5year ground development plan

[barrowfan_chris]

Esso blue you make good points but the thing to remember is Rushden had no history an area with clubs already well established plus the groud was in the middle of nowhere.

[Shaun]

I think the people who are talking about a 7/8000 capacity are pretty much bang on, personally.

[pjdaly]

This and the Darlington stories are very sad. They illustrate how it's not enough simply to spend lots of money to create a new football stadium. You have to have a plan for that stadium to generate funds outside of football otherwise the maintenance, utilities and rates become a drain on the football funds. My wife used to work for Dr. Martens and I went to Nene Park on several occasions, including as a supporter of the away team
Guesstimates were that Max Griggs had ploughed about £20M into R&D and I can see how that could have been easily possible. They had a great ride for a few years. I'd rather we spend less money and have a ground that can generate sufficent imcome to cover its running costs, allowing the football operations to be used to develop and grow the football side. If the ground can generate a bit of a surplus then even better but that would be a bonus.

My observation is that the Furness area is badly lacking in conference, meeting and training venues. I know business colleagues who have really struggled to find good venues in the area. Include these in the ground and they can then be used for corporate hospitality on match days (a la Crossbar but more modern and flexible in configuration). I'm optimistic that PC recognises this and won't get sucked into creating a multi-million pound retail development opportunity.

Esso Blue, the points you make are valid; in the recent unveiling of future plans by PC one of the striking things he mentioned was that he wanted the future facility to be a 7 day a week operation, for conferences, weddings, hospitality etc etc so it would seem that our owner is very well aware that it needs to be an almost permanently functional venue.

[Jonty]

NWEM- AFC owner wants 8,000 ground capacity.

Three or four architects formulating a stadium design plan, no design set in stone, - initial vision of completed works containing 3,000 seats and 5,000 standing.

[Steelworks End]

I do hope that the ground redevelopment plans include a proper television gantry, both for possible future media coverage of matches but also for our own use. Good though Matthew Dodd's match highlight clips are, they are let down through no fault of his own by various heads appearing at inopportune moments. And that supporting column in the middle of the stand is a continuing hindrance to recording a match.

[whitty1969]

Here's the ground plans of our main rivals this season.
Also have football league ambitions !!!!!

http://www.afcfylde.co.uk/our-vision/

[spirit of 1990]

There seems to be a bit of doubt on their forum about these plans now & rightly so I would've thought seeing as that they're over the moon by breaking the 400 attendance barrier just recently - and thats with going top of the league.......

[K_BFC]

I do hope that the ground redevelopment plans include a proper television gantry, both for possible future media coverage of matches but also for our own use. Good though Matthew Dodd's match highlight clips are, they are let down through no fault of his own by various heads appearing at inopportune moments. And that supporting column in the middle of the stand is a continuing hindrance to recording a match.

The number of ugly temporary scaffolding constructions we have had around the ground over the years to support cameras from one visit of the BBC to the couple of seasons of Setanta TV. Looks ugly, costs (someone) money and reduces spectator space. When we were at Burton in the play-off final it struck me how the ground was set up for TV, IIRC it even had a built in platform behind one of the goals, the Barrow end? If Mr Casson has any sense, making the ground easily accessible for TV cameras is a good idea. For any side with League aspirations it is a must.

Also I recall Adrian Chilles moaning about the number of obstructions in the way of cameras in one particular round of the FA cup. They pointed to Barrow v Bournemouth as one of them, the Bournemouth equaliser was obscured from view by the central support of our main stand. There was another camera on the halfway line so their camera was not central and could not see the goal unobstructed. Who ever had our current main stand built had no idea.

[Jonty]

Noted FWP (Frank Whittle Partners) are linked as a partner of AFC Fylde, so I presume they are behind the design for that ground. They were linked to us for the redevelopment a couple seasons ago.

[Steelworks End]

Who ever had our current main stand built had no idea.

That would be Mr. V, then?

[Paul]

Noted FWP (Frank Whittle Partners) are linked as a partner of AFC Fylde, so I presume they are behind the design for that ground. They were linked to us for the redevelopment a couple seasons ago.

If you go on their website, Barrow are mentioned as one of the non-league clubs they're associated with. Presumably they're one of the 4
architects firms Casson has dealt with recently.

[Richard Ingham]

Noted FWP (Frank Whittle Partners) are linked as a partner of AFC Fylde, so I presume they are behind the design for that ground. They were linked to us for the redevelopment a couple seasons ago.

If you go on their website, Barrow are mentioned as one of the non-league clubs they're associated with. Presumably they're one of the 4
architects firms Casson has dealt with recently.

We've been named on their website since the "proposed redevelopment" a few years ago. They could well be involved in the new talks given their main business is redeveloping football grounds, and that four firms are in talks, but I wouldn't presume anything. Given FWP did the modern looking Fleetwood curve, are proposing a very similar thing for AFC Fylde, and that PC has already stated he wants a traditional looking redevelopment, I wouldn't be putting my money on them being chosen as the final architect.

[Lancaster Branch]

PC has already stated he wants a traditional looking redevelopment, I wouldn't be putting my money on them being chosen as the final architect.

Does Archibald Leitch still have a company on the go?

[bluebird90]

Didn't Fylde used to be Kirkham and Wesham?

[Richard Ingham]

Didn't Fylde used to be Kirkham and Wesham?

Yes they were.