Stadium Expansion

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by CarlosKickaballs, Jun 4, 2015.

?

Which type of person are you?

  1. A dullard

    31 vote(s)
    35.6%
  2. Stars are like fireworks (the best type of firework, let me tell you) that dont move

    18 vote(s)
    20.7%
  3. Turtles mistaking nightclubs for the moonlight on the sea, concerns me greatly

    38 vote(s)
    43.7%
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  1. vic-rijrode

    vic-rijrode First Year Pro

    Good stuff - offices, conference centre, sports centre all useful additions, basketball waste of a stadium. Never got the attraction of watching that - obscure fouls, repetitive basket dunking, ludicrous scores (120-119 - what on earth is that all about) and the usual USA claptrap of taking 30 minutes to play the last 30 seconds of a game. Ugh.....

    Still, each to their own.
     
  2. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    Don't forget the cupboards!
     
  3. Stanley_Rous

    Stanley_Rous Academy Graduate

    Or if it is to give us an advantage in games, easier still to just buy some defenders?


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
    Happy bunny likes this.
  4. PhilippineOrn

    PhilippineOrn First Team

    But none of all that is actually underground is it? Not 10 metres underground at any rate. Seems they are all at ground level and the pitch is just plonked on top like some grand roof garden.
     
  5. All we need are some morlocks to live in all the underground cupboards
     
    oxhey67 likes this.
  6. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    You'd undermine the foundations of the existing stands, have at least 50,000m3 of soil to remove dispose of (very expensive), access for the equipment would be a nightmare, you'd have to hire a boring machine (cue puns)... As PO says, Monaco was built on top of that stuff, rather than dug under. For it to be cost effective you'd need to do the underground works first, then build the stadium around it. Sorry to be a spoilsport!

    Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
     
  7. runtings

    runtings Academy Graduate

    Is this still visible? Where exactly is this picture as theirs nothing on King St/Vicarage Road side and in relation to Watford Girls Grammar? Is this part of the old line from Watford High St station to Rickmansworth that runs behind the Vic.
     
  8. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Some people have been talking about the public transport infrastructure if we were to expand "The Vic" to a 30K stadium.

    Well seeing the post above reminded me that we had a station a few years back that served Vicarage Road stadium and connected with Watford Junction I think, or did I dream that?

    Anyway, I think I am right, therefore if I am would it be possible to reinstate that line and station, probably at the clubs expense, and run a shuttle between the stadium and WJ on match days?

    If so it could be factored into the overall cost of expanding "The Vic".
     
  9. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    The Metropolitan line extension would have made a huge difference to transport to and from the ground, but Mayor Khan scuppered that.
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  10. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    Corbyn was in town yesterday, someone should have had a word.
     
  11. I went to the Louis II in '87 to watch Monaco v Marseilles, just before they signed Hately and Hoddle. It must have been at the end of their season. You can see from the photo below, taken during the game, that these two giants of French football really did command a huge audience - how they finance their spending I have no idea. The attendance was less than you'd expect at Borehamwood on a cold, wet Tuesday night v Barrow United, and these were the major players in French football for the next couple of years. The stadium was tiny when you consider how fancy it is and the status of the team playing there (and the players it would attract), I don't know if it has been expanded since.

    You can see, bottom right, the steps coming up from the under pitch area, where the changing facilities, presumably, are found.

    [​IMG]

    The loudest singing we heard during the match was not for Monaco, or for Marseilles for that matter; it was for Gary Lineker, and it was being sung by five sailors off the HMS Ariadne which had just come into the harbour that day. We got invited aboard the next day and spent an enjoyable twelve hours drinking their beer and eating their stewed liver.
     
  12. oxhey67

    oxhey67 Squad Player

    You're Hannible Lecter (pre Chiante) and I claim my £5 prize.
     
    424TheBeautifulGame likes this.
  13. oxhey67

    oxhey67 Squad Player

    The Lib Dems were actually at The Vic having a media day (or sumfin) but, err, well, other than a two minute piece on regional news (BBC1) nobody really noticed to be honest
     
  14. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Could make a great rockery. A few alpines (Abdi?). Nice waterfall. It's all coming together.
     
    scummybear likes this.
  15. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

  16. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Two carbuncles on the face of an old friend.

    At least symmetrically.
     
  17. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    One of your old friends is just over 30 years old.. and the other one is 3 years old.

    My old friends were some concrete steps and wooden/tin sheds surrounding a dog track but ive learned that to move on in this world you need to welcome some new friends as well.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2018
    RookeryDad and Cthulhu like this.
  18. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

  19. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

  20. Optimistichornet

    Optimistichornet Penguin Assassin

    you were certainly right about this bit :)
     
    ST1968 likes this.
  21. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    I believe youre correct. The pitch is indeed elevated.. 8.35 meters over the road level. The car park is on 4 levels and most comments describe it as an underground car park so some of it might be sunken but not much. Underground.. overground.. Call it the Wombles car park.

    Same difference though.. i mean if you can construct over the surface you can surely construct under?
     
  22. ForzaWatford

    ForzaWatford Squad Player

  23. PhilippineOrn

    PhilippineOrn First Team

    Watford, be it the Borough or the Town council can not be so naive as to not know what benefits having a PL team within their boundaries brings. They themselves should be at the forefront of compulsory purchasing the houses down Liverpool Rd and looking for a new site for the hospital.
     
