we have learned that you can multi-use stadia.

“The way you multi-use a pitch is not by having rock concerts on it or rugby. You lift it up seven metres, then you’ve got  a massive space underneath so instead of having turnstiles all around the ground, you’ve got Starbucks, Boots, or a travel agent and suddenly it becomes part of the community.

“If you’re clever, you can have your football in the middle, and there is nothing to stop you having the top band as a university and student accommodation. So then you’ve got everything – we call it the hamburger stadium.”

Alongside the Indian venture StadiArena is also involved in a 22,000 seater stadium at Rowan University in Philadelphia, including a basketball arena, as global interest in Fletcher’s ideas grows.

Meanwhile, Fletcher works three days a week as managing director of UCFB (University College of Football) at Burnley FC’s Turf Moor Stadium. The UCFB concept has also been rolled out at Wembley and last week at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.'


Nice to see the penny is finally dropping!
Logged
Ironside
Wir müssen die Liberalen ausrotten

Offline Offline

Posts: 1475




Ignore
Re:
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 14:35:03 »

Stade Louis II (AS Monaco) has the pitch on the top level of the building with a sports centre and other facilities, including an underground car park for about 1500 cars. It was opened in 1985 so the ideas aren't exactly new.
Logged

Genius, Gentleman Explorer, French Cabaret Chantoose  and Small Bets Placed and someone who knows who they are changed my signature but its only know that I can be arsed to change it....and I mean all the spelling mistakes.

Was it me? It can't have been an interesting enough event for me to remember - fB.
Reg Smeeton
Walking Encyclopaedia

Offline Offline

Posts: 34913





Ignore
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 15:22:13 »

 Fletcher was a decent player...

I'd settle for some new floodlight bulbs at the CG....too much to ask though I suppose.
Logged
The Grim Reaper

Offline Offline

Posts: 1726





Ignore
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 18:37:42 »



Half of them still work, what's the problem Reg?
Logged
Costanza

Offline Offline

Posts: 10643





Ignore
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 19:08:18 »

My brother goes to the UCFB at Wembley. It's a proper money spinner with those involved, like most universities mind you.
Logged
Frigby Daser

Offline Offline

Posts: 3797





Ignore
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 21:54:49 »

That would be the dream. Manchester Road, County Road, the alley way down by the cricket club.... They are probably not the most beautiful roads in the country, but watching football isn't the same without walking down them before a game.
Logged
suttonred

Offline Offline

Posts: 12510





Ignore
« Reply #6 on: Thursday, October 29, 2015, 01:00:31 »

That would be the dream. Manchester Road, County Road, the alley way down by the cricket club.... They are probably not the most beautiful roads in the country, but watching football isn't the same without walking down them before a game.

You mention manny road. If all the bulbs were working the hookers and their clients would get spotted, I smell a club conspiracy here, one that's been going on for 25 years. I'm now outraged.
Logged
Not that Nice If I'm Honest

Offline Offline

Posts: 1368





Ignore
« Reply #7 on: Thursday, October 29, 2015, 21:35:11 »

I hate new concrete grounds.

maybe it's because I live away and absence makes the heart grow fonder etc, but I love the County Ground for all it's faults, it has an old school charm.

Even some of the yellow filth reluctantly agree -

ianmoore82
*****

ianmoore82 Avatar

Posts: 934

Why are the crowds still disappointing? Oct 25, 2015 at 5:27pm
Quote  Post Options
Post by ianmoore82 on Oct 25, 2015 at 5:27pm
Can't agree with Swindon's ground being in a shite location, though.

Very accessible, town centre ground. It may be decrepit but it's a great location - loads of pubs, easy parking, walking distance to station.

But back to subject. If we maintain our position and eventually go up, I can't see the attendances going up much if people can't be arsed to go now.


Read more: http://yellowsforum.co.uk/thread/22136/why-crowds-disappointing#ixzz3pzkcSKss
Logged
suttonred

Offline Offline

Posts: 12510





Ignore
« Reply #8 on: Thursday, October 29, 2015, 22:33:08 »

That could quite easily be our board, same questions, same answers. Funny about the manor I probably went there 7 or 8 times and spent many a boring 10 minutes counting people in the various stands/sheds, sometimes many were empty(ish) but it was still noisy.
Logged
Combe Down

« Reply #9 on: Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 07:56:58 »

I hate new concrete grounds.

maybe it's because I live away and absence makes the heart grow fonder etc, but I love the County Ground for all it's faults, it has an old school charm.

Can't agree with Swindon's ground being in a shite location, though.

Very accessible, town centre ground. It may be decrepit but it's a great location - loads of pubs

Read more: http://yellowsforum.co.uk/thread/22136/why-crowds-disappointing#ixzz3pzkcSKss

"loads of pubs"? I can think of three.
Logged
ronnie21

Offline Offline

Posts: 6146

The Mighty Hankerton




Ignore
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 08:06:54 »

Fletcher was a decent player...

I'd settle for some new floodlight bulbs at the CG....too much to ask though I suppose.
You wish has been granted Reg, sorted last week!
Logged
Ginginho

Offline Offline

Posts: 6848





Ignore
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 08:26:32 »

"loads of pubs"? I can think of three.

Merlin
County Ground Hotel
Tap & Barrel
Cricket Ground
The Grove
Glue Pot

Then the ones in Old Town and Town Centre which are only 10-15 minutes walk, so yeah, loads of pubs.
Logged
Ardiles

Offline Offline

Posts: 11528


Stirlingshire Reds




Ignore
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 09:16:38 »

Within a mile of the County Ground (ie walking distance for most), there are probably 30 to 40 different pubs.  (I'd include Old Town in that list.  Some of the pubs there might be a little more than a mile away, but the walk to the ground is downhill so they count!)

Within a mile of most out of town stadia, you might get one or two.
Logged
Frigby Daser

Offline Offline

Posts: 3797





Ignore
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 17:33:28 »

Within a mile of the County Ground (ie walking distance for most), there are probably 30 to 40 different pubs.  (I'd include Old Town in that list.  Some of the pubs there might be a little more than a mile away, but the walk to the ground is downhill so they count!)

Within a mile of most out of town stadia, you might get one or two.

And they would be shit, have massive TVs in and smell of vinegar.
Logged
Only Me

Offline Offline

Posts: 1202




Ignore
« Reply #14 on: Thursday, December 3, 2015, 04:56:34 »

Merlin
County Ground Hotel
Tap & Barrel
Cricket Ground
The Grove
Glue Pot

Then the ones in Old Town and Town Centre which are only 10-15 minutes walk, so yeah, loads of pubs.
Two opposite the station as well. Not to mention the Albion club.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Up
Print
Jump to: