Talk of new stadium

[Alex MacLeod]

From the Courier

A centre of sporting excellence for all sports!! Does that mean moving fans further back from the pitch to incorporate a running track?

[caleyblue]

with asada now having got there site what chance they will want another one with all the hassle theyve had till now getting it approvced anyway

[MissICT]

we won't get a new stadium!

the council wouldn't allow it!

I'm happy with our satium.

It's only 13 years old!

[+Feb82000]

if we moved to bught park with a 10000 seat stadium it be full all the time as its not far for

people to walk 10mins for me from mile end so would be a good move

[MissICT]

but it's right across town.

I live on the nairn side of inverness meaning I would have to travel through the town. and It's not easy for those away fans and local fans who travel on the a9 to get to the games.

[clacher_holiday2]

I think having a ground at the Bucht would add an extra 1,000 to our weekly home gate, no question at all.

[Guest zxycba]

I think having a ground at the Bucht would add an extra 1,000 to our weekly home gate, no question at all.

I think it would be a better idea if the club and supporters owned the ground. This would give us a long term future. I like the location of the ground. It is easy to get to. We have been there for a few years. The question would be how do we raise the money?

[Donaldinho_10]

How would it add an extra 1000??

It is alomnst the same disatnce from the town centre as the current ground is. And the narrow roads around the bught and housing would make traffic a nightmare

[Alex MacLeod]

How would it add an extra 1000??

It is alomnst the same disatnce from the town centre as the current ground is. And the narrow roads around the bught and housing would make traffic a nightmare

The working class residential areas are closer to Bught. There's bars closer. And once the by-pass has been completed road travel will be just as easy from all directions

The roads around the Bught at present are well able to cope with large crowds of people. Highland games, Shinty finals etc have all coped well enough

Edited August 30, 2008 by Alex MacLeod

[CaleyD]

Although the Bught is the ideal location in terms of getting local (non-driving) fans along to games it would still create the need for some major upgrading to the transport routes around the area or you'd have total gridlock on matchdays - having to wait 20 minutes to half an hour to get out of the car park as is the case at present will seem like a luxury.

I still have strong suspicions that any move will be to the other side of the Canal from the Bught in or near the old Quarry and that it will be in conjunction with the new distributor road that goes in over there. As I've pointed out in the past, Sutherland already owns large swathes of land over there and it would make perfect business sense for him to sell/donate/lease a large portion of that for a new stadium in return for total control of the land we sit on at present....or even selling land to whichever developer wants the current TCS site will turn him a nice profit if he was to be involved no further than that.

Community Stadiums are fine in principle, but very hard to get right IMO. As has been said above, the thought of fans being 20 or 30 meters back from the pitch is not going to help an already failing atmosphere, and to get around that you would need to install some kind of lower tier seating arrangement which could be moved out over the track to bring fans in closer to the game....doable, but very expensive. You then have the logistics involved with sharing with other sports....things like not having the same flexibility when it comes to scheduling matches and re-arranging fixtures, replays etc. If your sharing with other pitch/field sports then you have the condition of the pitch to worry about.

Whilst I think we should be looking to a Stadium setup which can be used for other sports, I don't think it is possible to have one where it's the "home" of several sports. Holding the odd big rugby match, shinty match, hockey match or whatever during the summer might be possible, but having the pitch ravaged constantly throughout the year in such a way is just not conducive with using it for football....not if you want a playable surface.

If we want to increase income from a Stadium then we have to be looking to "off the pitch" facilities for additional income streams. With that in mind my "dream" would be to see us stay where we are but to scrap the current setup and start fresh. Build a scaled down version of something like the Reebok Stadium which incorporates a hotel, offices and conference facilities. It would take one hell of an investment in the site to do that, but where there's a will, there's a way and if you could get a partnership with one of the big hotel chains then you'd have it cracked. I'm sure there's any number of them would kill for the opportunity to get a business in on the site, even if it did mean sharing it with a football stadium.

The Marina Development already has plans to include a hotel down there somewhere, why not get in on that? They also want to build some kind of shopping centre...."Club Shop Anyone?".

The Club* have 2 choices....they can take the easy option and have whoever wants the site build them something elsewhere and perhaps give us a few quid in the bank to see us through a few seasons....or, they can use the fact we're sitting on what will, if it's not already, one of the most sought after bits of land in the City to get a setup, which will not only provide a Stadium the likes of which we could never have hoped for, but will create an infrastructure which provide services and incomes streams to keep the club running very comfortable for the foreseeable future.

