If the Goldstone had been saved, would the Amex have happened?

[blue2]

It's a bit like saying if my granny had balls........... We have the Amex how how fantastic it is

 

[Doc Lynam]

In other words, thank you, Bellotti and Archer!

I still think we should have named the toilets after them.

Or the sewage system Stanley way!

 

[slartibartfast]

Weve had a journey to the very edge of hell, and the momentum and the passion for the club that the journey back has engendered has become a positive. I think an average few seasons knocking around a slowly upgraded Goldstone, ironically, would not have had the same positive effect.

Arguably.

 

[drew]

These conditions are usually easier to get changed than the original permission in the first place. I am sure that if we ever became a Man Utd size club and needed to go up a tier or two getting permisson would be easier than the problems we had initially getting The AMEX building granted.

From recollection, weren't they restrictive covenants that stated the stand couldn't be any higher than 50ft. Apparently not very easy to remove.

 

[BensGrandad]

From recollection, weren't they restrictive covenants that stated the stand couldn't be any higher than 50ft. Apparently not very easy to remove.

Not easy but easier than the initial permission to build the ground.

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

Not easy but easier than the initial permission to build the ground.

But I suspect the residents behind the east terrace would always have fought very hard (and possibly successfully) to stop any imposing development right in front of their houses. The answer would have been to buy them out but I doubt they could have been forced to sell. CPOs are usually for infrastructure and government/council driven schemes, not private ones.

 

[maltaseagull]

Wasn't there some sort of building restriction at the north end, in terms of height of stand?

Not really. Just could not go higher on the East side due to the houses in Goldstone Lane.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Not really. Just could not go higher on the East side due to the houses in Goldstone Lane.

 

[BensGrandad]

Peter Taylor 1st wanted the club to buy the houses surrounding the ground on the east side and had they also bought the commercial units on the west there would have been room for a new stadium to have been constructed within the existing but that wasn't to be so pointless debating it really. Would TB have still come in with money if that had gone ahead again nobody will ever know the answer.

But I suspect the residents behind the east terrace would always have fought very hard (and possibly successfully) to stop any imposing development right in front of their houses. The answer would have been to buy them out but I doubt they could have been forced to sell. CPOs are usually for infrastructure and government/council driven schemes, not private ones.

Hence my first post PT wanted the club to offer a price that they wouldn't resist and buy those houses.

 

[el punal]

Back in 1978 there were moves to develop the Goldstone and plans/designs were on view at Hove town hall. From what I remember, the following was going to take place :

1. The West Stand was going to be extended to the north-west corner.

2. The North Stand was going to re-built with an upper tier of executive boxes.

3. The East Terrace was going to have a roof built down its entire length.

4. The ground capacity was going to be 28,000.

Hopefully I'm correct with these points, feel free to tell me otherwise!

P.S. In the end none of it happened!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Back in 1978 there were moves to develop the Goldstone and plans/designs were on view at Hove town hall. From what I remember, the following was going to take place :

1. The West Stand was going to be extended to the north-west corner.

2. The North Stand was going to re-built with an upper tier of executive boxes.

3. The East Terrace was going to have a roof built down its entire length.

4. The ground capacity was going to be 28,000.

Hopefully I'm correct with these points, feel free to tell me otherwise!

P.S. In the end none of it happened!

And somebody set fire to the South Stand

 

[T soprano]

In the end The Goldstone was a shithole - but it was our shithole
Gillingham was a shithole - but it wasn't our shithole
Withdean was a shithole - but it was our shithole
The Amex is a shrine - yeeeaaaahhhhhh it's our f***ing shrine

 

[Barrel of Fun]

We were looking to relocate from The Goldstone back in 1910 (I think), so it only took us 101 years to realise the dream.

 

[Ali_rrr]

We'd probably ended up having the ground everyone else has. For example, St.Mary's, Leicester's etc.

 

[drew]

Back in 1978 there were moves to develop the Goldstone and plans/designs were on view at Hove town hall. From what I remember, the following was going to take place :

1. The West Stand was going to be extended to the north-west corner.

2. The North Stand was going to re-built with an upper tier of executive boxes.

3. The East Terrace was going to have a roof built down its entire length.

4. The ground capacity was going to be 28,000.

Hopefully I'm correct with these points, feel free to tell me otherwise!

P.S. In the end none of it happened!

It would probably have looked absolute shit bearing in mind the south east part of the terrace was very narrow compared to the Northern end of that terrace. Thank god for small mercies.

 

[Giraffe]

Absolutely no chance. We only got the AMEX because we had no proper ground.

We would be sat in a Bloomfield Road type Goldstone Ground if we had kept the Goldstone.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

In 1991 or around that time (I can't remember the exact year), the regime prior to Archer and Bellotti, Sizen, Campbell, etc, put in a planning application for a new stadium at Waterhall. At the time the club produced an in house puff magazine (a sort of printed Seagulls Player), with features about players and other club people, and it gave an artist's impression - four stands, a bit like the DW Stadium. It was roundly turned down by Brighton Council's Planning Committee, allegedly on the grounds that Brighton Council wanted to relocate Brighton Rugby Club there - presumably the stadium would have been where the rugby club now is. I remember the North Stand booing Hove Council, who had rejected the club's wish to sell the Goldstone for development. There was then a half-hearted application by Archer and Bellotti for a ground at Toad's Hole Valley, but of course we all know their real intentions. My fear was that if we had been allowed to groundshare at the Broadfield Stadium, we would never have got back to Brighton. I think Crawley Council's refusal to let us play there was a blessing in disguise.

 

[Phat Baz 68]

We should have massive 20ft high colour images at either end of the stadium in designated
safe areas of Bellotti and Archer and charge everyone £1 a time to throw lumps of good old Sussex
manure at them before each match !
The club would make a fortune.

 

[Durlston]

Upton Park was nearly all terracing twenty years ago with the north and south bank and east terrace redeveloped, plus a new West stand built a few years later with the money from selling Rio Ferdinand. Craven Cottage also had a lot of standing and was regarded as a bit of a dump.

I agree with Giraffe. I think the Goldstone would look somewhere like Blackpool. I don't know what's happening with Peterborough as they've still got terraces behind each goal.

 

[Doc Lynam]

In the end The Goldstone was a shithole - but it was our shithole
Gillingham was a shithole - but it wasn't our shithole
Withdean was a shithole - but it was our shithole
The Amex is a shrine - yeeeaaaahhhhhh it's our f***ing shrine

For a small athletics track on the edge of Brighton, Withdean held alot of good times.