St. James Park - Championship Ground

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

The only thing that’s simple is someone who repeats a solution that won’t work. If you turn the pitch 90 degrees it won‘t fit into the space available behind the SJC.

Which bit of level don't you understand? Simple.

 

[MJP_Exeter]

Surely this discussion is about realising a situation where we’re not thinking LG2 is our natural destination after a period of success, but making LG1 our default position with the odd period at championship level.
No one is denying the barriers to City growing the club, but selling out 5 home games in a row is a financial bleddy disaster for a business the size of ECFC and worthy IMO of a response from the club.
The moment we pat ourselves on the back and say everything is rosy and do nothing, we’re going backwards.

Equally five sell outs during a normal league season is extremely rare and probably not the point to really kick into a debate about spending millions on the stadium, as the evidence is not there for this being sustained increases in attendances.

I think the fans have a real connection with the players following the last few years and a lot of that is going to be broken up by the end of the season. I agree we should always be looking at how we can improve and how we can sustain things, but at this moment, whilst I Love the debate about stadium and improving it as it is something i wholeheartedly agree with in principle, it equally has to be sustainable and if off the back of this season we invest £3-4m to increase to 10,000 and then drop off on the pitch, it would be a huge waste of money.

 

[Grecian Max]

Surely this discussion is about realising a situation where we’re not thinking LG2 is our natural destination after a period of success, but making LG1 our default position with the odd period at championship level.
No one is denying the barriers to City growing the club, but selling out 5 home games in a row is a financial bleddy disaster for a business the size of ECFC and worthy IMO of a response from the club.
The moment we pat ourselves on the back and say everything is rosy and do nothing, we’re going backwards.

It is indeed Tavy, I agree 100% (I don’t think our current ownership model is “the Exeter way”)

 

[Memphis09]

Equally five sell outs during a normal league season is extremely rare and probably not the point to really kick into a debate about spending millions on the stadium, as the evidence is not there for this being sustained increases in attendances.

I think the fans have a real connection with the players following the last few years and a lot of that is going to be broken up by the end of the season. I agree we should always be looking at how we can improve and how we can sustain things, but at this moment, whilst I Love the debate about stadium and improving it as it is something i wholeheartedly agree with in principle, it equally has to be sustainable and if off the back of this season we invest £3-4m to increase to 10,000 and then drop off on the pitch, it would be a huge waste of money.

Haven’t we had more than five sellouts with at least three more to come

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

So, fast-forward to a moneybags owner buying the club, the Trust membership having agreed that said owner is a jolly good fellow...what happens to the money the Trust receives for it's shares?

Say the Trust receives £5m...does it sit in a holding account which, if everything goes tits up, can be used to re-purchase the club? Do the Trust attempt to acquire the freehold of SJP? Would it just get used sporadically for one-off projects (which shouldn't need to happen because Mr Moneybags should have it covered?

 

[denzel]

Haven’t we had more than five sellouts with at least three more to come

I presume by the three you mean Argyle, Derby and Bolton? Whilst we are guaranteed away end sellouts for all three I suspect that whether we sell out the home ends for the last two is dependent on our league position at the time.

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

So, fast-forward to a moneybags owner buying the club, the Trust membership having agreed that said owner is a jolly good fellow...what happens to the money the Trust receives for it's shares?

Say the Trust receives £5m...does it sit in a holding account which, if everything goes tits up, can be used to re-purchase the club? Do the Trust attempt to acquire the freehold of SJP? Would it just get used sporadically for one-off projects (which shouldn't need to happen because Mr Moneybags should have it covered?

I put this on the wrong thread. Should be on the offers for the club one. I'll repost there.

 

[Leads]

Thanks everyone for your replies, especially those that have been involved in the ground redevelopment process in the past. As far as I've understood it:

• New ground: non-goer
• Moving to Sandy Park: non-goer

As such, improvements to the ground is the only realistic option. SJP looks so much better, but ultimately the capacity hasn't increased, it has gone down. Increasing it any further looks tricky, so we are where we are. What other ways are there of increasing revenue? The issues with the club shop are well documented. We don't have enough capacity for food and drink within the ground. If we continue to sell out I wonder if the club would look to increase ticket prices? The demand is there but this might backfire and I don't think it would be popular with the fanbase. I don't want to be all gloom and doom but from what I can see we have hit the ceiling and in business if you are standing still then you are going backwards...

I can see a separate thread has been started re club ownership which might cover similar ground.

 

[tavyred]

Thanks everyone for your replies, especially those that have been involved in the ground redevelopment process in the past. As far as I've understood it:

• New ground: non-goer
• Moving to Sandy Park: non-goer

I think I disagree. Looking at the dire financial state of English club rugby, I think the SP option could be a distinct possibility in the future.
Who’s to say that the Chiefs potential financial meltdown doesn’t mirror ours of the past and they find that the City Council ends up buying their ground as they bought ours in the 90’s.
In that scenario everything is up for discussion in my view.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Which bit of level don't you understand? Simple.

You can level as much as you like, but the simple fact is there isn't enough room within the site boundary to accommodate a ground turned 90 degrees.