Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

[SilverFox2]

Is it possible that our owner has looked at the whole Project in a similar way to the way other Projects are handled ie initial money for investment purposes based on long term return then when it becomes sustainable then the operators (in our case ADUG) decide where their long term money is spent rather than using exclusively Sheikh M. cash ?

Next year is likely to be expensive on the team side with our new manager and his signings so maybe ADUG prefer their business plan to concentrate on this rather than infrastructure.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

The problem with our stadium has always been that it had to accommodate a running track at ground level for two bloody weeks which will compromise it forever. To do so involved some very clever design and required a distance to be set between the first row of the middle tiers of the East and west stands. Essentially a huge bowl. I would imagine that the distance of the front row of our East and west stands is not that dissimilar to the front rows of club Wembley in what is a stadium holding significantly more. The sightedness are good. Almost too good as the stands are getting further and further back from the pitch. The angle of rake of the new 3rd tier of the south stand would be far more suited to the east and west third timbers also and would make out ground far more intimidating. The people who were the architects on our stadium were not football people in any way shape or form. I spent hours and hours as a fan saying the pitch is too far away from the front row and the seats surely can't be grey! (They were going to be!). It was poorly designed from day one in my opinion and the outside has all aways been ugly and the join externally is horrendous. It is that badly designed it needs posters to cover up the cladding. Used to look out of my portacabin in winter at the grey (before it had any colour) and it looked like it belong in Russia. Sorry to be negative but it should have been knocked down and rebuilt.

Thanks for that worsley, I understand what you are saying. One thing that has always bugged me about the stadium is the relatively narrow concourse area in the third tiers of the two side stands. The facilities are good: probably better for toilets than Wembley but the concourses are cramped compared to say the top part of the Trinity Road Stand at Villa, which ironically they aren't using next season in the Championship. I'm hoping that this issue will one day be resolved when they expand the sides. Overall I think that the stadium, built as a compromise between football and athletics, and down to a price is still very good. The new stadium that Tottenham are building will leave it in the shade, until the sides are done, but I guess that is both state of the art and uncompromised by athletics. We'll have been 15 years in The Etihad though when that opens and I doubt many Spurs fans would consider that justifies the wait.

 

[fbloke]

George Lucas is looking for aCity to host his private Star Wars/ Arty Farty museum thing. His press info for the US launch could be, "In a city, far, far away...."

 

[manctheknife]

The problem with our stadium has always been that it had to accommodate a running track at ground level for two bloody weeks which will compromise it forever. To do so involved some very clever design and required a distance to be set between the first row of the middle tiers of the East and west stands. Essentially a huge bowl. I would imagine that the distance of the front row of our East and west stands is not that dissimilar to the front rows of club Wembley in what is a stadium holding significantly more. The sightedness are good. Almost too good as the stands are getting further and further back from the pitch. The angle of rake of the new 3rd tier of the south stand would be far more suited to the east and west third timbers also and would make out ground far more intimidating. The people who were the architects on our stadium were not football people in any way shape or form. I spent hours and hours as a fan saying the pitch is too far away from the front row and the seats surely can't be grey! (They were going to be!). It was poorly designed from day one in my opinion and the outside has all aways been ugly and the join externally is horrendous. It is that badly designed it needs posters to cover up the cladding. Used to look out of my portacabin in winter at the grey (before it had any colour) and it looked like it belong in Russia. Sorry to be negative but it should have been knocked down and rebuilt.

Not sure I agree with all of this analysis mate.....appearance wise lain gs value engineered the exterior to a skeletal grey mess, original designs had blue glass panels....oh and arup associates may not have been a great choice as designers but populous delivered it and they know stadia,!

 

[worsleyweb]

Not sure I agree with all of this analysis mate.....appearance wise lain gs value engineered the exterior to a skeletal grey mess, original designs had blue glass panels....oh and arup associates may not have been a great choice as designers but populous delivered it and they know stadia,!

I was at Laings at the time and spent 3 years on the cladding package- I can assure you it was not Laings who made it grey!

 

[manctheknife]

I was at Laings at the time and spent 3 years on the cladding package- I can assure you it was not Laings who made it grey!

What happened to the original designs?...my recent experiences with lor on the campus have been based upon ruthless value engineering workouts...prestige builds like this should never be d and b...I like the stadium shape..pre extension!..mind you, the council were awful clients...you familiar with the expression that a camel is a horse designed by a committe.?...well, what we have here is a camel.

 

[BlueAnorak]

I do like the swimming pool just outside the entrance. With diving boards, parasols and reclining seats too.

