jj
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Post by jj on May 27, 2009 15:27:53 GMT
;)Grandstand  |
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davethegull
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Post by davethegull on May 27, 2009 16:36:57 GMT
I voted players first. Yes it would be great to finish off plainmoor to make a tidy ground with a capacity of 8kish. But we will only need it if we get to Div 1. Right now the priority is the team.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 27, 2009 17:37:06 GMT
I voted for players first, we did have a really great thread on the forum about moving to Clennon Valley, a very good read if you missed it torquayfansforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1267While I sung the praise of such a move if the club got all the income from such a stadium, I do feel that as we are now back in the league, making sure we stay there must come before any plans for a new stand or even a new stadium. |
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Post by frankfurt gull on May 27, 2009 17:58:39 GMT
The decision has been made to stay at Plaimoor and a lot has been done to improve the ground. A new Grandstand is needed and I recall reading about incorporating classrooms into the stand as a joint venture with Westlands School. Are grants available?
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jj
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Post by jj on May 28, 2009 17:02:21 GMT
I'm not sure if a grant would be available sorry mate. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 28, 2009 18:04:07 GMT
The decision has been made to stay at Plainmoor and a lot has been done to improve the ground. A new Grandstand is needed and I recall reading about incorporating classrooms into the stand as a joint venture with Westlands School. Are grants available? I would have thought now that the school has been completely rebuilt, it would have no need or interest in the building of a new stand that the school might get some use from. The ground will serve our needs for the next few seasons and only going up to division one, might see the club feeling it needs to push on and get the main stand replaced. Alex did sound interested in a move to Clennon Valley but I really don't see that project getting of the ground. One reason is as merse has said, the locals there would fight any stadium being built on their doorsteps. Therefore I feel the club will stay at Plainmoor for many more years and as soon as there are some spare funds it will replace the main stand. It would be great to see a stand go the whole length of that side of the ground again, before it got partly destroyed in that fire  |
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sam
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Post by sam on May 28, 2009 18:51:24 GMT
Voted for the grandstand but didnt see the players first option undeneath. Agree, we must ensure the team remains a football league team, absolute No.1 priority, but the grandstand is pretty dire. A new one, perhaps incorporating facillities for Westlands (wasn;t there talk of classrooms in the day and executive boxes on match days?) and making sure the access at the back is clear. There are no overlooking issues for houses if it went higher. Personally I would like to see a wavy roof to reflect our seashore with gulls at the gable ends to reflect our nickname. Not unlike the birds on the Liver building in Liverpool, and different coloured seats to make a pattern of palm trees to go with our riviera image. We are the Brazil of the Westcountry (in fact the football league).
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jj
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Post by jj on May 31, 2009 13:33:11 GMT
Sam I like the idea of the seats in the shape of a palm tree!!! One day perhaps. :)JJ (Joe Janner).
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Post by lambethgull on May 31, 2009 14:20:19 GMT
A new grandstand has to a priority in the medium term. A new stand taking the ground's capacity to around 8k would enable the club to accommodate large away supports, give the club a viable option re allocating the babbacombe end to home supporters (thus improving the atmosphere), provide extra facilities for the team, conference facilties for extra income....the potential advantages really are huge.
Clearly the team needs to consolidate in L2 first, but if the club is to push on and be really ambitious, a new stand is going to be essential.
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davethegull
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Post by davethegull on May 31, 2009 14:33:28 GMT
Blimey Issie, i actually agree with you. Think i'd better lie down!
The development of a new stand has to be done at some stage and fits in with the Brand image i've talked about on another thread. An away fans bar and comunity facilities plus gym, offices and all the other commercial revenue streams in a bespoke new stand. It's got to be the way forward. I can see a time when the current family stand is the away end and the new one becomes the family stand with the away terrace for home fans. How cool would that be? Of course we'd also have to fill it........and there we go back to Branding again.
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Post by capitalgull on May 31, 2009 15:33:11 GMT
I agree that the grandstand needs to be sorted out, but I reckon we should eventually get to the point where both ends of the ground are for home fans.
If we can build a big enough grandstand, my preference would always be for it to hold TUFC fans in two thirds of it, with the other third being the away section...possibly in the sort of area of the ground where away fans can sit at the moment.
But that would need a stand seating at least 6,000 and I am not sure we could ever have the space to do it.
I doubt the current family stand ever becoming the away end because of all the facilities that are already in there and the fact that some of them are for home fans only - ie the Gulls Nest. Unless they were all moved to the new construction, which would necessitate it being even larger, I suspect the way the ground lies now with away fans at the Babbacombe End, will remain in place.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 31, 2009 15:43:47 GMT
Andy I believe a stand could be built that would hold 6000, it would have to be built over the lane, but you would expect that at that point it would be high and would not make the lane into a dark tunnel.
Will all the money that has been spent on the Gulls Nest and NO 10's there is no way I could ever see the family stand changing its use, the boardroom etc are all in that stand as well anyway.
It has been proved with a good number of home fans in the ground,that allowing the away end to become a home terrace, has been to our advantage and the team clearly responds to having good support on all sides of the ground.
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davethegull
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Post by davethegull on May 31, 2009 16:38:04 GMT
CG, you move the gulls nest to the new stand. The current family stand becomes the away end with corporate boxes and facilities for them ( a whole new marketing sales opportunity). Why would we ever need a stand holding 6k? 3k would be enough with space for the facilities. I believe the current family stand holds about 1.5kish tho could be wrong on that. More than enough for away fans at the moment. But build in the design a segregated section at that end just in case of a Manure FA cup tie.
Imaginatve thinking is needed now to push the Brand onwards.
Dave the money spent on the current facilities isn't wasted. It's more facilities for extra revenue streaming on non match days.
I know i'm pissing in the wind but hey ho!
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 31, 2009 16:51:04 GMT
Dave S they would not be wasted if we were to get enough away fans in the ground to make even opening up the bars etc worthwhile.
I just think your plans would really up the cost beyond what the club could ever afford. Yes its good to think big, but often its small steps at a time, that will get you where you want to go and make sure you can afford to be there when to do get there.
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merse
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Post by merse on May 31, 2009 17:09:58 GMT
 Davethegull has a point....................but if I was paying for corporate facilities I would NOT want to be confined to an end on view of the game. If I was a director of a visiting club and got put behind the goal I would not be best pleased at being limited in my view of a game, my team and manager for which I (as a director) hold responsibility. Were I a visiting club scout or manager, I would not view proceedings from there and expect to form a valid opinion. The people who developed the corporate facilities there were acting under the constraints of the need to provide something quickly, they were not football minded people and they didn't give it full consideration. I'm afraid Mike Bateson found it more important to sit near the bar than somewhere he could obtain a balanced view of performance from those he employed, and I would suggest that many of his football related decisions underlined that view. There have been some very constructive and interesting suggestions from this forum on this subject, and one I would like to suggest would be a "Gulls Loyalty Card" whereby tokens are given out at the turnstile each game and can be redeemed at the ticket office for a free ticket whenever ten consecutive home games have been attended. In other words a ten per cent discount for loyalty which just might encourage those saying "I won't be coming here next match" after a poor home performance to think again and benefit themselves for their loyalty. That way we are rewarding the long term existing supporters who bought the season tickets, AND showing the casuals and newbys that we welcome their patronage and encourage them to become part of the family.
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