Leaving St Mary's?

[Cabrone]

Just overheard NC on the phone - said he wants the new stadium built by 2011 and wants it to be 40% bigger than the Strahov Stadium!

 

Guys think BIG - NC is!

 

I know I am - who else is?

 

That would give the new stadium a capacity of around 300k.

 

You could fit the whole population of Southampton in one end and most of the population of Pompey at the other.

 

Now that's what I would call a derby.

[Matthew Le God]

Maybe some developer has his eye on the whole area around SMS and is willing to pay through the nose to get it.

 

We certainly dont need bigger capacity at the moment.

 

Actually, I find the whole thing a bit hard to believe. Are you sure you didnt misunderstand him ?

 

It may take 4 years or more to come to fruition. In 4 years Saints could be in the Prem.

 

If Saints wait until they are in the Prem before thinking of this then it delays it and Saints play at a 32k ground in the Prem which was too small last time.

 

If Liebherr brought Saints for the reported £13m and sells the land at St Mary's for £5m to £10m and builds a large 50k stadium and surrounding development then it is a good business plan.

[camdijk]

On South Today, and look in the lounge - a couple of other people saw it.

 

Radio Solent asked listeners to send in questions they would like to be asked in an interview with NC. It is scheduled to be aired tomorrow afternoon.

[The Cat]

Aren't their plans to build in indoor snowdome thingy down my Itchen Bridge, SMS side, where the rowing clubs are now, where the hovercraft used to come ashore?

 

Yes

 

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4879975.Developers_queue_up_to_build_snow_dome/

 

At least we'll get crane hire nice and cheap if a new stadium/complex is built. I'm sure Markus can do some sort of deal with his family on that.

[70's Mike]

maybe he wants to build a 50k stadium near locks heath and charge pompey rent for a ground share..

 

why pick on locks heath

[Window Cleaner]

Seriously though they have got the right idea, no good has come of the place since we've been there. Knock it down and start again, it will wipe out an entire chapter of our history.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Is there a chance the track could bend?

 

Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

[iansums]

Jackson's Farm anyone???

 

Where is Jackson's Farm?

 

I suppose we may hear more on South Today about all this.

[Northant Saint]

As much as I love the idea I think everyone is getting a bit carried away here.

 

Like others I think it would be beneficial to remain mortgage free, and the stadium we have now is in a good location, with a good atmosphere.

 

I think if other teams saw this scheme they would laugh at us. Wait until we are in the prem.

[Matthew Le God]

Where is Jackson's Farm?

 

In the gap between West End, Hedge End and Horton Heath.

 

Very close to the motorway, railway and airport.

Edited 12 March, 2010 by Matthew Le God

[trousers]

Where does David Beckham fit into all this?

[Joensuu]

Where is Jackson's Farm?

 

I suppose we may hear more on South Today about all this.

 

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?cid=7238880676474772780&q=Jacksons+farm+uk&hl=en&cd=1&cad=src:pplink&ei=A4SaS_2oFIiLOOP2oLgD

 

HTH

[iansums]

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?cid=7238880676474772780&q=Jacksons+farm+uk&hl=en&cd=1&cad=src:pplink&ei=A4SaS_2oFIiLOOP2oLgD

 

HTH

 

Thanks. I don't know Southampton area that well, but that helps.

 

Have to say I think I would prefer to see SMS expanded and the surrounding area developed, there is so much potential there.

[northam soul]

People need to get a grip. League one team looking to build 50k seater stadium.I think he is getting carried away by wembley sales .There are probably 30 other clubs above us with ambitions of reaching the premiership so if at all it could take 20 years.

Having said all that i am pretty sure the council would welcome and encourage anyone wanting to re develop the area around SMS so who knows what is possible.

In reality do we need it i think not.

[Joesaint]

Well I love SMS but if there is a new place built, don't think it would happen as it may be better to put money into improving the routes in to SMS BUT if we did get a new place we could have rugby there!!

 

PS would really **** off the skates!!

[alpine_saint]

This sounds like a Paul Allen / David Beckham / Barry The Briefcase story to me...

[Ponty]

Perhaps they'll move us nearer to Oxford... That'd work for me.

[Window Cleaner]

Where does David Beckham fit into all this?

 

That's what the manager at AC Milan keeps asking himself.

[The Worm]

Not on your life' date=' my Hindu friend.[/quote']

 

the ring came off my pudding can

[JustMike]

This sounds like a Paul Allen / David Beckham / Barry The Briefcase story to me...

 

how does it? its come from our chairman not some tyre kicker

[sperm_john]

I actually know this is for real, as i've seen the blueprints for the stadia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is now my desktop background ...i thank you sir, i thank you.

