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Current state of the SOL and surrounding area.

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seaham ftm said:
Irrelevant really. We were discussing the size of concourses at the stadiums clubs play at
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Very relevant as you have to pay for a bigger concourse. Those clubs that own their own grounds which were built in the 90s generally have smaller concourses. Thats largely due to the costs involved. Only the Government built City and West Ham grounds and the later generation Arsenal, Wembley and Spurs grounds have larger concourses as cost wasn't as much of an issue. They'd designed them as destinations. Our ground currently isn't a destination and requires some investment to gain benefits and cash from being so. As both interior and exterior need work I'd be surprised to see anything change any time soon.
 

Lord Potts said:
I was back up at the SoL for the first time in a number of years last Saturday and although below the stands could do with a bit of brightening up the stadium its self looked in decent condition to me. The surrounding area from the Sheepfolds & Wheatsheaf which I accept isn't the Club's responsibility was however letting the place down. I am sure that just a decent clean up & a bit of bright street art with some football themed murals would help. The two stone bridges that cross the railway must be as old as Monkwearmouth Station (1848) itself & could be made in to features in themselves.

The "dirty back lane" experience that visitors are currenly subjected to just isn't in the interests of the City & the image that it needs to project. When SAFC arouses national interest it boosts the whole of Sunderlan'sd economy so if we are thinking "Premier League" in the next couple of seasons - if not sooner - you have to be prepared.

In contrast I went down the Roker sea front on Saturday morning and I thought that it was really looking good. The cafes looked far superior to your average sea side town greasy spoon and they were thriving with lots of people taking advantage of them & the lovely weather. It was obvious that a lot of effort has been put in to the entire front along to Whitburn. As a lot of seaside towns and their sea fronts have become very neglected in the UK Sunderland could well end up as being known as having a very classy one. Good to see the old tram shelter at Seaburn being put to better use. It is a lovely structure but sadly for many years it has only served as a rain shelter it is certainly worth making more of a feature of.

So lets not have any excuses & get that area between North Bridge Street & the SoL sorted,
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It's a slow work in progress and probably been delayed with the issues in the building industry. Tolent collapsing has probably slowed the development even more as the current projects have not been anywhere near finished
 
Frankey said:
He's only been here 2 and a bit years and has delivered promotion from league one and a team sitting just outside the championship play offs first season back. Be patient.
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What’s that got to do with making the ground look good? I detest Amanda Staveley but literally pretty much as soon as she was given the keys to the shit heap work began to spruce it up.

KLD on the other hand does the bare minimum.
 
Inside Forward said:
What’s that got to do with making the ground look good? I detest Amanda Staveley but literally pretty much as soon as she was given the keys to the shit heap work began to spruce it up.

KLD on the other hand does the bare minimum.
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Because its not seen as a priority. If we were still in League 1 and spending loads of money on sprucing up the SOL, people would be kicking off. Getting out of that league and consolidating in this one were and should be the absolute priority.
 
UpTheDuff said:
I am not saying it shouldn’t be encouraged. It is great if people want to. The point is they shouldn’t have to.

Neither the Club nor Council will bother doing anything to change the situation if fans do it for free.

If the Council say they aren’t going to do bin collections anymore would you be encouraging people to volunteer to do it?

I didn’t ask if you shopped at Tesco (I don’t either) I asked how you would feel if they didn’t bother paying people to do stuff because they could get could get volunteers to do stuff for free.


Local electricians and fans should volunteer to fix it for free, according to some on here.
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I take what you are saying to a point.

Of course there is a role for the council and proper maintenance of the the Sol which is down to the owners.

However, a litter pick and a brush an tidy and the odd lick of paint here would add to the improvement of the area and are are tasks people can contribute to and feel pride and ownership.

As a general point I think Sunderland council given 13 years of Tory cuts are doing a great job regenerating the city and there are exciting plans for land around the Sol which will hopefully come to fruition. However at the moment the area around the Sol looks uncared for and I think a few of us can muck in and improve it.

After all It is our club and it’s probably a lot of fans dropping litter. We can all take pride in it and I go back to what my hull supporting friend said on his visit.
Lord Potts said:
I was back up at the SoL for the first time in a number of years last Saturday and although below the stands could do with a bit of brightening up the stadium its self looked in decent condition to me. The surrounding area from the Sheepfolds & Wheatsheaf which I accept isn't the Club's responsibility was however letting the place down. I am sure that just a decent clean up & a bit of bright street art with some football themed murals would help. The two stone bridges that cross the railway must be as old as Monkwearmouth Station (1848) itself & could be made in to features in themselves.

The "dirty back lane" experience that visitors are currenly subjected to just isn't in the interests of the City & the image that it needs to project. When SAFC arouses national interest it boosts the whole of Sunderlan'sd economy so if we are thinking "Premier League" in the next couple of seasons - if not sooner - you have to be prepared.

In contrast I went down the Roker sea front on Saturday morning and I thought that it was really looking good. The cafes looked far superior to your average sea side town greasy spoon and they were thriving with lots of people taking advantage of them & the lovely weather. It was obvious that a lot of effort has been put in to the entire front along to Whitburn. As a lot of seaside towns and their sea fronts have become very neglected in the UK Sunderland could well end up as being known as having a very classy one. Good to see the old tram shelter at Seaburn being put to better use. It is a lovely structure but sadly for many years it has only served as a rain shelter it is certainly worth making more of a feature of.

So lets not have any excuses & get that area between North Bridge Street & the SoL sorted,
Click to expand...
Great post.
 
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Inside Forward said:
What’s that got to do with making the ground look good? I detest Amanda Staveley but literally pretty much as soon as she was given the keys to the shit heap work began to spruce it up.

KLD on the other hand does the bare minimum.
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Staveley backed by the PIF

KLD has a trust fund.

Both have stadiums over 45k.

That's the difference. Kin hell man.
 
Frankey said:
Staveley backed by the PIF

KLD has a trust fund.

Both have stadiums over 45k.

That's the difference. Kin hell man.
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Louis Dreyfus Company turnover in 2022: 59 billion US Dollars. A big increase from previous few years as they cash in on global food supply shortages.
 
The camera panned to the top of the south stand last night, it looked manky, get someone up there on a cherry picker and get it cleaned and painted man
 
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