England's World Cup bid, St James' and those stupid listed buildings.

[danswan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2007/10/which_are_englands_best_ground_1.html

 

Possibly more a question for government/clever legal types

 

Everyone agrees that St James' will host games if we get the world cup. There will be FA and government funding available to improve stadia leading up to the tournament. What a great opportunity to complete the stadium and make it the best in the country, if it wasn't for those damn houses behind the east stand.

 

Is a listed building always listed? Are there any precedents for the de-listing of a building? Is it not possible to dismantle the buildings and resurrect them elsewhere? It is utterly ridiculous that a couple of student residences stop the whole of the city from getting what surely a large percentage of them want.

 

[NG32]

Unless someone was willing to pay for those buildings to be moved brick by brick and rebuilt exactly the same in another location, they wont be moving.

[Karjala]

I don't think having a massive half empty stadium would warrant the cost and effort of moving the building elsewhere.

[Guest alex]

The ground's big enough already and would be more than big enough if the Gallowgate End was extended. I actually like Leazes Terrace and would be against its demolition.

[Wullie]

The ground's big enough already and would be more than big enough if the Gallowgate End was extended. I actually like Leazes Terrace and would be against its demolition.

 

  I agree.

[danswan]

The capacity wouldn't be that much more I wouldn't have thought, maybe 70,000. Aesthetically and acoustically it would be much better though.

 

Ashley and Mort seem quite forward thinking, an overhaul of ticket pricing could easily result in sell-outs, near capacity for all home games.

 

Unless someone was willing to pay for those buildings to be moved brick by brick and rebuilt exactly the same in another location, they wont be moving.

 

Pocket money to Wor Mike though surely?

[NG32]

You'd be looking at serious wedge to relocate those buildings and extend the stadium.

[Disco]

Wonder how ridiculously the tickets will be priced for the World Cup, can't see many people wanting to pay £30+ to watch say Ecuador v. Japan or Cameroon v Costa Rica.

[Dave]

The ground's big enough already and would be more than big enough if the Gallowgate End was extended. I actually like Leazes Terrace and would be against its demolition.

 

Spot on, and why people keep forgetting the bit in bold is beyond me.

[Guest jimmy1982]

Don't think there'd be much point in extending the ground on that side, we wouldn't fill it unless apart from the biggest of big matches, like if we ever got to a champs league semi or something like that. The only advantage as far as I can see would be that the ground wouldn't look lopsided. We'd probably get even less sunlight onto the pitch, meaning an even poorer playing surface after christmas time.

[Guest alex]

Wonder how ridiculously the tickets will be priced for the World Cup, can't see many people wanting to pay £30+ to watch say Ecuador v. Japan or Cameroon v Costa Rica.

Another good point - I went to Romania v Bulgaria at SJP during Euro '96 and the 36,500 stadium as it was then was about 2/3s full (if that).

[Guest alex]

Don't think there'd be much point in extending the ground on that side, we wouldn't fill it unless apart from the biggest of big matches, like if we ever got to a champs league semi or something like that. The only advantage as far as I can see would be that the ground wouldn't look lopsided. We'd probably get even less sunlight onto the pitch, meaning an even poorer playing surface after christmas time.

They use those ultra-violet lights now, which helps a bit. Seems a bit mad like - giving the pitch a sunbed in effect.

[danswan]

I added a Poll. How exciting.

[midds]

The ground's big enough already and would be more than big enough if the Gallowgate End was extended. I actually like Leazes Terrace and would be against its demolition.

 

  I agree.

 

Me too. It's a nice street.

[Disco]

Voted I don't care but as someone who sits in the East it could do with a scrub up inside and out and better lights for going down Strawb Lane in the dark.

[NSG]

Agreed, I love the stadium as it is anyway. No need to expand at present.

[Guest jimmy1982]

Don't think there'd be much point in extending the ground on that side, we wouldn't fill it unless apart from the biggest of big matches, like if we ever got to a champs league semi or something like that. The only advantage as far as I can see would be that the ground wouldn't look lopsided. We'd probably get even less sunlight onto the pitch, meaning an even poorer playing surface after christmas time.

They use those ultra-violet lights now, which helps a bit. Seems a bit mad like - giving the pitch a sunbed in effect.

 

Oh ta,hadn't heard about that.

[danswan]

As to the ground being big enough already, if we get the success we all want, (keep the faith) then I don't think it would be. Unlikely as it might seem, maybe one day we will have consistent success.

 

Also, I was in Sports Direct the other day and it looks as though Ashley favours a 'Pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' business model. If he applied this to seats then the more the merrier.

[Guest alex]

In that case he'd extend the Gallowgate surely - although I'm not convinced he'd do that to sell more seats at a lower price. Doesn't make business sense to (not that I'm particularly knowledgeable in such areas). He certainly wouldn't do the East Stand as the cost of moving Leazes Terrace (if that was even an option) would be astronomical I'd guess (more than a brand new stadium).

[danswan]

Im no economist either, but I know they have vastly different ticketing structures in places like Germany. If they get X amount of money from ticket sales, is it not better to have say 10000 more people in the ground paying that same total amount? Catering sales would bring in more, and the atmosphere would hopefully be better.  Also having ticket availability is opening the door to the new generation of fans who currently can't get in, cementing future revenues.

 

Not saying this would happen, but wouldn't it make sense?

[Baggio]

Im no economist either, but I know they have vastly different ticketing structures in places like Germany. If they get X amount of money from ticket sales, is it not better to have say 10000 more people in the ground for catering sales and atmosphere though? Also having ticket availability is opening the door to the new generation of fans who currently can't get in, cementing future revenues.

 

Not saying this would happen, but wouldn't it make sense?

 

They would have to shift a serious amount of pies to make a expansion profitable.

[danswan]

If the cost of moving the houses is that much, I agree that's not practical. What about other options, is a listed building always listed etc?

 

 

[Baggio]

If the cost of moving the houses is that much, I agree that's not practical. What about other options, is a listed building always listed etc?

 

 

The other option is to redevelop the gallowgate and push the stadium up to around 60,000.

 

It'll look like Celtic Park then.

 

http://collectors.greenmess.co.uk/gallery/celtic%20park.jpg

[Guest alex]

Grade I listed building isn't it? Nee chance of the listed status being removed if that's the case. Plus it's in use and in good nick.

[Dokko]

Missing a trick here.

 

Get those crappy houses knocked down, expand the stadium to its full potential, bill the FA and the Government for the expansion (as they will be paying for it) then reduce ticket prices to fill the ground.

 

We'd fill it at a reduced rate, no problem.