The New Meadow

[Staly]

They were all parked on double yellows to be fair.

You should think yourselves lucky- the local residents have taken to supergluing rants about not parking outside their houses to the windscreens of cars around New Meadow.

 

[catfish]

Do like that they have apparently substantial car parking adjacent !

Those tractors take up a lot of space.

 

[tubaman]

Can be easily converted. They just knock down the current stadium and build a 40k seater stadium. Easy!

No thats current capacity for summer games. You bring your own seat and sit in the car park.

 

[pottert]

The plans for the Amex were drawn up over 10 years ago,way before tb come to the party.the club has had to adhere to so many terms & conditions for planning permission to be granted that I'm sure certain plans had to be revised.from day 1 the plan was for a 22500 capacity & that is what we have.
Although tb is seen as our saviour by people outside the club.

Any true Albion fan will know that dick knight saved this club,gave it a home at withdean & fulfilled his & our dream of moving to falmer.

 

[Barry Izbak]

One of my biggest regrets in supporting the Albion is the fact that I am just too young to really have gone to grounds like Gay Meadow and Layer Road and instead have to go to the shitty new versions that those clubs play in nowadays.

Only someone too young to have gone to Layer Road would lament the fact that they were too young to have gone to Layer Road.

If you were to ask me to list the top ten shittest grounds where I have watched the Albion, Layer Road would be above Withdean.
In fact the away end khazi at Plough Lane would run it close for the worst ever.

 

[Notters]

One of my biggest regrets in supporting the Albion is the fact that I am just too young to really have gone to grounds like Gay Meadow and Layer Road and instead have to go to the shitty new versions that those clubs play in nowadays.

The away terrace at Gay Meadow was MEnTaL! Much like Peterborough I don't really want to go to Shrewsbury again as I'd rather remember it how it was.

 

[Staly]

Yes I know that. The plans were drawn up in far easier economic times. To say that without Tony Bloom you would have got the same stadium but would have had to "borrow a lot of money" is surely wishful thinking? Borrow from whom? Not banks at the moment.

Do you not think that you may have had to have a substantial redesign to something a lot cheaper?

I'm not trying to be contentious, I'm genuinely interested.

That's not really the point I was trying to make, anyway. You can see why it rankles a bit to have supporters of a club who have been by any measure extraordinarily fortunate over the last couple of years (however well deserved for previous injustices) slagging off another club's ground as "shitty"?

 

[Notters]

Only someone too young to have gone to Layer Road would lament the fact that they were too young to have gone to Layer Road.

If you were to ask me to list the top ten shittest grounds where I have watched the Albion, Layer Road would be above Withdean.
In fact the away end khazi at Plough Lane would run it close for the worst ever.

Got to agree with that but Im only 28 and I already sadly miss the Vetch, Gay Meadow, the old Dean Court, the old Brisbane Road, saltergate and so on. I'm afraid I agree with [MENTION=8329]Spider[/MENTION] in saying that all modern small stadia are a bit shitty; well, not what they could be anyway; but this is just because the combination of being small AND all seater reduces the atmosphere a lot and it's hard to make a few rows of seats look architecturally interesting. Thank goodness we're a big enough club to have a medium-sized stadium which holds the atmosphere.

 

[Notters]

Yes I know that. The plans were drawn up in far easier economic times. To say that without Tony Bloom you would have got the same stadium but would have had to "borrow a lot of money" is surely wishful thinking? Borrow from whom? Not banks at the moment.

Do you not think that you may have had to have a substantial redesign to something a lot cheaper?

I'm not trying to be contentious, I'm genuinely interested.

That's not really the point I was trying to make, anyway. You can see why it rankles a bit to have supporters of a club who have been by any measure extraordinarily fortunate over the last couple of years (however well deserved for previous injustices) slagging off another club's ground as "shitty"?

Not a redesign; I'm convinced we'd be stuck at withdean without bloom and in League 2 at best. No-one would've meant us the money for the Amex.

 

[Silent Bob]

Yes I know that. The plans were drawn up in far easier economic times. To say that without Tony Bloom you would have got the same stadium but would have had to "borrow a lot of money" is surely wishful thinking? Borrow from whom? Not banks at the moment.

Do you not think that you may have had to have a substantial redesign to something a lot cheaper?

I'm not trying to be contentious, I'm genuinely interested.

That's not really the point I was trying to make, anyway. You can see why it rankles a bit to have supporters of a club who have been by any measure extraordinarily fortunate over the last couple of years (however well deserved for previous injustices) slagging off another club's ground as "shitty"?

