Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

All this talk about Morecambe and their prospective new digs has got me wondering. Are we going to re-devop the Fraser Eagle or is all the recent talk about moving to a new site just pure speculation and rumour ??
The length of time it's taking to get a roof over our heads on the Clayton End makes me wonder about the long term strategy. Surely funding can't be an issue???(redeveloping F.E.S)I know there's supposed to have been some progress on the roof front, but there's also the police box issue (to which the club has been given 12 months grace)
And I may stand corrected, but won't the club now be entitled to financial help with any construction work on the F.E.S. via the football trust???:confused::confused:

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

Speaking of roofs, is there any physical sign. yet ,(holes apart) that a roof IS going up,like pillars or summit?

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apparently the builders are due to becoming back midweek ;)

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

When the Shrimps leave Christies we can move there and be the MB Stans





NOT

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

Builders...the same worldwide ...:rolleyes:

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I dont want a shiny new ground ta!!!!!

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And we could all live in B & Bs and claim off the state.!!!!!

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Me neither! You're welcome to your plastic, soulless, sterile, all-seater stadiums. Just get that roof up and I'll be happy in my Clayton End home! :cool:

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Thing is - if we should ever get to the dizzy heights of Championship - its got to be all seater like or not. My opinion on this is lets get a new ground away from the residents - put terracing at both ends for now which can be converted to seating at a later stage if necessary. I personally think we are missing a trick or two here. My opinion (and it is mine alone) is that we are going to look like the poor relations of the basement league, which I do not believe we should be. We need seating on the Whinney Hill and if we must stay at the FES lets do a proper job on that stand and put the changing rooms underneath as well as some executive boxes to hire out to local businesses etc. This then means the police control could feasibly go in the changing rooms, alleviating the problem with residents etc.

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Good call Ozzy. The F.E.S., even after the roof goes up over the Clayton End (saw it with my own eyes on a flying visit today !!) will still probably be one of the worst grounds in the league. Intimidating,it may be,but the current site has it's drawbacks,namely:
It would probably cost a significant sum to develop the present site, i.e building a new Whinney Hill Stand.
The local residents have already objected and complained about the police box / facility.Can we honestly believe that they wouldn't object to further plans ?
Parking is a problem around the F.E.S. now.Should we progress to a higher level,it will become more of a problem,hence more complaints.
The place has served us well and I have many fond memories from there.But maybe (funding for a new stadium permitted) its time to move on.

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

the answer will always lie with the Accy Amateurs ground adjacent. But nobody seems to know if it can be purchased or not. If you look at a google Earth image of the area that plot is bigger than ours! Would provide training facilities, a larger car park, community revenue opportunity etc etc


The cost of a new ground would be measured in millions (8-10?), developing the present ground to a high standard would be a max of £2m probab. Either way its money we haven't got so would only come from sugar daddy funding or the council coming on board massively - which a) wont happen and b) I don't want them to particularly.

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Funding of a new ground will always be an issue.

However we (MFC) intend to sell our present stadium (say £1 million) lease part of the proposed site to say fast food outlets (say £750K per annum) qualify for numerous grants by creating a development for use by the community (football in the community etc etc etc say a minimum of £1million from various grants now available) provide business areas / offices (total £500K rent per annum) incorporate a hotel into the development (say £250K per annum) sponsorship of the site (say £250K over 3 years) etc etc etc.

It's suprising how quickly the money stacks up to then being able to service a development loan and all this without the need for heavy investment by individuals.

The above figures are only assumptions based on knowledge of how other clubs have been able to develop new stadia and are therefore only examples.

A similar financial plan could quite easily deliver a new development at your place.....given the will and the ambition.

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Great post, Christie - how about managing it for us?

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I'd like us to stay where we are geographically that is, not league position although are current position would be good at the end of the season! Talk of relocation always worries me as I think of the upheaval Bolton had when they moved from Burnden to another town...