* I say club, but as the Stadium and Lease is owned by the Charitable Trust it would ultimately be down to them...all depends on what kind of tenancy agreement the club have with them for the site.

[Charles Bannerman]

Does that mean moving fans further back from the pitch to incorporate a running track?

Wouldn't have thought so. There's already one track in Inverness which the operators seem to find difficult enough to maintain and lack of density of usage has been quoted as one reason (excuse?) for the investment not being made. There's certainly no need for a second one.

On the other hand, if Inverness Leisure, who operate the track, wanted to convert the present Queens Park into another use with a new track as part of a new centre, then at least there would be the benefit for track users of no longer having Inverness Leisure as their "landlords" which in my view has not been a happy experience since they took the facility over from Highland Council. The other side of that, though, is that the loss of the track in its present location to other activities is bad enough and this would become a much bigger problem if it was round the city's main football pitch.

However I think the reality here is that the Courier were looking a fresh line on the accounts story since everybody else had already had it and on pressing George they got a "I would never say never" out of him on the Bught. In practice, and I'm sure George is aware of this, I don't see the Bught being able to accommodate anything major like this until the TLR link to Holm Mains is complete. even with the Sports Centre, Glenurquhart Road is chaotic with traffic and an alternative access would have to be there first.

Edited August 30, 2008 by Charles Bannerman

[Council Juice]

I will not tolerate a running track. Completely ruins footie.

[MissICT]

I don't think we'll get one!

[Alex MacLeod]

CD, we should buy the blueprints from Nordzealland. They have the stadium you envisage. Oval stadium. Hotel on one side. Bar. Shop. 10k seats all leather with beaker holders attached for the beer.

[MissICT]

CD, we should buy the blueprints from Nordzealland. They have the stadium you envisage. Oval stadium. Hotel on one side. Bar. Shop. 10k seats all leather with beaker holders attached for the beer.

Love the idea!

:thumb04:

[tokelyisvictorious]

like the idea but only if there are better transport links on the way eg more buses departing from town centre and around sneck, a trafficking system put in place so it wouldn't take hours to leave and maybe another bridge.

Doubt it would put another 1000 on the gate, unless the club lowered ticket prices it would be nearer to an extra 400-500.

[alternative maryhill]

Although the Bught is the ideal location in terms of getting local (non-driving) fans along to games it would still create the need for some major upgrading to the transport routes around the area or you'd have total gridlock on matchdays - having to wait 20 minutes to half an hour to get out of the car park as is the case at present will seem like a luxury.

I still have strong suspicions that any move will be to the other side of the Canal from the Bught in or near the old Quarry and that it will be in conjunction with the new distributor road that goes in over there. As I've pointed out in the past, Sutherland already owns large swathes of land over there and it would make perfect business sense for him to sell/donate/lease a large portion of that for a new stadium in return for total control of the land we sit on at present....or even selling land to whichever developer wants the current TCS site will turn him a nice profit if he was to be involved no further than that.

Community Stadiums are fine in principle, but very hard to get right IMO. As has been said above, the thought of fans being 20 or 30 meters back from the pitch is not going to help an already failing atmosphere, and to get around that you would need to install some kind of lower tier seating arrangement which could be moved out over the track to bring fans in closer to the game....doable, but very expensive. You then have the logistics involved with sharing with other sports....things like not having the same flexibility when it comes to scheduling matches and re-arranging fixtures, replays etc. If your sharing with other pitch/field sports then you have the condition of the pitch to worry about.

Whilst I think we should be looking to a Stadium setup which can be used for other sports, I don't think it is possible to have one where it's the "home" of several sports. Holding the odd big rugby match, shinty match, hockey match or whatever during the summer might be possible, but having the pitch ravaged constantly throughout the year in such a way is just not conducive with using it for football....not if you want a playable surface.

If we want to increase income from a Stadium then we have to be looking to "off the pitch" facilities for additional income streams. With that in mind my "dream" would be to see us stay where we are but to scrap the current setup and start fresh. Build a scaled down version of something like the Reebok Stadium which incorporates a hotel, offices and conference facilities. It would take one hell of an investment in the site to do that, but where there's a will, there's a way and if you could get a partnership with one of the big hotel chains then you'd have it cracked. I'm sure there's any number of them would kill for the opportunity to get a business in on the site, even if it did mean sharing it with a football stadium.

