I think fundraising is always a good idea for a club like ours —but to think we could ask or even get our 3,000 regulars to raise enough cash to build a stadium suitable for league 2 , and always with a view in mind for league 1 , is pie in the sky.
The only way for this to happen is for massive private investment, with us agreeing to sell the club , or a sugar daddy, who lets us keep ownership.
To think that £1 million or £2 million Will get us there is unrealistic.
We all know that £1 million hardly buys the patch of grass and drainage—-and this is a repeating 2 or 3 yearly cost .
So I never want to knock the ideas of our mainstay supporters but we have to be realistic .
A stadium needs to have at least minimum capacity for about 5 or 6,000.
It needs car parking, it needs a good set of floodlights ( Probably near to £1m) , it needs quality hospitality suites to house the high spending guests,it needs a large suite capable of hosting events , it needs decent changing and medical rooms , it needs an area for the media , and so on and so on .
All the this so called peripheral items are in excess of at least £500,000 a piece ,before we even have a stadium.
I just want us all to be realistic .
If all 3000 of us donated £1000 each per year it still only gets us to £3m.
After 3 or 4 years of this , then we start to see little light at the end of the tunnel.
But it is never going to happen .
Have the donations of the average “super” supporters ever built a stadium for EFL football—-I doubt it but I am not sure of it ..,, if there is a stadium built this way we should find out where it is and look at how they achieved it .
It is certainly not with £10 a month from our very loyal supporters .

Pirates - I take your point and in the short term it is unrealistic - but this discussion has to be about the long term and not the next 3-4 years as you mention. this will no doubt be a discussion point - it took the club 24 years to get back to the football league and that was achieved. Why, is this not possible, with a stadium? We can sit on our hands in the meantime and hope for investment but all clubs who are not owned by a rich benefactor are doing that. Besides, if there is a trust fund for a stadium that may be more attractive for people to invest in the future than a club with no assets or long term plan/vision.

As an aside, can all those who have expressed an interest send me their mob no via PM and I will What's app you with the details a couple of minutes before we start with the details -rncfc - noted you cannot make it this time.

Pirates wrote:I think fundraising is always a good idea for a club like ours —but to think we could ask or even get our 3,000 regulars to raise enough cash to build a stadium suitable for league 2 , and always with a view in mind for league 1 , is pie in the sky.
The only way for this to happen is for massive private investment, with us agreeing to sell the club , or a sugar daddy, who lets us keep ownership.
To think that £1 million or £2 million Will get us there is unrealistic.
We all know that £1 million hardly buys the patch of grass and drainage—-and this is a repeating 2 or 3 yearly cost .
So I never want to knock the ideas of our mainstay supporters but we have to be realistic .
A stadium needs to have at least minimum capacity for about 5 or 6,000.
It needs car parking, it needs a good set of floodlights ( Probably near to £1m) , it needs quality hospitality suites to house the high spending guests,it needs a large suite capable of hosting events , it needs decent changing and medical rooms , it needs an area for the media , and so on and so on .
All the this so called peripheral items are in excess of at least £500,000 a piece ,before we even have a stadium.
I just want us all to be realistic .
If all 3000 of us donated £1000 each per year it still only gets us to £3m.
After 3 or 4 years of this , then we start to see little light at the end of the tunnel.
But it is never going to happen .
Have the donations of the average “super” supporters ever built a stadium for EFL football—-I doubt it but I am not sure of it ..,, if there is a stadium built this way we should find out where it is and look at how they achieved it .
It is certainly not with £10 a month from our very loyal supporters .

Interesting the things you think the stadium well need.
When analysed much is already in place such a pitch, car parking, floodlights, changing room, infrastructure at SPYTTY PARK. It going to be an awful lot cheaper to upgrade that than start from scratch.
I've said it before, if we can't stay at RP then Spytty is out ONLY alternative.

