What would have happened if we stayed at The Goldstone?

[y2dave]

I have seen plans (early 80's?) for a 10500 all seater west stand, 3200 all seater East Stand and both ends holding 7000. The ends were bottom tier terracing and top tier seating so to be made all seater I reckon it would have been around a 20,000 capacity.

 

[Uter]

If we had remained at the Goldstone, but still decided to build a new ground at Falmer I suspect the council would not have been as supportive. Having to play at Gillingham for two years focused a few political minds and helped foster the political will vital for any ground move.

Making the Goldstone an all seater stadium would have been a mistake in my opinion.

 

[y2dave]

Well the council(s) originally wanted to relocate the business units around the Goldstone but Archer was hell bent on doomed projects at Toads Hole Valley and thought a homeless Albion would give him leverage for local planning support.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

In its later years, the Goldstone struggled with lots of safety certification issues. East Sussex County Council was the authority responsible for licensing the place. The fact that County Councillor David Bellotti was Chief Executive of the Albion was a bit of a challenge - but Bellotti was so disliked at ESCC that senior council officers took the view that the inspections had to be done meticulously and no whiff of corruption should hang over the process. This never pleased Bellotti, of course.

Had the situation and the mismanagement carried on much longer, I'm fairly sure that the ground would have eventually found itself without a safety certificate.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Well the council(s) originally wanted to relocate the business units around the Goldstone but Archer was hell bent on doomed projects at Toads Hole Valley and thought a homeless Albion would give him leverage for local planning support.

The ONLY project that Archer was "hell bent" on was a project at the Goldstone.

If he had been interested in THV, he'd have submitted a proper planning application. He never did.

 

[k2bluesky]

The Taylor report would have forced the board to make the upgrades surely?

The Taylor Report, written by some old fart who probably never went to a game outside of a 'freebie' cup final, certainly not Oldham on a tuesday night, so on the back of poor policing and ground design at Sheffield this fucker condemns every football fan for eternity to sit on his arse at football or risk getting chucked out, sure some grounds needed modernizing but what this old git did was inexcusable. The Goldstone was the 'spiritual heart' of of the town, Falmer, pretty as it may be will be like a foot, stuck out on the edge of town.

 

[BensGrandad]

If he had been interested in THV, he'd have submitted a proper planning application. He never did.

I remember, as probably many others, Greg Stanley being filmed for TV news at THV saying that it was toatlly unacceptable to site a ground as it suffered with too much fog and mist and as such too many games would have had to be called off. This was after an evening game,cant remember against who , but he did say that had we been at THV that particular game would have been postponed.

I know that I shall get slayed for this but here goes, the final decline of BHA was due to the fact that the police and supporters wouldnt allow us to play at Pompey. BA aim was to play at Pompey for 2 years and then move in to a new ground at the end of it. That is when they, him and GS finally said f*** it thats what they want let them have it. I am not defending the fact that they sold us short over the value of the ground just pointing a point that many people conveniently care to forget and ignore. At the time they were in consultation with Gregory the Pompey chairman to build a shared stadium on the A27 just west of Arundel.

But hey ho that is history lets look forward to a new dawn at Falmer.

 

[Easy 10]

I know that I shall get slayed for this but here goes, the final decline of BHA was due to the fact that the police and supporters wouldnt allow us to play at Pompey. BA aim was to play at Pompey for 2 years and then move in to a new ground at the end of it. That is when they, him and GS finally said f*** it thats what they want let them have it. I am not defending the fact that they sold us short over the value of the ground just pointing a point that many people conveniently care to forget and ignore. At the time they were in consultation with Gregory the Pompey chairman to build a shared stadium on the A27 just west of Arundel.

I find that pretty difficult to swallow.
There is no way on EARTH Pompey would move to a stadium just west of Arundel to share with the Albion. And both clubs would be in breach of the FA rules about a permanent home being within 8 miles of the clubs respective town centres.

Whats your source for this ? Cos it sounds like a load of cobblers to be honest.

 

[BensGrandad]

The regulations regarding resiting within 8 miles was not a consideration at the time because it wasnt in force. It was only brought in after the MK Dons /Wimbledon fiasco and we moved to Gillingham and various sites were then suggested at Gatwick, Hickstead etc. The land earmarked for this stadium is between Arundel and Chichester and was and possibly is still owned by Martin Gregory. The negotiations were at a very advanced stage but as I have said once the fans objected to the sharing of Fratton Park and the police agreed with it the plans were shelved.

I am not trying in anyway to defend BA and GS for what they did in the end just pointing out a not very much publicised fact that I was aware of because of my association with GS which has been well documented on NSC.

In case anybody wishes to beat me with this I didnot agree that it was the correct site, I thought that it was too far from Brighton and also too far from Pompey for either fans to be happy.

My whole point is that at no time was THV a consideration for BA & GS. The 2 considered sites were the A27 as mentioned shared with Pompey or Beeding as our own ground, which BA scuppered in preference to A27 as is well documented with the ruck betweeen him and Barry Lloyd.

 

[Brovion]

I find that pretty difficult to swallow.
There is no way on EARTH Pompey would move to a stadium just west of Arundel to share with the Albion. And both clubs would be in breach of the FA rules about a permanent home being within 8 miles of the clubs respective town centres.

