Thetownend.com

So Rovers today got their ground planning permission......21400 seater stadium! It will be like watching middlesborough at home with the ground 9/10ths empty! :clap:

Hopefully we can now press on and get our ground redone

Didn't they have planning permission a few years ago including student apartments?

Not guaranteed though, as sainsburys will need planning consent for their 'current' ground.

I think they may fill that you know.

Yes, but it expired in Jan 2012. The developer pulled the pug and I think the financial crisis had taken hold so it was hard to get a replacement.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-Rovers-line-Plan-B-Frenchay-campus-bid/story-13778130-detail/story.html

It was for a "18,500-seat stadium scheme also has consent for an 84-bed hotel, 550 units of student accommodation, convenience store, restaurant, bar and a crèche."

They could do a Reading or Brighton, their crowds will go up for a season or two, then drift away when they realise that league one is their limit.

Or "one stand, you only need one stand!"

It'll be interesting to see how it changes them. I'd be concerned if I was a City fan - their comparative fortunes with new ground planning could be the sort of thing to turn the tables. Yes, city are historically the larger club, but there isn't a vast difference in their size.

I think City's financial blackhole only adds to those concerns. Give it 5 years and Rovers could quite conceivably be a division or two higher than City if things work out for them.

Bristol City squad could really struggle this season. Their transfer activity suggests they're struggling a little bit. So far they've brought in Jody Morris but Akos Buszaky is in talks.

My dream is for Town to leapfrog City.

My dream would be for all three clubs to be playing in the same division...as happened for a few years around the time I started going to games.  Regular games vs City in particular would be great for us as a club.


Agree with this.  Since City's own redevelopment plans hit the buffers they seem to have stagnated - and, ultimately, they and Rovers are chasing pretty much the same pool of potential fans.  I have wondered before whether the football following public in Bristol would have been so much happier if, by accident of history, only one club had emerged instead of two.  Bristol 'United' would possibly have spent a good chunk of its history in the top division.  And that awful Irene song would, most probably, never have seen the light of day.

The first post in this thread on the Bristol City forum says it all.

http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/147244-rovers-get-the-go-ahead-for-stadium/

I don't think that even the most blinkered fan can say that Reading's crowds have gone up for a season or two then drifted away, if you look at their average crowd at Elm Park of 347 and a dog and compare that with now, obviously Madejski's money has helped in bringing in success on the pitch too, but be fair

Bristol Rovers won't rise solely on the basis of a new ground. Once upon a time supporters immediately associated relocations or re-builds with instant success but it's not the case. It's happening too often now for a start.

Rovers will rise (like most clubs) when money is thrown at them. Blackburn have vast wealth but their owners have little experience within the football industry and it took Mike Ashley a few years to get the hang of it.

Whelan, Al-Fayed, Fernandez and the Mittal's, Madejski, Liebherr (then his estate) and Coates all threw money at their respective clubs and it worked out for them. Fulham and QPR still don't have shiny new homes either. Southampton's big move was a failure until Liebherr bought them.

10 years ago Swansea were bottom of the Football League with Nick Cusack acting as Player-Manager. They're now a Premier League team managed by Michael Laudrup. It shows that anything can happen to any club when money is presented to them.

Isn't Rovers new ground only able to get the go ahead if Sainsbury's get planning permission to build on the Memorial ground?

Only in as much that they need to sell the land to finance the UWE stadium. But the city council already approved a revamped Mem there. Assume a smaller supermarket wouldn't pose much issue... But you never know. There have been a few complaints over traffic issues on Filton Ave etc.

Sainsbury application went through this evening looks like everything is in place whether they go down or not. Would love to have some good news on the cg its been holding us back off the pitch for far too long

Yes, even if it was an improved/enlarged town end, moved back a bit, to start with.  Annoying how nothing has moved on in what seems like 20 years of talk.

Sadly one of my best mates is a Gashead and he's buzzing over the news, I said it's a shame you'll have a 21k new ground in the Conference  :D

Good news for Rovers and Sainsburys....shocking news for all the local shops and services in the vicinity.

Wipeout time for them.

10 years ago Swansea were in a similar position, look at them now.

Its getting depressing seeing other clubs getting the go ahead for new stadiums. Today can fuck off.

I wonder if you get nectar points with a match day ticket?

I think you're missing something here numbnuts.

Sainsbury's are building on the old ground. The new ground is out of town linked with UWE.

There is a Sainsburys opposite where the new ground will be  :D (I'm an ex-UWE student)

And another one two miles up the ring road at Emersons Green. Does Bristol really need another Sainsbury's? Not that I care.....

Couldn't be arsed to read it. Out of town? I'd imagine gas fans had enough of travelling in the past.

Once a pikey always a pikey.

somebody has to employ that uneducated lot

I work in the area and traffic will be a nightmare on gameday, although it is walkable from Parkway station.

Not great for boozers though

The extra fingers on each hand come in useful for stacking shelves.

Darlington?

True but they had an outright conman and scallywag as Chairman called George Reynolds.

Pox?

He probably had a pox when he came out of prison!