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“This town ain’t big enough for the both of us…”


Silvio Dante

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…but what about a third?

I’ve posted here before about Yate Town -  pretty much smallest club in their league at level 7, and last night won their 4th game on the bounce to hit the playoffs. Weston Super Mare are one place behind, and the game at Lodge Road in two weeks looks set to be a cracker.

Anyhow, it got me thinking. Yate are punching above their weight now, and although there are plans to improve the infrastructure, getting anywhere higher than Conference South seems optimistic - unless there was a Salford style takeover.

So, if there was something of that nature to Yate, Weston or another club in our catchment area, could the Bristol area sustain a third league club, and where? I’d assume attendances of 2k-5k tops and the question becomes if that’s new fans or taken from us/Rovers. Would it impact? Is it sustainable?

It would, however, be a fantastic laugh to see Yate beat Rovers in a League 2 or Conference match!

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1 minute ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Weston has a 76k population vs Yeovil's 45k and also more than Taunton.

Maybe they should do a Tranmere and start to play games on a Friday night so that all the City fans, and maybe some Rovers fans, who travel up can watch them as well.

 

Didn't realise that was Tranmere's tactic! Good example of how clever u need to be to succeed?

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13 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Weston has a 76k population vs Yeovil's 45k and also more than Taunton.

Maybe they should do a Tranmere and start to play games on a Friday night so that all the City fans, and maybe some Rovers fans, who travel up can watch them as well.

 

That seems like a fantastic idea. I remember when Tranmere did that in the 90s and it galvanised the club - Weston look to have the biggest potential to do the same (although with the development of Yate/Sodbury, we’ll be nudging 40-50k conurbation population soon)

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The plans for new stand, gym, pitch, sports bar etc etc sound great. I understand one stand will be similar in principle to the Carol Embry suite at FGRs, where it will be two tier, top section behind glass. Certainly what's planned looks great for the local community. Open 7 days a week, sports pitch and gym, electric car power points, sports bar, even allotments etc...all will bring extra revenue to the Club.

They are miles off ever being League...however, they are punching big time this season. With games in hand, and a bit of luck they could even make top 2. 

If a miracle ever did happen...the new proposals with housing would make the club land locked so to speak. With really no further room to expand. Very limited. I guess the new park and ride could be utilised for visiting supporters in future if attendances increased.

As with everything these days, parking is the issue. Double yellows on the nearby trading estate. The council doing everything they can to stop street parking. The same happening in near Sodbury. Proposal for is it 750 new homes...yet they want to make Sodbury high st, a car free zone, with no parking. It's full to busting already with local residents cars, and car park generally full each day. 

It's not practical or feasible.

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32 minutes ago, spudski said:

The plans for new stand, gym, pitch, sports bar etc etc sound great. I understand one stand will be similar in principle to the Carol Embry suite at FGRs, where it will be two tier, top section behind glass. Certainly what's planned looks great for the local community. Open 7 days a week, sports pitch and gym, electric car power points, sports bar, even allotments etc...all will bring extra revenue to the Club.

They are miles off ever being League...however, they are punching big time this season. With games in hand, and a bit of luck they could even make top 2. 

If a miracle ever did happen...the new proposals with housing would make the club land locked so to speak. With really no further room to expand. Very limited. I guess the new park and ride could be utilised for visiting supporters in future if attendances increased.

As with everything these days, parking is the issue. Double yellows on the nearby trading estate. The council doing everything they can to stop street parking. The same happening in near Sodbury. Proposal for is it 750 new homes...yet they want to make Sodbury high st, a car free zone, with no parking. It's full to busting already with local residents cars, and car park generally full each day. 

It's not practical or feasible.

The park and ride will only be a 10 minute walk from the stadium, however, which would help. And most residents will live within 3 miles, so the younger/fitter among the fan base are in walking distance.

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

It would, however, be a fantastic laugh to see Yate beat Rovers in a League 2 or Conference match!

Would be even funnier if it were to happen in a Southern Premier League South match!

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53 minutes ago, Nbafc said:

Didn't realise that was Tranmere's tactic! Good example of how clever u need to be to succeed?

Tranmere are surrounded by by far bigger clubs so that’s why they play home games on Friday evenings. They’ve done so for as long as I can remember.

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6 minutes ago, Steve Watts said:

The park and ride will only be a 10 minute walk from the stadium, however, which would help. And most residents will live within 3 miles, so the younger/fitter among the fan base are in walking distance.

Would be even funnier if it were to happen in a Southern Premier League South match!

In theory...but when it's freezing cold and raining heavily, or extremely windy, the chances are, most won't walk any distance. This is the problem...That's British weather in a nutshell. No one these days wants to stand soaking wet and shivering whilst watching a game.

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1 hour ago, Nbafc said:

Didn't realise that was Tranmere's tactic! Good example of how clever u need to be to succeed?

