Smurthwaite: Railway bar coming this summer but Lorne St work on hold…

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In a response to an opinion piece on OVF, owner Norman Smurthwaite has*given an update on ground developments. After the Q&A with Smurthwaite, OVF editor Rob Fielding produced a piece called “Despite the Q&A the club’s finances don’t add up” and that prompted a telephone conversation between the owner and Fielding. It was a wide-ranging […]

 

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[mr.hobblesworth]

That's a really interesting read, Rob.

[Santa]

Norman: the club isn't self-sufficient, I'm having to put in significant amounts of money to fund monthly losses.

 

Also Norman: let's build a pub!

[Rampant Zebra]

I see no application for planning permission? (Click on image for a larger version)

[Fosse69]

Norman: the club isn't self-sufficient, I'm having to put in significant amounts of money to fund monthly losses.

 

Also Norman: let's build a pub!

The business case would be interesting. Cost of bar etc spread over say a 10 year period, against revenue from bar etc with better facilities(and pies) with increased paddock crowds enjoying improved facilities and football. Perhaps NS has sampled similar facilities at Leicester Tigers where access to the ground is available from the bar, avoiding the turnstile queues?

[Tomo]

Bizarre. I look forward to the rest of what he said on other issues, but given we are looking at a £140-£160K loss per month, & he said he had an obligation to pay the bills, but we're not self-sufficient & he gave no plan for the future in terms of proper investment at the meeting, why on earth are we now suddenly looking at a brand new development of a 2 storey bar, & other commercial buildings in another corner, despite a large part of the ground being unfinished for over a decade (which is still on hold)?

 

Even before any of that though, maybe we should be thinking about priorities? Surely we should be getting the basics right with the commercial aspects we've got available to us before creating more which might end up failing? What about a decent budget for players in the summer, a proper plan for next season on the pitch (regardless of what league we're in), & then after all of that, once we're stable on the pitch, maybe finishing the LS?

 

I know that the Paddock side facilities aren't great at all, & will need to be looked at at some point, but this just feels like a lot of jumping the gun, given that all of this would be completely pointless if we were to be relegated in a month or so, with possible 2K~ home crowds at the start of next season in a ground which hold 18,000~.

[Rampant Zebra]

Strange to consider encouraging beer sales when we already have the occasional crowd control issue which may be related to alcohol consumption. Maybe Norn doesn't care about the trouble, he is more concerned about extracting money from the fans.

[mr.hobblesworth]

Oh, come on! There are dozens of sticks with which to beat Norman but serving booze in the ground isn't one of them. Extracting money from fans is (amongst) exactly the kind of thing he should be looking at doing.

[Santa]

I don't see where exactly you could feasibly build the sort of two-storey structure that he's talking about. You would probably have to dig into the bank and steps and remove access to the stand itself.

 

To be honest, the best thing that could be done with the Railway Stand is to knock it down and rebuild it again. Nearer the pitch, cantilevered, no pillars blocking your view, steeper rake, with concourse facilities under the stand that are fit for purpose. That would open up all the land behind it that he could do what he likes with.

[Tomo]

I don't see where exactly you could feasibly build the sort of two-storey structure that he's talking about. You would probably have to dig into the bank and steps and remove access to the stand itself.

 

To be honest, the best thing that could be done with the Railway Stand is to knock it down and rebuild it again. Nearer the pitch, cantilevered, no pillars blocking your view, steeper rake, with concourse facilities under the stand that are fit for purpose. That would open up all the land behind it that he could do what he likes with.

 

If anything were to happen like that, would be ideal, with a big car park there & a pub extending out from the back of the ground.

[mbycars]

I don't see where exactly you could feasibly build the sort of two-storey structure that he's talking about. You would probably have to dig into the bank and steps and remove access to the stand itself.

 

To be honest, the best thing that could be done with the Railway Stand is to knock it down and rebuild it again. Nearer the pitch, cantilevered, no pillars blocking your view, steeper rake, with concourse facilities under the stand that are fit for purpose. That would open up all the land behind it that he could do what he likes with.

 

It would be great to knock down and rebuild the Railway stands but it would cost several millions of pounds and for no or little extra income, so i can't see our owner taking that on. The Lorne St is still not complete after many years and no plans to finish it. Unless they can think of plans to generate lots of money for developing the Railway with a hotel or housing etc incorporated i cannot see anything happening there for a long time.

[Santa]

It would be great to knock down and rebuild the Railway stands but it would cost several millions of pounds and for no or little extra income, so i can't see our owner taking that on.

I know but he's the one talking about how much money he's losing, and then starts talking about spending more of it on building a pub. A pub! He'd be better off concentrating his efforts on sorting out the core business.

[Howjy04]

Anybody noticed bars at other similar sized clubs.Packed on match days.Usable 12 months of the year.

[Rampant Zebra]

So, packed for 30 days of the year and nothing happening for the other 335 but you still have staff costs etc.

[Howjy04]

So, packed for 30 days of the year and nothing happening for the other 335 but you still have staff costs etc.

 

Please read again RZ.