Am i right in thinking that these stands were only meant as a temporary solution, with an expected lifespan of 10 years? time must be closing in on them?

The sheds seem to be standing the test of time and will have a few years in them yet. 

Would just like to see them shifted 10 m closer to the pitch and for the gradient of the seating increased by about 30 degrees so that the view and atmosphere is improved substantially!

Would just like to see them shifted 10 m closer to the pitch and for the gradient of the seating increased by about 30 degrees so that the view and atmosphere is improved substantially!

 I love your use of the word 'just' there, like it would be a minor adjustment we could make in the close-season!

The stands are fine by me - and they'll certainly out-live their expected lifespan due to considerably less usage than may have been expected, unfortunately due to our increasingly desperate attendances.

Would just like to see them shifted 10 m closer to the pitch and for the gradient of the seating increased by about 30 degrees so that the view and atmosphere is improved substantially!

 

Never got my measuring tape out but have a feeling that ten metres closer to the pitch would be on the pitch..

If they were to be taken down, the South stand would only need to be rebuilt for away fans as the main stand could accomodate our home crowds

If they were to be taken down, the South stand would only need to be rebuilt for away fans as the main stand could accomodate our home crowds

 

Crowds may be on the low side but no it couldn't.

Would surely fall below the criteria anyway.

The stands are and always were permanent but the seating is of modular form.

OK, guys, so I wasn't actually saying that this was a real option - just that the design doesn't help either the viewing or the atmosphere!

If we do anything it should be developing the main stand to make the 2 ends of it usable in weather outside a good summers day. It's cringe  inducing in all honesty.

I'm no architect or structural engineer or anything. But would it be at all possible to build them up, either to the same as the rest of the stand or a building that is essentially a cuboid that rises above the height of the corner and has windows. Like a hospitality suite, new press box or media studio area (for TV coverage studios) They could be all 3 really. Even a nice club shop.

And from them a roof extension and side panel to protect fans from the elements. Easy.

Surely wouldn't cost that much, even for a limited budget like ICT.



Blue represents current seating area, yellow out - bottom area

Grey- the current hospitality units etc

White- windowed areas

Orange- Advertising

Brown - Roof (to be extended over uncovered section)

Red - side weather protection
Black - new utility blocks.


I'm just brain storming.....

Edited May 8, 201411 yr by iamthecaptain1

Easy....if you've got 10's of thousands to spare.

Surely a club who break even would be able to morgage "tens of thousands" over a 20 year period to further improve the ground... and get it for a favourable price given our Stadium name connections.

It's all about priorities. Would you not rather any money we had was invested in something like training facilities, or paying the wages of a new signing who might keep us up next season?

If they were to be taken down, the South stand would only need to be rebuilt for away fans as the main stand could accomodate our home crowds

 

Crowds may be on the low side but no it couldn't.

An average gate of around 3,500? Usually around 200 in the south stand and when we get our higher attendances like 3.5k there tends to be 500 or so away fans, aberdeen celtic county etc

Would surely fall below the criteria anyway.

No criteria for seating numbers as of the new scottish premiership IIRC

As we cant sell the seats we have I would rather a smaller amount of money was spent on the Main stand concourse area, its looking pretty tired or working out how to increase revenue from the bar area.

 

Nice idea though.

 

Would surely fall below the criteria anyway.

No criteria for seating numbers as of the new scottish premiership IIRC

 

That I did not know.

Remember when clubs like Airdrie threatened to sue the SPL for reducing the ridiculous 10000 seater rule. Maybe we should do the same. We were fine with one stand!   

 

 

It's all about priorities. Would you not rather any money we had was invested in something like training facilities, or paying the wages of a new signing who might keep us up next season?

True but can wages for a new signing be borrowed realistically. If we were to improve training facilities, or the ground at least its permanent and helps the club as a whole in the longer run (in theory)

Am i right in thinking that these stands were only meant as a temporary solution, with an expected lifespan of 10 years? time must be closing in on them?

