thank god for rootshall

[A Century United]

Surely not sir? I will be gutted!

No, I mean it. I love the place, but I don't think I will be particularly sentimental about it.

 

[hindle_666]

dont you think the concourse's are terrible,they pack you in them like a heard of sheep,grounds with these are.

millwall
millenium stadium
scum
donny
swansea
all new grounds really

i would like the club to build a bar with a bit of character a few pictures of the hall and other old grounds,former players,a seating area,not just everyone in a concreate block under the stairs.however at least at northampton there's life outside the ground,
unlike saturday,i assume from talk about retail outlets ours if ever built will be similar?

 

[A Century United]

dont you think the concourse's are terrible,they pack you in them like a heard of sheep,grounds with these are.

millwall
millenium stadium
scum
donny
swansea
all new grounds really

i would like the club to build a bar with a bit of character a few pictures of the hall and other old grounds,former players,a seating area,not just everyone in a concreate block under the stairs.however at least at northampton there's life outside the ground,
unlike saturday,i assume from talk about retail outlets ours if ever built will be similar?

Do agree with that - hate the standard concourse, and a bar or bars would be a huge improvement.

 

[hindle_666]

Surely not sir? I will be gutted!

i feel the same will be a very sad day:'( if and when it happens,i wiil be gutted!

 

[BoyWonder2]

Wasn't there talk from RM of employing an accoustics expert in the design of the ground to help produce an atmosphere even if the ground is half full?

FF is the future for this Club. We will be able to make money 24/7 from the additional facilities we will have which is a massive boost to a Club of our size. I deal with Leicester City Football Club through work and they do a lot of conferences etc during the season and summer months which brings in additional finances. Also, another avenue will be concerts when the season has finished, another way of making money we wouldn't be able to do at RH.

I will miss RH for sure, but for Southend United to continue to grow then FF is a must.

 

[Mr Plow]

dont you think the concourse's are terrible,they pack you in them like a heard of sheep,grounds with these are.

millwall
millenium stadium
scum
donny
swansea
all new grounds really

i would like the club to build a bar with a bit of character a few pictures of the hall and other old grounds,former players,a seating area,not just everyone in a concreate block under the stairs.however at least at northampton there's life outside the ground,
unlike saturday,i assume from talk about retail outlets ours if ever built will be similar?

You have to remember though that we only get to see the bowels of the away stands, the home concourses could possibly be better fitted out. I Don't think clubs are gonna spend a great deal of money making the away concourse state of the art when the money can be better spent in other areas.

 

[MOODYSHRIMPER]

come on then realistically when will be the last game at roots hall 5 years time?? ff may not get built and £80m is a lot of money to find, just think in that 5 years we could experience premiership football or conference football. where do we think we will end up. I am sure next season will be spending money on players and rising through the divisions once again.OH LOOK HERE COMES MY NURSE WITH MY MEDICINE

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

well think about this then, our average attendance this season is 5983. this includes all cup games. we would be in the same situation as col u when/if we do actually move to fossetts farm. based on this seasons average attendance the ground would be less than 1/3 full. of course it is good for us to be moving to a new state of the art stadium, and shows planning for future success. but realisticallythe idea of blues in the prem or even a solid CCC team is a LONG way off. im all for the new stadium, but it's not going to look good with only a 1/3 maybe sometimes 1/2 the stadium full and the atmosphere could very well be non-existent

Including all cup games our home average is 7,136 still as you say a third of the capacity of the new ground. But you would hope our crowds would increase at a new ground.

The atmosphere at Roots Hall is often poor, but again at the new ground all the singers should be able to sit together & create some sort of atmosphere.

As already pointed out one of the major benefits of a new ground would be the clear view of the pitch (unless we build a brick wall right next to a block of seats like at Colchester, great idea that one!!).

 

[Bielzibubz]

come on then realistically when will be the last game at roots hall 5 years time?? ff may not get built and £80m is a lot of money to find, just think in that 5 years we could experience premiership football or conference football. where do we think we will end up. I am sure next season will be spending money on players and rising through the divisions once again.OH LOOK HERE COMES MY NURSE WITH MY MEDICINE

Realistically? To tell the truth I have no idea but what I do know (ok, what I firmly believe) is that Fossets Farm WILL happen. It may not be in the next 18 to 24 months. It may not be in the next 36 to 48. But it WILL happen.

RM has far to much money invested in SUFC's future, both personally & on a business level, to walk away and call it a day. If, God forbid, Fossets Farm doesn't happen then there will be nothing keeping RM here and I really do think he'll walk and believe you me if that should happen then it's sounds the death nell of our beloved Southend United. I've explained countles times before the reasons behind why I think and why I so strongly believe FF will get built and can't really be bothered to go through them all again

I love Roots Hall and all the memories it's given me over the years, both good and bad, but I'd much rather endure the chants of 'Your grounds to big' or whatever than not actually have a team to support. That's the only option that would be left should FF not get built because Southend United cannot survive at Roots Hall and to a great extent without Ron Martin and the plans he's made for our future.