The Marina Development already has plans to include a hotel down there somewhere, why not get in on that? They also want to build some kind of shopping centre...."Club Shop Anyone?".

The Club* have 2 choices....they can take the easy option and have whoever wants the site build them something elsewhere and perhaps give us a few quid in the bank to see us through a few seasons....or, they can use the fact we're sitting on what will, if it's not already, one of the most sought after bits of land in the City to get a setup, which will not only provide a Stadium the likes of which we could never have hoped for, but will create an infrastructure which provide services and incomes streams to keep the club running very comfortable for the foreseeable future.

* I say club, but as the Stadium and Lease is owned by the Charitable Trust it would ultimately be down to them...all depends on what kind of tenancy agreement the club have with them for the site.

Don (if I may, not knowing you) - I'll address this to you, as you've obviously considered this in depth, but would be interested to hear opinions of any home-based supporters - is there any indication that the land between the stadium and the city centre is likely to be developed for retail and housing in the near future?

I ask because I feel a move to the old quarry site, which is probably farther from the Longman from the city centre on foot and farther from the A9 & A96 by road, would probably see our crowds drop even lower than they are already. As you've pointed out, the road system around the Bught would have to be redeveloped to allow for football traffic, and I think that would spoil an attractive and peaceful part of the town. So I reckon the best option is probably to stick with what we've got, but it would be good to know whether, in 10 or 20 years time, that long stretch from around Shore St to the ground might have shops and flats and pubs to stop off in on it instead of the wasteland that's there at the moment.

[SMEE]

Am sure that the land on which the Bught itself sits...was donated by the person who owned the land. Part of the condition that it was left for public recreation. Thats why a new caravan park got knocked back

[MissICT]

I love the idea.

but Think It'll get the go ahead!

It's just to big.

Edited August 30, 2008 by TheMentalCaleyFan

[CaleyD]

Don (if I may, not knowing you) - I'll address this to you, as you've obviously considered this in depth, but would be interested to hear opinions of any home-based supporters - is there any indication that the land between the stadium and the city centre is likely to be developed for retail and housing in the near future?

I've heard "rumour" of a desire to build some posh flats with views of the Firth, but it's no more than rumour...whilst I couldn't say for certain if there's pans it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for the area to become desireable what with the other development plans that are going on.

On the retail front, we're already seeing some of the larger retailers taking up spaces in that area as the more industrail stuff shifts out and I know for a fact that there's plans for the Marina Development to include a Hotel, Conference Facilities, a street of "exclusive retailers" as well as bars and restaurants....although I don't believe the location for any of this is set as yet there's some "artist impression" stuff that has done the rounds of local councilors and people of a certain influence

As they have stated from the get go with the Marina....the aim is to make it the only 5 star Marina facility in Scotland.....so that's going to bring a lot of investment.

If you look at the site of the Marina just to the other side of the bridge from the Stadium then it doesn't make for an ideal hotel location....not if you want views, as the bridge will be pressed up against your nose and you also have to consider that there's already a lot of new there already which are fairly new and on plots that wouldn't be large enough to accomodate a hotel even if they could be persuaded to give them up.

Going away from the Stadium towards the City Centre you have the Harbour itself which is well used and it would be unlikely to give up space that it sorely needs.

This leaves the site of TCS as the "Prime" piece of land down there for them to realise what they want in terms of a hotel etc, especially if they want to keep it on the waters edge, and the only place to really develop a street of shops, bars and restaurants would be in the space between Longman Drive and Henderson Drive type area.

There's been talk of the Recycling Depot moving for a while I believe as they want to move it on to the A96 somewhere since that's the direction all our stuff heads off in anyway, so that's not going to be an issue...leaving it where it is certainly doesn't seem condusive with other plans for the area anyway.

All in all, there's big ideas being planned for that whole sector between the Firth and Longman Rd and I think it would be great for the stadium to be a part of that.

[Caley]

The Bught is the obvious choice for a new stadium. Yes, it may be almost as far from the cty centre as TCS, but looking at google earth, TCS seems to be the most northerly building in Inverness and the Bught looks to be almost in the middle.

