Would you support a move away from the County Ground?

[Peter Venkman]

Bank's covered in seats!

You say covered....it was before lockdown, apparently a lot are missing now or broken, the Bank will need a lot of money spent on it to make it "habitable" again.

[RobertT]

People get too hung up on the cost element - nobody pays cash for these things.  Granted, we are not going to get a 100m+ stadium because we'd never afford the payments, but everyone finances their stadium builds.  If Clem wanted it, he'd go after external financing first, which would be secured against the asset - hence ownership of the freehold being critical because it maximises the value of whatever you build on top of it.  Then it is a case of understanding what income you can expect vs. the cost of financing that project over 20-30 years.  The trick is not to over extend yourself and hedge on too much income.  In the scenario Clem is the owner, he gets the benefit of owning most of the cost of construction, cutting out a significant portion of the cost.

At our level, you are usually looking at less than two grand per seat in construction costs, based on various examples.  If he can lower that a little, retain the DR stand, then he should be able to finance a stadium build.

[Flashheart]

A tax write-off must be worth a fair lump as well for Clem if he invests in a Stadium.

[theakston2k]

He's not?...

How do we know that?

Because he's a businessman and I still can't see a businessman and non-supporter paying for something 'pretty'. Based on what we know he isn't super rich so a £20m+ super stadium seems like a pure pipedream IMO and that's before finding some land and buying it is factored into the equation along with the infrastructure costs that the council would demand as part of the planning permission.

The CG has plenty of room to cater for everything we need with the added bonus that it already has one pretty decent stand that just needs a good clean and some paint so that one less thing to pay for. You could make a very good stadium on the existing footprint with a bit of imagination in the design.

[Panda Paws]

Because he's a businessman and I still can't see a businessman and non-supporter paying for something 'pretty'. Based on what we know he isn't super rich so a £20m+ super stadium seems like a pure pipedream IMO and that's before finding some land and buying it is factored into the equation along with the infrastructure costs that the council would demand as part of the planning permission.

The CG has plenty of room to cater for everything we need with the added bonus that it already has one pretty decent stand that just needs a good clean and some paint so that one less thing to pay for. You could make a very good stadium on the existing footprint with a bit of imagination in the design.

As per Clem's interview on the LSPOD, any redevelopment would be staged and on the current site.

[theakston2k]

As per Clem's interview on the LSPOD, any redevelopment would be staged and on the current site.

And that to me is the right decision. With our average attendances we can easily afford to close one or even 2 stands at a time and still have sufficient capacity to meet demand for most matches.

As others have said it's success that ultimately brings people through the gate not a shiny new stadium.

[Panda Paws]

Staged developments on site tend to give the best results anyway - City Ground, Hawthorns, Vicarage Road, Ashton Gate... great mid-size stadiums with soul and character, but facilities too.

Not many examples of smaller clubs/stadiums though - I guess cos most are financed by selling land for houses and pissing off to the edge of town. Orient is the only one that comes to mind.

[Flashheart]

I am by no means expecting Clem to build a brand new Makedski type stadium from scratch, but even doing it stage by stage is going to cost a fair few million.

And we don't actually know how wealthy Clem is so to say he's not wealthy enough is nothing but guesswork. According to him, his company turns over 200 million+ every year, and we don't know what other investments he might have.

[4D]

From 4 years ago.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/15392479.swindon-town-to-explore-county-ground-development-after-arrival-of-non-executive-vice-chairman-clem-morfuni/

[Jimmy Quinn]

At least power stuck to his word on one thing by saying in 2013 he had no interest in redeveloping the County Ground😀

[Wobbly Bob]

Any redevelopment would need to address the serious structural defect of the seats facing the pitch.

I remember a few years back when the Trust published some plans that were to include a "first" for a football stadium at the time.
Don't know what it was but hopefully the Trust (fans) will get some input as and when this happens.

For an in place redevelopment, Preston would be a good model to follow, or more realistically Plymouth maybe.

Not sure that Clem would want a bulk standard identikit development on his Checkatrade cv.

Hotel and conferencing facilties would be the tried and trusted method for generating additional income.
A 24/7 beer hall and concert venue would be the personal preference  

Anyway, here's hoping for driver's to one day just stop on the magic roundabout and get out to gaze in wonder at the Neuschwanstein Castle of football grounds.

Bulldoze it and they will come.

[Audrey]

At least power stuck to his word on one thing by saying in 2013 he had no interest in redeveloping the County Ground😀

What about the ‘no outside investment’ bit? Fat, lying, twat.

[Jimmy Quinn]

What about the ‘no outside investment’ bit? Fat, lying, twat.

And that

[Berniman]

Haha - have a plenty good enough stadium smack bang in Downtown Atlanta!  The baseball team moved outside the City but most of the fans are from the Burbs anyway.

Yeah, have been to both quite regularly, my company handle all of the Hospitality outlets there..  I am sure you drive by our Global HQ regularly if you drive through midtown..  I'll wave at you from the 15th floor next time I am over

[RobertT]

Bollocks to that, give us a shout and we can have a pint, I'm only 30 mins away.