Bluesince62Cheers Dan, very interesting piece. FWIW, with Knighthead ploughing what? 25 million quid into the place? I don't think that does sound like a company in any great rush to move from that ground, especially as it won't be used as a stadium and will go for social housing (possibly) - so would it make sense to continue to pump money into a stadium that only has a short life left?
Maybe it's part of the plan, but maybe they are looking years down the line?
Hope not obviously, if they really do have big plans for us, then more revenue is a must. A big stadium with infrastructure would be a necessity, I'd have thought.
It would be years until a new stadium would be ready, so it does make sense to do up the current ground in the mean time - particularly as it converts money that sits outside of FFP (non-club related cash) into money that can be used on the squad (club related revenue).
It took Spurs about 10 years to go from announcing the initial new ground plans to moving in, about 7 years for Arsenal - so well worth investing in the current ground if you assume that is the likely time frame.
foghorn leghornIntergrating the transport links at a new ground will cost hundreds of millions. A big tarmac car park would cost a fraction of that.
Alternatively, build a train station at St Andrews, utilize the existing bus depot and get the tram up cov rd would solve many of those transport issues.
Your post makes no sense.
Wheels has not one but two stations close by - Adderley Park and Duddeston. Surely building a new stadium there, upgrading train, tram and bus links makes sense. I mean, how big a piece of tarmac are you going to need for cars for 30,000+ people?
Upgrading those two stations by widening platforms and bridges etc and putting tram tracks into wheels park will cost a mint. I would guess that 10 hectares of tarmac parking lot, would cost considerably less money. You have to cater to your customers needs and if most want to drive in, then that requires somewhere to park the motor.
A new ground is at least a decade away. In the meantime to alleviate our current travel issues at St Andrews we could build a rail platform at the back of the GM, upgrade the bus depot, get that in working order and hope that Mr Street gets the tram up cov rd, in the near future. These upgrades on our current mess will improve ease of access to St Andrews.
Upgrading Adderley Park or Duddeston is moot anyway because New Street is full and there are no spare paths/slots to take trains on the WCML through Adderley Park between New Street and the airport.
The only option is bigger trains (which may be too big for Adderley or Duddeston). Frequency as it stands at the minute cannot increase.
When HS2 happens that will free up some paths for more local services on that line but we'll likely be in a new stadium long before that happens
El MayorHomerAlthough the NEC land is owned by BCC,i'm pretty sure we can't do anything on it without Solihull's agreement. I'm sure that's one of the reasons we didn't get the new Wembley,because Solihull Council didn't want it.
BCC sold the NEC Group ages ago, did that not include the land as well?[/quote
No I don’t believe it did, Solihull is on board with the development and there is a website if you google Arden Cross if you want more details. The development seeks to build on the HS2 station being built by the NEC and build several thousand new homes plus mixed use stuff
foghorn leghornOne of the best posts of the yearfoghorn leghornDriving isn’t progression.Kill the club? It's called progression and we must embrace it. Especially if you drive and insist on secure car parking.
Fit in or do one, 30 % will get right behind it... blah blah blah
Unfortunately, not everyone is on your level of progressive, Super fan status. The plebs want to drive and park securely, within a stones throw of the turnstiles.
If the people who have bought the Medco site for over £7mil are connected to Knighthead, then surely that is a sign that they are looking to build a new stadium on the Wheels site. What would be the point of them buying that site (Medco) if they were looking to build a stadium elsewhere?
RWBlueIf the people who have bought the Medco site for over £7mil are connected to Knighthead, then surely that is a sign that they are looking to build a new stadium on the Wheels site. What would be the point of them buying that site (Medco) if they were looking to build a stadium elsewhere?
Makes sense for Knighthead to buy it, if we don't end up at Wheels they can look to develop it and sell it on. If we do move to Wheels, as Dan says, frees up even more land.
Great piece as ever Dan. I would add that when i spoke to Garry Cook in his first week at blues, he stated that we would be moving grounds. So whether it is Wheels or not, it would appear that the part of the whole plan is to see us in a new ground.
There's not too much i can say, and i've been careful to only drop snippets out rather than put all the info together ...
... BUT ... Blues have never mentioned, or visited or enquired about any other site, apart from Wheels and associated lands to BCC.
Liam daish and his trumpetI'm still in the opinion that they are still testing the water. Throwing a few million at stans is peanuts for them but importantly it keeps us the fans onside.
I don't think for one minute that a few fans shouting about the state of our Wayne is going to bother them one jot but they are surely looking at the football team and where we might fit in their masterplan, which at the end of the day is to make money.