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

Thanks for all your advice. I'm sure that Eric will be on to it first thing in the morning!
:)

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Macca, surely we have funding for redevelopment of the current ground in place in the form of a grant from the Football League or whoever. If that was to be put towards a new ground then the cost to the club may only be about 4 million. I think MFC's new ground is only costing in the region of 6 mill and they are getting corporate and leisure facilities built in, so that recoups some of that money. The current site, as others have said - is too close to residents and to be honest, I cannot see the residents on the Whinney Hill side being too impressed when the work starts there. After all, they will have to pay to see a footie match. I still stand by what I said in an earlier post, we need to move to an area where housing would not be a problem. The only problem we have now is WHERE? The other problem is, who owns Accy Amateurs ground and how much would it cost. If it is bigger then that would be a great place to rebuild a new ground and convert the FES into car parking facilities. Either way it needs looking at now. Otherwise, we are going to get left behind.

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

Accy amatuers Ground is currently on 25 year lease to them from the council, but as I understand it, there is still some way to go before this lease runs out.

Other problems with that site are, relocation of the existing 15 or so teams that play regularly on there and the fact that although it is one of the better grounds at sunday football level, the drainage isn't good and the pitches are regularly waterlogged. That particular problem is solvable but I would imagine it would mean ripping both pitches up, laying new drains, and then returfing or seeding of the pitches. Add to that the fact that one of the clubs that use the facility has a major attitude problem towards Stanley then you get some spanners in your workings!!!

Plus the biggest problem we'll always have anywhere near our current site is the residents (kisser exempt!!!) who will always continue to moan profusely.

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

From memory there is about 12 years left on the Amateurs lease, maybe it could be paid off I don't know. But if it can't then it is a plan for the future. I think that a road built out of the back of the site onto Whinney Hill itself would a viable solution to traffic and the fact that the entire site would be three times bigger would mean car parking not being an issue.

If built as an entire complex then it would be housed inside its own perimeter and would have its own facilities for food and drink. A lot of the residents real concerns would disappear and then they would be left with ridiculous things to moan about that aren't legitimate and would not be taken seriously by us or the Council.

I think that the site we are on now is big enough. There is room to go back on the Clayton End, Whinney Hill stand, Coppice Stand and on the Main stand side. But only if all facilities at the Crown/main side are rehoused as part of a larger feature on the Amateurs side.

All irrelevant at the moment but I still think is worth considering for the future because the future will come soon enough.

I dont think there is a real site in Accrington itself that could be used, so we would be left taking more greenfield sites or moving to the outskirts of the borough. Neither are ideal.

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I was just thinking.....Huncoat? There is a site, I believe.

Re: Stadium Redevelopment / Relocation ?
 

mostly allocated for the new recycling plant. Still room next to it - but not as much. Also Huncoat residents are currently up in arms about imminent plans for a new indutrial estate going right back over those fields in that location.

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While we're all absorbed with each other's sportsground steelwork, here's a timely warning.

Halifax Town AFC have (as most of you know) the finest display of useless ferrous architecture in the Conf . . . , er, sorry, Blues Queer league, which edifice is known disaffectionately as the East Stand.

For several years both Town and Halifax Rugby League (ground sharers) have skirted round the problem whilst indulging in a lot of window-dressing - if you'll pardon the frockshop allusions - and publicly asking their landlord Calderdale Council (= Hyndburn) to foot the bill.

Eventually Calderdale decided to do it, and this week they appointed a Local Government Officer to oversee this simple piece of structural engineering.

He's only temporary staff, of course, which is why he's been given a two-year contract at only £52,000 p.a.

That's right. £104,000 of me-and-my-neighbours' cash to sort out something which the average 13-year old boy with a Meccano outfit and a slide-rule could achieve during the school holidays.

The warning is, therefore, remember Calderdale and don't let Hyndburn get involved unless you want to see your council tax trebled.