  24. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    I just build castles in the sky most of the time Scummybear.
    I'm not suggesting this a viable option for Vicarage Road.. just pointing out that it had been done before (sort of) so the idea wasnt as crazy as it seems.


    PS You may have to revise your soil removable estimate. The pitch level at the Vicarage end is already several meters below the road level :)
     
    scummybear likes this.
  25. PhilippineOrn

    PhilippineOrn First Team

    But as Scummy rightfully pointed out, digging down 10 metres and removing/disposing of what I calculate to be more than 80,000 cubic metres (110x73x10) and that's just the actual playing area...so closer to 100,000 cubic metres in reality. That exercise alone in looking to increase our capacity by 8 or so thousand makes relocating a cheaper option.
     
    scummybear likes this.
  26. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    Castles in the sky......



    But it would be interesting to compare costings of that compared to purchasing hospitals and entire streets.
     
  27. Cthulhu

    Cthulhu Keyboard Warrior Staff Member

    The answer is simple.
    Make the seats and the turnstiles 2/3rds their current size.
    Fatties wont be able to get into the ground through the narrow turnstiles
    (Suggest arming stewards with pointy sticks to remove ones that get stuck)
    Instantly we increase capacity from 20K to 30K
    No complicated underground digging and we might attract more thin Scandinavian supermodels as fans.
    Pro-Anorexia advertising hoardings around the perimeter of the pitch
    Replace bars selling pints and pies to ones selling sophisticated salad and Quinoa wraps - happy days
     
  28. We should have reloctated instead of developing the vic in the first place

    Everything about developing our site is more difficult and complex therefore more expensive because of access etc

    It’s nuts to try and go to 30,000 on this site imo
     
  29. Cthulhu

    Cthulhu Keyboard Warrior Staff Member

    I disagree.
    I like that our football team is in town. You can leave loved ones in town to shop. Go to pubs and bars before the game.
    An out of town (which this will inevitably be) replacement will be soulless unlike the character and history we have where we are.
    Lets do some work and get it up to 30K.
     
    Jimthehornet likes this.
  30. PhilippineOrn

    PhilippineOrn First Team

    Disagree. If 30k is the benchmark then absolutely it's possible at the Vic, more so with the possibility of introducing rail seating. We don't need to move.
     
    Jimthehornet likes this.
  31. vic-rijrode

    vic-rijrode First Year Pro

    Sorry Mr Runtings - I was being (unusually) flippant. The picture (as I explained in a previous post on this thread) is actually of the disused tunnels between East Finchley and Crouch End on the old railway from Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park which was to be turned into a tube line before Hitler intervened.
    There are no tunnels on the old line from the High Street station to Rickmansworth (Church Street) - some of which has been turned into a very pleasant footpath.
     
  32. I completely get the emotional argument.

    But the site is so compromised in so many ways it’s nuts to keep adding bits on, unless we can get shot of the flats and expand the footprint.
     
  33. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    I've done some research on what other clubs are doing with their stadiums. These are projects in progress or at the planning stage.

    Man Utd 90000
    Spurs 62060
    Man City 61000
    Newcastle 60000
    Liverpool 60000
    Chelsea 60000
    Sunderland 55000
    Wolves 50000
    Everton 50000
    Sheff Wed 45000
    Derby 44000
    Leicester 42000
    Sheff Utd 40000
    QPR 40000
    Ipswich 40000
    Reading 38000
    Norwich 35000
    Swansea 34000
    Hull 34000
    Crystal Palace 34000
    West Brom 31000
    Charlton 30900
    Fulham 29600
    Bourenmouth 25000
    Luton 22500
    Southend 22000
    Carlisle 22000
    Wimbledon 20000
    Colchester 18000
    Brentford 17250
    Rotherham 16000
    Grimsby 14000
    Walsall 13500
    Shrewsbury 12500
    Lincoln 12000
    Ebbsfleet 8500
    Barnet 8500
    Stevenage 8000
    St Albans 6000
    Forest Green 5000
    Boston Utd 5000

    We have to expand to 30,000 in order to compete. Right now, even Luton, Carlisle & Southend would have bigger stadiums than us if we did nothing.

    Even if we expand to 30,000, you can see the likes of Charlton, Palace Hull, Swansea, Norwich, Reading, Ipswich & QPR will still have bigger stadiums than us, but at least we'll be at that competitive level with regards to infrastructure.
     
  34. PhilippineOrn

    PhilippineOrn First Team

    QPR, 40,000? That really does put the ha haha in QPR.
     
    Bwood_Horn likes this.
  35. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Time waits for no man and whilst emotionally, I will never want to leave VR, there’s only so long we can keep modifying a stadium, that for all it’s convenient infrastructure (proximity to centre), is becoming logistically hard to upgrade.

    I love Gino and Co for their real understanding of the fans of the club - GT, Elton etc etc. But if we continue to stay in the PL, the lure of a nice, shiny new stadium might sway them to go against fans wishes on this in the future.

    Common sense says to me that we should cheaply get it as close to 25k-28k as quick as we can and see if we can fill it for a couple of years. If we can, time to move...
     
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