Worrying news from Dingwall tonight from one of their local rags

http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/News/Rapid-upgrade-plan-for-Victoria-Park-7507275.htm

It looks like they could soon be in the process of constructing a stadium in Dingwall that will be compliant for the SPL

I personally don't have a problem with them being in the SPL with us but I do feel that they will have a far superior stadium

Let's be completely honest here our stadium is an uncomplete shambles that was thrown up as a temporary measure so we could play our home games in Inverness

Our board have stalled badly when it comes to stadium upgrade or improvements

Why do we still have two temporary stands behind both goals? surely these should have been bulldozed by now and replaced with permanent structures

Why has a fourth stand not been constructed? This would have made our stadium complete keeping the atmosphere in and the wind and elements out

It's time for our board to act and sort out our ground because if they don't I fear we are going to be left behind by our neighbours from the countryside

Dougal

I care because? It will like a tidy wee grounding the First Division in season 13/14.

Once Victoria Park is complete i think i'd rather have that as a stadium than our own. Although i like our stadium, who ever designed the main stand with two open "wings" on it next to sea should be shot, its an appauling design.

You're probably too young to remember the funding issues when it was built. It was a modular design with the potential to fill those bits in later if required, so rather than shooting them, I would commend their vision You could of course just have left the ends off and reduced the main stand to 1700, but with the wings it takes 2200.

Besides, I rather like it. It's unique!

When they put the 2 new stands in at either end they should have been put 2/3 meters nearer the pitch, would have helped with the atmosphere i think and brought the fans closer to the action.

Maybe somebody who knows better than I do can comment on this. I agree that it's too far away. I also know that TCS was constructed to a standard where we could host internationals though.

I predicted earlier that VP would be worse off after the seating went in. I'll stick to that for now.

You can put a suit on a minger, but he's still a minger!

http://www.thejailender.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/stadium-upgrade-continues.html

Looks like I have been proved correct once again and the above photos are evidence that the peg sellers will have a very compact and atmospheric stadium this coming season

I see the away stand is to hold just under 2000 fans it will be interesting to see if we can sell out are allocation at the up and coming highland derbies what with the falling numbers of our fans etc

IMO there's a fair chance at least one or two of these derbies will hopefully be shown live on sky sports so it would be disappointing and embarrassing to see half full stands going out to world wide audiences

Dougal

It's still in Dingwall though.

Once Victoria Park is complete i think i'd rather have that as a stadium than our own. Although i like our stadium, who ever designed the main stand with two open "wings" on it next to sea should be shot, its an appauling design.

You're probably too young to remember the funding issues when it was built. It was a modular design with the potential to fill those bits in later if required, so rather than shooting them, I would commend their vision You could of course just have left the ends off and reduced the main stand to 1700, but with the wings it takes 2200.

Besides, I rather like it. It's unique!

.

i have it on good athourity, that the roof on the main stand was originally planned to extend another 30ft toward the pitch, giving better cover from weather and creating a better atmosphere, but again, cut backs had to be made

Are there any experts on grass on this forum? If their newly laid grass is a 1'' high and its 8wks to the start of the season, never mind the stadium will the grass be ready in time? Looks like the ground share may def be on the cards.

With the new seats, I think the Jail end will lose the strength of its voice, we have the same problems but their stand looks like it will have even less depth to the seating area than us.

Better than us? no way, they dont even have a proper road in and out of the stadium

Once Victoria Park is complete i think i'd rather have that as a stadium than our own. Although i like our stadium, who ever designed the main stand with two open "wings" on it next to sea should be shot, its an appauling design.

You're probably too young to remember the funding issues when it was built. It was a modular design with the potential to fill those bits in later if required, so rather than shooting them, I would commend their vision You could of course just have left the ends off and reduced the main stand to 1700, but with the wings it takes 2200. Besides, I rather like it. It's unique!

i have it on good athourity, that the roof on the main stand was originally planned to extend another 30ft toward the pitch, giving better cover from weather and creating a better atmosphere, but again, cut backs had to be made

I believe you are both correct. The main stand and its roofing, was originally supposed to cover the full length but costs dictated some economies had to be made and we now have what we have !

