Adver News: £20million stadium plan ground to a halt

[News Monkey]

£20million stadium plan ground to a halt
           


  SWINDON’s plans to redevelop the County Ground are unlikely to be affected by the club’s relegation to League Two but the project is on hold for the time
  being, the Advertiser can exclusively reveal.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/9003279.__20million_stadium_plan_ground_to_a_halt/?ref=rss
           

[Ralphy]

Don't like the bit where Watkins says ...

"The only thing you would take into consideration is do you build a 19,000 seater stadium or a 9,000 seater stadium.

If you are in the Championship you need 19,000 if you are in League One you probably need between eight and 12,000 and if you are in League Two, then who knows."

I'd rather keep the CG as it is than have some poxy little 9,000 seat stadium.

[Batch]

The whole club is stalling

[herthab]

What's the point in having a 19000 capacity stadium when our average attendance (Even last season when we were flying) is well below that?

Even in the Championship we would struggle to get that most matchdays. The fact is the majority of Swindoners couldn't give a fuck about the club and would rather wear their replica Man Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool (Delete as appropriate) shirts in the pub on a Saturday afternoon.

[pauld]

What's the point in having a 19000 capacity stadium when our average attendance (Even last season when we were flying) is well below that?

Because we'll likely get one chance to redevelop the ground this generation. And if we don't build for that, we're effectively limiting our ambition to League One (and below) with maybe the occasional tilt at the lower reaches of the Championship. At the very least we should build for what we have and lay the groundwork now to be able to easily expand in the future. But it's easier and cheaper to do it one hit

[Ardiles]

What's the point in having a 19000 capacity stadium when our average attendance (Even last season when we were flying) is well below that?

Because stadium building is a 50+ year capital project.  We would not building a stadium just for the 2010s, but for the period up to 2060 or 2070.

For that reason, I'm very glad that the project is on hold.  When you're at a very low ebb, as we clearly are now, it is not the time to be building a new ground.  If we went ahead now with the budget, League 2-style 13,000 seater option, it would cement in a small-time, low aspiration mentality at the club.  This needs to be kept on the back burner until we're on the up again.

[herthab]

Because we'll likely get one chance to redevelop the ground this generation. And if we don't build for that, we're effectively limiting our ambition to League One (and below) with maybe the occasional tilt at the lower reaches of the Championship. At the very least we should build for what we have and lay the groundwork now to be able to easily expand in the future. But it's easier and cheaper to do it one hit

I understand what you're saying Paul, maybe I'm just a bit pissed off regarding football at the moment!

It's bad enough sitting in a half empty 16000 capacity ground though, imagine what it would be like in a larger stadium. Is it Darlington that have the amazing ground with fuck all fans?

[pauld]

Yes it is. Although that's 25k with a 2k gate, which kinds of emphasises the gap!

I do see what you mean, I think Ardiles is right - it's probably as well to back-burner it now, for precisely the reasons he states (which include what you said)

[THE FLASH]

I said this would happen on Saturday.

Still.....at least we can stand in the Town End a little longer...

We need to have a good season in L2 to get some enthusiasm back!

[Spencer_White]

I think whatever ground we get we need to be selling it out at least 6 times a season.

That way the club will gain a bit of exclusivity, and it will force the hand of stayaway fans to attend more often. It will improve the atmosphere immensely at games, and the matchday experience for home and away fans.

With that in mind we should be aiming at a stadium with a 12,000 capacity, with excellent corporate facilities and room to expand further if we start selling out 12 times a season regularly.

Building a ground of 25,000 or even 19,000 is daft when you look at our support. You can give it all the 'were at a low ebb' and all this, but we can barely support the 8,000 average we achieved this season.

[london_red]

Agree with pretty much all of that.

To be honest I think its incredible (and a testament to the fans) that we've averaged 8.5k this season given the state of things on the pitch.

[herthab]

Agree with pretty much all of that.

To be honest I think its incredible (and a testament to the fans) that we've averaged 8.5k this season given the state of things on the pitch.

I think that's more a testament to the number of unused season tickets.

[Arriba]

i'd like to know what the clubs targets now are.
the 3 year-5 year 1 year bollocks is old news.we need a realistic target set.
all the early optimism when the board took over has frankly drained away to nothing imo.
same old tired ground, and the worst side i've ever seen in my time as a supporter.
a successful campaign next year will have us all happy again,i'm just not convinced we are going to get that.

[mrverve]

When the club is doing better the fans will come back.

This season (after the brilliant season last season we've averaged 8,500). Now say in the next 2-3 years we do really well and get promoted to the Championship, even as a lower midtable club we could be getting in and around 12-14k average in my opinion.

We haven't been in the 2nd tear in so long that the fans would come back (and even a few plastics and people who live in Swindon but come from other parts of England would turn up just to see Championship football).

In the Championship near enough every week you would have the away fans selling out thir allocation. We would be playing bigger clubs and the occasional massive club (i.e Newcastle, West Ham who have been relegated in years gone by)

A redevoloped stadium would also attract new fans. Look at Reading, Hull etc.

I agree though, it has to be put on a back burner. We don't want to limit ourselves to having a new ground like Chesterfield etc.

[pauld]

A redevoloped stadium would also attract new fans. Look at Reading, Hull etc.

Not by itself it won't. Look at Darlington, Pox etc