Pitch/ground

[Fosse69]

Then there is Stoke, ManCity. Vale fans always pick the worst case scenario and go from there.

Do Councils have as much money nowadays? West Ham did well out of public funds, but there is not the money about like that outside London. What are we talking about £60M?

[Fosse69]

They don't build them like Walsall anymore.

Their previous ground was even worse, a Laundry wall behind one goal, and a scaffolding stand down one side. Covered standing was a luxury in those days.

[ValeGez]

51 minutes ago, Valiant in Brum said:

14 hours ago, Guitar Ray said:

I know this may pull the rug from under a few feet on here but Carol has stated we ain’t going nowhere.  We have a decent ground but it’s obviously not good enough for some.

She may have, however sitations need assesing and maybe VP is too much of a mammoth task. Times change and move on. Port Vale needs fresh ideas.

Maybe, just maybe, Carol and her team have these fresh ideas you require so badly and have a plan to instigate them . 
Perhaps they’ve  just not made them public yet . 
They must sit there in a daze after reading some of the stuff on here , wondering why they hadn’t thought of these ideas in the first place and how easy it is to revamp the current ground or magic up a new stadium . 
It seems to me plenty have quite obviously missed their vocations both business wise and football wise, we’re absolutely awash with experts !

UTV 

[Brian Johnson]

Just now, ValeGez said:

Maybe, just maybe, Carol and her team have these fresh ideas you require so badly and have a plan to instigate them . 
Perhaps they’ve  just not made them public yet . 
They must sit there in a daze after reading some of the stuff on here , wondering why they hadn’t thought of these ideas in the first place and how easy it is to revamp the current ground or magic up a new stadium . 
It seems to me plenty have quite obviously missed their vocations both business wise and football wise, we’re absolutely awash with experts !

UTV 

Its called a discussion board for fans - strewth 

[ValeGez]

2 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

Its called a discussion board for fans - strewth 

Quite right and I’ve made comment on what I’ve read - strewth . 

[Ex Hamil Lurker]

It makes me shudder every time somebody mentions Festival Park. A pint before the match at Brindley Farm then a pint after the game at…Brindley Farm. It would put off more than it would attract if we were to move away from Burslem.

Even if there was a suitable site in The Mother Town i’d be against it. I’ve been to enough soulless warehouse style grounds to never want one for a home ground.

Fingers crossed Kev and Carol stick to their plans to keep us at Vale Park

[Jacko51]

6 hours ago, Rampant Zebra said:

Where else would Tottenham build a ground? Milton Keynes? 

Where did I say they should move?  I'm just saying despite it being a wonderful stadium, the transport options are awful.

[Fosse69]

Where did I say they should move?  I'm just saying despite it being a wonderful stadium, the transport options are awful.

Really? Not easy coping with 60k, do they close the streets like Arsenal?

[Powerline]

6 hours ago, Brian Johnson said:

Work with various stakeholders on it.

Work with the council. I have said it many times on here that they want to build an arena, why not incorporate it into a new stadium? This way we might be able to get a deal on the new land, rental income form the arena or money towards the cost of a new stadium.

 

Maybe we can get grants. Maybe we can hotel chains involved. The amount of various stakeholders we can get involved to build a new stadium would be endless I would have thought.

 

I assume an arena would involve a running track around the pitch, in which case it’s a no from me. The fans would be miles from the pitch.

[geoff1]

2 hours ago, Ex Hamil Lurker said:

It makes me shudder every time somebody mentions Festival Park. A pint before the match at Brindley Farm then try the holya pint after the game at…Brindley Farm. It would put off more than it would attract if we were to move away from Burslem.

Even if there was a suitable site in The Mother Town i’d be against it. I’ve been to enough soulless warehouse style grounds to never want one for a home ground.

Fingers crossed Kev and Carol stick to their plans to keep us at Vale Park

try the holy inadequate! 😇

[Fosse69]

6 hours ago, Brian Johnson said:

Stoke City did well out of it and Coventry City's is privately owned.

To be honest, I have not made myself clear on my original post. 

