SoL To Undergo Multi-Million-Pound Investment Programme

[Randy Savage]

I also love the stadium. Would like some money to be spent on it to bring it into the mid 2020s, but it still has bags of potential.

And if they made a few tweaks externally and what not, the place would take on added character and a bit more individuality.

A lot of the older grounds that have 'character' are because of bits they've tacked on and adjusted over the years.

 

[DonaldDownTheWing]

And if they made a few tweaks externally and what not, the place would take on added character and a bit more individuality.

A lot of the older grounds that have 'character' are because of bits they've tacked on and adjusted over the years.

Aye, I really like the idea of creating a visually striking area for people arriving over the new bridge and past sheepfolds. I think in future we're going to see at least 50% of fans arriving that way. The stadium does suffer a bit visually from the way it was built digging down so the south and east stands look much smaller than they actually are, so anything to help would be great.

 

[Mackemansj1]

I also love the stadium. Would like some money to be spent on it to bring it into the mid 2020s, but it still has bags of potential.

I’m always shocked when I really sit and look around the stadium mind. It needs cleaning everywhere. They power washed part of the cladding during preseason and when I went over before the season started you could see holes all over the cladding especially on the east stand near where the ticket office is now it was filled with holes. Not sure if that’s just rust that was blown off when they power washed it but I think they stopped and never finished cleaning it. The roofs are beyond dirty it’s surprising sunlight gets through with all the dirt on it. People get dripped in when it rains etc. It’s all lacking care and attention and that’s before you get into the big things like the concourses etc. We’ve seen the total lack of standards man it’s criminal how little people seem to care. I remember roker park looked as good as it could come kick off of a season and that was down to people behind the scenes putting their love for the club into it and it showed. We’ve obviously been using contractors who clearly ain’t fans of the club and maybe mags given the standard of the work that’s being signed off. I’ve done painting jobs in the past the gaffer would t have signed off on some of that shite they’ve slapped the paint on and called it a day and no one has been held accountable for it.

 

[DonaldDownTheWing]

I’m always shocked when I really sit and look around the stadium mind. It needs cleaning everywhere. They power washed part of the cladding during preseason and when I went over before the season started you could see holes all over the cladding especially on the east stand near where the ticket office is now it was filled with holes. Not sure if that’s just rust that was blown off when they power washed it but I think they stopped and never finished cleaning it. The roofs are beyond dirty it’s surprising sunlight gets through with all the dirt on it. People get dripped in when it rains etc. It’s all lacking care and attention and that’s before you get into the big things like the concourses etc. We’ve seen the total lack of standards man it’s criminal how little people seem to care. I remember roker park looked as good as it could come kick off of a season and that was down to people behind the scenes putting their love for the club into it and it showed. We’ve obviously been using contractors who clearly ain’t fans of the club and maybe mags given the standard of the work that’s being signed off. I’ve done painting jobs in the past the gaffer would t have signed off on some of that shite they’ve slapped the paint on and called it a day and no one has been held accountable for it.

Aye, they did start jetwashing the ground and then realised they were actually putting holes in it so wrapped in. I know they spent quite a bit on getting the roof support beams painted as they need a special rust protection paint on but obviously that's not immediately visible to the fans. The leaks from the roof are terrible really.

The entire stadium needs painting tbf. From the toilets, to the walls, the metal work in the stadium bowl, the markings on the steps up to the seats, the concourse floors etc. The whole place looks very tired and needs sprucing up.

 

[Randy Savage]

Aye, they did start jetwashing the ground and then realised they were actually putting holes in it so wrapped in. I know they spent quite a bit on getting the roof support beams painted as they need a special rust protection paint on but obviously that's not immediately visible to the fans. The leaks from the roof are terrible really.

The entire stadium needs painting tbf. From the toilets, to the walls, the metal work in the stadium bowl, the markings on the steps up to the seats, the concourse floors etc. The whole place looks very tired and needs sprucing up.

I find it quite laughable that the solution to the issue caused by the jetwashing was simply to stop the jet washing. Surely if blasting something with water sees chunks falling off that's telling you something more robust needs to be done.

 

[Football Dinosaur]

Haven’t Forest plans to redevelop?

And Palace.

A huge percentage of clubs do. We're nit in that number though strangely enough. A lost which includes such footballing titans as Luton Town, Oxford United and as mentioned Palace.

There's no pride or standards in the club and half the fan base.

On this thread alone you have posters comparing to Burnley, Shef Wed and Portsmouths grounds as if this makes our ground being a state alright.

I couldn't give a monkeys about the state of their grounds, have a bit of pride ffs.

Then there's the "we used to be in league one" squad.

Act like little old Sunderland and we'll always be little old Sunderland.

It's a huge problem on this board and the fanbase as a whole. Fed shit and ask fir seconds.

 

[Becs]

Aye, I really like the idea of creating a visually striking area for people arriving over the new bridge and past sheepfolds. I think in future we're going to see at least 50% of fans arriving that way. The stadium does suffer a bit visually from the way it was built digging down so the south and east stands look much smaller than they actually are, so anything to help would be great.

I'd like that.

I drive up St James Boulevard weekly for work as I park in The Gate. The landfill is not visible at all now until you get to the traffic lights at the end due to all the buildings that have gone up. It looks hemmed in now.

 

[Boz33]

Given how important revenue is to PSR and what we can spend, its probably a sensible approach to look to maximise that where we can, so not really twisting about very little really

That’s the thing, if improvement can increase revenue it helps the club as a whole. Be plenty that don’t bother spending a penny in the stadium, so making it more appealing/ easier toget served is a no brainer. Just needs the owners to think along the same lines.
We are never gonna drag in the mega revenues of spurs and the like without a whole rebuild, but can try and maximise what we do have

 

[Be Here Now]

And people on a thread not so long ago genuinely thought the stadium could be getting extended

 

[Zimba]

That’s the thing, if improvement can increase revenue it helps the club as a whole. Be plenty that don’t bother spending a penny in the stadium, so making it more appealing/ easier toget served is a no brainer. Just needs the owners to think along the same lines.
We are never gonna drag in the mega revenues of spurs and the like without a whole rebuild, but can try and maximise what we do have

The problem is there's no money in it.

Spend £10m on an extension for some bars, depreciate it over 20 years, that's a £500k a year. That's another 250k pints (assuming a profit of £2 per pint) a season to just break even. The money isn't there.

Corporate is where the money is and it's where they've been spending it aswell; the new rumours bar in the club shop, rumours of Black Cat refurbishment, Quinns bar refurbishment etc.

All the rebuilds people keep bringing up are about increasing capacity, which we don't need, and if you're rebuilding a stand it makes no sense to build it to 90's standards.

 

[fireballs]

Probably sounds a bit sad but it should be simple asset management. The club have an asset with a design life and a spec they paid for. If they want to keep it like that it still needs routine maintenance. Then there's capital spend for improvements etc.
As with a lot of long term infrastructure the long term running costs are often ignored during the design and build and the focus is on the initial cost.

Look at the thread about the Gateshead viaduct. A lot of the issues are caused by the fact the simple maintenance hasn't been kept up with. Similar to the SOL...The last "custodians" even had the customers doing the work (Changing the pink seats). I bet that wasn't in Sir Bob's original business plan!

 

[DonaldDownTheWing]

That’s the thing, if improvement can increase revenue it helps the club as a whole. Be plenty that don’t bother spending a penny in the stadium, so making it more appealing/ easier toget served is a no brainer. Just needs the owners to think along the same lines.
We are never gonna drag in the mega revenues of spurs and the like without a whole rebuild, but can try and maximise what we do have

When people are buying burgers from the burger vans cos they’re better than what’s in the ground ya know summits wrong

 

[Boz33]

When people are buying burgers from the burger vans cos they’re better than what’s in the ground ya know summits wrong

Yeh there is that argument

The problem is there's no money in it.

Spend £10m on an extension for some bars, depreciate it over 20 years, that's a £500k a year. That's another 250k pints (assuming a profit of £2 per pint) a season to just break even. The money isn't there.

Corporate is where the money is and it's where they've been spending it aswell; the new rumours bar in the club shop, rumours of Black Cat refurbishment, Quinns bar refurbishment etc.

All the rebuilds people keep bringing up are about increasing capacity, which we don't need, and if you're rebuilding a stand it makes no sense to build it to 90's standards.

By that logic, may as well do no improvements ever as it’s a long lead time to recouping outlay. All that happens as things get more and more run down, the offering gets worse and the existing people that buy stuff just blow it off so revenue reduces.
Like it or not in this new psr World scraping every last penny of revenue into the club is essential longer term

 

[Zimba]

By that logic, may as well do no improvements ever as it’s a long lead time to recouping outlay. All that happens as things get more and more run down, the offering gets worse and the existing people that buy stuff just blow it off so revenue reduces.
Like it or not in this new psr World scraping every last penny of revenue into the club is essential longer term

In reality though, the best thing would be to maintain it, as it is, if you're going down a profit route. There's a reason why no-one has and I mean no-one has improved the concourses bar a lick of paint, or some cheap fixtures here and there.

 

[Boz33]

In reality though, the best thing would be to maintain it, as it is, if you're going down a profit route. There's a reason why no-one has and I mean no-one has improved the concourses bar a lick of paint, or some cheap fixtures here and there.

Even the maintenance is lacklustre at best, all depends what the owners want from the club and what they want to provide for the fans. Longer term lack of maintenance just means they end up paying through the nose to repair.

 

[Oily Oily Oily]

I find it quite laughable that the solution to the issue caused by the jetwashing was simply to stop the jet washing. Surely if blasting something with water sees chunks falling off that's telling you something more robust needs to be done.

You would think so, chunks falling off indicates a failure in someway. Stop the jet washing and get a full survey carried out of all cladding. Find the root cause and repair, or replace all the cladding.

Safc, just leave it, that will cost too much.

 

[horselover]

Noticed all the girders have been cleaned & painted underneath the north stand

 

[Zimba]

Even the maintenance is lacklustre at best, all depends what the owners want from the club and what they want to provide for the fans. Longer term lack of maintenance just means they end up paying through the nose to repair.

Aye no arguments about maintenance mind, that definitely needs improving.

Personally if we're going about improvements I wish they'd move the family area out of the South East corner and do a decent area for them with stuff that kids might actually want since they're the next generation of fans, ideally in an area of the ground which doesn't sell well ie. up in the concourse. Means you can give more space to the Roker end with them gaining the whole of the South stand.

Mind if you wanted to create more space in the concourse, one option could be to rip out half the bars and replace them with self service koisks, would create more space and you'd get a quicker pint aswell. I know you'll get the usual lot moaning about machines and refusing to use them nonsense but for the vast majority of people it would be better really.

 

[halfpast3]

Aye, I really like the idea of creating a visually striking area for people arriving over the new bridge and past sheepfolds. I think in future we're going to see at least 50% of fans arriving that way. The stadium does suffer a bit visually from the way it was built digging down so the south and east stands look much smaller than they actually are, so anything to help would be great.

Agree with this. Mags ground is only a few thousand bigger than ours but looks huge from the outside compared to ours. I know some of that is from how mish mash theirs is as well.

 

[DonaldDownTheWing]

Agree with this. Mags ground is only a few thousand bigger than ours but looks huge from the outside compared to ours. I know some of that is from how mish mash theirs is as well.

Ours basically looks like it’s just one tier on the south and east sides.

Aye no arguments about maintenance mind, that definitely needs improving.

Personally if we're going about improvements I wish they'd move the family area out of the South East corner and do a decent area for them with stuff that kids might actually want since they're the next generation of fans, ideally in an area of the ground which doesn't sell well ie. up in the concourse. Means you can give more space to the Roker end with them gaining the whole of the South stand.

Mind if you wanted to create more space in the concourse, one option could be to rip out half the bars and replace them with self service koisks, would create more space and you'd get a quicker pint aswell. I know you'll get the usual lot moaning about machines and refusing to use them nonsense but for the vast majority of people it would be better really.

Extending the concourses, whilst expensive and would take a while, would be a fairly simple job, except for the west stand.

For the east and south, you’d just build the new exterior wall, the roof, do all the internal work before knocking the interior wall through.

North stand you just build the concourse out to meet the overhang from the extension.

This might cause problems with any planning permission for an extension though.