Heysham_Shrimp wrote:Its an uncharacteristic short sighted decision by the board IMHO.
If we go up via the play-offs and teams like Leeds , Southampton , Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle are in that league then we will not be able to accommodate all the away fans that come. The new North side if bigger and covered could be used as an overflow for away fans when the East stand is full.
I've said this before but it seems it's worth repeating.
The whole point of this move is to get a stadium and other facilities that can bring the club revenue 364 days a year. Without that, on the gates we get, we would be forever in the situation of relying on generous directors to keep us afloat, never mind in the Football League.
When people are going on about roofs on that side they should keep that in mind.
There were grants available a couple of years ago that, because of various spending cuts, are no longer available. There was also a realistic anticipation of a lot of money from the interest on the sale of Christie Park - interest rates plummeted and so did that cash.
IF things had been the same now as they were a few years ago then a lot of the facilities originally planned would have come to fruition and that would have included things like a roof on the north terrace - it was in the original plan.
But cutbacks had to be made (and can we not trust this particular board, for all they've done for this club, to make sensible decisions?).
They have concentrated on those parts of the ground that are going to offer our club an immediate income, rather than spending on parts of the ground that will have relatively limited use, only on match days. Yes we 'may' have to accommodate Leeds or Southampton in future - but do we spend money now on that off-chance or, say, on the function room that we know will bring us an income?
All those features people mention - roofs, enclosed corners etc - are still in the longer term 'ideas' and the ground plan has merely had them removed for now.
We're all regulars and can have our say - but really this town doesn't support the club well enough to expect what we're getting with this new stadium, never mind analysing its 'faults'.
We're blessed with a great board who are giving us something we should be thankful for. They DO care about what the fans think but sometimes there are tough decisions to make and I think they are making them sensibly. I also think that, if and when things improve a bit, they WILL try to meet all our reasonable expectations. But we may have to be patient and trust them for now.