 

I remember that was why Half Man Half Biscuit wouldn't appear on The Tube because it was broadcast live 5 - 7 on a Friday which clashed with Tranmere games.

The Tube's production team offered to helicopter them to the ground after playing but they refused this as they wanted to remain ordinary fans rather than big time Charlies.

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Weston are an absolutely massive club and town for that level. To have 2/3 players of full-time (extremely decent) salaries at that level is unheard of really, and the quality/size of academy that's in place there now is really impressive. 

They're absolutely flying at the moment & look on course to go up. Would be amazed if they aren't in the National League in the next few years.

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40 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Weston are an absolutely massive club and town for that level. To have 2/3 players of full-time (extremely decent) salaries at that level is unheard of really, and the quality/size of academy that's in place there now is really impressive. 

They're absolutely flying at the moment & look on course to go up. Would be amazed if they aren't in the National League in the next few years.

Weren’t they in the Conference at some point, along with Bath City? My impression was that they had a few bad seasons recently but agree that given the population and catchment, they could be a lot higher up than they are. 
 

As for Yate Town it’s great to see them doing well. And the reality is that with a bit of money and some behind the scene pushing the club forward, you can achieve things at this level of football. Forest Green are absolute proof of that.

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7 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Weren’t they in the Conference at some point, along with Bath City? My impression was that they had a few bad seasons recently but agree that given the population and catchment, they could be a lot higher up than they are. 
 

As for Yate Town it’s great to see them doing well. And the reality is that with a bit of money and some behind the scene pushing the club forward, you can achieve things at this level of football. Forest Green are absolute proof of that.

The highest Weston got was Conference South.

Also a strange one was that their relegation to the Southern Premier recently was the first relegation in the club's history!

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1 hour ago, spudski said:

In theory...but when it's freezing cold and raining heavily, or extremely windy, the chances are, most won't walk any distance. This is the problem...That's British weather in a nutshell. No one these days wants to stand soaking wet and shivering whilst watching a game.

Parking won't make much of a difference in that situation right now as 2/3 of the ground is uncovered anyway.  Obviously covered terraces change that somewhat, but at the moment the club aren't there.  Would be great for them to see some sort of success, for sure.  The cup run showed the potential.

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1 hour ago, petehinton said:

Weston are an absolutely massive club and town for that level. To have 2/3 players of full-time (extremely decent) salaries at that level is unheard of really, and the quality/size of academy that's in place there now is really impressive. 

They're absolutely flying at the moment & look on course to go up. Would be amazed if they aren't in the National League in the next few years.

Would not say a massive club, sadly the following is still low for the size of Weston. But much of this is because Weston has become a commuting town over the years so people already have affiliation with other clubs. 

There is a big City following in the town already that follow regularly, Weston will always struggle to push on to the next level

The association with the college is a massive thing for the club and town and hopefully see's the club bringing local players through.

As for getting to the National league, as much as the Bliss family have done an amazing job over many decades running the club, the step up in finances to compete at the next level up would surely need additional financial input

The league is certainly looking interesting, but lots of clubs are on the verge of the play offs

image.png

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3 minutes ago, phantom said:

Would not say a massive club, sadly the following is still low for the size of Weston. But much of this is because Weston has become a commuting town over the years so people already have affiliation with other clubs. 

There is a big City following in the town already that follow regularly, Weston will always struggle to push on to the next level

The association with the college is a massive thing for the club and town and hopefully see's the club bringing local players through.

As for getting to the National league, as much as the Bliss family have done an amazing job over many decades running the club, the step up in finances to compete at the next level up would surely need additional financial input

The league is certainly looking interesting, but lots of clubs are on the verge of the play offs

image.png

Sorry Phants, as a Yate boy I have to correct your table:

 

3883837E-23CE-40DC-BBF1-9664787DA60E.jpeg

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1 minute ago, phantom said:

How odd, I'll tell the guys at Weston later 

I’m assuming mine is right - Yate tweeted last night they were into the playoffs and the table is from the Southern League website. I’m guessing Weston updated the games played but didn’t put the result in. Crafty trick to make the playoffs!

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2 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’m assuming mine is right - Yate tweeted last night they were into the playoffs and the table is from the Southern League website. I’m guessing Weston updated the games played but didn’t put the result in. Crafty trick to make the playoffs!

Has Mel Morris found a new club?

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1 hour ago, Dr Balls said:

Weren’t they in the Conference at some point, along with Bath City? My impression was that they had a few bad seasons recently but agree that given the population and catchment, they could be a lot higher up than they are. 
 

As for Yate Town it’s great to see them doing well. And the reality is that with a bit of money and some behind the scene pushing the club forward, you can achieve things at this level of football. Forest Green are absolute proof of that.

Trowbridge were, not Weston.

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