Caledonian Stadium will look second best

[CaleyD]

Why would/should the club invest in a Stadium they don't own?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Becos Dougal Dickkhead requests

[RiG]

Why would/should the club invest in a Stadium they don't own?

And one they can barely fill! 1,600 turned up today. Let's crack on with a fourth stand asap lads!

[EWS]

Who cares? I go to a football stadium to watch 22 men kick a ball around a patch of grass, not discuss the architectural merits of the surrounding facade and whether they accurately portray the Mackintoshian idea in which the designer has proposed.

[givmeaccccc]

It has indeed been a marvellous achievement by all concerned to construct our stadium. No-one would ever wish to say anything against all those people who put thier hands in their pockets and spent hours, days, weeks etc of their time on our success since entering the leagues. BUT. The fact is the stadium has no atmosphere and in it's present form never will.

I always thought that when we got past the Caley/Jags thing and moved into a new era of youngsters supporting the club that we would 'grow a crowd' of noisy fans from the youth of Inverness but that hasn't happened. Dunfermline had about 100 fans at today's game and they constantly and consistently out shouted our fans. The stadium is partly to blame.

Really surprised to learn about the Gas pipe thing! How on earth did we get planning permission to build the stadium knowing that this pipe is so close. Anyone with half a brain could have guessed that someday we may think about building a fourth enclosure, unbelievable.

Well done Dougal for raising this, freedom of speech and all that. Bah humbug to those who cannot take the post in the manner in which I am sure it was meant.

[gingerjaggy]

does it really matter who has the best stadium. Yes our one is lopsided and doesnt create much atmosphere and if im honoust i think victoria park is better alreadly because of terracing. The caley away fans are lowder than the home support anyway so if victoria park is made up to spl standard then it should be a great atmosphere in the away games. I dont care who has got the best stadium as long as we are ahead of county then the rest is trivial

[jaggy]

Slightly of topic but who was responsible for the dire music yesterday. If ever there was a day to get some enthusiasm and noise generated with some up tempo appropriate music it was yesterday. This did not happen. I'm sure the person who does it is a decent bloke and probably an unsung hero of the behind the scenes staff, but surely this is an area that should be easy to improve.

[PullMyFinger]

Well done Dougal for raising this, freedom of speech and all that. Bah humbug to those who cannot take the post in the manner in which I am sure it was meant.

What manner was that? The poster is a bigger wum than Johndo and I can only remember 1 post where he said anything positive.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

If I knew what a feckin wum was I may agree At least Dougal usually provides a rationale for his argument and doesnt half stimulate debate - perhaps that us what a wum does. Or is a wum like PullmyFinger and myself on this thread who answer with dross and a personal attack. At least Dougal and others would understand that mine was of ironic banter and not simply churlish in an infantile manner.

[forresjags]

Have to agree with one major point Dougal makes. 'STAGNATION' off the field the club has made little or no progress since we first appeared in the SPL. The stadium is hardly welcoming is it .Maybe that's why we had only 1600 yesteday for the first home match since Christmas Eve. The 3rd or 4th lowest attendance in the Cup is embarrassing.

[Caley]

Regarding the gas pipeline, it is owned by the MoD and takes fuel from a depot in the Longman out to the RAF bases at Kinloss (or it used to) and Lossiemouth. I can't see how this would cause a problem though as the footprint for a smallish stand wouldn't be much different to the existing structure on the west side of the ground.

If we could afford it I say build it. It would make such a difference to the ground in terms of atmosphere and protection from the elements. Problem is we'll probably never have the cash to do this.

[Scotty]

Regarding the gas pipeline, it is owned by the MoD and takes fuel from a depot in the Longman out to the RAF bases at Kinloss (or it used to) and Lossiemouth. I can't see how this would cause a problem though as the footprint for a smallish stand wouldn't be much different to the existing structure on the west side of the ground.

If we could afford it I say build it. It would make such a difference to the ground in terms of atmosphere and protection from the elements. Problem is we'll probably never have the cash to do this.

Different pipe I am afraid ... The one I refer to is the national gas transmission line that takes gas to the whole of the north ...

[The Mantis]

St Mirren's stadium is the worst in the SPL. It may be new and it was bought for them but it's still a dump and it's situated in a dump.

Viccy Park will be worse not better if they convert it to seats. Then listen to the cabbagemen having the same moan as we are having now.

[Tug]

dont consider this a bite but i would like to ask you dougal

where do you think the club should be? what is your realistic vision of where the club should be, stadium etc?

if you would be so kind as to indulge me

[Caley]

Regarding the gas pipeline, it is owned by the MoD and takes fuel from a depot in the Longman out to the RAF bases at Kinloss (or it used to) and Lossiemouth. I can't see how this would cause a problem though as the footprint for a smallish stand wouldn't be much different to the existing structure on the west side of the ground.