[hackedoff]

Do the maths, 44,000 fans going to Wembley,20,000 skates to convert once their club goes belly-up. We,re going to need a bigger ground.

[eelpie]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4879975.Developers_queue_up_to_build_snow_dome/

 

Thinking big, a development along the river front that links the proposed Snow Dome with a sports complex, a waterfront hotel and a complete stadium rebuild for 45,000 would be brilliant. There are already five developers bidding and it makes sense for Cortese to be more than interested. I bet Marcus is one of the five bidders. Compulsory purchase orders apparently will be issued to current businesses occupying the site. So momentum is building up already.

 

And isn't there already an unwanted ready-made waterfont stadium plan searching for a different home?

 

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3116130

 

A tasty design (and it wouldn't half upset the skates!)

 

Another coincidence, Herzog and Meuron (who designed Tate Modern) are a Swiss firm.

[eelpie]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4879975.Developers_queue_up_to_build_snow_dome/

 

Thinking big, a development along the river front that links the proposed Snow Dome with a sports complex, a waterfront hotel and a complete stadium rebuild for 45,000 would be brilliant. There are already five developers bidding and it makes sense for Cortese to be more than interested. I bet Marcus is one of the five bidders. Compulsory purchase orders apparently will be issued to current businesses occupying the site. So momentum is building up already.

 

And isn't there already an unwanted ready-made waterfont stadium plan searching for a different home?

 

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3116130

 

A tasty design (and it wouldn't half upset the skates!)

 

Another coincidence, Herzog and Meuron (who designed Tate Modern) are a Swiss firm.

 

Herzog and de Meuron's stadium:

 

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3116073

[Chin Strain]

NC might be carried away with the demand for Wembley tickets. What he needs to consider is that a bigger stadium is only needed if we think we would sell out for say playing Wigan at home in the Prem.

 

Which we would. IIRC we sold out every home game in the PL.

[SNSUN]

Getting rid of Lowe's legacy is one thing, but I'm very suprised to hear this one. I have grown very fond of my trips to St Mary's although I can understand people's ties to the stadium are not nearly as strong as they were to the Dell.

 

I'd be very suprised if this happened, it smacks of a PR stunt to me to please the fans, but then who knows. We all know the big man Mr Liebherr is minted, if he has our best interests at heart then we can only be pleased.

 

EDIT: I also like having the Southampton ground in Southampton Central, it's great to walk in from, or to, the pub prior/post a game.

Edited 12 March, 2010 by SNSUN

[Mattio]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4879975.Developers_queue_up_to_build_snow_dome/

 

Thinking big, a development along the river front that links the proposed Snow Dome with a sports complex, a waterfront hotel and a complete stadium rebuild for 45,000 would be brilliant. There are already five developers bidding and it makes sense for Cortese to be more than interested. I bet Marcus is one of the five bidders. Compulsory purchase orders apparently will be issued to current businesses occupying the site. So momentum is building up already.

 

And isn't there already an unwanted ready-made waterfont stadium plan searching for a different home?

 

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3116130

 

A tasty design (and it wouldn't half upset the skates!)

 

Another coincidence, Herzog and Meuron (who designed Tate Modern) are a Swiss firm.

I reckon we should chuck in an indoor arena into the mix, Southampton really lacks a big venue, and we'll be in business!

[WinchesterSaint]

I heard about this plan before Christmas and with the development plans the Rose Bowl has currently got which would include a new road and rail infrastructure to support this it makes sense to have it built in that area.

 

The current St Marys site could be sold for residential land and would command a huge sum which would then make a new out of town ground with a bigger capacity financially viable and for a reasonable outlay (especially as the travel infrastructure is being addressed by others), it would be comparable in cost with increasing the current St Marys capacity.

 

Not saying I want an out of town stadium as I love St Marys where it is but financially it may make sense.

[Andy_Porter]

I heard about this plan before Christmas and with the development plans the Rose Bowl has currently got which would include a new road and rail infrastructure to support this it makes sense to have it built in that area.

 

The current St Marys site could be sold for residential land and would command a huge sum which would then make a new out of town ground with a bigger capacity financially viable and for a reasonable outlay (especially as the travel infrastructure is being addressed by others), it would be comparable in cost with increasing the current St Marys capacity.

 

Not saying I want an out of town stadium as I love St Marys where it is but financially it may make sense.

 

That would be ****.

[saint_mears]

I heard about this plan before Christmas and with the development plans the Rose Bowl has currently got which would include a new road and rail infrastructure to support this it makes sense to have it built in that area.

 

The current St Marys site could be sold for residential land and would command a huge sum which would then make a new out of town ground with a bigger capacity financially viable and for a reasonable outlay (especially as the travel infrastructure is being addressed by others), it would be comparable in cost with increasing the current St Marys capacity.

