Manon

Weird. Was posting positively, then stopped midpost to refresh page as had a feeling something bad had happened. Like a thousand voices had cried out in pain all at once. I must be a jedi.

I knew a keeper with a big mouth is important...but not that big surely?

Cmon you reds. Got a feeling we'll equalise late on. Is this officially the most boring commentator in the country? Always tries his hardest to make it sound like a pre season friendly.

That's the first time I've seen steve and been unimpressed. Thought he has lost the plot a little, and a little bit of my respect (not that he would care about that!). The passion was still there, but this time it seemed misguided, and he appeared slightly deluded and in denial.

When it comes to JL, let's drop the 'pillock' and 'idiot' stuff. Incompetent is the word. It's not his fault that he's incompetent; he's trying to better himself, like we all do. I respect him for working way out of his comfort zone. But it's the people who place him there and fail to recognize that he's incompetent. JL is obviously out of his depth, and in any other company would've been given the boot months ago. He just wouldn't be there. Steve needs to take a long hard look at himself. He knows what must be done, stop faffing. This club does not have the time and patience to ease him down gently. We are not interested in protecting your sons dignity, self confidence or cv. There are thousands of people suffering due to your poor decision s and nepotism. Sort it steve. NOW.

waggy... Damn it. That's us done.

What a blooming joke. I'm fed up with this pathetic club. The board are a shambles. What then, Mr Lansdown, was the point in giving sod time when we were rooted bottom and on a 20 game win less run? We are slowly turning the corner. The ship has swung around, and about to feel the full wind in her sail... I could understand it more if we lost on sat with another dire performance, but this makes no sense after a decent display against one of the leaders. Is this for real? They keep asking us to be patient, and buy into their philosophy, then do this. We deserve to go down now.

But was there an LDV vans trophy present? Nuff said.

Why all the bitterness on here? The Camp nou is one of the world's finest.

Moi? If you are willing, I'm always up for a good internet brawl...no spitting or scratching allowed. Might be hard with the time difference tho. Seriously though, I'm honestly bemused by your figures, which you've stated twice and once in bold. Doesn't matter how slowly you say it - of which land outside the stadium boundaries do you speak, and how did you reach the figure of 38% smaller? I don't see the relevance of any future development of the walkway. The stadium, of which the walkway is in no doubt an integral part, was still built within a footprint almost twice the size of ours. Over to you.

The etihad in melbourne is much much bigger than ashton gate. The stadium alone measures approx 900 ft x 700 ft compared with ashton gate's 550 ft x 450 ft. The etihad suits atop a plinth- a large raised perimeter walkway (presumably under which lies the car park), which completely dwarves the space around ag stadium. I really would be interested as to how you came by this figure of 38% smaller! Did you pluck it out of thin air?

Are we talking manchester or melbourne? Thought we were discussing melbourne personally but now I'm confused! Talking manchester though, it really is frightening the amount of growth taking place there right now. There is a 7000 seat stadium along with a while sports village emerging next to the etihad. That club is going places, in a way chelsea failed to.

This has also been my question since the plans were first revealed. I think the answer is: no. It will stay the same, according to all the info at our disposal (including the planning docs) anyway. Unbelievable really, isn't it, that they seem to have overlooked it. Maybe there lies a clue in this that they intend to redevelop the atyeo properly in the near future. In fact, I was so confused by this glaring 'mistake' - whatever we want to call it - and the omission of an explanation, along with the fact that the architects were relatively unknown and complete novices on stadium design that I actually wondered for a good while whether the plans were a sham, a faked distraction to avert rites from Ashton Vale...

You make a valid and well researched point about how to do corporate. But - without wishing to completely take the jam from your doughnut, in the nicest possible way...what planet are you on?!? 38% smaller? No way, I'd say it is the other way round. And that's being kind (without including the huge oval of open land around the stands themselves).

Yeah wrong way round kitr. EE has 5,500, atyeo 4,200. Question: Regarding the postponing of Ashton Vale enquiry...when is it rescheduled for? I keep hearing that it was postponed until after the ag planning hearing which is a week today, but when exactly? Does anybody know? Will the board make a decision to drop the av enquiry if pp for ag is granted, or will they hear it out before making a final decision?

I think the figure for boxes is bang on personally. Ashton Gate is not a large ground, and do we really want boxes galore? It would look silly. On top of that, you don't want loads of empty boxes on a match day. It isn't healthy, and lack of demand would affect the going rate. Forest are a club who we should aspire to, stadium included. They have 36 boxes. I am convinced that the atyeo will be developed in the next 15 years (not long in football terms), and I'm sure it will incorporate more boxes.

Yeah but they have no requirement to show intent for something that is still hypothetical. First they need two, possibly three things to happen: the portishead line to open, and the stadium to be redeveloped, and also a certain capacity threshold being surpassed regularly. Then when a case is there, and with the help of red trousers (who it we would no doubt also benefit), things would happen. EDIT: this is in reply to NYTRAM

And spurs...

Still annoyed by the fact it is silver...love walking down that hill and seeing the old red girl (even if she has faded to pink). It's a very identifiable feature, and should remain imo. Would go some way toward preserving our identity, and would help to fend off the wrath of the identikit.

Exactly. KITR, did you honestly think the club would just say 'hey ronald, we've got a nice juicy prime piece of land, that will enable you to tap into literally thousands of burrrgggerrrrr hungry individuals...we don't expect anything in return'. A lease for such a site would be worth a considerable amount, and I expect the fast food chains would've fought tooth and nail for it. Sadly, AG already has a kfc, and the club get diddly squat from it.

Wouldn't be a huge difference in capacity. At the moment it is a fairly extreme drop, due to the nature if the East end. Just guessing, but I'd imagine 27,000 cap would mean around 26,500 with segregation.

Things opening up big time

Exactly, the club. Not an independent commission. They can say whatever they want though, can't they, whenever it suits... I'm surprised you are willing to take it as gospel. I am certainly not. You misunderstand me regarding AG. I love the place. My earlier post was purely regarding revenue comparison between the two options, not fan experience/preference. I was talking from a potential business/conferencing view, which is why I mentioned leaflets and web pages. I am a big fan of Ashton Gate's traditional form and location, in amongst the houses and the pubs. I look forward to the redevelopment, am ready to embrace it whole heartedly. But will it be as lucrative as the vale, or as equally effective as a springboard for the club going forward, I think not.

I can't agree with that. No doubt AG will packed full of as much conferencing/corporate hospitality as can be squashed in there, particularly the new williams stand. But there's still no room elsewhere. Remember that that AV also had the ability to expand much further still. Space is all important, not just for capacity, but to be able to maximize match day sales from that capacity. It's not ideal having a bar in the stand which can only house a very limited number, and serve an equally limited number before match and at half time. Ashton vale had a huge concourse, and being that little but further from north st means many more fans would drink there. Don't underestimate this. AV would have been much more marketable, in terms of naming rights, as well as attracting businesses. Imagine a leaflet or a web page...one has ashton gate, a cramped mishmash, minimal parking, ugly tower blocks looming over head... The other a gleaming iconic red state of the art beacon, sat on a trunk road next to a park and ride, with a hotel on site. One would beat off competition from the city centre, and possibly even cardiff, the other wouldn't.

But do you really believe that? Who said it - an independent commission or the club spin doctors? Let's be clear about this. Ashton Vale would blow Ashton Gate out of the water, which was the whole reason for going there. I'd be amazed if a redeveloped Gate hits as high as 60% the turnover of AV.