The Poolie Bunker

Just looking through the excellent new Commercial Sponsorship brochure released for the new season, and came across this bit in the Commercial Growth objectives.

“ A new Iconic Multi-Purpose Stadium”

http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe21 ... ure_v8.pdf

I absolutely hate the idea of pools not playing at the Vic, but progress is progress I guess. Lofty aims is a good thing, seems like they're looking forward in a big way, all good but I hope in a new stadium we have terracing, all seaters suck balls.

I reckon if that's what they're planning theyll already have somewhere in mind. Wasn't there talk before of a new ground on the land behind the Mecca on maritime avenue?

“New” could also possibly include a rebuilt Vic.

I'd much prefer that

While the new owners commitment and ambition is brilliant to see, I think before we start thinking about a new ground we have to outgrow the current one.

If we have a successful season and continue to build on that, start to get close to maxing out the Vic every home game then that’s the time to expand.

I think it’s great that they already have this down as a possibility though.

We’ll see.

I don’t think it’s about outgrowing the current one with increased attendances, it’s the state of the ground, the facilities, the money-making potential and the “multi-purpose” part of it that will be the attraction, being able to make use of it, and make money from it, more than 23 days per year.

I also remember there was talk about 15 years ago that the Mill House stand would soon need replacing because the safety certificate was up for renewal and the condition of the ironwork was deteriorating rapidly. There have been some improvements since, but it’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

If a new ground is planned I'm hoping it's central to the town. There's been talk over the years about new grounds, I remember wynyard been talked about, which I thought was utterly fucking ludicrous. Also the industrial estate near greatham... I've always hated these outskirts of town ideas, it just strips away the identity of the club. Landon seems to be a decent bloke and is taking on board supporters viewpoints so I'm hoping whatever he does is with sympathy towards the fan base.

I would just Redevelopment the Vic in stages.
Loads of spare land behind the Millhouse n Rink end and Cyril Knowles could go up a 1000 in capacity.

Last time we were in league One we lost revenue through segregation n away end not being big enough.
Those Leeds games had potential for well over 10000.

Thing is when these all seater grounds ain't full the atmosphere is shit.

Any change is a long term away.
It's all about getting to the EFL sharpish then grow the club to its further potential.
History from the decent IOR years are evident we don't have to accept div 5 shit forever.

I reckon we on our way back in a paitent progressive way.

Leave the Vic!?

No never.
UTP.

I think people having wet dreams over a new ground s for the fairy’s…our priority needs to be focused solely on getting out of this cloying quick sand of a league.
Redevelopment of the Vic and remaining central for those who cannot get to out of town Breeze block and tin roof sheds in the middle of nowhere, is vital and most of all it’s the Vic, it’s home.

its not as if the vic hoes not have room for re development. rink end and the millhouse could easily be doubled in size to give us over 10,000 capacity. feel thats big enough for pools given the size of the town and area with other clubs close by. doubt there would have been a pools if the ground was miles out of town with every fan needing a bus or car to get to it. bit different when people can just walk there from the town and they might not have bothered if they had to travel. what benefits would a new flatpack with the charisma of jeremy vine give us unless its the corporate they want to look after first.

Nothing wrong with potential ambitions to get back to were we used to be.
But agree with you Snowy 100%.
The now priority to get back to division 4 and consolidate and always at the Vic.
It's our home and a unique special atmosphere when 5000+ in attendance.
UTP.

have done millwall, northampton, walsall, chester, scunthorpe,huddersfield, rotherham. bolton and doncaster ol and new grounds and found only northampton to be a real improvement on what they had before and thats because it was 3 sided and a bastard to park at. has any fan group ever insisted their club build a new stadium.

In isolation the focus on getting back to the EFL is paramount to us lot, but I can appreciate the bigger picture and requirement for an improved ground, training facilities, and corporate facilities in order to become more sustainable. I like the fact that he's sharing his vision after being kept in the dark about the clubs ambitions for too long.
The end result might be a new ground in a new location, but it could also be a renovation of what we've got or even a demolition and rebuild on the same site. Maybe even have to ground share for a season to let that happen though?
Onwards and upwards hopefully.

think the vast majority of us might have little interest in plans that do not include a new ground to improve the club. corporate stuff and training facilities come well down the line for most. however mention the ground and all the ears will prick up. the club needs to say whether they are actively looking for a spot to build a new ground or re develop the vic itself to squash all talk and rumours that might not be correct.

Corporate stuff and training facilities might rank low on the list of priorities of the average fan, but they are essential to be able to achieve and sustain the top priority, which is a successful team.

The more money the club can generate, the more investment that we can attract and the better players we can attract, then the more we will give ourselves the chance of being successful in a sustainable way. If he just came in and ploughed money into the playing budget, then we may get successful, but we would be 100% reliant on Landon’s wallet, and if he left we would collapse back to where we were before.

This is absolutely the right thing to do, create the infrastructure to sustain at a higher level, and then any further investment on top of that is a bonus.

Looking at Rotherham, it took them 2.5 years from announcing they wanted to build a new stadium to getting planning permission. Then another 20 months to build it. Even if we started the process now, it would be around 2031-32 season before anything would be ready to use.

I'm all for improving the facilities and revenue streams but my wish would be to do it on our current site. As has been said there is room for expansion there.
I think more information is required as to what the club has in mind.

If Pools decide to build a new stadium at the Vic it should be around 10000 capacity possibly with the option to double it. The first objection would be from the Council citing increased traffic and the lack of parking facilities.
The ideal solution would be vacate the Vic demolish it and start from scratch, new builds are often cheaper and take less time than renovations although it would mean ground sharing for a season.

While we are in this division, everything should be focused on getting promoted, the rest of the shopping list can wait.

think most will agree with that. would be the hardest of all promotions as well with just one up and the second going into the play off lottery. without promotion back to the efl a lot of whats been written is really pointless.

I'm sure the Council will eventually have to come to a solution regarding the ground.
Smithy seems more genuine n trustworthy than Hodcroft Sing n Coxall etc.

Don't rule out a bit of creased palms in the civic centre as the murky world of politics will determine any news on the Vic being updated.

At this moment in time they will be hell bent on Land Value Tax not replacing C Tax.

Us Hartlepudlians deserve a bit of lvt after being burgled major style for years.

Bearing in mind this is basically a Mission Statement and very high level I don't think we'll be moving soon or even doing much more than keeping the ground in a fit state to operate. Obviously the main focus at the moment is on the Sporting to do list with recruiting manager and players and also some work already done on the Academy set up and Ladies set up.
I'd expect that if there'd been any discussions with the Council to date about the Vic or vacating it something would have leaked by now.
I think this publishing of the plan for the future is refreshing but more importantly, if it comes to fruition the club moves forward but won't be dependent on a single benefactor in the years to come.

Correct. It's a medium/long-term ambition. Nothing for anybody to get worked up about right now.

I doubt any Wrexham fans are upset that their ground-capacity is rising from 10,500 to 18,000. Looking forward to the days when the Vic 's 7,900 cap can't hold all the people who want to see us play.