If we could afford it I say build it. It would make such a difference to the ground in terms of atmosphere and protection from the elements. Problem is we'll probably never have the cash to do this.

Different pipe I am afraid ... The one I refer to is the national gas transmission line that takes gas to the whole of the north ...

Oh I see. There must be two pipelines in the area then as the GPSS line to Kinloss/Lossie follows this route too.

Sorry if I'm going over old ground here (didn't read the previous discussions), but what was the outcome of the debate about how these pipelines would affect the building of a fourth stand? Would it/they have to be rerouted first?

[Scotty]

If we wanted a stand like the ones we currently have then I believe so, yes.

[CaleyD]

I can't help but wonder if these thousands of people staying away from games because we don't have a fourth stand are the same thousands that don't go because of the merger. You know, the ones that lead such a reclusive life that they hang out in secret locations only known to them and only ever seem to talk to a handful of people in Inverness.

[caleyboy]

With regards to the fourth stand... Could you not make one of these safe standing areas opposite the main stand?

Don't see why not as the whole length used to be terracing before our SPL days.

[CaleyD]

West Stand covers the terracing in that area and is concrete poured over the original steps. Not sure how suitable the new steps are in terms of dimensions for converting to safe standing. Centre section houses the media scaffold towers which would need to be moved backwards (they need to stay on the centre line) which would place them above the roof of the catering area...cost would be involved in doing that as you can't just sit them on the roof. Terracing towards the away end....we were already denied permission to use that by police for terracing when in Div 1 as segregation would have (in their opinion) caused problems.

It also doesn't solve the issue of closing in the stadium, which seems to be the OPs main problem.

Bottom line is that many of these things would be possible if we had the money....but we don't and I can't see us having it any time soon. Even if the clubs income was to increase by £500k a year, there's lots of other stuff that need money spending on them before a 4th stand/enclosure would reach the top of the priority list.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

3 January 2012 http://www.darlington-fc.net/page/NewsDetail/0,,10339~2564884,00.html

25,000 seater stadium being the best in the Conference but...................

[+DoofersDad]

I can't help but wonder if these thousands of people staying away from games because we don't have a fourth stand are the same thousands that don't go because of the merger. You know, the ones that lead such a reclusive life that they hang out in secret locations only known to them and only ever seem to talk to a handful of people in Inverness.

And how many of the 1601 who turned up on Saturday went because it's such a lovely little ground?

I don't suppose for a moment that anyone stays away simply because there is not a fourth stand but it is surely undeniable that a better atmosphere would encourage a few more to attend. I accept it is not something the club can do anything about anytime soon but there should be the long term aim of correcting the errors of the past.

[+old caley girl]

Don't think the stadium has anything to do with the attendance on saturday. Budgets are tight after Christmas for a lot of folk and the 50 pounds that it would have cost for a family in admission is probably being used in other ways. It also probably wasn't an attractive draw to others.

Edited January 10, 2012 by old caley girl

[+Fraz]

West Stand covers the terracing in that area and is concrete poured over the original steps. Not sure how suitable the new steps are in terms of dimensions for converting to safe standing. Centre section houses the media scaffold towers which would need to be moved backwards (they need to stay on the centre line) which would place them above the roof of the catering area...cost would be involved in doing that as you can't just sit them on the roof. Terracing towards the away end....we were already denied permission to use that by police for terracing when in Div 1 as segregation would have (in their opinion) caused problems.

It also doesn't solve the issue of closing in the stadium, which seems to be the OPs main problem.

Bottom line is that many of these things would be possible if we had the money....but we don't and I can't see us having it any time soon. Even if the clubs income was to increase by £500k a year, there's lots of other stuff that need money spending on them before a 4th stand/enclosure would reach the top of the priority list.

That's interesting as, unless I'm misunderstanding the area you are referring to there seemed to be no problem with Celtic fans occupying the west stand at 'our' end in the last game.

[SMEE]

The atmosphere is never going to change...unless the reserved apathetic nature of locals changes

[Caley]

The bottom line for me is the ground is unfinished. We should at least be aspiring to complete it by stating our desire to build a 4th stand and doing a rough costing. Even if it was a structure like our north and south stands costing about £750k that would do. Potential TV cash from the cup replay and hopefully the Celtic tie could see us 20% of the way there already.

I know people will say "What's the point, we can't fill the other 3 stands anyway?". Well even if it's just got an extra 1000 OF fans in it 3 times a year that's an extra 60k revenue p.a. A better atmosphere and more protection from the elements are other compelling reasons for building it.