 

Not saying I want an out of town stadium as I love St Marys where it is but financially it may make sense.

 

We do NOT want any out of town stadium thats for sure. The current SMS land i suspect does not have planning permission for anything otther than commerical stuff.

 

Look how crap the rose bowl is because its in the middle of nowhere.

[dune]

St Marys Stadium is Ruperts legacy.:shock:

 

Let's bulldoze the tin pot subuteo pre fab.

 

I want a ground like Arsenals.

[dune]

We do NOT want any out of town stadium thats for sure.

 

Agreed. Out of town stadiums are all rubbish.

[dubai_phil]

Jackson's Farm anyone???

 

Yes, thank feck someone else is reading with a brain.

 

So 51 Acres, lots of houses and flats and offices and leisure facilities.

 

I think I may have mentioned more than once that NC is working to a damned good business plan. It obviously had a lot of ways to make more money than simply a football team going from the depths of despair to The Champions League.

 

Doesn't mean it will happen but there is logic in the thought process and interesting it is mentioned now. Somebody has been thinking things through.

 

IF it aids our rise and self sufficiency and takes account of mistakes made in other stadium builds then I may support the move. If it's a Ricoh or Majdeski then hmmmm

[Tamesaint]

All I can say is ....

 

Brilliant.

 

Go for it.

[CB Fry]

I'd hate the thought of moving ground ffs. We have a ground in the part of our City we started out at. Imagine a souless out of town ground off the motorway, like Bolton's and Coventry's. This has to be a joke.

 

 

Plenty of people on this forum that yearn, neigh ache, for our football club to play in a souless out of town location surrounded by branches of Frankie and Benny's and JJB Sports.

 

They view a patch of land in the middle of nowhere in an industrial estate on the way to Eastleigh as our true "spiritual home" and curse the day we didn't get a stadium there. Because it could have had a cinema attached to it as well and everything. Which is, like, what football is really about. That, and car parking of course.

Edited 12 March, 2010 by CB Fry

[ART]

Come now. Let's go the full hog. Marcus has ambition, knows what he wants. He's a traditionalist, so I can envision him flattening the housing development of the old Dell and then rebuilding the new stadium there. Then history will never know that which once was Rupert Lowe.:smt038

[scotty]

Any move to the middle of nowhere with no decent pubs nearby would be a load of crap.

 

Coventry is one of the worst places to go and watch football, and the new Colchester ground is in the middle of nowhere. Days out at Reading are ruined by the location of the Madejski.

 

 

Days out at Reading are ruined, full stop

[CityRanger]

Plenty of people on this forum that yearn, neigh ache, for our football club to play in a souless out of town location surrounded by branches of Frankie and Benny's and JJB Sports.

 

They view a patch of land in the middle of nowhere in an industrial estate on the way to Eastleigh as our true "spiritual home" and curse the day we didn't get a stadium there. Because it could have had a cinema attached to it as well and everything. Which is that's, like, what football is really about. That, and car parking of course.

 

 

 

They have never forgiven the club for deciding to build the club next door to where the club was formed, and in the centre of the working class heartland of our great city.

 

Love that post CB. Fans should approach this subject with caution. Lets get out of Div 3 first ffs...

[Kenilworthy]

What they should do is knock down the West Quay centre, which is where the new ground should really have been and then rebuild it incorporating the stadium.

[dubai_phil]

Come now. Let's go the full hog. Marcus has ambition, knows what he wants. He's a traditionalist, so I can envision him flattening the housing development of the old Dell and then rebuilding the new stadium there. Then history will never know that which once was Rupert Lowe.:smt038

 

tee hee

 

+1

[saint_mears]

The worst football grounds in the country now are the ones out of town. We are so lucky to have a new ground built in the town centre, where it belongs.

[sandwichsaint]

Which we would. IIRC we sold out every home game in the PL.

 

http://www.footballeconomy.com/archive/archive_2005_may_05.htm

 

"One of four teams will escape relegation from the Premiership next Sunday, but the least likely candidates for survival are Southampton. Given that the other candidates have recent experience of the Championship, the Saints are the club least well equipped to cope with the £12m drop in income after parachute payments. Southampton have not been out of the top division since 1978. The club is bearing a debt of £22.7m because of the move to St.Mary's Stadium. The loan is secured against future season ticket sales and it is understood that the club has to pay a premium above base rate if they are relegated to compensate for the likely drop in sales. Even in the Premiership, Southampton have seen their average attendance figure slip from 31,704 to 29,862. Games against the likes of Crewe and Watford are unlikely to attract large crowds. Commercial income was already falling this season and operating costs are high. Getting out of the Championship is always tough, as West Ham have found, but the Saints may find it particularly difficult."

