Annan @ Home Oct 19th 2024

[big cherly]

The location and mis-shaped construction of the stadium, is I would say, a major factor in the fan disengagement with the club.
Put aside football results (success and failure are twins and come and go), the experience of most fans # I know attending matches is a negative one.

# To a person any away fans (friends, family and general people), I spoke to over the years are bewildered and somewhat surprised at the standard and condition of the stadium.
Match distraction with the view and noise of passing lorries and vehicles. Poor viewing (low rake angle ) from the away stand. No fan atmosphere whatsoever. 
Throw in the risk of chancing your luck crossing the A9, and building site conditions, well it’s not an easy sell. 
That’s all of the above based on a good summer’s day. Winter Saturday’s, well…….

Having visited the refurbished club bar I can recommend that to all fans as the improvements make it more appealing, so credit there. 

I know the siting and construction of the stadium was driven by (limiting) fiscal constraints and it is what it is, and it ain’t going to change. Helps I know when you have a sugar daddy! 

Unfortunately, in my opinion (whether it’s liked or not), until something major is done regarding the stadium, the appeal to attract new fans (both home and away) to attend matches will remain a tough challenge.

Edited October 21, 2024 by big cherly

[tm4tj]

 

[+EvilWhiteStripe]

6 minutes ago, big cherly said:

The location and mis-shaped construction of the stadium, is I would say, a major factor in the fan disengagement with the club.
Put aside football results (success and failure are twins and come and go), the experience of most fans # I know attending matches is a negative one.

# To a person any away fans (friends, family and general people), I spoke to over the years are bewildered and somewhat surprised at the standard and condition of the stadium.
Match distraction with the view and noise of passing lorries and vehicles. Poor viewing (low rake ) from the away stand. No fan atmosphere whatsoever. 
Throw in the risk of chancing your luck crossing the A9, and building site conditions, well it’s not an easy sell. 
That’s all of the above based on a good summer’s day. Winter Saturday’s, well…….

Having visited the refurbished club bar I can recommend that to all fans as the improvements make it more appealing, so credit there. 

I know the siting and construction of the stadium was driven by (limited) fiscal constraints and it is what it is, and it ain’t going to change. Helps I know when you have a sugar daddy! 

Unfortunately, in my opinion (whether it’s liked or not), until something major is done regarding the stadium, the appeal to fans (both home and away) to attend matches will remain a challenge.

I am pretty sure any chance that we had of moving to a better stadium was scuppered by Tesco (and the councilors who were in Tesco's pocket) when Asda were looking to buy the site and build us a new stadium as part of the deal, akin to what happened with St Mirren in Paisley.

However, I would argue that the location of the stadium is a plus for us, the views are great, ok it can be a bit cold, but anyone who has sat in the away section at Pittodrie can attest to how cold that can really get.

[+Fraz]

I doubt the stadium would have ever been in a 'great' position. Even if ICT was offered somewhere like the bught planners would likely never allow it anyway due to traffic management etc. Even the new community hub has been held up and revisited due to traffic concerns from some locals so a full blown stadium would be magnitudes worse. 

[caley100]

And if you recall the options back in the day were probably worse than the long man situation.

The carse (right beside the sea) and probably further away from Town centre, Also even worse for parking.  Then Stratton farmland, even further away from the centre, no facilities, so the other option was the bught,   And that was never going to happen !  Shinty has a big hold there, And rugby had/has the monopoly on West bught.

I must admit I don't mind where we are, The North stand may not give as good a view as the main stand but we don't get the sun full in our eyes nor wind and rain. 

 

[+CaleyHedgehog]

On the whole, I like the location of the stadium - it is near enough to walk to from the town centre if you don't have access to a car or fancy a drink or two, and you are not competing with traffic travelling to other events around town. It is central enough for fans from both the east and west of the river without going into town, and for those without transport this is important as crossing the town centre (using public transport for instance) is time consuming and expensive. 

I can remember many a fine afternoon spent there in the past with a great atmosphere, but it does take a larger support than we have now. The North stand is also as cosy as is possible for the most part if you are nearer the back. 

The size (seating wise) is obviously too large, but there was no control over that at the time we first entered the top flight, and indeed it was a source of pride that the North and South stands were put in place so quickly, so we are stuck with it. It would be wonderful to have a standing area, but again we were not given that option at the time that the stands were put in place.  I still feel that our disabled supporters could do with a little more shelter than they have - maybe a heater in their shelters, like in railway stations, to improve their match day experience, but this is in an ideal world, not an administration situation. I don't really get why the North standers cannot use the facilities in the main stand, it would be good in wet weather and also to touch base with Main stander friends at half time but maybe there is a reason.

I'm happy to put up with it and it's imperfections, but if the time came for the stands to be replaced we could opt for smaller, with reduced seating and a standing area. I think you have to make your own atmosphere to an extent - get chatting to those sitting around you - we have made some great friends in our football neighbours over the years.

 

 

[+EvilWhiteStripe]

What is the feasibility of actually removing the North and South stands and returning the West stand to terracing? Does anyone know?

Back in the days pre-premiership, I loved being in the West Stand, it was my favourite place to be.

[Ronaldo]

I'm pretty sure INE were paid to carry out a consultancy and the site they came up with was beside where Inshes school is now. But someone thought better......

[The Mantis]

5 hours ago, tm4tj said:

 

Valiant attempt to steer the thread back on topic 

[tm4tj]

Thought it might p!55 everybody off and they would all just stop posting. 

[Ronaldo]

Many congratulations Donnie, just seen on sky news that you are our new Player Manager, well deserved. Youre on £1.50 an hour too!

[tm4tj]

Is that taxable?