 

[Beefy]

im all for the new stadium, but it's not going to look good with only a 1/3 maybe sometimes 1/2 the stadium full and the atmosphere could very well be non-existent

Roots Hall was only 1/3 maybe 1/2 sometimes full for most of the nineties. And the atmosphere was certainly non-existent. And it could happen again if we stand still.

Moving to a new ground doesn't guarantee increased gates or success. But it does give us much greater potential for those things to happen.

 

[weststander]

Including all cup games our home average is 7,136 still as you say a third of the capacity of the new ground. But you would hope our crowds would increase at a new ground.

The atmosphere at Roots Hall is often poor, but again at the new ground all the singers should be able to sit together & create some sort of atmosphere.

As already pointed out one of the major benefits of a new ground would be the clear view of the pitch (unless we build a brick wall right next to a block of seats like at Colchester, great idea that one!!).

Fair points here, but also Colchesters crowds are up 28% on the last time they were in this league, if that were to happen to us our average would be 9,136 which is almost half full !! If you remember it was only a short time ago when our average attendance was around 4,000 thats only a third of roots hall capacity, yet we were still able to make an atmosphere. I truly believe that its not the size of the crowd, its the passion that they have and that will lead to atmoshpere.

 

[hindle_666]

Fair points here, but also Colchesters crowds are up 28% on the last time they were in this league, if that were to happen to us our average would be 9,136 which is almost half full !! If you remember it was only a short time ago when our average attendance was around 4,000 thats only a third of roots hall capacity, yet we were still able to make an atmosphere. I truly believe that its not the size of the crowd, its the passion that they have and that will lead to atmoshpere.

good point there has proberly been a better atmosphere at roots hall with 6500 (like bristol rvrs) than when we have had 8000+.

 

[wiggy]

Sorry but I actually liked the ground!

I love Roots Hall as I am a passionate Southend fan, however to be honest the ground has numerous faults including pillars providing 50% of seats with poor view and cack catering facilities.

If you would ask an unbiased fan what is the better ground I would assume most people would prefer the scums ground.

Have to agree, nearer to the pitch, better atmosphere than Leicester, Derby and worst of all MK Dons and ours is supposed to be similar, frightening thought going to that every week. Think Col U have come out of it alright really, fill the corners in and would take that any time over the above 3!

 

[MOODYSHRIMPER]

RM investing personally?? this is big news, there was me thinking he had managed to sell the debt at roots hall to another company, personally invested probably less than me over the 40 years of supporting southend. I tell you what if ff doesnt get built southend united will still be in existnt playing at roots hall. dont you worry about that , mind you if its 4 years away we could be in the conference then

 

[A Century United]

RM investing personally?? this is big news, there was me thinking he had managed to sell the debt at roots hall to another company, personally invested probably less than me over the 40 years of supporting southend. I tell you what if ff doesnt get built southend united will still be in existnt playing at roots hall. dont you worry about that , mind you if its 4 years away we could be in the conference then

The debt hasn't gone away, regardless of the business manouverings. If FF doesn't get built then Southend will almost certainly go to the wall, just as Beefy has already said.

 

[A Century United]

good point there has proberly been a better atmosphere at roots hall with 6500 (like bristol rvrs) than when we have had 8000+.

I think that that is an artefact of having had the North Bank. We used to think we were creating a great atmosphere, and within the North Bank we were, but as can clearly be seen by the deluded postings of away fans who think that they have outsung us every time, that atmosphere doesn't extend around the ground. Roots Hall has been a Morgue more often than it has been a Cauldron.

 

[MOODYSHRIMPER]

we wont go to the wall. very few football clubs go bust anymore, despite lots of hype in the press, the last team to go bust was nearly 20 years ago Aldershot!!

 

[A Century United]

we wont go to the wall. very few football clubs go bust anymore, despite lots of hype in the press, the last team to go bust was nearly 20 years ago Aldershot!!

Scarborough, to name one. And Weeds only avoided it by some "Creative Administration". That is just astonishing naievety. We are in the middle of a credit crunch.... Just how willing or even able will banks be to continue to support failing clubs with massive debts?

And even going into Administration is almost automatic relegation these days, and as Luton and Bournemouth have seen, it can mean Conference footie.

 

[MOODYSHRIMPER]

actually you have hit the nail on the head here, support a club with massive debts, how does borrowing £80m sound???

Revenue streams could made at any stadium if there was will to do so.
Look at portsmouth, I went down there recently, they have managed increase the revenue from around the ground developements and activities. This is certainly possible at roots hall, given the land around the ground behind north and east stand, I think this is more about what RM wants to make, than whats good for southend utd. I am sure we will see retail units(empty) go up at ff and southends answer to thamesmead(low cost housing) but as for the bit in the middle, no its not going to happen