Whats your source for this ? Cos it sounds like a load of cobblers to be honest.

I don't know about the new stadium at Arundel, but back when Bamber was chairman, as well as looking at Waterhall, there was serious talk of building a new stadium at Gatwick - and sharing with Palace!

 

[BensGrandad]

on A23 north of Hickstead/ Bolney

 

[strings]

At one teme, wasn't there a plan for a staduim down near the body shop headquarters in Littlehampton?

That would have been amazing (because I lived in LA).

 

[Storer68]

But given the choice, playing at the Goldstone or Falmer..surely you would pick Goldstone?

QUOTE]

absolute bollox

The Goldstone may have been the spiritual home of the club but by 1997 had long gone past its death knell. It wasn't big enough for the changes that have overtaken football since 1989. Bits were gradulally being closed down because they were unsafe and uneconomic to repair. There were not enough seats and remember it would have had to have been converted to an all seater. The Police would not allow a second tier to the North Stand because of the access isses onto the Old Shoreham Road. the whole of the east terrace would have had to have been replaced and those home owners in Goldstone lane would have put up an almighty fight citing the dubious covenant restricting the height of any development.
I don't believe it would have passed the test for a new Safety Certificate ny the Council who could then have summarily closed the place down.

To me the existance of the club is always more of a priority than staying at an outdated ground - whichg was the choice we faced in 97.

Still bloody miss it though

 

[Storer68]

I remember, as probably many others, Greg Stanley being filmed for TV news at THV saying that it was toatlly unacceptable to site a ground as it suffered with too much fog and mist and as such too many games would have had to be called off. This was after an evening game,cant remember against who , but he did say that had we been at THV that particular game would have been postponed.

I know that I shall get slayed for this but here goes, the final decline of BHA was due to the fact that the police and supporters wouldnt allow us to play at Pompey. BA aim was to play at Pompey for 2 years and then move in to a new ground at the end of it. That is when they, him and GS finally said f*** it thats what they want let them have it. I am not defending the fact that they sold us short over the value of the ground just pointing a point that many people conveniently care to forget and ignore. At the time they were in consultation with Gregory the Pompey chairman to build a shared stadium on the A27 just west of Arundel.

But hey ho that is history lets look forward to a new dawn at Falmer.

I do remember the North Stand chorusing "We'll never go to Pompey".

M<y recollection is that this waqs only ever sold to us a tempoary mpove whilst Archer and bellotti built a new stadium in less than 2 years

 

[Storer68]

The Taylor Report was published in 1990 - I don't think it really had major affects on clubs at the arse end of the league, and one would hope there'd have been upgrade/remedial work done before the 2000s and the Championship years...

Repairs and bootstrap upgrades to barely meet safety standards are almost always possible and not that pricey either.

but as we were in the second division at the time we WOULD have had to convert the Goldstone to an all seater in tow or three years.

Is only club s in the lower two leagues that are exempt form the all seater requirement

 

[BensGrandad]

I do remember the North Stand chorusing "We'll never go to Pompey".

M<y recollection is that this waqs only ever sold to us a tempoary mpove whilst Archer and bellotti built a new stadium in less than 2 years

I can assure you that the plan was 2 years at Fratton Park while they built a new ground as I have said either on the A27 or Beeding. The council had offered to assist financially in building it at Beeding. The Goldstone as has been rightly said would never have got another safety certificate and the capacity had been reduced from our record gate of 38,000 down to less than10,000.

When the East Stand was falling apart I suggested to GS that they ask Gambles if they would be prepared to reconcrete it at cost, and at their convenience, when they werent busy, and in return we called it the Gamble Terrace. Nothing ever came of that I dont know if it was followed up or rejected.

 

[Nottseagull]

More to the point, what would have happened if the club had received the real value of the Goldstone which was over 20 million rather than the paltry 6 million Stanley and Archer achieved?

What a ridiculous statement. If the GG was worth over £20m, then you are saying the costs of demolition and redevelopment were just a few hundred thousand! And didn't they acheive over £7m?

 

[BensGrandad]

The £20m was a commercial value for developement not the value of the ground as it stood. Had we received that price it wouldnt have got Falmer or any other ground built any quicker as the problem hasnt been about money.

One thing that has always puzzled me was that the ground was originally owned by Clarks Bakery and we had it on a 99 year peppercorn rent lease sometime back in the 50s did GS and BA buy the lease/ freehold outright off of Clarks.

 

[gullshark]

I have seen plans (early 80's?) for a 10500 all seater west stand, 3200 all seater East Stand and both ends holding 7000. The ends were bottom tier terracing and top tier seating so to be made all seater I reckon it would have been around a 20,000 capacity.

Any of these still kicking around? Would love to see em...

 

[Icy Gull]

What a ridiculous statement. If the GG was worth over £20m, then you are saying the costs of demolition and redevelopment were just a few hundred thousand! And didn't they acheive over £7m?

I have no idea what the demolition costs were but the club got around 7 million ( you may be right thinking about it, that it was nearer to 8 million) and once the ground had been demolished it was resold for over 20 million. Are you suggesting it cost 12million to demolish the ground or that we got a fair price at around 8 million?? If so, both those assertions sound pretty ridiculous to me