Breaking News New Stadium Mk II - Plans revealed.

[Up the Shrimpers]

Yes dont disagree with that.

Brighton however doubled their attendance by getting their new ground but there were other factors at play.

I would expect us, if the stadium was built complete, to see a rise in tickets but we wont get anywhere near what the stadium holds, your 12k in the Championship sounds realistic, anything above 14k is hard to imagine though.

21k is over ambitious, Id have said 16-18k would have been ambitious enough.

Yep don't forget nearly 2,000 seats in the new ground are corporate so that brings down the 'normal' capacity to 19,000. If we were in the championship we would give 3,000 seats to away fans. Loose a few more for segregation and we are looking at a home capacity of around 15,000.

 

[Jai]

Yeah I'm concerned about the vagueness about the phasing. CP will probably have asked, and it doesn't seem like he got a straight answer.

Not a CP story - Ian Burbidge is the author. Ron phoned the Echo rather than vice versa which is interesting seeing as it's been about five years since Ron has piped up about anything. He's obviously confident.

In Ian's request for a comment from me on Friday he did say the phasing would be as before (3 sides and 14,000 seats before the final side is built). My quote was actually: "While it is encouraging that the hold-ups over Roots Hall should no longer impact on our ability to start work at Fossetts Farm, it is of course disappointing that the stadium will initially consist of only three sides."

So I'm not quite sure what happened there. IB may have been wrong about the phasing arrangements when he contacted me, which would explain the omission.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Not a CP story - Ian Burbidge is the author. Ron phoned the Echo rather than vice versa which is interesting seeing as it's been about five years since Ron has piped up about anything. He's obviously confident.

In Ian's request for a comment from me on Friday he did say the phasing would be as before (3 sides and 14,000 seats before the final side is built). My quote was actually: "While it is encouraging that the hold-ups over Roots Hall should no longer impact on our ability to start work at Fossetts Farm, it is of course disappointing that the stadium will initially consist of only three sides."

So I'm not quite sure what happened there. IB may have been wrong about the phasing arrangements when he contacted me, which would explain the omission.

Oh no the ground was going to look odd with 3 stands under the old plans. Now on the new plans no doubt the flats will get built in the corners before the main stand, so it may look worse.
I hope they have pictures of what the ground is going to look like without the main stand!

 

[Jam_Man]

Not a CP story - Ian Burbidge is the author. Ron phoned the Echo rather than vice versa which is interesting seeing as it's been about five years since Ron has piped up about anything. He's obviously confident.

In Ian's request for a comment from me on Friday he did say the phasing would be as before (3 sides and 14,000 seats before the final side is built). My quote was actually: "While it is encouraging that the hold-ups over Roots Hall should no longer impact on our ability to start work at Fossetts Farm, it is of course disappointing that the stadium will initially consist of only three sides."

So I'm not quite sure what happened there. IB may have been wrong about the phasing arrangements when he contacted me, which would explain the omission.

It is odd indeed that part was left out. Whilst the key thing is the stadium gets built the lack of a 4th stand is a big deal.

If it gets built in a year then not so bad but we have been sitting here 7 years without a thing being done, who would feel confident that would be the case.

3 sides is a massive disappointment if it turns out to be the case, and it would seem to be kept on the downlow if so to not affect the rest of the PR.

 

[Pubey]

Not a CP story - Ian Burbidge is the author. Ron phoned the Echo rather than vice versa which is interesting seeing as it's been about five years since Ron has piped up about anything. He's obviously confident.

In Ian's request for a comment from me on Friday he did say the phasing would be as before (3 sides and 14,000 seats before the final side is built). My quote was actually: "While it is encouraging that the hold-ups over Roots Hall should no longer impact on our ability to start work at Fossetts Farm, it is of course disappointing that the stadium will initially consist of only three sides."

So I'm not quite sure what happened there. IB may have been wrong about the phasing arrangements when he contacted me, which would explain the omission.

Ahh ok cheers Jai.

 

[Jim Levenstein]

Slightly different as they were a big club before they lost their ground and their attendance was abnormally low when at the atheltic stadium.

Last time they averaged over 10k previously was 1985 so they have basically gone a whole generation on low attendances so to go back to up the numbers now shows you can bring in fans if the seats are there, appreciate it is a different situation but it wasn't like it was for just a couple of seasons. Their attendance improvement is certainly something we should be looking at. We are pretty much the same as Brighton, similar population, similar distance from London. If they can improve their attendance 4x there is no reason why we can't at the very least double ours, it would be amazing if we could average 16k a game, certainly possible.

 

[Jai]

I don't think it would have been cut for PR reasons - that's the club's job, not the Echo. Ian initially told me the phasing would be 3 sides and 14,000 seats, so I responded to that effect. However he may have found out later that wasn't the case.

