In some respects not surprising given the saga we've all had to endure to get to this point, but most of the objections raised in this thread are either from a position of ignorance or simply a matter of personal taste (which I imagine has been somewhat clouded by the all-consuming hatred some espouse for Ron).
Firstly, this is absolutely nothing new. For anyone who has been paying attention (and thanks to a few dedicated posters who go through each iteration of the planning docs, and contribute to some v interesting discussions in the Fossets section of the forum), the news of a reduced capacity and flats replacing the hotel was thoroughly discussed back in September of last year.
A capacity of over 16,000 will absolutely be more than sufficient for us in almost every conceivable future scenario. We can, with good new ownership, strong management, and some luck establish ourselves as a L1 club with championship ambitions with the stadium as proposed in these plans. Anything higher than that is a) pretty damn unlikely - honestly go and look at the names of the clubs at the top of L1 right now and tell me which ones you think we ought to be competing with; and b) attendance numbers start to diminish in importance given the obscene TV deals in the Prem and filtering down to the Championship. 16k+ is more than enough.
Secondly, complaints over the phasing are, as far as I can tell, driven by a blind pessimistic presumption that nothing good can ever come of this development (understandable given the tribulations over the years). But things have changed. The training ground has been developed. The club is for sale. The council want their thousands of new homes. This
is going to happen now. And the idea that any new owner waiting in the wings to buy us because of our potential is going to be happy to plod along with us in a 3-sided stadium with its main stand and revenue generator missing in perpetuity seems a bit unlikely. Even after phase 1, the 3 stands will give us significantly more revenue streams, fewer overheads and a much more pleasant experience than the current state of Roots Hall.
And please, if you are still talking about us having no revenue streams because the hotel has been dropped, do yourself and everyone else a favour and find some of
@C'mon you Shrimpers posts in the stadium section, because he has done the work for you. There are bars, cafes, food outlets, boxes, ballrooms, and space that can be tailored for whatever the new owners have in mind (office space etc.).
In terms of the design of the stadium itself - it looks pretty good to me, but appreciate that is down to personal taste. Safe standing to create a proper home end will be great, and I actually don't mind the flats built into the main stand. It gives a sense of scale to the ground that we could never achieve through seating alone as we'll never need a 40/50k stadium.
Finally, and probably most disappointingly, the frequent complaints in this thread about this being a housing development with a stadium built on, or us being stuck in a 'ghetto' (from posters with a dubious history of talking about ethnicity of our prospective new neighbours). Honestly, get a ****ing grip. We're currently sitting on a former rubbish dump down Vic Avenue, it's hardly the Ritz. Football stadiums should be in amongst housing, it's where up until 20 years ago, they've always been. Give me this over a stadium attached to a drab and dying retail park any day.
Having lived for a few years in the Olympic Village in Stratford, and actually looked at the Residential plans for this development unlike some of the critics, these modern developments really aren't this eyesore people are thinking of. They are generally quite well designed, have cafes/shops on the ground level and multiple green spaces. I genuinely think in 5/10 years time this will be a desirable part of Southend to be in, and with the right ownership we will be able to take advantage of thousands of new prospective fans right on our doorstep.
I know the last few years have been incredibly depressing for all of us, but really please do try to tone down the 'everything is **** and I hate it' stuff around the stadium. Provided the sale of the club goes well, we've got plans in place for a really bright future, and when we eventually get there I do think the vast majority will be delighted with it.
