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Post by wwrebel on Feb 15, 2023 11:14:18 GMT
Although there are grants available for ground improvements I believe you have to have the money upfront before you can benefit from them.
The quote I heard for a 'Meccano' type covered standing area for the now removed West terrace is very expensive so understandable that the club will wait.
Getting some sponsors on board, easier said than done, and/or another fundraiser effort appear to be the only way forward to raise the required capital to fund any further improvements.
A further promotion up the pyramid adds more problems into the mix as I think the minimum capacity at National League level has to be 4000!
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Post by Keithsson on Feb 15, 2023 12:00:42 GMT
Although there are grants available for ground improvements I believe you have to have the money upfront before you can benefit from them. The quote I heard for a 'Meccano' type covered standing area for the now removed West terrace is very expensive so understandable that the club will wait. Getting some sponsors on board, easier said than done, and/or another fundraiser effort appear to be the only way forward to raise the required capital to fund any further improvements. A further promotion up the pyramid adds more problems into the mix as I think the minimum capacity at National League level has to be 4000! All very sobering funding issues. I guess too that current market forces impact costs for these things as much as they do our own individual finances. I mean there's never a good time for a non-league football club to have to make capital expenditure... but in the middle of high inflation, rising interest rates, global supply shortages and companies having to pass on their necessary wage increases to retain staff... its probably the worst of all times to need to be buying new stands and completing groundworks For this and other reasons, I may be in a minority of one but promotion this season terrifies me. The rules say we HAVE to do this and HAVE to do that, we also HAVE to travel nationwide ( outgoings up massively). But we're only little Worthing and the rules also say we HAVE to stop selling alcohol in sight of the pitch ( income down massively). The danger of 'over-reach' is there in big neon lights, and its the ground regulations that are the non-negotiable red lines. Our player wage requirements will soar too but they'll sadly be the thing that can and will be skimped on ( understandably, no criticism). If money is tight, which it would be massively, our competitiveness on the pitch will be compromised by league requirements and regulations off it. In trying to comply to be allowed to go up/stay up we'd leave so little in the pot for players that we'd almost inevitably come back down... with the diminishing gates that would come with being uncompetitive. That's a really bad catch 22 to have. Anyway, that aside, which is probably a much wider debate than the ground improvements, where are we? We are told the East/West terrace changes being done will bring us up to 3,250. Its why I think the slowly, slowly, catchy monkey policy Barry Hunter outlined in the update is spot on... just do what you HAVE to do. Get over that line and then just breath, absorb that cost, regroup and see where we are. Next level? Well we know we need 500 more seats so that only leaves 250 more terrace spaces to find. We would need those seats, period. But a bit of a deeper terrace somewhere along the bank to take us up to the aforementioned 4 metre depth would comply. The former is clearly the big outlay, but I don't though think we need to do too much to the North terrace to achieve the latter.
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Post by findonrebel on Feb 15, 2023 12:38:31 GMT
The good thing with the northern side if the ground is you gave the evergreen trees protecting the houses, so with them remaining it provides cover to the houses should a redevelopment occur! It's a case really of first of all digging out the bank and seeing how much scope there is for terracing/seated area. Would we go for half standing, half seats? I feel this would be best as if we were to put another full stand in it would leave very little standing space.
As is mentioned we don't want to overstretch ourselves, we are still small fry at this level and although Woodside is a great ground, it won't be suited to football at a higher level and the costs could cripple the club on and off the field! I think we can forget that we can go down as fast as we can go up.....
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Post by wwrebel on Feb 15, 2023 13:13:49 GMT
A northern terrace like the one at Carshalton would be fantastic but would require a vast amount of digging out, new concrete, full length cover etc but if it could include an easily segregated section for visiting fans with a seated stand in the North West corner I suppose it would be worth considering as a long term project.
After visiting every ground this season, bar Concord, it is apparent that the footprint of Woodside Road and the close proximity of houses makes any major improvements very problematic. There are some clubs with bigger car parks than the site at Woodside!!
When you think that the next level up could see the likes of Notts County, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Oldham descend on the ground with coachloads of fans further problems will arise as to where to put the fans and where to park the coaches!!!