Yes that was my understanding as well, sadly it looks like these two temporary eyesores now appear to be all of a sudden permanent fixtures according to the club and a section of the support

Let's be honest here they were thrown up with no thought given to the fans in terms of view and atmosphere, ok they are not as unsightly as the two uncovered wings in the main stand but they still are an embarrassment

Twenty years ago one of the conditions for league admission was that a new all seated stadium was to be erected, ok it could be argued that it was delivered albeit very loosely but the feeling of being short changed remains with many of us to this day

Dougal

Ah the great idea of 10k+ seater stadia, where teams spent millions they never had to fulfil a criteria and end up with 60% of their seats empty every week, in the hope that they may have 4 sell outs per year when the OF came to visit and it would all look aesthetically pleasing on TV. Perhaps its worth considering the status of many of these clubs now who are still in huge debts and fighting at the lower leagues as they cannot sustain player wages due to still servicing the debt that 10k seater stadia created. At least now its based on what a club needs and can sustain - yes stadiums may not all look pretty like the Dnglish ones on TV, but at least ths clubs are striving to survive within their means and invest in the playing squad, would rather see the best quality squad on the park possible than sit somewhere nice watching dross. Just my view though. 

My understanding is that there is no need for the 2 stands any longer as there is no longer a minimum seating capacity ie 6000 since the SPFL was formed

Therefore i think it would be beneficial for the club if we tore down the 2 farm sheds and make the ground look like it did pre 2005.

A 6000 capacity ground with 2000 seats and the rest terracing would be ideal size tbh. It would be beneficial because we would no longer have to continually pay money on replacing broken seats and mending stands which are pretty pathetic cheapy things anyway.

If the club didnt want to do this, would they be prepared to look at opening the West Terrace?

All in all.......bring back TERRACING

My understanding is that there is no need for the 2 stands any longer as there is no longer a minimum seating capacity ie 6000 since the SPFL was formed

Therefore i think it would be beneficial for the club if we tore down the 2 farm sheds and make the ground look like it did pre 2005.

A 6000 capacity ground with 2000 seats and the rest terracing would be ideal size tbh. It would be beneficial because we would no longer have to continually pay money on replacing broken seats and mending stands which are pretty pathetic cheapy things anyway.

If the club didnt want to do this, would they be prepared to look at opening the West Terrace?

All in all.......bring back TERRACING

Not the clubs decision about terracing, I'm afraid. Also if the ambition is to qualify for Europe we need all seating.

Not the clubs decision about terracing, I'm afraid. Also if the ambition is to qualify for Europe we need all seating.

 

 

Think I'm right in saying that you need 6,000 or something seats to hold Europa League qualifiers and 8,000 for matches in the group stage.  You can have terraced parts to your stadium, but they can't be used for some reason.

If they were to be taken down, the South stand would only need to be rebuilt for away fans as the main stand could accomodate our home crowds

 

Crowds may be on the low side but no it couldn't.

An average gate of around 3,500? Usually around 200 in the south stand and when we get our higher attendances like 3.5k there tends to be 500 or so away fans, aberdeen celtic county etc

Main stand only takes 2200, 1700 covered.

 

they still are an embarrassment

 

 

It ain't the stands that are embarrassing!

I'd love to see even one of the sections on the end of the Main stand knocked down and a media suite built. It'd look so much nicer, and would surely bring another source of revenue for the club?? I know it's easier said than done but you'd think in the long term it would be of benefit.

If the other rather unsightly section of the main stand was removed, then the few seats in the West 'stand' could be extended so it's a full stand spanning the length of the pitch just 6 rows deep or something.

After seeing the video back in 2004 of when we were promoted, I'd also love to see the North and South stands go back to what they were like then, taking into account the new ground capacity rules. I know this is asking a bit much but I'm just throwing it out there.

So there'd be a reduced seating capacity in both the main stand and north stand (marginally), but this would be compensated for by the increased capacity in the West stand. This would make our attendances look better (and might actually improve them), and also the overall atmosphere would be improved.

Fully expecting to be shot down saying we can't afford it, and that may be so, but with the profits from our sucsesses on the pitch over the couple of seasons and I'm sure a transfer fee or two over the summer, could it not be something the board look at?

Edited May 9, 201411 yr by CaleyThistle