Pirates wrote:I think fundraising is always a good idea for a club like ours —but to think we could ask or even get our 3,000 regulars to raise enough cash to build a stadium suitable for league 2 , and always with a view in mind for league 1 , is pie in the sky.
The only way for this to happen is for massive private investment, with us agreeing to sell the club , or a sugar daddy, who lets us keep ownership.
To think that £1 million or £2 million Will get us there is unrealistic.
We all know that £1 million hardly buys the patch of grass and drainage—-and this is a repeating 2 or 3 yearly cost .
So I never want to knock the ideas of our mainstay supporters but we have to be realistic .
A stadium needs to have at least minimum capacity for about 5 or 6,000.
It needs car parking, it needs a good set of floodlights ( Probably near to £1m) , it needs quality hospitality suites to house the high spending guests,it needs a large suite capable of hosting events , it needs decent changing and medical rooms , it needs an area for the media , and so on and so on .
All the this so called peripheral items are in excess of at least £500,000 a piece ,before we even have a stadium.
I just want us all to be realistic .
If all 3000 of us donated £1000 each per year it still only gets us to £3m.
After 3 or 4 years of this , then we start to see little light at the end of the tunnel.
But it is never going to happen .
Have the donations of the average “super” supporters ever built a stadium for EFL football—-I doubt it but I am not sure of it ..,, if there is a stadium built this way we should find out where it is and look at how they achieved it .
It is certainly not with £10 a month from our very loyal supporters .

I don't think anyone has suggested we can do this with just supporter money and without the help of the club, grants, loans etc etc

First of all I'm really grateful that Mr Figo has taken this first step.

Now of course it is the first step on a long and arduous journey with no guarantee of success. The only guarantee is that if we don't try then failure is guaranteed. I don't believe it is negative to point out the inherent difficulties. The positive comes from how we tackle those problems as and when they arise.

So a question for those of you who have voiced concerns. Are you going to join the discussion or are you going to stand on the sidelines? And while you ponder that, consider this. AFC Wimbledon supporters succeeded. United of Manchester succeeded. Now if it is not beyond the wit of the English to find a way, do you, the sons and daughters of Wales, believe that it is beyond you?

Also.. is this strictly 'new stadium or bust' or are we open to exploring buying into Rodney Parade, Spytty Park or even a fund to secure a new lease at RP?

I do feel people's concern this is a difficult project but with 3 years(?) remaining on our agreement and no clear cut communication about what the next step is regarding our future, doing nothing seems like the crazy option.

While I would like the club to be on board with this project, at minimum, if there turns out to be a high uptake in support for this we may be able to get some clarity regarding where we stand on our future.

Would it be possible to go to the WRU and ask them the cost to buy the stadium?—-or have we already done it.?
Why not take a lead and try and beat the Dragons to it . This virus must have put their survival in more doubt with the WRU probably looking at a new lease of life for the regions and worried about how to do it.
What is a realistic price for Rodney Parade?—-£3, £4 or £5 m ?
At least we then have a price and have to find a way of raising the cash .
Then maybe lease to the Dragons —-unfortunately a deal with the WRU could spell the end for the Dragons and no matter what we say say about them , I am sure none of us want to see them disappear!, I certainly don’t want this to happen.
But the WRU will save a lot of money :
No upkeep of the stadium and pitch replacement (£750,000)
Receipts from sale of Ground ( £3, £4 or £5 m)

No funding for Dragons (£4.5 m every year)
Taxes and so on.

Lot of cash for WRU, especially at times like we are now facing .

And we need the local authority to help us and do their part —— refuse any applications for development of Rodney Parade and maintain its use as a sporting facility .
This should get the WRU more interested in a sale at a reasonable price.?

And we only want the stadium part, we're not too bothered about the 'cabbage patch' or the old clubhouse which the WRU can sell off.

And we only want the stadium part, we're not too bothered about the 'cabbage patch' or the old clubhouse which the WRU can sell off.

Pirates wrote:I think fundraising is always a good idea for a club like ours —but to think we could ask or even get our 3,000 regulars to raise enough cash to build a stadium suitable for league 2 , and always with a view in mind for league 1 , is pie in the sky.
The only way for this to happen is for massive private investment, with us agreeing to sell the club , or a sugar daddy, who lets us keep ownership.
To think that £1 million or £2 million Will get us there is unrealistic.
We all know that £1 million hardly buys the patch of grass and drainage—-and this is a repeating 2 or 3 yearly cost .
So I never want to knock the ideas of our mainstay supporters but we have to be realistic .
A stadium needs to have at least minimum capacity for about 5 or 6,000.
It needs car parking, it needs a good set of floodlights ( Probably near to £1m) , it needs quality hospitality suites to house the high spending guests,it needs a large suite capable of hosting events , it needs decent changing and medical rooms , it needs an area for the media , and so on and so on .
All the this so called peripheral items are in excess of at least £500,000 a piece ,before we even have a stadium.
I just want us all to be realistic .
If all 3000 of us donated £1000 each per year it still only gets us to £3m.
After 3 or 4 years of this , then we start to see little light at the end of the tunnel.
But it is never going to happen .
Have the donations of the average “super” supporters ever built a stadium for EFL football—-I doubt it but I am not sure of it ..,, if there is a stadium built this way we should find out where it is and look at how they achieved it .
It is certainly not with £10 a month from our very loyal supporters .