[caley100]

No, But you get a free pie!

[tm4tj]

I'll give it a miss if its like the one I got on Saturday. 

[Charles Bannerman]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

I'm pretty sure INE were paid to carry out a consultancy and the site they came up with was beside where Inshes school is now. But someone thought better......

This is the front of the 22 page report, commissioned by INE in 1993, on possible stadium sites. An initial long list of 11 was whittled down to 4 and then to Stratton and East Longman. Stratton was announced first early in 1994 but the club didn’t want it because it was too far away from the fan base and INE backed down. Inshes was ruled out because the land was too expensive. The Bught was never considered because it was already Council leisure land and access was very difficult (still is!)

Someone mentioned the Carse Farce where the Council totally mishandled Caley’s attempt to go there in around 1991. I believe that if that had gone through, Caley would have gone it alone with an SFL application.

[Ronaldo]

Thanks for clarifying Charles

[+old caley girl]

3 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

This is the front of the 22 page report, commissioned by INE in 1993, on possible stadium sites. An initial long list of 11 was whittled down to 4 and then to Stratton and East Longman. Stratton was announced first early in 1994 but the club didn’t want it because it was too far away from the fan base and INE backed down. Inshes was ruled out because the land was too expensive. The Bught was never considered because it was already Council leisure land and access was very difficult (still is!)

Someone mentioned the Carse Farce where the Council totally mishandled Caley’s attempt to go there in around 1991. I believe that if that had gone through, Caley would have gone it alone with an SFL application.

Totally agree with last paragraph Charles. Caley also tried to go to Kinmylies pitches as well but that fell by wayside too. I truly believe Caley would have applied themselves had either project gone ahead 

[Charles Bannerman]

2 hours ago, old caley girl said:

Totally agree with last paragraph Charles. Caley also tried to go to Kinmylies pitches as well but that fell by wayside too. I truly believe Caley would have applied themselves had either project gone ahead 

It was “resident power” that put paid to the Kinmylies scheme. It should perhaps also be said that, although the Carse and Kinmylies were well situated for a great number of Caley fans in the early 1990s, they would have offered very poor access to travelling fans in the SFL since they were at the wrong end of town at the time. 
I think we can add Caley’s inability to relocate to the other very narrow margins - Caley’s 55-50 vote, the very narrow vote to rearrange the SFL, how nearly the whole thing came unstuck at several points between 1993 and 1995, the Council grant - which have been a feature of how the entire knife edge creation of this club came about.

[tm4tj]

If we go into Administration, it's all Scotty's fault. He has taken the bull by the horns and deducted 15 points in anticipation...

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts It's all your fault Scotty  1. Alloa Athletic 10 4 5 1 11 9 17 2. Montrose 10 4 4 2 11 6 16 3. Kelty Hearts 10 4 3 3 17 10 15 4. Cove Rangers 10 4 2 4 16 15 14 5. Stenhousemuir 10 4 2 4 13 12 14 6. Q.O.S. 10 4 2 4 9 11 14 7. Arbroath 10 3 3 4 12 14 12 8. Annan Athletic 10 3 1 6 7 16 10 9. Dumbarton 10 1 6 3 14 17 9 10. Inverness CT 10 2 6 2 7 7 -3

[Yngwie]

34 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

If we go into Administration, it's all Scotty's fault. He has taken the bull by the horns and deducted 15 points in anticipation...

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts It's all your fault Scotty  1. Alloa Athletic 10 4 5 1 11 9 17 2. Montrose 10 4 4 2 11 6 16 3. Kelty Hearts 10 4 3 3 17 10 15 4. Cove Rangers 10 4 2 4 16 15 14 5. Stenhousemuir 10 4 2 4 13 12 14 6. Q.O.S. 10 4 2 4 9 11 14 7. Arbroath 10 3 3 4 12 14 12 8. Annan Athletic 10 3 1 6 7 16 10 9. Dumbarton 10 1 6 3 14 17 9 10. Inverness CT 10 2 6 2 7 7 -3

A condition known as premature administration!

[+Moogthurso]

John Robertson team was 21? points behind dundee and went on to get promoted.

Administration and a healthy restart with our great kids is now where we are.

It's a challenge not a funeral I hope. 

 

 

[ICTPaisley]

6 minutes ago, Moogthurso said:

John Robertson team was 21? points behind dundee and went on to get promoted.

Administration and a healthy restart with our great kids is now where we are.

It's a challenge not a funeral I hope. 

 

 

Terry Butcher*

[Charles Bannerman]

On 10/22/2024 at 12:48 PM, tm4tj said:

If we go into Administration, it's all Scotty's fault. He has taken the bull by the horns and deducted 15 points in anticipation...

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts It's all your fault Scotty  1. Alloa Athletic 10 4 5 1 11 9 17 2. Montrose 10 4 4 2 11 6 16 3. Kelty Hearts 10 4 3 3 17 10 15 4. Cove Rangers 10 4 2 4 16 15 14 5. Stenhousemuir 10 4 2 4 13 12 14 6. Q.O.S. 10 4 2 4 9 11 14 7. Arbroath 10 3 3 4 12 14 12 8. Annan Athletic 10 3 1 6 7 16 10 9. Dumbarton 10 1 6 3 14 17 9 10. Inverness CT 10 2 6 2 7 7 -3

SPFL

Edited October 23, 2024 by Charles Bannerman

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

On 10/21/2024 at 1:54 PM, EvilWhiteStripe said:

What is the feasibility of actually removing the North and South stands and returning the West stand to terracing? Does anyone know?

Ross Morrison will find a way with SG as Project Manager to offer some benefit from the security he has over the club's modest assets!!