Villa Park redevelopment

[Brumstopdogs]

I assume the proposed corporate hospitality heavy model of the North Stand will also be looked at and may be revised because the Terrace View and Lower Grounds probably have not have been received aswell as the club expected.

Let's see what happens. Paused doesn't mean stopped but I can see why people will doubt if it will ever happen. UTV!

 

[meregreen]

47 minutes ago, spiezels said:

Absolutely. Birmingham council are bankrupt and the tories are **** next year. 
 

I’d assume all infrastructure upgrades are canned and if thats the case, we really cant add 10,000 seats. 
 

 

Before the advent of all seater stadiums, Villa Park frequently had attendances North of 50,000. I personally was in a crowd of 62,000. It really isn’t a deal breaker.

[NurembergVillan]

21 minutes ago, JPAngel said:

It really sounds like Heck is concerned about having 10,000 extra people use the existing transport links around Villa Park and I do understand where he's coming from. Anyone who visited the ground when we were pulling in 30,000 fans in the Championship can attest to how much worse travelling in is now we're filling VP again. Now add 10,000 more fans on to already strained transport links and it's clear to see there's a problem. Perhaps he wants that solved before moving ahead with extra seats.

Isn't it the case that the planning application is only approved on the basis that transport links are upgraded too?

[Stevo985]

28 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Heck will be entirely short term thinking. He won't be here in 5 years, arguably not even 3. He needs to pad his CV with short term ready deliverables - stuff that easily drives sales. The stadium is potentially a big millstone around his career so in the bin it goes.

Exactly

 

[sne]

Thank McGrath that things on the pitch is going great because the off field stuff is a bit all over the place.

[Don_Simon]

Just watched the video. 

It smacks of short term thinking. "We're doing so well now, we can't renovate fortress Villa Park whilst it's a fortress".

Sweet. So the plan is then to add seats when we're shit? Or middling? Or been exceptional for a decade?

The communication from the club has been so muddled for probably 18 months. It's frustrating.

Heck's comment on "improving Villa Park for all sets of fans, not just one group of fans" is the diametric opposite of actions thus far. So far he and his colleagues have worked for the wealthy fan and marginalised the "normal".

I'm disappointed with the news today, which is a shame.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Don_Simon

[Delphinho123]

3 minutes ago, Pongo Waring said:

I'm excited for the Villa Bowl. We can blow Spurs new Stadium out the water. 

 

Yeh man, why not! 

Finding the land is hard. You'd almost have to accept it would be outside of the city in an area with decent transport links - The NEC springs to mind (I know it's been done to death). 

We're 50% owned by an American owner. They have stadiums that are 100x better than what we have. Stuff that makes Arsenal and Spurs stadiums look average.
Check out the So-fi,  met life, at&t and the allegiant. 

If we went down the route of building a new 65k seater stadium - hell, I'm all for it. Ideally, I would like to see a brick facade but could pass on it. 

Bring on the Tesla Villa Bowl!

[Talldarkandransome]

21 minutes ago, Pongo Waring said:

Yeah same. Move it away from Aston. Lichfield or near the NEC

New Villa Park 

Himley Park would be ideal

[Don_Simon]

21 minutes ago, Pongo Waring said:

Yeah same. Move it away from Aston. Lichfield or near the NEC

New Villa Park 

Serious?

[ThunderPower_14]

33 minutes ago, sidcow said:

This is exactly what I fear. 

He's American. He won't respect the tradition at all. If he thinks he can get a new bowl at The NEC that's exact what he'll do. 

 

I think this is unfair.

American sport honours tradition like nothing else, occasionally to a fault.

There is a repeated theme with criticisms of Heck that he's American so he won't get it, but look at the big 4 sports over there. While they have plenty of brand new stadiums, they also have a lot of historic old teams in very old stadiums that they've stayed in because it's important to the fans.

The rebrand Heck did for Philadelphia brought a classic aesthetic into the modern era to basically universal acclaim. It showed a clear understanding of what the fanbase wanted. It's worth giving him a chance here.

[Davkaus]

Have we considered designing and launching two North Stands and binning one of them off after a year?  

[Davkaus]

38 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Heck will be entirely short term thinking. He won't be here in 5 years, arguably not even 3. He needs to pad his CV with short term ready deliverables - stuff that easily drives sales. The stadium is potentially a big millstone around his career so in the bin it goes.

I would think that NSWE would have the awareness, competence and influence to overrule him if they suspected that this was the wrong decision.

[Delphinho123]

46 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Fair comment.

A decent, and heavily controlled interview from the club. He comes off OK.

I'm sceptical the home form is completely the reason for stopping north stand construction. More like the chance to whack up ticket prices while we're flying, then coin in 42k worth.

We shall see.

This is what will happen and I agree. 

We'll see a big increase in season ticket prices next season and we'll see a massive backlash, before most people go onto buy them and then all the dust will settle and everyone will have forgotten because we'll be winning (I hope). 

Personally, and I know people hate it, a new stadium isn't a bad idea. It really isn't. 50% of our stadium is shit and quite frankly, aside from the decent hospitality, the Trinity road lost all it's charm the moment we knocked down the brick facade. 

If we can tastefully build a new stadium with 60K+ capacity, do it. Well, in my opinion anyway. 

[Pongo Waring]

5 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

Serious?

Yes. Better facilities, better location, more money for Villa better image for Villa and the city of Birmingham. 

[The Fun Factory]

12 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Isn't it the case that the planning application is only approved on the basis that transport links are upgraded too?

That was never a pre-condition. It was discussed but not essential. Villa have made it a reason not to progress, as anything other than a new Witton station would probably cost Villa to sort out.

[islingtonclaret]

This geezer is annoying more than Robbie Savage right now.

[Delphinho123]

6 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Have we considered designing and launching two North Stands and binning one of them off after a year?  

You forgot the polling. We'd need at least one poll. 

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Yeh man, why not! 

Finding the land is hard. You'd almost have to accept it would be outside of the city in an area with decent transport links - The NEC springs to mind (I know it's been done to death). 

We're 50% owned by an American owner. They have stadiums that are 100x better than what we have. Stuff that makes Arsenal and Spurs stadiums look average.
Check out the So-fi,  met life, at&t and the allegiant. 

If we went down the route of building a new 65k seater stadium - hell, I'm all for it. Ideally, I would like to see a brick facade but could pass on it. 

Bring on the Tesla Villa Bowl!

[Don_Simon]

1 minute ago, Pongo Waring said:

Yes. Better facilities, better location, more money for Villa better image for Villa and the city of Birmingham. 

I'm surprised someone with the username of Pongo Waring would be so quick to dismiss the history and heritage of Villa Park for a quick buck and "to better the image of Birmingham", something that is of no consequence to Villa. 

Each to their own.

[Talldarkandransome]

I can see where he's coming from, closing a stand the day after what could possibly be our most successful season in a long time. Can't remember how many seats are in the North Stand to lose... but surely that's always gonna be the case.

If we're shit we don't need extra seats, if we're great we can't get extra seats cos we're great. It's a strange one