I suppose the fact that Dorking have made the grade in the National League with their ground despite it being as hemmed in as our gives us some hope though it would appear that they have far more money behind them.
All the time we are competitive on the pitch at this level we will just have to wait and see if another promotion occurs and the problems it may bring.
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Post by Keithsson on Feb 15, 2023 13:18:56 GMT
Hold up, this might be an exclusive!
There was no mention of it in the club statement but I've come down for the academy game and new seats are going in 👍🏻
From the looks of things they're all being unscrewed from the retaining bar and squeezed together, with new ones making up what's left over.
In places I used to be able to adopt a 'relaxed' position by putting my size ten boots between the seats in front. Now there's an inch at most between seats.
'Strangers to a salad' might not like being bunched up close but maybe, just maybe, across the whole stand we've got our 500 seats already... with a relatively small outlay too 😎
Edit: I asked and yes, as of now we have 505 seats 👊🏻
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Post by dutchboy74 on Feb 15, 2023 13:41:19 GMT
Hold up, this might be an exclusive! There was no mention of it in the club statement but I've come down for the academy game and new seats are going in 👍🏻 From the looks of things they're all being unscrewed from the retaining bar and squeezed together, with new ones making up what's left over. In places I used to be able to adopt a 'relaxed' position by putting my size ten boots between the seats in front. Now there's an inch at most between seats. 'Strangers to a salad' might not like being bunched up close but maybe, just maybe, across the whole stand we've got our 500 seats already... with a relatively small outlay too 😎 You are correct. They are bunching up the seats. I noticed this on Saturday when we were sitting down in the stand. On cold days yes nice and warm. Hot days might be a bit hot!
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Post by northstander on Feb 15, 2023 15:28:53 GMT
Hold up, this might be an exclusive! There was no mention of it in the club statement but I've come down for the academy game and new seats are going in 👍🏻 From the looks of things they're all being unscrewed from the retaining bar and squeezed together, with new ones making up what's left over. In places I used to be able to adopt a 'relaxed' position by putting my size ten boots between the seats in front. Now there's an inch at most between seats. 'Strangers to a salad' might not like being bunched up close but maybe, just maybe, across the whole stand we've got our 500 seats already... with a relatively small outlay too 😎 Edit: I asked and yes, as of now we have 505 seats 👊🏻
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Post by northstander on Feb 15, 2023 15:33:27 GMT
Yes, we do indeed have 505 seats in the South stand. This is a basic qualifying requirement for the playoffs.
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Post by Keithsson on Apr 2, 2023 20:27:25 GMT
As good a place as any to put this because as much as this fixture didn't generate much heat here last week... it does at least show us what the ground actually looks like with 3,000+ in attendance. WFC Legends can MUFC 'Legends' - YouTube
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Post by dutchboy74 on Apr 3, 2023 9:56:56 GMT
Was there 3000+ on the day though? I was informed that 400 people with tickets didn’t show up. We stood in the same place for the whole match. It was nice to see a full ground but absolutely no atmosphere in my humble opinion. Also I think there is/was scope to do so much more with this. . Something happening before the game. And maybe a band/dj after the game to keep people there. It emptied very quickly after the last whistle. And didn’t really understand the decision to have 2 concession stands both selling burgers. But what do I know?
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pauld
Reserve Team
Posts: 246
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Post by pauld on Apr 5, 2023 13:54:32 GMT
Does anyone know what happened with the ground inspection? Has it happened yet?
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Post by northstander on Apr 7, 2023 19:17:13 GMT
Does anyone know what happened with the ground inspection? Has it happened yet? The ground passed with flying colours!
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Post by Keithsson on Jun 29, 2023 15:11:24 GMT
Direct link for those non twitterers who may struggle to access the embedded link... Club Site - Link
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Post by northstander on Jun 29, 2023 17:59:04 GMT
Direct link for those non twitterers who may struggle to access the embedded link... Club Site - Link
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Post by northstander on Jun 29, 2023 18:01:02 GMT
The picture shows Chopper and Lewis painting the outside bar. Proper Rebels doing their bit.
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