It may also have been cut because technically the club still insist we won't be playing in a 3-sided ground - that the fourth side will be built later but will still be up by the time the rest of the stadium is finished. But as you say the club can't be trusted on that.

 

[Liam AAS]

I will be trying to get down for the public consultation and one of the top things I will be interested in is the inclusion of safe-standing areas.

I hope that we can build a decent percentage of seating with the rail seats, whether we ever use them or not. I encourage all those attending to give similar feedback!

 

[Jai]

I will be trying to get down for the public consultation and one of the top things I will be interested in is the inclusion of safe-standing areas.

I hope that we can build a decent percentage of seating with the rail seats, whether we ever use them or not. I encourage all those attending to give similar feedback!

Good point, this is something I will be asking about. While it won't incorporate rail seats at first while the current legislation is how it is, I hope there is provision to adopt it at a later stage, even if it is just for a section of one of the end stands.

 

[Liam AAS]

Good point, this is something I will be asking about. While it won't incorporate rail seats at first while the current legislation is how it is, I hope there is provision to adopt it at a later stage, even if it is just for a section of one of the end stands.

Ashton Gate has them. Admittedly they're never used as a standing section for football but I believe they can still be installed?

 

[Jai]

I suppose so as they are seats too.

Edit: Seems they're not going to put them in but might in future: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-29738556

 

[fbm]

Last time they averaged over 10k previously was 1985 so they have basically gone a whole generation on low attendances so to go back to up the numbers now shows you can bring in fans if the seats are there, appreciate it is a different situation but it wasn't like it was for just a couple of seasons. Their attendance improvement is certainly something we should be looking at. We are pretty much the same as Brighton, similar population, similar distance from London. If they can improve their attendance 4x there is no reason why we can't at the very least double ours, it would be amazing if we could average 16k a game, certainly possible.

Don't think so -

The 2011 census for Southend puts the population at 173,658 and Brighton is 273,369, meaning they are getting on for 60% bigger.

 

[Jai]

Plus of course Brighton is only hemmed in by the sea on one side. There's nothing but fish east or south of Southend.

 

[mrsblue]

Comparing us with Brighton is laughable,Albion are a far bigger club with large support.

The proposed 21000 for us will IMO be a sorry sight with 6000 sloshing inside the stadium,the championship if we ever get there will require serious player investment just to stay in that division.

 

[londonblue]

I don't think it would have been cut for PR reasons - that's the club's job, not the Echo. Ian initially told me the phasing would be 3 sides and 14,000 seats, so I responded to that effect. However he may have found out later that wasn't the case.

It may also have been cut because technically the club still insist we won't be playing in a 3-sided ground - that the fourth side will be built later but will still be up by the time the rest of the stadium is finished. But as you say the club can't be trusted on that.

Possibly given that the design has changed, and those numbers are the same as the original phasing.

Who knows...

 

[Jam_Man]

Last time they averaged over 10k previously was 1985 so they have basically gone a whole generation on low attendances so to go back to up the numbers now shows you can bring in fans if the seats are there, appreciate it is a different situation but it wasn't like it was for just a couple of seasons. Their attendance improvement is certainly something we should be looking at. We are pretty much the same as Brighton, similar population, similar distance from London. If they can improve their attendance 4x there is no reason why we can't at the very least double ours, it would be amazing if we could average 16k a game, certainly possible.

Looking through their historical gates they have indeed not been great http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/bha.htm

They are however a lot further from a Premiership club than us, and we have historically had a migration from London to here which brough allegiances to all the London clubs, Brighton dont really have that same problem.

We will see an increase IF the ground is 4 sided, but it wont double and even if it did 16k is nearly 3 times what we averaged last season.

If we opened the stadium in League One complete I think we would be lucky to be getting 10-12k.

 

[Stourport Shrimper]

Maybe the 21,000 is for the pop concerts?

 

[TrevorFitzpatrickHattrick]

Don't think so -

The 2011 census for Southend puts the population at 173,658 and Brighton is 273,369, meaning they are getting on for 60% bigger.

Agreed. Brighton are a slightly different proposition to ourselves in terms of fanbase.

- There tends to be less support/interest in the big London sides.
- Support for BHA is very much a generational thing.
- They derive support from a number of other large conurbations nearby (Newhaven, Worthing, Shoreham).

I think Brighton's blueprint would be great for us to emulate, just on a slightly smaller scale.

 

[rigsby]

It does look decent. With us not reliant on sainsbury and having a very decent player behind us I can now see these taking off.

The ball is now in the councils court

Why......Has Ryan Leonard been shooting again

 

[Liam AAS]

Advice on safe standing areas from the guy who runs the roadshows: