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SoL To Undergo Multi-Million-Pound Investment Programme

It's probably been said, but there needs to be something done about the space on in the concourses in the lower bowl, it is ridiculous when the stadium is full. I can't understand how stadium designed to seat 48k people can have such little space under the stands. IMO, they could be easily extended by taking the top of the stand down vertically instead of following the angle of the stand and then going vertical halfway down.
 

Norfolk'n'chance said:
Love the foghorn. Lights (out) pretty cool too.

I just walked in last night as it happened and the roar was class.

On a slight downer, the litter on the pitch returned last night like, not as bad as in the past, but haway man, just put the empty packets in the bin on the way out.
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Still ower many badly brought up types in our support marra.
 
WHD said:
It's probably been said, but there needs to be something done about the space on in the concourses in the lower bowl, it is ridiculous when the stadium is full. I can't understand how stadium designed to seat 48k people can have such little space under the stands. IMO, they could be easily extended by taking the top of the stand down vertically instead of following the angle of the stand and then going vertical halfway down.
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I've stopped going down for a pint at half time this season. Waste of time.
 
Blyth said:
It’s in the south stand. Think it’s where the betting kiosk used to be then was a burger bar.

The photo doesn’t do it justice like there’s a lovely git big neon sign above it.
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So you tap your card going in and how do they know what youve taken
 
WHD said:
It's probably been said, but there needs to be something done about the space on in the concourses in the lower bowl, it is ridiculous when the stadium is full. I can't understand how stadium designed to seat 48k people can have such little space under the stands. IMO, they could be easily extended by taking the top of the stand down vertically instead of following the angle of the stand and then going vertical halfway down.
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Yeah I’ve been banging on about it for years including every time we are asked for feedback for club meeting.

The easier solution is fencing to be used outside during half time, fairly low cost from PL revenue standards to maintain, and you could argue would pay for itself by extra sales.

What you are saying would also work, but they probably want to decide what if anything they are doing extension wise before permanent changes to infrastructure.
 
johnlights said:
I've stopped going down for a pint at half time this season. Waste of time.
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One thing that was better in league 1 :lol:

I still usually need a slash at half time though which takes ages getting in and out.
Smiter said:
Yeah I’ve been banging on about it for years including every time we are asked for feedback for club meeting.

The easier solution is fencing to be used outside during half time, fairly low cost from PL revenue standards to maintain, and you could argue would pay for itself by extra sales.

What you are saying would also work, but they probably want to decide what if anything they are doing extension wise before permanent changes to infrastructure.
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That seems like a simple solution, but its crazy to have to even consider that when we have a purpose built stadium. I don't think the designers considered the amount of people who would congregate on the concourses at all. It seems like a major design fault to me.
Apart from Wembley I only went to one away match last season (Cardiff) and the space under the stands was noticeably more, no crushing or anything.
 
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WHD said:
One thing that was better in league 1 :lol:

I still usually need a slash at half time though which takes ages getting in and out.

That seems like a simple solution, but its crazy to have to even consider that when we have a purpose built stadium. I don't think the designers considered the amount of people who would congregate on the concourses at all. It seems like a major design fault to me.
Apart from Wembley I only went to one away match last season (Cardiff) and the space under the stands was noticeably more, no crushing or anything.
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It’s basically because we dug down for the pitch and lower tier seats so nearly every other new build ground you goto has the space under the bottom tier which we don’t have.

Mind I agree capacity wise they did not get it right.
 
WHD said:
One thing that was better in league 1 :lol:

I still usually need a slash at half time though which takes ages getting in and out.

That seems like a simple solution, but its crazy to have to even consider that when we have a purpose built stadium. I don't think the designers considered the amount of people who would congregate on the concourses at all. It seems like a major design fault to me.
Apart from Wembley I only went to one away match last season (Cardiff) and the space under the stands was noticeably more, no crushing or anything.
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It stems from Bob's time at Roker Park. Back in the day, when licensing laws were much stricter, there was no alcohol sold in grounds, except in the then very small hospitality areas. So all you could get at Roker was tea, Bovril, and the Grade 3 burn influcting pies. Most people stayed on the terraces or in their seats. Bob didn't factor in the social changes coming down the line, and made the concourses generous by the standards of Roker, but inadequate when half the crowd fancies a half time pine.
 
Smiter said:
It’s basically because we dug down for the pitch and lower tier seats so nearly every other new build ground you goto has the space under the bottom tier which we don’t have.

Mind I agree capacity wise they did not get it right.
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I do think the angling of the external cladding and the vertical wall starting (approx) halfway down the above ground part of the stand has something to do with it as well. I can't think of another ground with stands designed like that, and all seem to drop vertically at the top of the stands. With the bottom part of the stand being underground and the external wall not aligning with the top of the stand, it seems obvious why there isn't enough room.
It seems the external aesthetics of the stands were prioritised over the space inside.
Grumpy Old Man said:
It stems from Bob's time at Roker Park. Back in the day, when licensing laws were much stricter, there was no alcohol sold in grounds, except in the then very small hospitality areas. So all you could get at Roker was tea, Bovril, and the Grade 3 burn influcting pies. Most people stayed on the terraces or in their seats. Bob didn't factor in the social changes coming down the line, and made the concourses generous by the standards of Roker, but inadequate when half the crowd fancies a half time pine.
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Okay, sort of makes sense, but surely Murray didn't actually design the stadium? Surely the designers could have advised Murray that more space could be required in the future? If he overruled them, then it's on him.
If what you saying is correct (I'm not saying it isn't) then surely all stadiums built before the SOL would have the same problem?
 
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Big Duke Six said:
Don’t understand the fuss. I go to watch the match, the 15 minute half time interval is irrelevant. I can buy alcohol and food before and after a game. It isn’t the law to have to go downstairs and eat and drink that shite.
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Which probably formed part of the thinking of the architects. They thought some might use it, not all. They also didn’t think people wouldn’t enter the ground and stay on the concourse until 2 minutes before kick off.

The country is also a lot fatter than it was in 1997, so that’ll take up a canny bit room when you factor it in across everyone in the lower bowl.
 
Big Duke Six said:
Don’t understand the fuss. I go to watch the match, the 15 minute half time interval is irrelevant. I can buy alcohol and food before and after a game. It isn’t the law to have to go downstairs and eat and drink that shite.
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Its even just the crush getting from the turnstile to the inner bowl. And what if you need a piss or god forbid a shite , its 2025 ffs you should be able to go when needed. Commercially they are losing loads from people who cant be arsed facing the minging crush to buy summat. Its just laziness they cant be arsed having a fenced area like most clubs. Too busy designing the next "merch drop"
 
Could we not open up more space downstairs by amending the turnstiles?

Those boxed in areas where people used to sit and rip your coupons out your book are surely not required anymore and are just wasted space.

Wouldn't make a tonne of difference like, but every little helps :lol:
 
WHD said:
It's probably been said, but there needs to be something done about the space on in the concourses in the lower bowl, it is ridiculous when the stadium is full. I can't understand how stadium designed to seat 48k people can have such little space under the stands. IMO, they could be easily extended by taking the top of the stand down vertically instead of following the angle of the stand and then going vertical halfway down.
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I'll risk being accused of being a soft shite to say they're almost dangerously crowded at this point. Toilet queues spilling out, overlapping with bar queues and queues coming down or up from the stands, so blocking most of the space and hard to get through, at least from my west stand experience at the start of the season.

Hard to compare to East stand where we were since opening, especially given attendences haven't been as consistently high over the last few years, but I feel like it's worse now than last time we were in Prem maybe? Or that just recency bias?

It's not a nice experience and puts us off going for food or a pint at HT because of it.
 
Big Duke Six said:
Don’t understand the fuss. I go to watch the match, the 15 minute half time interval is irrelevant. I can buy alcohol and food before and after a game. It isn’t the law to have to go downstairs and eat and drink that shite.
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People have busy lives marra, I struggle with the time before a game and don’t have it after so like to catch up with mates for a half time pint.

I think it’s reasonable to ask why we can’t have adequate space like most modern grounds.
 
johnlights said:
I've stopped going down for a pint at half time this season. Waste of time.
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Plenty have including me. It’s been said before on this thread and hopefully it’s been fed back, we have a massive amount of space outside the stadium which is perfect for pop up bars and food, a bit like they have outside the museum on match days. I’d 100% go for a pint of it meant not having to sacrifice a part of the actual game I’m there to watch just to do so.
 
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