I honestly think it's an Eddie Howe idea. It seems odd that they only started doing it after he got the job. If it's not and it's a marketing idea, I'd be kicking off if I were manager because it's interfering with the running of the team. Only a weak manager would allow it.
it was, plus for safety by reducing the amount of people it held so the club moved swiftly to comply...ensuring crowd safety above more money and pretty much began the new stadium search. the thing is you cannot decide to build a new stadium and start work 'next year', possible sites have to be found, then checking the ground/surrounds and then make sure there will be no objections to it, once all that has been cleared plans have to be checked and altered to suit all relevant authorities the whole process should take years but it looks as if the owners are trying to do it in reverse and making the same mistakes as fat fred, thinking everyone would simply accept a new stadium wherever they wanted to build it. now (obviously) i am no expert in any of this but i seem to remember that concrete problems such as these only show a small part of the problem and the real 'worrying stuff' is well hidden within the structure so by the time it is visible it is beyond any thoughts of repair and bordering on dangerous...so apart from thinking about 100k stadiums (or whatever they are going for) they could end up with a much reduced capacity for a few years then the possibility of not being able to build a new stadium.
Bang on. When the SOL was being thought of, the club looked at loads of potential sites. I remember it being said they looked at sites Silksworth, Herrington, Whitburn, Penshaw and Houghton before they settled on the A19 site near Nissan. Then the began running into problems with that site due to Nissans objection. That went on for about 2 years until the Wearmouth colliery site became available. We didn't start discussions about that until 1995 with construction starting properly in mid 1996. If the mags have not picked out any alternative sites and are pinning their hopes on being able to build on Leazes park, they could be in for a very rough ride. Even staying where they are and doing a full rebuild will be problematic and very expensive.
Don’t forget to sign the petition to save Leazes Park. https://www.change.org/p/save-leaze...k&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_490479084_en-GB:10
being a sad old bassa i decided to take a look around the city and apart from the obvious nuns/town moors and leazes there really is nowhere near the city and those places were all suggested and binned when fred tried his luck...now i realise we are talking saudi billions here and money usually talks but will they be willing to throw that much into it all, by all accounts they would also be responsible for the demolition and making safe/returned to green of the SJP, then the spending needed to secure A N Other area big enough then the cost of a new stadium and they will not want anything looking like another stadium so on a very conservative guess i would be thinking 5 Billion...that is an incredible amount of investment.
Will they do it for a last minute OG against Burnley or a home draw against Sunderland … … it’s all very strange and looks slightly hysterical.
Isn’t the obvious place Gateshead Stadium? Loads of space, on the Metro line, could be built on while Gateshead are given a small stadium NUFC can also build use for reserve games … … or would playing at Gateshead upset their pride.
The only place I can think of that they MAY have a chance of is the HMRC offices at Longbenton. As HMRC are moving to Pilgrim Street in a couple of years (a Reubens brothers owned building) there's a question mark on the future of the existing offices. If the site hasn't been sold, it's large enough to hold a good sized stadium, is served by a metro station and a fairly major road. But, it's over 2 1/2 miles away as the crow flies from the current site, it's not in the city centre and I'm not sure the roads around there could cope with the volume of match day traffic. Beyond that you're moving further and further from the city centre and potentially to other towns. And Longbenton is just me spitballing, I've no idea if it's even practical or possible.
i avoided 'the heed' simply due to them having a team aspiring for the full league plus there was much talk of 'within the city' rather than in the outskirts, i think gateshead would be more upset than the mags. i am more in the thinking of @C Montgomery Burns that they would have to move outside the city...therefore i can see the fanbase 'voting' to stay at SJP and rebuilding stand by stand.
An interesting aside (as I understand) re the concrete problem is if a club cannot fulfill a home fixture because of a problem that is the club's responsibility e.g.a safety issue, they would face forfeiting the game with a 3-0 result being awarded to their opponents. Indeed the potential exists to be expelled from the Premier League. Just saying.
Don't think there's a chance of that, as mentioned it could be years away for it to be so bad games would be cancelled and if they're then I'm sure they would switch or make a deal with a ground near them or maybe further away like Carlisle. So long as we are not considered
The repercussions of playing home games out of the area would be considerable. Corporate entertaining would tank, revenue from much reduced attendance would be a big issue. Not to mention costs associated with hiring an alternative venue. The impact of losing 52000 screaming Geordies might make an away fixture less daunting for many visiting teams. If this scenario looks like happening I think SAFC would have a major opportunity to benefit if we can upgrade our facilities (more boxes and entertaining facilities) and launch a major marketing campaign.
If that stadium of theirs ever does need to be totally repaired, they should play their home games at Hartlepool's ground since there's so many of them down there since the Saudis took over
