League 1 General Chat Thread

[AdamStag]

So we finally have some concrete plans for the embarrassment that is our East Stand.

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2024/april/east-stand_cgis_plans/

Its way better than we have now (which is basically nothing) and looks professional, definitely helps us generate more revenue, its still annoying that its taken 10 years and we missed out on so much better. But it will bring an end to the whole saga which is good news in itself.

The only issue is that it does not really increase the capacity by much at all, if anything I feel like the away capacity will be reduced as you would not want to have away fans underneath the boxes. The away end only holds 950 and we simply have to look at expanding it at some point. We still have one of the smallest capacity stadiums in the football league and missing out on so many extra away fans just seems such a wasted opportunity.

Appreciate our ground isn’t the the best either, but that grounds far too small, especially for the away end, i can’t imagine it would be a challenge to either extend that stand back to push it upto 2,000 or so. As you say the money would be easily recouped in a relatively small period of time. Our away end holds about 1800 and we still believe that isn’t really big enough.

Glad you’re sorting that east stand out, that’s been going on nearly as long as our bishop st issue!

 

[EricSabin]

Appreciate our ground isn’t the the best either, but that grounds far too small, especially for the away end, i can’t imagine it would be a challenge to either extend that stand back to push it upto 2,000 or so. As you say the money would be easily recouped in a relatively small period of time. Our away end holds about 1800 and we still believe that isn’t really big enough.

Glad you’re sorting that east stand out, that’s been going on nearly as long as our bishop st issue!

They’ve said in the press for the East Stand that the North and South behind the goals are the next steps in the development but there’s no timescales etc. It feels like our chairman misses the point when he talks about that because he always says ‘do you want 4-5,000 away fans in from a football perspective?’, when no one is asking for that. Doubling the size of the ends behind the goal would allow us to offer 1,800 plus as well 400 in the East if needed which feels a lot more realistic for what some teams will sell.

What’s happening with that Bishop St Stand? I remember sitting in that stand for the playoffs 20 years ago!



Interesting about what Millerbri says about Rotherham’s 12,000 not being enough, I’ve always thought the NY stadium a perfect size/blueprint for us. My worry is we yo yo so we could be left with 5,000 in a 12,000 seater in L2 which would feel pretty soulless.

 

[AdamStag]

They’ve said in the press for the East Stand that the North and South behind the goals are the next steps in the development but there’s no timescales etc. It feels like our chairman misses the point when he talks about that because he always says ‘do you want 4-5,000 away fans in from a football perspective?’, when no one is asking for that. Doubling the size of the ends behind the goal would allow us to offer 1,800 plus as well 400 in the East if needed which feels a lot more realistic for what some teams will sell.

What’s happening with that Bishop St Stand? I remember sitting in that stand for the playoffs 20 years ago!



Interesting about what Millerbri says about Rotherham’s 12,000 not being enough, I’ve always thought the NY stadium a perfect size/blueprint for us. My worry is we yo yo so we could be left with 5,000 in a 12,000 seater in L2 which would feel pretty soulless.

We’ll still 3 sides next season so capacity shout 8,700 is way off what we could’ve got this season had we had extra capacity. They’ve mentioned after we confirmed promotion that the plans are to have it ready for the 25/26 season - hopefully we’re still here!

Plans are vague though, the council are behind it but it depends if it involves purchase of property behind the stand etc, whatever the idea is for it to be able to be split down the middle to accommodate away fans.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I get the rugby town comment but I think the weekend just gone shows the potential we have in our own right.

Saturday 2pm Sixfields a crowd of 7,000 plus
Saturday 3pm a mile down the road at Franklins Gardens, 15,000+ sellout watching the Saints

So although the rugby team are flying (top of the prem, semi finals of the European cup) we’ve still pulled in 7,000. A 10k stadium would be perfect I think, crowds are on the rise and we need to capitalise.

Was similar for us in the 90s. We got to the Championship and sold out every week and could only offer away fans 900 tickets. That had to change hence the Main Stand was built which helped us generate more income and capitalised on gates. Our only error was not putting in corporate facilities and boxes which really could've benefited us a lot more.

All established lower league clubs should be operating in a 10K ground at the very least imo. Without it, you inhibit growth.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Was similar for us in the 90s. We got to the Championship and sold out every week and could only offer away fans 900 tickets. That had to change hence the Main Stand was built which helped us generate more income and capitalised on gates. Our only error was not putting in corporate facilities and boxes which really could've benefited us a lot more.

All established lower league clubs should be operating in a 10K ground at the very least imo. Without it, you inhibit growth.

We've talked about various improvements to the ground but we won't get anywhere near 10k.
Fortunately for us 1300 max in the away end is plenty, there are only 4 or 5 clubs who would exceed that and we have been selling out our home ends a lot more so that's your lot.

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

Interesting about what Millerbri says about Rotherham’s 12,000 not being enough, I’ve always thought the NY stadium a perfect size/blueprint for us. My worry is we yo yo so we could be left with 5,000 in a 12,000 seater in L2 which would feel pretty soulless.

Our fanbases have clearly received the same hymn sheet!

There are plenty who would be happy going no higher than 10K because they've got it in their heads that it'll feel like visiting MK Dons, and whilst we are still blessed with terraces now which obviously helps a crowd look like a crowd, we've not had seats left to sell for any matches this season at all.

Obviously money, planning, transport and all the various stakeholder angles mean The Abbey isn't going to be a 20K megabowl in any timeline, but equally once the two ''easy hits'' of redeveloping the terraces are done, that's basically gonna be it and suddenly 10-12K is the upper limit and as others have said, becomes a millstone and the law of diminishing returns kicks in harder.

Not sure where Exeter go up in capacity with the site, Northampton not so much, and that Bishop's Street (or whatever the condemned Field Mill stand is called) Stand hardly has much footprint to work with, but I hope we all get the stadium developments we've had dwelling on us all for decades!