County starting to plan for the SPL

[tokelyisvictorious]

As in the highland news -

This week, the club made a formal application to Highland Council's Ross and Cromarty area planning department to redevelop Victoria Park to create a 6,000 seater stadium - the minimum number of seats required by the Scottish Premier League.

The ambitious plan would see new seated stands at both the Jail End and the away end. The existing away end would be demolished and a new two-tier seated stand, costing ?500,000, built in its place.

Fitting out the Jail End stand with seats would cost ?100,000 and under-soil heating would come in at ?150,000. A new playing surface is also envisaged.

I'd love to see this, it would be great to see just over 2000 people turning up to a 6000 all-seater stadium. More expense on their side, from what I can see they will not be promoted this season, nor next, and it's only a matter of time before their better players move away, and that's County back in a bit of debt again.

That said, wish the ICT board had shown a bit of initiative, rather than going through all of the hassle when we went through and then paying Aberdeen to travel 110 miles to play at 'home'.

[Pele_Is_God]

A two-tier stand costing ?500,000, sounds a bit cheap to me!

[Caley Stan]

I'd love to see this, it would be great to see just over 2000 people turning up to a 6000 all-seater stadium.

If that's what you're into then i'd suggest a visit to TCS.

[caleykid1994]

A two-tier stand costing ?500,000, sounds a bit cheap to me!

Thats exactly what im thinking. Have they missed a zero on the end of that?

In all honesty, this is probably a good idea by county to do this now while prices are a wee bit cheaper. Hey if the two tier stand does cost ?500k then why isnt ICT making the North Stand a permanent stand(then again we still have 10-12 years of it left).

edit: actually its just dawned on me. Can County fit in a Two Tier stand at the away end with the HFA right behind it?

Edited January 16, 2010 by caleykid1994

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

A two-tier stand costing ?500,000, sounds a bit cheap to me!

edit: actually its just dawned on me. Can County fit in a Two Tier stand at the away end with the HFA right behind it?

Yeh - 4 rows in the lower tier and 4 rows in the upper tier :(

[Kingsmills]

What County are doing is gradually signing up their important squad members on extended contracts in stark contrast to what's happening at our club.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

County have a good stadium now and the proposed investment is to be applauded. However, I thought they had to have things in place by 1 March 2010.

We should realise that the reason we have lost to them twice this year in the league is that we have underestimated them and also been patronising at times. They have deserved each win and on the face of it they seem to have a very settled team and management structure.

We have to overcome that by hunger and hard work. Every team will want to beat Dundee because of their perceived wealth and I expect the chasing pack which is fairly large to create problems especially if Dunfermline play out of their skins tomorrow and within the rules.

Ross County are thus making a big move and as I said that is to be applauded.

[buckett]

County could be taking measures to target promotion to the SPL in 2011.

If they achieve that it could be very bad for us. (Assuming we're still in division 1)

[The Mantis]

Good luck to them - can't fault ambition. What about the bridge though? Is that not a bigger obstacle to progress than their homely wee stadium?

We of all people know how hard it is to reach the SPL. I can't help feeling that County are punching well above their weight just now. We're only a few points behind yet we're moaning that it's a bad season. All it takes is for Adams to get poached by a bigger club and things could all fall apart for them.

I think a 16-team league is the best chance of a Highland team getting into the SPL in the next 5 years.

Edited January 16, 2010 by The Mantis

[Hearach]

I'd love to see this, it would be great to see just over 2000 people turning up to a 6000 all-seater stadium. More expense on their side, from what I can see they will not be promoted this season, nor next, and it's only a matter of time before their better players move away, and that's County back in a bit of debt again.

A county supporter could well have said this of ICT not so long ago except we have 7000 seater.

[tokelyisvictorious]

County manage 2000 fans for their biggest games, and most of the time the attendance is exaggerated hugely. I've been to a few (back in the day when I couldn't afford away games), standing in the jail end and guessing about 1,600 at most, and then the attendance is read out as 2,500.

To be honest, I wouldn't say I'm jealous of what County are starting to build, but it's a bit annoying that we did not show the same foresight and belief back in the day.

[PullMyFinger]

They are applying for planning permission to expand to all seater status which is a prerequisite for admission to the SPL. If they don't have this permission they would not get admission should they qualify in the league. This is a sensible approach by County, they would likely have to groundshare in their first season which as we can confirm is not a good option. The sooner the ground is up to spec the better. I concur with Mantis about the bridge though, it could turn out to be a safety issue when the big guns are playing.