As for traffic concerns, Hearts and Rangers seem to manage ok with hardly any on-site parking, and both have far, far larger crowds than we will ever have.

Edited August 30, 2008 by Caley

[alternative maryhill]

Don - cheers for such a full answer, I'm completely out of touch with this sort of thing having been among the weegies for so long. Sounds like in the long term, if we stay put, we may not feel so isolated as we are currently.

Caley - I'd agree the Bught is ideal for fans coming on foot - it's almost certainly closer to the town centre than TCS, as opposed to the Torvean Quarry option, which would be exchanging like for like. But to limit on-site parking would be to assume that the increase in number of fans prepared to walk would be greater than the fall-off of fans unprepared to travel because they can't get parked. I'm not sure that's what would happen. In order to keep away support and out-of-town support up, I think we'd have to provide greater access and parking around the Bught, and I don't think that would be good for the town as a whole.

Stick with what we've got, I'd say.

[alimci]

I have to say the grounds without adequate parking are a complete pain in the butt. I usually have to go to places like Motherwell and Paisley and Kilmarnock much earlier than I would want to so I can get a parking place in the streets, and I'm sure the people who live in the streets nearby hate their roads being filled up with football traffic (you could argue that people there knew that when they bought the houses, but that wouldn't be the case with the Bught).

I don't get the argument that numbers would be swelled by so much by moving the stadium there. If the rest of us can travel for hours to watch ICT, surely local fans can manage to get to the Longman? Inverness is hardly huge. A better bus service is surely more logical than a stadium move?

[SMEE]

Something that NOBODY has mentioned thus far, and in my opinion, its a factor in keeping people away. And that factor is the sheer cold temperatures experienced at the current location. I am postive, there are many senior citizens , like my old man, who simply cant take the cold and have to stay away. My dad was a season Ticket holder for about 11 seasons till he couldnt take it any more. He was telling me in his last season ticket he bought, he made 4 games. It was even "cold" there in a pre season friendly in July FFS!

I also am of the belief that a move to a more centrally located ground would swell attendances. The club has no sense of community backing it.

Edited August 31, 2008 by SMEE

[johnnykipper]

Something that NOBODY has mentioned thus far, and in my opinion, its a factor in keeping people away. And that factor is the sheer cold temperatures experienced at the current location. I am postive, there are many senior citizens , like my old man, who simply cant take the cold and have to stay away. My dad was a season Ticket holder for about 11 seasons till he couldnt take it any more. He was telling me in his last season ticket he bought, he made 4 games. It was even "cold" there in a pre season friendly in July FFS!

I also am of the belief that a move to a more centrally located ground would swell attendances. The club has no sense of community backing it.

If you are going to watch ICT at the Tulloch Stadium, consider not only how cold it is outside but how warm it will be at your destination.

Step1Begin with your bottom layers. You should wear an undershirt, underwear and socks. If it is going to be extremely cold, consider wearing long underwear. Your socks should be thick enough to protect your feet from cold weather.

Step2Add a cotton or knit shirt over your undershirt. The shirts shouldn't be baggy, but it also shouldn't be skin tight. You want to create a thin layer of air between each layer of clothing for insulation. That warm air that is trapped between each layer will keep your warm.

Step3Put on a pair of long pants. Denim and corduroy are good materials for cold weather and are versatile enough to wear in cooler temperatures if the weather changes. If you expect rain, consider a pair of rain pants.

Step4Wear a sweater on top of your shirt. The sweater should be slightly more baggy than the shirt. It should not be extremely thin, but also not so thick that you can't fit your jacket on over it.

Step5Wear sheepskin or other winter boots if you are going to be outdoors for great lengths of time. If you are hiking or walking through snow or ice, select boots that are made of waterproof materials like Gore-Tex. Do not wear shoes without traction. In the winter, it is easy to fall on ice and get injured.

Step6Finish up with your final layer, consisting of an overcoat and protection for your head and hands. An overcoat is vital in cold weather, choose a slick wind breaker or raincoat depending on the forecast.

Step7Protect your head with ear muffs, scarves and hats. The body loses the most heat from the head and the feet; therefore, it's very important to keep these areas covered and warm. Add a pair of gloves to protect your hands.

Hope the above helps and makes watching ICT a more pleasant experience for those who are vulnerable to the cold weather.