Grandstand Design

Did Brents failed ministand plan include executive style boxes spanning the length of the pitch (similar as what we have now)? Or were all the corporate prawn sandwich areas planned to be crammed in around the school and dentists in the corners??

If memory serves I don't recall seeing anything in the main body of the stand or below the 'shelf', though admittedly the sketch first published did appear to have been drawn by an 8 year old with the artistic talent of a 4 year old.

Aaaaaaanyway, what I'm mostly getting at is.....with the school and dentist consigned to the dustbin how does this impact on the design of any future PCC funded Grandstand? Will they too insist on filling in the corners? I was watching the Blackpool game just now. Their main stand appeared almost identical (from what i could see) in size design and depth to our horseshoe. Only difference was that they had a row of exec type boxes above the last row of seats. I know it's only Blackpool but for a new Grandstand it was pretty shit. I hope that ain't the shape of things to come down here.

You Don't trust PCC to deliver a magnificent three tiered leviathan with the finest corporate facilities this side of Dubai?

Les Miserable wrote:

You Don't trust PCC to deliver a magnificent three tiered leviathan with the finest corporate facilities this side of Dubai?

i dont trust them to run a bus service on time.

Whatever happened to the magnificent design drawn up by Dougie?

Anyone seen the lego movie?

Yes, I loved it!

It was funny seeing teenagers there watching it as well.

Back to original question.

Yes there were a number of boxes under the shelf in front of the corporate area.
What would have happened in the |"studio school rooms" with views onto pitch on matchday was never declared.

'Plymouth Calling' the Councils gonna build us a new grandstand......

green_genie wrote:

Back to original question.

Yes there were a number of boxes under the shelf in front of the corporate area.
What would have happened in the |"studio school rooms" with views onto pitch on matchday was never declared.

Ah right cheers for that, Genie.

The council must be lobbied hard, from the outset of anything being announced, the fans need to mount a proper organised campaign to at the very least get half a decent stand WITH ABILITY TO ENLARGE IN THE FUTURE! Sure we don't need a 25k capacity now but at say 17,500 with the ability to build upwards and into the corners in the future if and when the need arises, why wouldn't you want that?

Iggy wrote:

The council must be lobbied hard, from the outset of anything being announced, the fans need to mount a proper organised campaign to at the very least get half a decent stand WITH ABILITY TO ENLARGE IN THE FUTURE! Sure we don't need a 25k capacity now but at say 17,500 with the ability to build upwards and into the corners in the future if and when the need arises, why wouldn't you want that?

I want to see us play in a bigger, better stadium. Much bigger and much better. I am realistic though (or at least like to think so). To start with I'd like to see the "stand built to maintain capacity" clause honoured and not defiled in the way it has been. The capacity of Home Park is not 16000 and so building a new stand to 17000 or so does not excede the commitment necessary. This is pure bunk. Home Park's current capacity is around 20,000 and should be maintained at at least that level. At a later date the corners could be filled in increasing capacity again.

By then we'd be up to around 22-23,000 which could then be added to quite simply, so long as the ground is not encircled by roads and other development, by replacing the Devonport End (up to maybe 25-26,000 now). It is quite clear now that extending the Lyndhurst is only achieveable at immense cost and complication so in all likelihood that's a pipe dream unless it gets flattened and we start again.

Obviously this all boils down to money and building big complicated structures like an 8000 seat grandstand is going to be expensive which then begs the question: do we actually need to do it?

As far as I am aware it might be a shabby mess to look at and it might afford a poor view from many of its seats and it might lack appropriate infra-structure underneath it but it is still structurally sound (as far as I know). So give it some TLC to keep it going and reinstate the seating on the Mayflower. IIRC we saved £100k per year by not hiring that seating anymore so don't replace it with expensive hired seating but buy some in. At a stroke and with relatively little expense capacity is back to 20,000.

If some money is available for further improvement then start to fill in the corners (one at a time, maybe) and build the requisite infra-structure (such as a Media Suite or whatever) into them as we go.

All of this is specific, measurable, achievable and required but none of it is time restricted in the sense of a date but it is by context due to success. It's almost a smart idea.

