Just a thought, now that we know Exeter will play in League Two next season. Their redevelopment isn't due for completion before October (maybe later). I assume that the same allocation of away tiickets, maximum 350, will be offered. Last season, some clubs got just 175 (one block of the main stand) as less than that were expected. If the fixture list gives us an early season visit to St. James Park, would we have any case for a fixture reversal, as I'm sure 350 wouldn't meet the demand for tickets.

excessbee wrote:Just a thought, now that we know Exeter will play in League Two next season. Their redevelopment isn't due for completion before October (maybe later). I assume that the same allocation of away tiickets, maximum 350, will be offered. Last season, some clubs got just 175 (one block of the main stand) as less than that were expected. If the fixture list gives us an early season visit to St. James Park, would we have any case for a fixture reversal, as I'm sure 350 wouldn't meet the demand for tickets.

So is their ground only two-sided? What will their capacity be while the work goes on?

Assuming the playoff semi was a sell-out, it was just over 5,600 at that point using only two sides.

I think the redevelopment only increases the capacity by a couple of hundred on the original. The new stand sits on such a small footprint that there's little scope there, in fact it doesn't run the full length of the pitch. The away end terrace will be the old one from Barnet. It will replace the one which was easily the worst in the league but won't be much bigger in actual capacity. I hope they take the opportunity to erect it closer to the pitch.

Amazing. A trust run club in a city smaller than Newport able to find the cash to redevelop their stadium. Perhaps someone could tell me why they believe this is beyond the scope of Newportonians?

Who owns St James Park and have they borrowed against it?

It's not that long ago the PFA was paying the wages.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Who owns St James Park and have they borrowed against it?

It's not that long ago the PFA was paying the wages.

As I say George we should have started developing our own stadium 15 years ago. That we don't have leverage now is because we collectively failed to make the hard decisions then.

Groundhog Day. Again.

Fifteen years ago we were about to start our last season in the Southern Premier, ahead of the launch of Conference South. We'd have needed to fund a team good enough to finish in the top 14 to make the cut for CS while simultaneously pursuing a new ground of the appropriate standard.

We'd have had no assets to borrow against - it was roughly 20 years since County had last (briefly) owned a ground.

If all the other ducks lined up - availability of a site, planning permission from the council whose flagship sports campus we'd have been quitting - maybe we could have afforded a ground perhaps at the lower rung of the Southern League.

This might have been a step backwards worth taking, and I assume anyone agitating for a new ground then would have said as much. I don't remember that happening.

[Edit: Incidentally, looking it up I see we easily made the cut for Conference South in seventh place. Qualification went down to 13th (Moor Green), plus Dorchester in 17th.

Merthyr, Bath and Tiverton in 14th-16th didn't make it. How come Dorchester got in? Merthyr and Bath must have had two of the best grounds in the division.]

George Street-Bridge wrote:Groundhog Day. Again.

Fifteen years ago we were about to start our last season in the Southern Premier, ahead of the launch of Conference South. We'd have needed to fund a team good enough to finish in the top 14 to make the cut for CS while simultaneously pursuing a new ground of the appropriate standard.

We'd have had no assets to borrow against - it was roughly 20 years since County had last (briefly) owned a ground.

If all the other ducks lined up - availability of a site, planning permission from the council whose flagship sports campus we'd have been quitting - maybe we could have afforded a ground perhaps at the lower rung of the Southern League.

This might have been a step backwards worth taking, and I assume anyone agitating for a new ground then would have said as much. I don't remember that happening.

I think it was about 1998/9. I was watching a game v Cambridge City. I remember a shot from a County forward just going wide. As the ball sped onwards towards the cricket field outpacing the ball boy the atmosphere disappeared. I remember thinking then that County simply didn't have a stadium fit for purpose. When this board started up I agitated for the powers that be develop a stadium.

Having taken dog's bollox abuse for harping on about our need to develop a stadium since 2003, I can only wish I too had your truly awful memory.

What I mean is anyone agitating for a new ground at any time would have needed to acknowledge the pitfalls to be taken seriously.

George Street-Bridge wrote:What I mean is anyone agitating for a new ground at any time would have needed to acknowledge the pitfalls to be taken seriously.

Unfortunately we are now having to live with the very real pitfalls of doing nothing.

What was our average attendance in 2003/04?

Im still yet to see any evidence that this club can sustain owning its own ground. Last time we did own our own ground we went bust. The issue isn't the ownership of the ground the issue is the contract signed and the fact theres 3 teams sharing it. but its the only option we have right now so we must look at other avenues at making money.

Bush wrote:Im still yet to see any evidence that this club can sustain owning its own ground. Last time we did own our own ground we went bust. The issue isn't the ownership of the ground the issue is the contract signed and the fact theres 3 teams sharing it. but its the only option we have right now so we must look at other avenues at making money.

We already know that Newport RFC enjoy the facility’s at RP free of charge, on that basis it will be interesting to see what the Dragons are being charged. For all we know perhaps the County are already funding the majority of the running costs for this ground.

Taunton Iron Cider wrote:

Bush wrote:Im still yet to see any evidence that this club can sustain owning its own ground. Last time we did own our own ground we went bust. The issue isn't the ownership of the ground the issue is the contract signed and the fact theres 3 teams sharing it. but its the only option we have right now so we must look at other avenues at making money.

We already know that Newport RFC enjoy the facility’s at RP free of charge, on that basis it will be interesting to see what the Dragons are being charged. For all we know perhaps the County are already funding the majority of the running costs for this ground.

To be fair to Newport RFC, the deal was struck when the WRU 'took' the ground from NRFC. They too have no income streams from the ground.