Quote-unquote, less than a week ago: My view, as I have stated many times, is that a city the size of Newport should have a stadium with a capacity of at least 25,000.

Still waiting for your view on the club's late 90s plan for a possible new ground. As a prophet in the wilderness on the subject for decades, obviously you'll be familiar with it.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Quote-unquote, less than a week ago: My view, as I have stated many times, is that a city the size of Newport should have a stadium with a capacity of at least 25,000.

Still waiting for your view on the club's late 90s plan for a possible new ground. As a prophet in the wilderness on the subject for decades, obviously you'll be familiar with it.

George,

But you keep missing out the word develop. I don't know whether you do this on purpose or whether it is because you are not quite ninepence in the shilling.

I gave you a full answer to your question re the 1990's 'plan' Again why you think I didn't is a mystery to me. Although for the sake of completeness and to repeat once again, our failure over 30 years to develop a fit for purpose stadium is something for which we are all accountable.

You replied at length but didn't mention the proposal. Anyone would think you'd never heard of it, but surely that can't be the case?

George Street-Bridge wrote:You replied at length but didn't mention the proposal. Anyone would think you'd never heard of it, but surely that can't be the case?

I don't know George whether I have never heard of it, or far more likely that I don't now remember it.

In any event you may have noticed that it is 2020. I, notwithstanding my undoubted genius, am unable to turn the clock back 25 years. Further I am not quite sure of what possible interest I could have, or anyone else for that matter, in some plan which never got beyond the inchoate stage a quarter of a century ago. Before many of our supporters and most of the team were born.

You are very tiresome George, you do know that, don't you?

Stan - my point is you present yourself as having been a visionary on the subject since long before that date. This seems to have been the most serious exploration of developing a ground - maybe the only one - but you've never heard of it.

The proposal was for a ground to the west of town, on land belonging to Tredegar Park Golf Club in the gap between the M4 and Forge Road. It would have been part of a bigger retail or business park and like other grounds in that era, the developer must have wanted one or more facilities with a community benefit to ease the planning process.

A consultant representing the developer made a presentation to a meeting of the Over the Bridge Exiles. Other supporters I know were more sceptical than me, and they called it right. The guy was a bit flash and had some previous with other clubs, but even if it had all been kosher the location would still have been terrible so far out of town.

It was a lesson in some of the pitfalls involved and it gives the lie to any suggestion the club has never investigated the possibilities.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Stan - my point is you present yourself as having been a visionary on the subject since long before that date. This seems to have been the most serious exploration of developing a ground - maybe the only one - but you've never heard of it.

The proposal was for a ground to the west of town, on land belonging to Tredegar Park Golf Club in the gap between the M4 and Forge Road. It would have been part of a bigger retail or business park and like other grounds in that era, the developer must have wanted one or more facilities with a community benefit to ease the planning process.

A consultant representing the developer made a presentation to a meeting of the Over the Bridge Exiles. Other supporters I know were more sceptical than me, and they called it right. The guy was a bit flash and had some previous with other clubs, but even if it had all been kosher the location would still have been terrible so far out of town.

It was a lesson in some of the pitfalls involved and it gives the lie to any suggestion the club has never investigated the possibilities.

David Hando was quoted as saying we could never have become a League club playing at Spytty, which rather gives the lie to the 1990's decision being called right.

Certainly the location and the plan may have been flawed but calling it right would have been to have sought a stadium plan which would have worked.

Oh and much as I appreciate your praise. I don't think of myself as a visionary. I am but one of many who knew that Spytty Park was an unmitigated disaster. In fact I was fairly slow off the mark. I remember trying my best to talk up Spytty to one of the original directors. I said if it's good enough for Bayern Munich it was good enough for us.

However about 1997 I was watching a game v Cambridge City. A County shot went just wide. The momentum of the match was lost as a ball boy chased after the ball. It just kept going and going into the setting sun. The ball passed through the scattered athletics hurdles, the long jump pit and the track. For all I know the ball boy passed through puberty.

Intelligence is not about being right. It's more about being able to accept when you're wrong.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Stan - my point is you present yourself as having been a visionary on the subject since long before that date. This seems to have been the most serious exploration of developing a ground - maybe the only one - but you've never heard of it.

The proposal was for a ground to the west of town, on land belonging to Tredegar Park Golf Club in the gap between the M4 and Forge Road. It would have been part of a bigger retail or business park and like other grounds in that era, the developer must have wanted one or more facilities with a community benefit to ease the planning process.

A consultant representing the developer made a presentation to a meeting of the Over the Bridge Exiles. Other supporters I know were more sceptical than me, and they called it right. The guy was a bit flash and had some previous with other clubs, but even if it had all been kosher the location would still have been terrible so far out of town.

It was a lesson in some of the pitfalls involved and it gives the lie to any suggestion the club has never investigated the possibilities.

To be honest, I don’t remember the plan either - though admittedly my memory is not what it was. I would in any case have dismissed the idea at the time as a totally unsuitable location as public transport links there were terrible - even worse than Spytty, if that’s remotely possible.
I’m not sure now exactly what points you and Stan are now bickering over but if the point he is trying to make is that you start small and develop a ground, then I find that difficult to disagree with.