Good luck to them, they've got a better set-up than us now and are flying high.

[caleykid1994]

A two-tier stand costing ?500,000, sounds a bit cheap to me!

edit: actually its just dawned on me. Can County fit in a Two Tier stand at the away end with the HFA right behind it?

Yeh - 4 rows in the lower tier and 4 rows in the upper tier :D

It must be!

[Council Juice]

They are applying for planning permission to expand to all seater status which is a prerequisite for admission to the SPL. If they don't have this permission they would not get admission should they qualify in the league. This is a sensible approach by County, they would likely have to groundshare in their first season which as we can confirm is not a good option. The sooner the ground is up to spec the better. I concur with Mantis about the bridge though, it could turn out to be a safety issue when the big guns are playing.

Good luck to them, they've got a better set-up than us now and are flying high.

Maybe if we get there before them they could groundshare with us. We are a caring community club... plus the rent money would come in handy.

[The Fly]

That said, wish the ICT board had shown a bit of initiative, rather than going through all of the hassle when we went through and then paying Aberdeen to travel 110 miles to play at 'home'.

But when we were in the First Division the minimum seats that the SPL required was 10,000 - IMO if ICT had attempted to comply with that total, and especially before promotion was assured, the club would have been bankrupted.

Despite what they can be criticised for more recently, I think our board were absolutely right in the way they approached the ground expansion of 2004/5.

The groundshare at Aberdeen was probably our least worst option - without it there possibly wouldn't have been a club, and no promotion.

[Yngwie]

Spot on Flyboy, and the 10,000 seats had to be in place by 31 March, long before we knew if we would overtake Clyde.

The Boards handling of the promotion/stadium affair was superb and showed initiative, bravery and good judgement. (What's happened since then? )

[Iain]

I Would like to criticise, but can't. Their board, in contrast to ours, is doing everything right just now.

[tokelyisvictorious]

Perhaps building to the 10,000 mark would have been excessive, but I was at a bit of loss at to why we took so long to start building the two extra stands, and then try to complete it like we were going for a world record. Surely it would have been better starting to build once we reached the SPL, and took a little more time and care building it.

Good news for County though, I'm waiting for it to fall apart, but this time it feels a little different. Seems more likely that we will be the club falling apart in the near future.

[Yngwie]

Perhaps building to the 10,000 mark would have been excessive, but I was at a bit of loss at to why we took so long to start building the two extra stands, and then try to complete it like we were going for a world record. Surely it would have been better starting to build once we reached the SPL, and took a little more time and care building it.

Under the SPL rules, Pittodrie was ICT's designated home ground for that season. So even if we'd built our own Emirates Stadium and had it ready for the first game of the season or any time after, we wouldn't have been allowed to use it.

What the club did was get the SPL to change those rules, and THEN built a compliant stadium that they were allowed to use after we'd played each club once at Pittodrie.

[caley100]

Applying for planning does not mean they are going to go ahead and develop the stadium, its purely a contingency plan for possible promotion / or changes to the SPL set up.

The planning application will if approved will stay open for 5 years.

[Carlos]

The bridge was a stumbling block in a few years ago as it would have needed expanding to accomodate crowds of 10,000. There was an other option of widening the bottom of the bridge but that would mean moving a war memorial which caused a bit of controversy. However as our current capacity is 6300 and any new building work will reduce our capacity to the minimum 6,000 required by the SPL current safety certificates will be valid. So this is no longer an issue as there is no need for 10,000 people to use the bridge.

[The Mantis]

The cabbagemen are having their best season ever, I bet they're as surprised as anybody :022:

But it's coming up to their Feb/Mar traditional collapse time ;)

If they've got the baws for it then good luck to them.

Mind you they don't get away from ICT that easy: remember 94-5 and again in 96-7 :023:

Edited January 30, 2010 by The Mantis

[Scarlet Pimple]

County are progressive now.They have a good Manager(coach?). A team willing to play for the team and it looks as if finances can and will be put in place. And they seem to have as much ambition as ICT had in the heady days immediately prior to their playing at Pittodrie.

One other thing is that ICT were the people who belled the Scottish Football Association beaks who tried everything (it seemed ) to stop ICT getting into the SPL. So if County win the league they will probably not have to face the disdain and prejudice that made ICT's adventure so meaningful but so difficult.

You have to wish them well. Why should any small team have to face the spite and misery heaped upon ICT,s shoulders soem 5 years ago, even if they had the courage,tenacity and belief in themselves to master all.

Let's just see how far County can really go..............