Hs2 may have knocked a few fillings loose and having the
local council in free fall isn't going to help imo. Add to that the mayor of brum having as much influence as the cat that sits on his head, non of it helps.
If course they would have carried out all the appropriate checks before buying us and I truly believe they want us to move stadium but I don't think it will be for a while and in the mean time they are still swishing the water to see which way it goes down the plughole.
You make a lot of sense there 👍
RagsGreat piece as ever Dan. I would add that when i spoke to Garry Cook in his first week at blues, he stated that we would be moving grounds. So whether it is Wheels or not, it would appear that the part of the whole plan is to see us in a new ground.
There's not too much i can say, and i've been careful to only drop snippets out rather than put all the info together ...
... BUT ... Blues have never mentioned, or visited or enquired about any other site, apart from Wheels and associated lands to BCC.
Wheels or back to square one then.
Hopefully Knighthead have the appetite and the dollars to make it work then.
In Wagner we trust.
I can't believe I'm bothered enough to comment on the NEC recurring pipe dream but the one thing it would do is enable the club to draw support from a greater, more affluent area. I don't think they'd be that bothered about losing a few "twenty's plenty" people from Northfield if they could attract the Chelsea tractor crew from Stratford, Warwick et al. Let's face it, Banbury and even Oxford isn't out of reach. There'll be tons of them rediscovering their Brummie roots.
Nikola ZigicI'm absolutely sick of driving to Blues. It's an absolute ball ache.
I'm doing satdee games on the train from now on.
Well last home game v Rotherham. I thought the same . Get on train from Telford as I'm sick of the worsening traffic off Aston Expressway down Waterlinks to Curzon Circus so checked my train time just before I left the house "CANCELLED"... great, so not trusting the trains I went by car. 40 minutes to get to Waterlinks then sat another 45 minutes. I did 1 mile , it was 2.10pm so I managed to dump the car behind White Tower pub (a few others did the same) and walked...faster than the queuing cars. Tonight I think maybe I'll drive to Redditch and come in that way to the ground. More miles but quicker.
Have you ever considered driving to West Brom or Wolverhampton and catching the tram in - i find it incredibly easy and obviously parking isn't a problem at the West Brom tram
I can't see this happening due to cost per acre / planning but there is a perfect 42 acre cleared site called ''the former wholesale markets'. I.ve seen what was proposed in the 'Big City Plan. but its not moved forward in 3 years.
Close to town. New St and Moor St stations, bus routes and pubs.
A city of Birmingham stadium there would be a total game changer.
(Dear Tom that would make a nice Christmas present for us).
I'm still in the opinion that they are still testing the water. Throwing a few million at stans is peanuts for them but importantly it keeps us the fans onside.
I don't think for one minute that a few fans shouting about the state of our Wayne is going to bother them one jot but they are surely looking at the football team and where we might fit in their masterplan, which at the end of the day is to make money.
Hs2 may have knocked a few fillings loose and having the
local council in free fall isn't going to help imo. Add to that the mayor of brum having as much influence as the cat that sits on his head, non of it helps.
If course they would have carried out all the appropriate checks before buying us and I truly believe they want us to move stadium but I don't think it will be for a while and in the mean time they are still swishing the water to see which way it goes down the plughole.
The biggest effect that the HS2 cancellation has on any new Stadium plans at Wheels is ....
If you think about it, a football stadium is only really used for the primary purpose of 1st team football a maximum of 50 times a year - therefore the "idea" has always been for a football/boxing/concert/NFL(?) etc stadium as what Manchester has to offer on that scale is fairly poor. Direct HS2 travel to Brum from Manchester would have widened the catchment area massively
load of rubbish, surely by population density a central birmingham stadium has much greater catchment area than a solihull one, notwithstanding the supposed middle-class appeal of that.
All of the spiel has been about birmingham's appeal as a young vibrant diverse city, not Mr and Mrs Smith from Banbury coming up once a year to watch Blues play Man Utd
Runaway TrainI can't see this happening due to cost per acre / planning but there is a perfect 42 acre cleared site called ''the former wholesale markets'. I.ve seen what was proposed in the 'Big City Plan. but its not moved forward in 3 years.
Close to town. New St and Moor St stations, bus routes and pubs.
A city of Birmingham stadium there would be a total game changer.
(Dear Tom that would make a nice Christmas present for us).
You mean Smithfield. That's done. [www.smithfieldbirmingham.co.uk] the Big City plan is well out of date now I think. This has definitely moved forward more recently than you think as I've been to public consultations about this within the last two years.
Planning approval was granted in October. [www.building.co.uk]