If nobody wants to ride it ! ( but then I don't suppose my seats in the Gordon Road stand are in any danger of making way for housing - any time soon ) our average attendance went down quite a lot last season - despite Mr.Scally offering ticket deals / free tickets. I support the need for a new stadium - with 'other' facilities etc - but it has to make sustainable business sense. At the moment the playing side are not good enough to attract supporters to barely half fill our current ground. It's not that I am unambitious - but - 1, better players (should) = 2. better results = 3. more fans= 4. justification for a bigger stadium. Let's start by concentrating on No.1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-28063033
absolutely agree (I do sometimes)...this is why i have never wanted us to move. Our ground is more than sufficient for it's need and my biggest concern is those that want the white elephant either won't be there when the results go bad, or won't be there when the club is on the verge of going under as a result. any model has to be built on expectation. How often do we get attendances more than 7k, how often would we fill the stadium in the Championship over a season...about once i reckon. So any model of 18k is flawed. Premiership i hear...lol...yeah right and no thanks.
Our highest ever league finish was 11th in the Championship, our average attendance for that season 8,078 of which over a 1,000 were away supporters so expecting us to survive and progress on football revenue alone isn't going to happen. Whilst I agree that having a good team playing good football can help it still has to be paid for, we have never been the first club that good players strive to join and having the money to tempt them helps but without the gate receipts other revenue streams are needed. Building a new ground of 12,000 capacity as part of a complex including other revenue generating schemes is the only way forward, part of the planning would include the easy addition of greater capacity if/when attendances improve (lego/mechano type construction)
No need to even think about new stadiums as no matter what we do we would never get above 10k week in week out. I know it's nice to be ambitious but we all know that at some point in the future we will be back down in league 2, it's just a fact of life for clubs like us. We're currently on an upswing but eventually we will drop away, not trying to be negative it's just what I think.d the only viable thing is to build a permanent covered stand where the Brian Moore is no matter how cheap and basic which will give us the perfect ground, big enough for extra revenue when we get a big team come to town but not so huge that it looks unsuitable on wet Tuesday night.
Maybe if the club apologised when their stewards picked the wrong fans out for racist abuse (who were then found to have no case to answer by the Police) rather than denied any wrong doing there would be another 3 season tickets sold in the Medway stand.
Despite my earlier thoughts, you raise a constructive point grumpygit and maybe a viable one for the modern football arena that it is today, in that, yes, revenue generating schemes can appear positive on face value. Sadly though it destroys the soul of the whole day experience unless applied differently from some of the grounds i have visited. In fact off the top of my head and without going over old material and further research, I struggle to think of a modern stadium that i have been too, that has managed to get the mix completely right. So IF we were to move forward and instead of me giving a straightforward no to the idea, what would i expect. Firstly a 12,000 stadium, not an 18,000 one with room to expand if the project was successful. But even before this got off the starting block i would want to see a viability study, not just for our club but any detriment affect on any businesses the project displaces. Personally and it is only a personal opinion, I think the BRS is a dump, over priced ale, poor selection, the service i have complained about endless times and food in there on match days i wouldn't touch. So i assume this would be replaced with a more modern, more efficient, better priced, with more character and atmosphere of an FC bar. Available to both home and away supporters. Are we to see venues such as TGI's if so what about a proper pub or will supporters be bused from the Crick's. Laugh people may but try going to places such as Shrewsbury, Oxford, Colchester and the like and you will see what i mean. Rochester has a similar developed area will it be like that including a cinema, what will be the knock on affect to that Medway development. Will we get permission for a railway holt at the ground, certainly would be a better prospect and encouraging one than that of the current Gillingham station, if it stops at the door of the new home. I don't like the sound of lego/mechano type construction, it sounds like a tin and plastic box with no atmosphere, character and soul, like Northampton. The bigger you get, remembering that is the objective, how will you look after your most loyal supporters and the benefits at so called big games to them, but then we will never be like the Arsenal's of this world with 45k season ticket holders where only half that number can get tickets for Wembley. Yet, this is only just where the problems begin, because surely we have a big objective, otherwise why would we need a new ground at a club that has always really been pinging ponging itself between league one and two, or division three and four in old money. What about safe standing will that be included in the new structure from initial build, although remembering yet it is still not government approved, so an added diemma. So many questions and above is only a few but until the club ticks all the boxes then the answer remains no from me until my concerns are replied, but then the club has never been very good at answering my questions. I give you BRC and ST troubles just for starters in evidence of that. Yes, Mr Scally i have sent the letters/emails over the years, under the so called customer charter. Let's remember this is not just about a game of football on match days but so much more than that and it can be a very dark, cold, lonely shell of a ground in mid-winter unless people take all these questions seriously. While we attempt to encourage a further 5,000 plastics on top of an average loyal 7k. We already have a decent ground excluding the BMS and BRC but nothing a bit of money and better management wouldn't resolve.
Just the parking alone would be worth a new ground, I currently pay £1.40 to Medway council and have a half mile walk to the ground, I would rather that money go to the club, especially as my carpark might become a religious establishment soon then where do I park.
Park the Woodlands end of the ground it's free outside the permit areas. Lot's of the little side roads have parking, albeit a 10/15 minute walk.