 

[HelloCity]

We want a new stadium still.

 

[blueinsa]

We want a new stadium still.

Is that a you know we want a new stadium rather than a fully redeveloped one mate?

 

[gkmcfc]

We want a new stadium still.

you mean the club are exploring this possibility?

 

[SWP's back]

I find that bizarre. Just got Pep and we are about to sign some great players plus Chelsea, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool all expanding. Why wait?

Because we don't fill it now?

 

[bluemoon98]

We want a new stadium still.

?

 

[gkmcfc]

Because we don't fill it now?

its not full of empty blocks either and there are still plenty on the waiting list

 

[kev20971]

its not full of empty blocks either and there are still plenty on the waiting list

I think it's better to have a stadium too big, then a stadium that's not big enough. The club should be looking at expanding the rest of the stadium as soon as possible.

 

[PrestwichPeteMcfc]

Every time a game sells out, that's potential revenue down the drain. I think we've sold out 15+ of our 19 league games this year (?) in what is likely to be our worst season for a while.

Before the South Stand expansion we didn't always sell out, but since it's opened we've never had a league Gaye below the old capacity

 

[Keeper!]

With the new Spurs and Chelsea stadiums on the horizon maybe our owners are having second thoughts.

Nothing but the best for our owners, we have the land next to the current stadium, so a complete new build may not be such a crazy idea.

 

[Falastur]

With the new Spurs and Chelsea stadiums on the horizon maybe our owners are having second thoughts.

Nothing but the best for our owners, we have the land next to the current stadium, so a complete new build may not be such a crazy idea.

If they spend tens of millions on upgrading a stadium only to instantly replace it with another just because they've got a bit of penis envy over other clubs, that doesn't say good things about the leadership of the club. The time for considering building a new stadium has passed, several years ago.

 

[Keeper!]

If they spend tens of millions on upgrading a stadium only to instantly replace it with another just because they've got a bit of penis envy over other clubs, that doesn't say good things about the leadership of the club. The time for considering building a new stadium has passed, several years ago.

Agreed, but why is there a pause in the development?

Build it and they will come, the next phase of the expansion does not include any corporate as I understood it, therefore the club could have offered the seating at very reasonable prices, ala West Ham. If you offered 6,000 new season tickets at say 299 pounds, they would sell in days.

There are 10,000s of fans been priced out of football, I hope the club address this problem.

Hence why delay the expansion, Spurs , Chelsea and West Ham will be matching and increasing our available capacity.

 

[manchester blue]

The problem with our stadium has always been that it had to accommodate a running track at ground level for two bloody weeks which will compromise it forever. To do so involved some very clever design and required a distance to be set between the first row of the middle tiers of the East and west stands. Essentially a huge bowl. I would imagine that the distance of the front row of our East and west stands is not that dissimilar to the front rows of club Wembley in what is a stadium holding significantly more. The sightedness are good. Almost too good as the stands are getting further and further back from the pitch. The angle of rake of the new 3rd tier of the south stand would be far more suited to the east and west third timbers also and would make out ground far more intimidating. The people who were the architects on our stadium were not football people in any way shape or form. I spent hours and hours as a fan saying the pitch is too far away from the front row and the seats surely can't be grey! (They were going to be!). It was poorly designed from day one in my opinion and the outside has all aways been ugly and the join externally is horrendous. It is that badly designed it needs posters to cover up the cladding. Used to look out of my portacabin in winter at the grey (before it had any colour) and it looked like it belong in Russia. Sorry to be negative but it should have been knocked down and rebuilt.

Spot on that.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Agreed, but why is there a pause in the development?

Build it and they will come, the next phase of the expansion does not include any corporate as I understood it, therefore the club could have offered the seating at very reasonable prices, ala West Ham. If you offered 6,000 new season tickets at say 299 pounds, they would sell in days.

There are 10,000s of fans been priced out of football, I hope the club address this problem.

Hence why delay the expansion, Spurs , Chelsea and West Ham will be matching and increasing our available capacity.

Ok so the club spends £50m building the new stand.

It sells 6000 tickets at £299.

That's revenue of £1,749,000 a season.

After V.A.T is deducted it's £1,435,200

So using a simple calculation, not allowing for inflation or interest, it would take 35 years before the club made a single penny from the investment.

It doesn't really sound like the deal of the century to me.

Forget how big Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham's stadiums are, let them worry about that. If theirs are 3 or 4 thousand seats bigger, is it going to make us slip behind in to oblivion? Of course not.

I'm sure we'll only expand when it makes viable commercial sense, and that's how it should be.