Ground redevelopment

Saw Crock's article on 'thisisexeter' http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/grecians/update-Park-sit-nicely-new-image/article-392390-detail/article.html where he argues for a rebuild of the ground. Good article. I think this gives excellent food for thought. I wonder what others think?

To start the ball rolling I disagree with Crocks and say say 'no', other than anything which is within our means (i.e cheap). Perhaps demolishing the old Grandstand and a 10 or so row terrace in its place might be affordable, but our ground is sufficient - with those minor(ish) changes -for League 2, League 1 and possibly the Championship and just because we are doing well on the pitch we should not get up to our eyeballs in debt again. The future of the club is, in my view, more important than splashing out just because we all feel good right now about the success at the club. We should concentrate on success on the field and only spend what is necessary on the ground.

I cant normally stand the stuff he writes but on this i totally agree....

CREDYGRECIAN said:

I cant normally stand the stuff he writes but on this i totally agree....

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With me or him?

I think the ground should be updated , the bank and doble/flybe or whatever its called these days are fine but the away end & grandstand are proper old skool.....

Time to make the away end seating for me.

As I understand it, we still don't own the ground so we would effectively be investing into a Council asset.

Even if we did own it, I agree with you, we shouldn't spend a penny more than is necessary on the ground - until we become an established League One club.

A couple of injuries (god forbid) and a bad rub of the green could see our present form evaporate; along with the 4k+ crowds we have been enjoying.

I think we should just put a roof on the away end, to let them make some noise. There is no point in going over the top at this stage.

ECFC TOM said:

I think we should just put a roof on the away end, to let them make some noise. There is no point in going over the top at this stage.

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Why?

Let them get wet and create no spirit for their team.

I dont think the away end is so much of a problem, when I went down to the Park for the kit launch day, Denise Watts told me that they are hoping to eventually build a stand at the away end which will be as high as the houses behind. It may seem implausable but when you think about it, the pitch is going to be moved towards the BB and that will leave some more room again.

The problem for us is that the doble and BB were really badly planned and we wasted all our money from the FA on them whereas if it had been planned carefully then the money could have been more wisely used. The other problem is the railway line. To build a stand which only equals the Grandstand would be an astronomical cost. When i went on the stadium tour, Denise was very optimistic about Ground Redevelopment but the stadium manager (?) was not so. All we can do is listen to the club and put through are ideas to the trust. When i was there i said to Denise about the possibility of renting part of a stand as housing/retail which she had not heard of ( i believe Leyton Orient have done).

Personally i am split, I love the character of SJP even it does look a bit delapidated. Any new stands and so on, i hope can keep the character. Heres to a cow shed on the site of the old grandstand!

ECFC TOM said:

I think we should just put a roof on the away end, to let them make some noise. There is no point in going over the top at this stage.

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Only if we're able to take it off again whenever the Turks or Argiggle come to town

Oli said:

Why?

Let them get wet and create no spirit for their team.

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But surely if the Bank heard some singing from the away fans, we will make some more noise.