Redtrojan Posted November 3, 2003 Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 O.k,i'm afraid i wasn't at the gate,although after reading about another poor performance perhaps i was lucky.It's a long story but someone i met on holiday provided me and the boys with directors guest tickets to southampton v man city.I 've never been corporate before,but free food and alcohol,famous faces in the room and a seat a few yards to the right of Sven goran eriksen,it was different.Two points i would like to make.The first is that i have completely changed my mind about a new stadium.I was previously reluctant to leave the gate,but having tasted the atmosphere of a full new stadium-it is an absolute must for the club.I know -we won't fill it playing the cr*p we are at the momment ,but the acoustics and view and facilities made it so much a better experience that for us to attract new punters and get the atmosphere back,i feel it is the only way forward-EVEN if we have to share it with the gas.The other comment is about segregation.We seem to lose thousands of seats to segregation in the few sell outs we've had recently.At St Mary's the home end is the same end as the away end,severeal thousand opposing supporters only separated by about 8-10 seats(width)covered in the black tarporline.I was amazed as the 2 sets of supporters could nearly shake hands over the devide,but due to stewarding and police co-ordination there has apparently only been any trouble when Chelsea(suprise,suprise)tried to get over-and failed,hence utilising their capacity to the max.It's a shame i had to travel to southampton to experience excitement in the ground as i remember it as a lad at the gate.Even more galling as we were on a par with the southampton's,bolton's ,middlesboroughs of this world for most of the seventies and some of the eighties(despite some forum users contention that we've always been div 2 and div 3 fodder),with better organisation at that time ,perhaps we'd still be there.So don't be frightened of a new stadium-i now think it will be worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre_The_Giant Posted November 3, 2003 Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 But Southampton's ground is in Southampton, Manchester City's new ground is in Manchester - why the hell would we want to travel to Easter Compton something like 10 miles from Bristol City centre. I'm not opposed to a new stadium but way out yonder AND with the Gas is a ###### take. The Ashton Gate site has enough space to enable redevelopment anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazred Posted November 3, 2003 Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 I would rather the board focused on the team first. We need a few seasons in Div 1 before we can realisticly condsider moving or developing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redtrojan Posted November 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 Before saturday both your arguments were ones i would have voiced.And don't get me wrong if it were possible to build a st marys on the ashton gate site or somewhere nearby ,then all the better.However how long do we wait.?If it can somehow be funded now by making comprimises then i'm for it.Have Hull waited until their team's good enough,did wigan,bolton sunderland-all teams not in the prem when they invested in new stadia i think.Look at hull ,getting between 15-20k supporters at home games since the new ground was built-just over half that before(and they were mid table last year it's not just cos they're top now-although it helps).Why-because it seems more like an event and the atmosphere in these new grounds are generally excellent.Get the atmosphere back in the grounds and hopefully the team will be dragged along kicking and screaming,it's not going to happen at the gate.I couldn't have cared less about the two teams i saw on saturday,but left having felt i'd experienced an event(like the millenium stadium last yr),where as at the gate where i care very much what happens,even coming back from one down against swindon hardly generated a cheer-15 yrs plus ago that would have sparked singing for the whole match and out into the park.We have got to move on-not only on the pitch,but off it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinmans_right_foot Posted November 3, 2003 Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 I would rather the board focused on the team first. We need a few seasons in Div 1 before we can realisticly condsider moving or developing. Too right! There's nothing more depressing visiting a new space age stadium and seeing about 1/3 of the seats filled by home fans. Lets wait until we're getting 16/17,000 at home on a winter Tuesday nite before we spend money we DON'T HAVE on a new ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redtrojan Posted November 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 The vast majority of the funding usually comes from private sponsorship and fa grants.So this money wouldn't be available for the team anyway.Think small and we will remain small.I don't advocate spending money we don't have and risk going bust,but i think you will find the money is sourced elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazred Posted November 3, 2003 Report Share Posted November 3, 2003 The vast majority of the funding usually comes from private sponsorship and fa grants.So this money wouldn't be available for the team anyway.Think small and we will remain small.I don't advocate spending money we don't have and risk going bust,but i think you will find the money is sourced elsewhere. Fair point mate, i guess the board are very unlikely to fund a mulit-million pound stadium on there own, but i would still like to see the team going in the right direction first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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