I have also seen plans where the rest of the ground had stands that connected to the main stand. These were low profile and 'flowed' round from the main stand and seemed to integrate with them rather than just be 4 'blocks' waiting for corners to be filled in.

If only all of this had happened and we would have a cracker of a stadium.

If only all of this had happened and we would have a cracker of a stadium.

.....and have been in administration before the place even opened!!!

Roll on that lottery win

that was the issue .... like many other projects (not just stadiums), the projected costs were a lot lower than the actual costs turn out to be ... one day's delay costs thousands, a 'slight tweak' to a design costs tens of thousands, and thats before you even consider the inefficiencies of some contractors, genuine mistakes, or changes in the infrastructure surrounding the stadium that had nothing to do with the actual stadium build but came out of the same pot of cash ....

There's been a lot of "soccer specific stadiums" built over this side of the pond in recent years and the costs are staggering !!! 13 of the 19 MLS teams now play in proper football stadiums, as opposed to community stadiums or NFL stadiums, with another team due to open a new one next year, and the costs range from $28.5m for Columbus' 20,000 seat stadium to $220m for the 25,000 seat Red Bull Arena in NY. Most (8) seem to be in the $100m and upwards range and hold between 20-30,000 fans. Toronto's 22,000 capacity BMO field was $62.5m and other than the main stand the other three are 'temporary' stands like TCS

i have it on good athourity, that the roof on the main stand was originally planned to extend another 30ft toward the pitch, giving better cover from weather and creating a better atmosphere, but again, cut backs had to be made

Also pretty sure it had to face West to let the A9 traffic see the adverts, while the poor fans got the rain in their faces!

Just out of curiosity what is the rough estimate for a minor stand structure incorporated into the current ground footprint along that side of the stadium?

You'd probably be looking at over £1,000,000 as it would need to house toilets and serveries etc that are over there already.

And moving that elusive gas pipe!

He said "minor" so I based that on something within the existing footprint.

Out of interest what are the capacities of each of our stands?

Enough of the County loving! Quit biting to Dougals bait. We have enough to concentrate on with our own team. Couldn't give a monkeys about Ross County's stadium.

Enough of the County loving! Quit biting to Dougals bait. We have enough to concentrate on with our own team. Couldn't give a monkeys about Ross County's stadium.

Agreed! Also it's who has the best team at the end of the season that matters.

Out of interest what are the capacities of each of our stands?

I'm sure somebody will correct me but 2512 springs to mind for the end ones and 2200 for the main. That leaves about 400 for the West?

That's about right Mantis

Now I'm a bit of a football ground enthusiast/anorak and what makes me and my fellow anoraks tick is not atmosphere (because fans create atmosphere not stadiums) its character!! And TCS is full of character.

I cannot abide bowl stadiums like cardiff, southampton and middlesborough and the same goes with lego/mechano built grounds like livi st johnstone and shrewsbury. Frankly VP now falls into this category!!

TCS on the other hand has the most unique main stand in britain, there's not another stand like it anywhere. We have two (temporary) tin sheds behind each goal which if our fans were abit more boistrous could make extremely atmospheric! One side is completely free but has a small open stand, a tv gantry, a small part of the old terrace left and all the catering facilties. I dream one day the west stand will stretch the whole way and be completely railseats/safe standing :D. Also we have two mahoosive floodlights with 6 smaller/original ones. Not to mention the fact that we're a stones throw from the sea, sit beneath a bridge and our club shop is a portacabin!

TCS has soo much character and thats what makes it GREAT. Apart from the old jailend roof staying, VP is very bland! So Dougal, you have been proved WRONG

Out of interest what are the capacities of each of our stands?

I'm sure somebody will correct me but 2512 springs to mind for the end ones and 2200 for the main. That leaves about 400 for the West?

Cheers Mantis!

Before puting seats in the west stand the capacity was 7,512. I think there's three hundered seats in west stand. I thought each end stand held 2,500 with the main stand being 2,512. Yet research suggests that when first opened there were 2,280 seats in the main stand. Was there seats added here?

Only smarties have the answer

Should I tell them about the aquifer ?