I'm not sure a redesign to something like that would even have been possible within the terms of the planning permission.

You make some good points. Do you prefer your new ground to your old though? We're not really in the same position as lcubs like yourselves for obvious reasons.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Let's be fair to small and big clubs alike, these grounds, however soulless they may look, and let's not forget a lot of away support comments have told us that ours just looks grey and concrete... they are the lifeblood of any clubs survival. These identikit stadiums literally come ready built and are the cheapest option, and not everyone can afford multi millions of pounds to make it look a bit different. It is sad to see the old stadia replaced, but if they weren't the clubs would be down the pan. Everyone loves the nostalgia of the rickety unique places we used to stand at, home and away... but it's unsustainable in todays market. I would be terribly happy if I supported Shrewsbury and had a shiny new stadium, as I am with the Amex. Sadly, or not, it is progression.

 

[ferring seagull]

Car park is for members only, i work and live in Shrewsbury there was uproar after the Crawley game a load of cars got parking tickets

I suppose my tongue was in cheek to some extent. LOL

 

[ferring seagull]

That's not really the point I was trying to make, anyway. You can see why it rankles a bit to have supporters of a club who have been by any measure extraordinarily fortunate over the last couple of years (however well deserved for previous injustices) slagging off another club's ground as "shitty"?

Yes I agree with you, I think it is unfortunate that, under our circumstances, some of us describe other clubs' grounds as 'sh----' We should think ourselves fortunate and remember Withdean.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

My comment was meant to be slightly tongue in cheek, but you lot do sometimes get a bit precious about this sort of thing, you have to admit? See the Ipswich banner saga. I do understand why- my dad's a Brighton fan and I've followed your saga quite closely. I wrote to my MP for you and everything. You need to get less touchy now you're an ordinary football club again perhaps.

I'm not at all sure that you would have got the Amex without Tony Bloom- do you really think so? I think you may have ended up with a slightly larger version of the New Meadow.

Hi Staly. My dad is a Shrewsbury fan as his Father was from Hope Bowdler and i am Brighton so our roles are reversed somewhat.

I think we will be less touchy after a season or two in our new home. With the time it took for permission and the trouble we had in so many levels, it will take time for that warlike, defiance, bloody-mindedness etc to subside. I agree that without Bloom we would not have Amex.Certainly not the Amex we now know and love. The original plans were far more modest. We always had a chance of decent investment because, in all respect, when compared to the Shrews, we had always been capable of attracting medium-sized crowds and enjoy a far larger catchment area. We should however, never forget where we have been in recent years. But this is a football forum and you get all sorts! Shrewsbury is always the team I look for second and if we'd folded, I probably would have ended up following the Shrews!

 

[strings]

I like the New Meadow/Prostar/Greenhaus Stadium. I went there for the JPT game a few years back on a cold December evening when Hinshelwood made his comeback and we wore a 'one-off' white kit that would go on to be worn again. I thought the stadium was all very nice, especially considering the match was rubbish.

I can't see it as a 40,000 stadium though.

 

[Staly]

We get decent attendances for our level, and I imagine that if we reached the Chamnpionship we would need a 12-13000 capacity. There is no way that anybody at the club is anticipating increasing it to 40 000.

Wikipedia: "In November 2007, chairman Roland Wycherley announced that the ground would be expanded by filling in the corners between the Roland Wycherley Stand, South Stand and West Stand. This would leave the North Stand, which houses away fans, the only stand isolated. Capacity is expected to rise to around 12,500 to 13,000. A start date for this project has yet to be announced. Reports suggest this plan has been postponed indefinitely due to the current economic crisis and that the current match attendances do not merit ground expansion. Should the club become established at a higher level within the Football League, it is likely the ground would be expanded."

In answer to a question further up the thread- of course I miss Gay Meadow, it was a fine old ground. If we'd stayed there we'd have been in Blue Square North by now.

 

[Simster]

As new smaller grounds go, the New Meadow looks like quite a tidy one. Loads of car parking too, right outside the ground. I only went to Gay Meadow once but liked the town of Shrewsbury and would like to go again when we next play them.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

This thread came about from seeing your ground on the Late Kick Off highlights Staly and I for one liked the look of it. Please ignore the more precious on here. The capacity expansion to 40k is on this Wiki page:

New Meadow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Derek Smalls in a Shrewsbury top - it doesn't get any better than that!

 

[Staly]