new stadiums

[house your seagull]

After reading the Hammond thread I went to check out the tiny 10k seat cuckoo farm. I was very impressed by it, very tidy little thing - although it won't win any architecture awards.

On my interweb travels I found a site that has lots of new stadiums and have decided to post a few examples of the CRAZY spaceships landing in a suburb (not) near you!

Let's start with the cuckoo farm (it gets better, honest!) ... looks like they're making good progress and no doubt it will be a COULDRON OF HATE next season for all visiting fans.

now check out this bad boy! le harve will not just be an albion feeder club but evidently a european force to be reckoned with if they're as ambitious as their stadium design. I can imagine martot lollypopping round that!

next up, former stomping ground of QPR trainee and brother of england ace ray wilkins, dean wilkins, this is zwolle in holland.

now another lowland wonder, anyone ever heard of dordecht (sp), I haven't but wouldn't mind one of those apartments, pisses on orient fo'shizzle!

too much tequila for architects in mexico, this humdinger of a ground looks like a big national park blister. chivas reyedes or something.

couple of polish ones now - will they be finished for the euro's? who knows, but gdansks baltic arena is shweet (top) and chrozow (bottom) looks tasty as well.

our italian cousins have been busy too, obviously not content with the stadio olympico the fascists at lazio have got their dark brown eyes on this glass thing.

don't forget the scandinavians, masters of minimalism, this tatsy effort from staebaek has waterfront vistas, perfect for a drink becuase you won't be able to afford a beer.

finally the antipodes, melbourne victory are building this - i think for football use - and it looks a lot more fun for a tuesday night away game than spotlands next season.

Fingers crossed that falmer turns into the pschodelic telly tubby land that we all hope for so these other new grounds don't steal our glory!

 

[clapham_gull]

Season tickets for new applicants come in almost £600 for Colchester.

 

[Gully]

The new ground for Colchester looks pretty standard to me, just wonder why they didn't fill in the corners, unless that is a plan for the future. Some of the others are stunning, like the look of the one in Gdansk.

 

[Silent Bob]

Colchester's looks like Sixfields (which is crap).

 

[Conkers]

Gdansk Stadium = Allianz Arena (Germany)

 

[Monkster]

Calais's new stadium is looking quite nice (see it from the Motorway on yr way out)

 

[Scotty Mac]

Colchester's looks like Sixfields (which is crap).

and shrewsbury. and oxford with one more stand. and a bit like mansfield

 

[Gully]

...but, when compared to the grounds they have moved from, even if they lack any real character it has to be considered an improvement...not all teams can be as ambitious as the Albion in wanting to produce a ground that is aesthetically pleasing, in tune with its environment and a real experience to visit.

 

[Djmiles]

Looks exactly like the New Meadow.

Here it is when it was under construction:

 

[Gully]

They probably used the same architect, all they would need to do is vary the colour scheme slightly, bish bosh...identikit stadium.

 

[Djmiles]

They probably used the same architect, all they would need to do is vary the colour scheme slightly, bish bosh...identikit stadium.

Same colour as well by the looks of it

 

[Gully]

Thank goodness ours is going to look a bit different.

 

[matildaseagull]

That Cuckoo Farm Stadium looks suspiciously like it's being built in a green field next to a quiet country road. You can clearly see they have filled in the duck pond in the foreground of the photo. Can't believe they got planning permission.

 

[Conkers]

That Cuckoo Farm Stadium looks suspiciously like it's being built in a green field next to a quiet country road. You can clearly see they have filled in the duck pond in the foreground of the photo. Can't believe they got planning permission.

I was just in the process of writing something similar but refreshed before I posted

 

[Man of Harveys]

The Lazio one is a beauty and if you're a bit of an anorak about these things like me, has an end which is exactly like their old prewar ground which stood where Italy now play rugby now and features in the Bicycle Thieves. *stadiumgeek*

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Cuckoo Farm will be 10,000 capacity?! Talk about lack of ambition!

.

 

[Man of Harveys]

...but, when compared to the grounds they have moved from, even if they lack any real character it has to be considered an improvement...not all teams can be as ambitious as the Albion in wanting to produce a ground that is aesthetically pleasing, in tune with its environment and a real experience to visit.

But in that case, why not do up the old grounds and preserve what character does remain? Too many of these new grounds - very much apart from ours, as you rightly say - are very drab little sheds (Northampton is a good example), with all the individual character of the modern supermarket developments that they're often built next to. Of course often the facilities are better, but a lot is also being lost, IMHO, as was the case with the so-called "slum clearance" of the 60s in housing, say. Flame away, I expect most would disagree with me on this, esp. given our position.

 

[house your seagull]

brescia's new ground has roman arch style bits planned - albeit in a west ham mdf castle kind of way ...

 

[Gully]

No flaming from me MoH, I would tend to agree with you, the difficulty lies with being able to match supporters expectations with the reality of funding stadium improvements. I am sure that many of us would love to be watching our team at a modernised Goldstone Ground, that could have happened, but sadly it never did due to circumstances beyond our control.

The Taylor report pretty much demanded that fans be able to watch games in all-seater stadia, and in safety, it was just not practicable to achieve this in many cases. When you factor in the effect of rising land prices, many older grounds were in town/city centre areas where land was at a premium, it often made sense to sell up and rebuild elsewhere (ideally having already built the new ground first).

I am sure that if you asked the majority of our fans where they enjoyed going as a fan it would be to places like Ashton Gate, Loftus Road and Griffin Park, rather than some of the soul-less new stadia where the atmosphere is as plastic as the fork you eat your meat pie with.

 

[Seagulltonian]

Cuckoo Farm will be 10,000 capacity?! Talk about lack of ambition!

.

They must have some great sponsors to survive with 5,000 to 7,000 gates (ala US!), this season, in a division higher than us. Well not now . There seems to be plenty of space around to make it bigger in the future. But 10,000, some of the non-league clubs have got more ambition.