You are, of course, correct. However, private investment and local authority support is not going to just fall into our laps.

If we take the initiative ourselves and get the ball rolling, we can gradually increase the interest levels of the public and look to slowly apply pressure on council and business leaders over time.

3,000 fans alone will not achieve something like this from within their own pockets, but these same 3,000 fans most definitely can achieve it using their knowledge and contacts.

I doubt that I will be available for the call on Thursday but would like to know the outcome.

A few thoughts...

When we go to speak to the club, we need a firm idea of what we are asking and what we expect from them. i.e. we need to either take to them a vision or ask to engage with them to build a vision. UEFA suggest that you start with a discussion of three core questions in terms of a stadium -
What do we want?
What do we need?
What can we afford?

We should at least have a high-level view of the phases involved in fulfilling the plan covering - Project Vision; Planning and Feasibility; Design and Permissions; Construction; Operation. Showing the major activities and external bodies involved in each to show that we have an understanding of what will be required.

With regards to fund raising, I think we need to find something that is not seen as a direct competitor for the existing Trust fund raising schemes for it to be acceptable. We need to investigate whether funding from e.g. the Football Foundation via LFFP is available to us as a Welsh club.

On costs, here is a breakdown of the preliminary budget of a 5,200 capacity stadium built in Croatia (I'm sure the club will have contacts with schemes closer to home) in 2009, excluding land purchase.

Stadion Hrvatskih vitezova
Total capacity: 5,200
Total construction area: 12,000m²
Total construction budget:
€11,605,000
Project construction: 2009


Cost Percentage
Excavation/earthworks €200,000 1.72%
Demolition €150,000 1.29%
Reinforced concrete €2,245,000 19.35%
Pile foundations €230,000 1.98%
Roof €355,000 3.06%
Roof/underground structure €1,545,000 13.31%
Seats €150,000 1.29%
Pitch €480,000 4.14%
Electrical/telecommunications €1,005,000 8.66%
Mechanical €725,000 6.25%
Floodlights €830,000 7.15%
Scoreboard €270,000 2.33%
PAD €75,000 0.65%
CCTV €135,000 1.16%
Technical installations €120,000 1.03%
Emergency signal included in listed costs
Lifts €105,000 0.90%
Exterior €210,000 1.81%
Finishing €1,500,000 12.93%
Project €175,000 1.51%
Parking/access/
surroundings €300,000 2.59%
Other €515,000 4.44%
TOTAL €11,605,000 100%

Amberexile wrote:TOTAL €11,605,000 100%

You can swap that euro sign for a pound sign to get an approximate 2020 sterling cost then, as the factors of 2009 €/£ exchange rate and the 2009 to 2020 UK inflation costs roughly balance I believe.

That's roughly double the oft-quoted cost of £1m per 1000 seats (excluding land purchase) then.

For info here are the EFL ground standard requirements https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/ef ... ulation-8/

NearlyDead wrote:

Amberexile wrote:TOTAL €11,605,000 100%

You can swap that euro sign for a pound sign to get an approximate 2020 sterling cost then, as the factors of 2009 €/£ exchange rate and the 2009 to 2020 UK inflation costs roughly balance I believe.

That's roughly double the oft-quoted cost of £1m per 1000 seats (excluding land purchase) then.

It is just one example. I'm sure there is quite a wide range of potential costs.

I genuinely think that the only way forward for a city like Newport is by having a truly multi-purpose stadium. It would need to include other sports in order for the facility to pay its way. Speedway, dogs, stock cars, American football etc. Modern day stadiums for clubs at our level do not generate enough funds to be sustainable. They have to be a 24/7/365 proposition and offer hospitality and conference facilities, plus the possibility of retail and hotel. Even if the right money is raised to build, ongoing costs have to be covered otherwise you might end up with a Darlington or Sittingbourne situation.