 

Can we put to bed the myth that Saints sold out 'every game in the Prem'? The above clearly shows we 'lost' 1800 fans somewhere between mid-table in the Prem and the year we went down - no schitt Sherlock? - people will only watch a 'winning team' and where's the guarantee of that?

 

I clearly remember a dire 0-0 v Charlton in the Prem in our second or third season at SMS which attracted a then record lowe crowd to SMS of 26k (or might even have been 24k?).

 

Not sure our core support is anywhere near what some seem to imagine it is - you don't have to go back too far to Burley Tuesdays when we had barely 16k v the likes of Colchester in the CCC.

 

Do people really want to swap what we've got now for ground-sharing with 25k nu-plastics, paying top-dollar for seats, and watching a bunch of ageing prima-donna playboys 'gelling' their way into mid-table Prem obscurity?

 

45,000 for Saints v Blackburn? Pull the other one....

 

Now if we were to look outwards and grow our brand a little; we could quite conceivably control the whole southern triangle / M3 corridor from our new super-stadium sited just south of Basingstoke (lovely road and rail access) - 20k from the now-defunct 'Saints', 10k from third division (at best) Pompey, 10k from those that no longer watch the EPL (sic) at Reading, 5k from the Surrey commuter belt - that makes 45k watching the franchised 'Southern Saints' battling it out for a top 6-8 prem league place. That's not for me ...

 

The other obvious, and bigger, drawback - who's going to score the final goal at SMS?

 

Lambert v Bolton doesn't quite have the same symetry as MLT v Arsenal and Saints will never win the Prem; last game of the season and needing one point to win it they would go to already-relegated Wolves on the back of a nine game winning streak and lose 0-2 - it's what Saints do!

[S-Clarke]

it'll be interesting to actually hear what Cortese has to say tomorrow, when it's played out in full. - possibly when there is a bit more context to it!

 

If he can come up with those ambitious plans for staplewood, then I'm sure he's also looking at stadium development. I'm not pivvy to the situation with the buildings around the stadium, but the salt works opposite the entrance would present a fantastic opportunity to buy up and build a waterfront area.

 

same with the industrial buildings around the chapel side - could look much better than it does atm.

 

heck, paint the gas container red and white too

[captainchris]

Any move to the middle of nowhere with no decent pubs nearby would be a load of crap.

 

Coventry is one of the worst places to go and watch football, and the new Colchester ground is in the middle of nowhere. Days out at Reading are ruined by the location of the Madejski.

 

Ditto

 

Very true. Cov and Reading are in crap locations. Nearest pub about a mile away at Reading and Cov - Christ the nearest pub is in Leicester !!!

[dubai_phil]

Ditto

 

Very true. Cov and Reading are in crap locations. Nearest pub about a mile away at Reading and Cov - Christ the nearest pub is in Leicester !!!

 

Playing Devils Advocate

 

IF we built out of town and had pubs/bars and transport properly sorted as part of the development?

 

And yes the only good thing about Majdeski is the Hotel if you are going to the Ind Estate on business during the week. As for Cov.... Pizza Hut says it all

[alpine_saint]

St Marys Stadium is Ruperts legacy.:shock:

 

Let's bulldoze the tin pot subuteo pre fab.

 

I want a ground like Arsenals.

 

Must admit, the idea of erasing Lowe's legacy from the club completely has its appeal.

[scotty]

Must admit, the idea of erasing Lowe's legacy from the club completely has its appeal.

 

Lowe? Lowe who? :confused:

[mancsaint]

Let's wait till 2pm tomorrow to find out exactly what question NC is responding to. Could we EVER move from SMS? If somebody offered £50m for SMS would we sell?

 

It's a bit like Mock the Week, here is the answer, what was the question?

 

Mancsaint

[sammysaint]

Well i would rather they spent money on the playing squad then a new stadium.

 

BUT IMO We would never fill more then 35k on a average week even in the prem, unless we finished top 8 every season for about 10 years and won a few cups, which even after that we would struggle to fill more then 40k, may as well stay at st marys and increase to 35k or 38k when we are a prem team.

[Secret Site Agent]

Make me have it!!!!!!!

I'll build it, and this time i'll make it more improved, and a better job that those sweaty socks from Barr ever did, third on quality, first on price, final bill over budget. Allowed subcontractors to cut galvanised steel and use galvafroid instead of regalvanise, i still have my doubts over the drainage and the piling.

 

If you see that Nicky feller, tell him me and me mates 'all build him one cheap, £100 million, with retractable roof, scateproof doors, multipar use access styles, Bar code reader for tickets, gel pack seating, accoustic tiles, and we'll even throw in a red and white motif on the staunchions and a 'come on you reds' motif within the pitch.

And we'll do it in 9 months. And we'll tarmac his drive, and fix his roof.