It would deliver what everybody wants, simply, quickly and inexpensively. It would provide plenty of bang for buck, represent genuine investment in the club and its future and would lay the foundations for greater success in the future not only to be achieved but to be fully exploited and improved upon when it came. And then when we're in the PL and packing 'em in and demand for tickets is high we could siphon off the £15m (or whatever) needed and put up a proper stonker of a grandstand to get capacity up even further. It's just what we need now, soon, a bit after that and well into the future so why hasn't anybody ever been campaigning for it?

Football first, grandstand later.

Iggy wrote:

Football first, grandstand later.

No. I can't agree with that. That's just a recipe for never doing anything.

No matter where we are in a league or which league we are in there'll always be a strong case to be made, on that basis, for strengthening the team either to go up or to stay up.

I understand the sentiment but it is just a case which has to be ignored no matter how strident the clamour for it may become.

Iggy wrote:

Football first, grandstand later.

Well if the council are paying for the Grandstand we can have both. We can have our cake and eat it too..

And really... What are the council going to do if we can't quite make the rent one year? Kick Argyle out and rent Home Park to someone else?

Yeah, right...

The trouble is we have forgotten we are a football club, politics, property and bullshit abound at HP and around it, you just need to take the football more seriously, when would you suggest we "go for it" to try and get out of this dogshit league?

So when are PCC going to announce their Grandstand funding plan? I seem to remember an obscure PAFC Official Site statement saying that some sort of announcement would be made in about 8 weeks regarding HHP. That was probably about a month ago.

Is that statement from the club linked directly to a forthcoming PCC statement?

A date was suggested to me but I've had two dates suggested already that have passed so I don't know how reliable this is:

October 21st.

Take it or leave it.

Do you have anything sooner? Mornings are preferable...

Give the reins to the council we're fecked.  They only care about themselves.

Sadly we need a 'jimmy' sort but not the jimmy we've got.

Abandon this Argo, it's for the best.

I'd rather we stood up and held the council to account. The land has covenants which we should fight every inch for. Bollox to the present, fight for the future.

if the council get more involved it will be impossible to sell the club more so.

We assume the council to be legal owners of home park because they recently paid for it. They also sold it. Was it really theirs to sell to begin with?

I wouldn't know but I guess we all take it for granted....

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Iggy wrote:

Football first, grandstand later.

No. I can't agree with that. That's just a recipe for never doing anything.

No matter where we are in a league or which league we are in there'll always be a strong case to be made, on that basis, for strengthening the team either to go up or to stay up.

I understand the sentiment but it is just a case which has to be ignored no matter how strident the clamour for it may become.

Pilgrim61 puts it better on the farm,
PL2 p, fair point but as you say they are experienced in foitball matters (talking of Jones, Wrathall and Starnes)....not the game itself. PAFC is a football club. My point is that there is no football strategy top to bottom. I hate to say it, but look how well the model has worked at Exeter, a club with no money that continually outperforms expectations (albeit modest) as they have a vision and a plan as to how they will play and develop players.

Surely any football club should have this in place before ever looking at enlarging their ground, we still risk having the best stand in none league football. Getting out of this shit league and providing a safety net of points against any future admin deductions is the most serious job at hand at the moment, I'm not saying the future capacity isn't but we need a football team, we are a football club FFS!

I still don't agree.

The basic premise there is that the team needs prioritising above something else. Well.. yes. Of course it does but that will never under any foreseeable circumstances change in the future and has always been the case in the past.

It's not a case of either/or or this-or-that at all. We need them all. Now. With equal urgency.

As for achieving the various improvements that are needed then it's a case of practicalities. What is absolutely essential right now? What opportunities exist right now which may not in the future? What is achievable?

And while a new grandstand might not be absolutely essential right now (see my earlier post) the opportunity clearly exists due to the willingness of PCC to co-operate to get one built. The club would be absolutely bonkers to pass on this chance because if it does then one day it'll have to find the money itself - and we know that that leads either nowhere or to somewhere like HHP or the failed WC2018 plan.

As for the vision which defines us and our goals as a club... Yep. Couldn't agree more.