Villa Park redevelopment

[mikeyjavfc]

I will forgive and forget on the north stand redevelopment if the club could commit to a proper stadium wide refurb of the concourse and fan areas. The facilities in the concourses are shabby and outdated. If we’re not rebuilding or moving let’s improve what we have to make the best experience out of the stadium we love. Hell let’s have some public realm improvements to the car parks and outdoor areas while we’re at it. This could make villa park a modern facility and would surely cost no more than £20m. Revenue on sales of improved drink and food offering and increased speed of service would offset the cost. 

[CVByrne]

3 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

the last 3 owners including the current ones have all talked about redeveloping the north stand. what a bizarre comment

The project was very grand, knocking down the stand, Villa Live etc. Maybe Heck has a more pragmatic view which is less disruptive to existing match day experience and stadium capacity. 

Just copy what Liverpool did basically. 

[Hank Scorpio]

2 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

I will forgive and forget on the north stand redevelopment if the club could commit to a proper stadium wide refurb of the concourse and fan areas. The facilities in the concourses are shabby and outdated. If we’re not rebuilding or moving let’s improve what we have to make the best experience out of the stadium we love. Hell let’s have some public realm improvements to the car parks and outdoor areas while we’re at it. This could make villa park a modern facility and would surely cost no more than £20m. Revenue on sales of improved drink and food offering and increased speed of service would offset the cost. 

You don't have the space in the existing concourses to do anything better.

When did you last go in the North stand? You can barely turn around and not get elbowed in the face.

[villaglint]

Presumably all the other clubs do this as well? I’ve no idea.

Feels like we are forever drawing up plans spending ages working on them and then not doing them. Do other clubs waste their own time as much as we do? 

[Sam-AVFC]

3 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Any coincidence that Atairos announcement and this was so close?

Dunno man, but Delphinhos senses are-a tinglin'. 

New stadium on the horizon. 

I imagine any investment funding a stadium would come much later in the process. Particularly as we have a chance to really build our brand value in the next few years. 

[tomav84]

these new investors coming in tasked with investing in the infrustructure and then this announcement is weird timing. definitely don't feel we've been told the full story

[nick76]

9 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

these new investors coming in tasked with investing in the infrustructure and then this announcement is weird timing. definitely don't feel we've been told the full story

Yeah feel I’m going into conspiracy territory but one announcement one day as you say followed by this today feels like there is more to this story to come.

[Captain_Townsend]

A classic Villa game against Inter Milan was played in front of a semi built new Holte End and that is widely seen as one of the great Villa Park nights. It was crackling. The idea that we shouldn't do the much needed revamp because we would have a building site for big games is, quite frankly, an insult to our intelligence. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Captain_Townsend

[Tayls]

43 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

Or maybe we’re getting primed for a sale……

It’s the only logical explanation. 

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

We could follow what Liverpool did and build around and above the existing stand and keeping it operational.

Unfortunately not, it'd be both complicated and quite probably more expensive than knocking it down and going from scratch. Liverpool's stand had a different type of roof design and was built on flat land - the North Stand is built on a constructed mound and the 'goalpost' style support that holds the roof would be almost impossible to remove while you did the work because it's embedded into the structure and contributes to its integrity.

If you look at this picture of the North Stand you can see how the roof and stand are sort of suspended under that big frame:

Whereas at Anfield, the roof rested on supports at either end:

Removing the big brown goal post support and dealing with the mound of earth would make it impossible.

Liverpool basically kept their lower tier - ours would be almost impossible to keep and have any sort of sensible design.

[DJBOB]

26 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

That's fine but what happens if this season goes wrong and we don't make CL now? It's insanely short sighted.

Unless the costs are the factor I don't get it at all. And also does Mr Heck think construction costs will drop? They won't.

I suspect cost is the main factor. In the same vein, if we don't make UCL - then that's a plonking investment to reno the North Stand with no promise of UCL or return. Purslow might have sold a pretty vision but it's a long way from the drawing board to breaking ground.

Anfield started its reno in 2021 and has already been delayed because the construction company when bankrupt. And all of that was only after a premier league title and a UCL title.

The fans deserve the renovation, but I think you'd have to be incredibly optimistic to think that even NWSE, as rich as they are, will do it for the Villa faithful. They expect a return or a business plan that won't let them run over budget and over time.

Heck may be unlikable but it's pretty much the job of the head of operations to make the annoying choices and be unliked.

Edited December 19, 2023 by DJBOB

[OutByEaster?]

I don't necessarily think that we'll see huge increases in season ticket prices - I think we'll see a reduction in the number of them slightly.

We're all thinking about how to add more £40 seats and Heck is thinking how many of the existing ones he can convert to an offering with a bigger yield to give him the right balance.

[OutByEaster?]

I think as well as a ROI, there's a brand strength reason to get rid of the North Stand - the biggest teams in the biggest league in the world don't play in stadiums that have stands like the North Stand - if we're to be that, we'll need to look the part to attract investment.

 

[Captain_Townsend]

North stand was outdated by the 90s as soon as all seaters came in and the lower tier terracing was converted to seating. Even Ellis had plans to replace it in the early 2000s.

[Tayls]

3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think as well as a ROI, there's a brand strength reason to get rid of the North Stand - the biggest teams in the biggest league in the world don't play in stadiums that have stands like the North Stand - if we're to be that, we'll need to look the part to attract investment.

 

So, why cancel it? (Or ‘pause’ it). Should we be looking at this in a negative light? Is there ‘something’ going on that we should be concerned with? 

[Tayls]

35 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Heck may be unlikable but it's pretty much the job of the head of operations to make the annoying choices and be unliked.

Is he going to be our Jerry Krause? 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Tayls

[Chindie]

4 minutes ago, Tayls said:

So, why cancel it? (Or ‘pause’ it). Should we be looking at this in a negative light? Is there ‘something’ going on that we should be concerned with? 

Its too expensive with too long a return, despite it being good for the club over potentially decades and something we objectively need to do.

Other cheaper options offer faster returns on lower investments.

[villarule123]

I'm absolutely gutted about this. Apart from winning a trophy or potential CL football, that stand was the thing I was most excited about going forwards for the Villa.

It started to feel 'off' when they changed their plans for Villa Live (which I thought would be a really cool idea), then they just started to go quieter and quieter on the whole redevelopment. For me the new stand was going to be a big part of the legacy of the owner's time at the club. Something to be really proud of. Now I'm left wondering what hidden messages are surrounding the shelved plans and whether it's a sign the owners may not be around in the long-term after all.

As others have said, we really needed this stand to look the part, and keep moving forward along with other clubs we're competing with. All our supposed rivals have either got a much larger stadium, built a new stadium or have improved upon an already existing stadium. We haven't done anything to ours since I was 9 years old!

[Tayls]

2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Its too expensive with too long a return, despite it being good for the club over potentially decades and something we objectively need to do.

Other cheaper options offer faster returns on lower investments.

But why do we need faster returns? 

[Talldarkandransome]

I don't think there's anything clandestine going on here, pretty sure the owners are still 100% in... maybe they just know something we don't.