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Vale Park Capacity


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Don’t see too much wrong with what we have. Away stand perfect for visiting supporters who may fill it once / twice a season. Lorne street needs the concourse finishing then it will double its capacity. Bycars and Railway are badly let down with their toilet and catering facilities, not to mention the seized-up turnstiles. The land behind both can take additional facilities, which I understand may be currently reducing capacity. Family stand can be updated but realise this is an expensive fix. Let’s see where we are in terms of league progress before we start thinking of new grounds.

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2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

Long overdue, worst ground in the country IMO and I don’t think you’ll get many Luton fans saying they wanted to stay in the same area.

I actually played at their ground when they had that god awful artificial pitch - dislocated my knee-cap - ahhhhh the good old days 🤣🤣🤣

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I think a good example of redeveloping an existing stadium is Ashton Gate.

They've so far improved three stands which all have connected concourses (like a big U). The concourses are huge and you can get into the stadium through any entrance by scanning your ticket. Went to a game once with a friend and they have little spaces for bands to play post game (getting people to stay and have a few more beers). 

I think the parallels with vale park are that its also quite residential. If we do it right i would see no reason to move. I think vale park as a more authentic ground is a USP, when you consider our neighbours have done the souless new build next to a dual carrigeway thing. I'd hate that. 

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We really need to see if there’s anyway we can increase capacity for this game, I realise there’s not time to undertake large building projects, but maybe look at opening the old family stand if it’s just a matter of cleaning pigeon crap off the seats and giving the t bar a makeover.

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14 minutes ago, Fosse69 said:

Where would put them on the spending priority list? Physically convert part of the Bycars for a singers area?

I felt there was a missed opportunity to do this with the unfinished Lorne Street.  I have to admit I’ve no idea what work, if any, would’ve been required to the existing terracing to make this possible.  There would be the same issues as currently within the stand, so that work would have to have been undertaken first.

We really do need to find a way to get more fans into the Bycars, yes, I know a successful team will do the job.  Maybe safe standing would be one way, but I can’t see it as it’s become the designated family area these days.  Hopefully, some of these kids, as they grow older, will chose to stay in there.

This leads us back to stadium development.  Where we are now, in terms of crowd size, we seem to be on the limit of facilities and infrastructure for at least two of the three home stands, I don’t hear too many folk moaning about Lorne Street, apart from it would be nice for fans to be in a position to sit on those new seats.   The main gripes seem to be turnstiles, toilets and catering, which should be relatively simple fixes, although you will never completely get away from queues, yet some folk are making the leap to a new stadium.

In my view the costs to make the necessary improvements to VP as a whole to satisfy the match day experience demands and cater for existing, or increasing, numbers of fans, would be tiny compared to the costs involved in moving to a new stadium, and in the short to medium term we should look no further.

We’re in a fairly unique position where our owners are fans first, they listen, and will get it right.  Nobody has a magic wand or bottomless pit of money so patience is the key, on and off the field.

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18 minutes ago, Guitar Ray said:

The main gripes seem to be turnstiles, toilets and catering, which should be relatively simple fixes, although you will never completely get away from queues, yet some folk are making the leap to a new stadium.

In the very short-term and probably the medium term, VP needs to continue to be patched-up, developed and so on... I still think if fund raising was made the priority this summer, the opening of the second part of the LS could go an awful long way towards addressing many of the complaints in recent weeks. Complete the concourse work for next season and you have 2,500 home seats with good sightlines, modern facilities and so on. 

However, even with that work, arguably you still have a stadium with a pitch that needs relaying, a stand (Railway) that's going to need replacing soon, an away stand that gives away support an advantage in terms of a large number of seats and acoustics, a reduced capacity for home fans for largely unknown reasons and so on... 

A new stadium build will clearly be expensive. But in terms of long-term - I think with a seventy-odd year old stadium moving to a new site shouldn't be off the agenda. I'm not saying it should be the ONLY long-term option, the cost of it will probably make it unlikely but that doesn't mean discounting it as an option. 

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Vale Park was designed in the 40s, Railway roof added 54, all seating and Hamil re-built in the 90s. Lorne St re-built 90s onwards to Premier League potential ie media requirements as per Bell's ambitions at the time. Thus 1/2 the ground upto standard.

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10 minutes ago, Fosse69 said:

Vale Park was designed in the 40s, Railway roof added 54, all seating and Hamil re-built in the 90s. Lorne St re-built 90s onwards to Premier League potential ie media requirements as per Bell's ambitions at the time. Thus 1/2 the ground upto standard.

There is a picture somewhere of a builder standing on the metal structure of the railway roof 70 years ago. !! Same piece that somebody was swinging on when we scored against Bristol Rovers...lol.

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Where would you put them on the spending priority list? Physically convert part of the Bycars for a singers area?

Depends as alot of seating has needed and still needs to be replaced. So therefore it is something to keep in mind for that. The bycars probably has the most damaged seats in the home ends so maybe.
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With the Lorne street, you would think some sort of turnstile/exit could be fashioned in the corner where the old scoreboard used to be on a temporary basis for next season when required. There is quite a lot of space there and if your were to put some decent steps in you could fit toilets and catering in. You could then have some airport style queuing outside the back of the stand and 4 turnstiles which could be removed to open up as an exit gate. Restrict the traffic that can use the access road for the hour before and after a game. In an emergency you would have that exit plus onto the pitch and out by the police box.

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