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

[CP 0 3 BHA]

It's been nice to see some decent pieces in the press about our journey to the Amex these last few days - prompted by the Brady connection.

Reading them has set me thinking: if the Knight consortium had managed, with Brady and the fans' help, to get control a year earlier and the Goldstone had been saved, would we ever have completed the journey to the promised land which is the Amex?

I know there had been talk for decades about moving to a new ground but I suspect we would have ended up making the best of what we had rather than fighting so hard for a site that would need so much graft by so many for so long to achieve. Perhaps we would be a mid-range Championship outfit still in a much improved but still rather home-spun Goldstone. In which case, have we ended up with a better long term outcome?

 

[chrissyboy01]

The Goldsone was literally falling apart as it was. East stand was already deemed unsafe and closed during the final season there from memory. New ground was inevitable imo.

 

[supaseagull]

I think it would have. The goldstone was in a state of dilapidation and it would have been sold at some point regardless. The key defining thing is that if Dick was in charge of the club at the time, then things would have been done completely differently I think that the falmer site would have been identified first and then the ground sold subject to completion of the building work. However none of us truly know what would have happened...

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

In other words, thank you, Bellotti and Archer!

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

In other words, thank you, Bellotti and Archer!

Absolutely they should have their pictures on the Legends wall.

 

[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.

 

[pork pie]

I think that is is unlikely. Yes, we needed a new ground, and the Club have been looking for a suitable site since the late 70s.

However, given the controversy over planning, I do not believe we would have received it with the Goldstone remaining as an option.

 

[hillbilly]

I think we would have had a new ground (at Falmer?) but maybe not the quality of the Amex. If the ground was not sold, would Knight have got so heavily involved, of course going on to be Chairman? Was Tony Bloom ready financially to build a new ground 15 years back, probably not? Would we have built a different ground with different backers? What really cost us for years was having to pay rent because those muppets sold our ground. I am likely us all just thankful we are where we are as a club now.

 

[BensGrandad]

I think that the Goldstone would have been redeveloped but to what extent who knows.

 

[Baron Pepperpot]

I remember talk of Sheepcote Valley back as far as the First Division days.

 

[8ace]

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.

Wasn't there some restriction on the maximum height any new structures could be?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

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

 

[c0lz]

We would have moved eventually and got the correct value, but agree with supaseagull .. falmer site would have been identified first and then the ground sold subject to completion of the building work.

Funny how palarse are now going down the same route us as back then all talk and no action.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Wasn't there some restriction on the maximum height any new structures could be?

Beat me to it....

 

[8ace]

Beat me to it....

50ft

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

I think that is is unlikely. Yes, we needed a new ground, and the Club have been looking for a suitable site since the late 70s.

However, given the controversy over planning, I do not believe we would have received it with the Goldstone remaining as an option.

I think that's a very good point. The politicians wouldn't have had the excuse of no other option being available to justify allowing Falmer. Yes, the Goldstone was delapidated but it could have been gradually modernised to some extent over the years for a lot less money than TB has spent on Falmer.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

I think that's a very good point. The politicians wouldn't have had the excuse of no other option being available to justify allowing Falmer. Yes, the Goldstone was delapidated but it could have been gradually modernised to some extent over the years for a lot less money than TB has spent on Falmer.

Yes, i agree with Pork Pie. Also, we were able to convince the majoirity non-football population that we had a cause and they could see how we had been wronged and a City our size needed a ground to match. If we still had the Goldstone and had some 10k turning up, I don't think we would have had the vast support we eventually needed.

 

[Ernest]

The money from the sale of the ground would have gone to the building of the Amex

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

The Amex wouldn't have felt so sweet though.

 

[BensGrandad]

Wasn't there some restriction on the maximum height any new structures could be?

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.