We build our own new stadium and own it but where I mention the council is that because of them wanting to build a arena, if it was incorporated within a new stadium, maybe we can get a deal on some land or even get the land for free from the council. We could possibly then get rent from the council or what ever company would end up running / owning the arena side of the stadium.

Next time you meet a Sky Blue fan chat to him about the Ricoh history

[Brian Johnson]

3 minutes ago, Fosse69 said:

Next time you meet a Sky Blue fan chat to him about the Ricoh history

I will only if next time you see a Stoke City or Man City fan you speak to them about the history with their new grounds

[Family Stand Terrier]

2 hours ago, Ex Hamil Lurker said:

It makes me shudder every time somebody mentions Festival Park. A pint before the match at Brindley Farm then a pint after the game at…Brindley Farm. It would put off more than it would attract if we were to move away from Burslem.

Even if there was a suitable site in The Mother Town i’d be against it. I’ve been to enough soulless warehouse style grounds to never want one for a home ground.

Fingers crossed Kev and Carol stick to their plans to keep us at Vale Park

I mentioned Festival Park, simply because with the building of the new road, if we were to have a stadium around Grange Park Cobridge, it would be just as far to walk as Vale Park is from Burslem now (so shouldn't impact Burslem) and access would be decent because of the new road and proximity to the D Road. Would also be a short walk from Festival Park.

Again, all hypothetical.

[jjvale_03]

On 24/02/2023 at 18:02, JoeB2 said:

100% agree, which is why I'm continually perplexed at how dilatory the club has been RE the Lorne Street. 

I know they've got a million jobs, but the Lorne Street solves a lot of problems for a relatively inexpensive price (though inflation has probably pushed it up). For some reason it seems to have just been handed off to the Supporter's Club to fundraise with absolutely no pushing from the club. They don't even have to fund it - just make a big song and dance out of donating, but they never mention it.

I also question the wisdom in spending so much on the Robbie Williams Suite, which benefits a few dozen each matchday, when for a similar price over a thousand fans (mostly families) could be accommodated in the LS. The decision to go so big on the RW suite has never been articulated or justified - if the ground is in such dire need of repair, to the extent in which we've had to cut capacity and put off a load of jobs, why on earth are we faffing about sprucing up a fancy bar? We haven't got enough toilets to fill the Railway, but you can get prawn sandwiches (metaphorically) on the opposite side of the ground.

With the season effectively over the club really need a unifying purpose to keep fans engaged - framing each game as an opportunity to fund Vale Park's refurbishment is a good one. Incentivise spending, have buckets at every home game etc. More proactivity needed. All far too passive at present with the season drifting.

Totally agree on the weird inaction of the club regarding finishing the Lorne Street. They probably didn't want the SC starting a fundraising effort to complete it, after all if they wanted to spend the 100k they could easily do so.

Disagree on the RW suite though. I do find it interesting that they were able to find hundreds of thousands of pounds to get that fitted out prior to the showpiece RW gig in the summer, an event that has resulted in us playing on a bog this season. However, there is a massive demand for corporate seating at Vale - 10% of our home support is sitting in posh, expensive seats and I dare say hundreds more would too if the availability was there. It's a headscratcher given the narrative that everyone in S-O-T is in poverty and earns minimum wage, but there you go. 

In fact, I'd go as far as saying it'd be essential to include corporate areas in any redevelopment of the Railway. At the very minimum another RW type suite, boxes or modern corporate facilities with premium half way line seating. The demand is definitely there and we should maximize the apparent wealth of our supporter base. I don't think there's any other clubs of our size that has the sheer capacity of corporate hospitality that we do, and certainly not one where demand still outstrips that supply.

[Jacko51]

2 hours ago, Fosse69 said:

3 hours ago, Jacko51 said:

Where did I say they should move?  I'm just saying despite it being a wonderful stadium, the transport options are awful.

Really? Not easy coping with 60k, do they close the streets like Arsenal?

Arsenal is even worse.  The tube stations are nearer but the queues to them go half way round London.