We could have had the land opposite the Slow and Easy at the time we moved up to Wincham but for some reason it was not taken !
Time for the bigots to get their heads out of the sand !
Isn’t that land owned by one-time WAFC President Ron Dobson?
Used to call it ‘Mountbatten Fields’ and rent it out to amateur clubs.
Think the sunday league team from the Rock Garden (now Winnington Lodge) used to play there.
Suspect the reason we didn’t move there in the past was Mr Dobson’s asking price.
Think Mr Dobson still lives there( there are 2 properties behind the fence ) but the land and bungalow has been sold I think to another owner, they only got planning permission because it was going to be a community sport ground but its never really been available as far as i know but i might be wrong, again might be available if the price is right the pitch is virtually there. might not be enough land to develop other facilities and parking though
It looks a pretty big area on Google Earth, bigger than the Lostock Football Ground.
WHS.
i’ve been told that…JR told fans at v!cs supporters meeting last night that the money to buy the ground is now not available from the original lender
WOW!!! That is a BIG surprise!!! Did anyone ACTUALLY believe anyone would be daft enough to buy that White Elephant for Vics?
WHS.
YES! the v!cs faithful
Good one Guinnessman :laugh:
They have had their days in Dreamland, reality is about to bite BIG TIME!!
WHS.
[quote] wouldnt watch Witton at the VICTORIA Stadium, not a chance.
It is an awful place to watch football as it is.
No self-respecting Witton fan would EVER call that home.
I may be a bigot, but i’m a red and white bigot through and through.[/quote]
How short sighted can you get?
I bought my house from someone, he happened to be a vics fan.
When I first moved in it was mine but did not quite feel like home.
I painted and decorated with my colours, made some improvements and put my mark on it and after a couple of months it felt like home.
It is my house
I decide who I let in and who I do not
I decide who I rent my spare rooms out to and who I do not
At no point do I or anyone else I know who has bought a house that is not new, ever walk round saying it does not feel like home, at no point have guests ever said I refuse to come to your house because it used to be owned by a vics fan, vica versa when I invite friends who happen to be vics fans round they do not refuse because I now own it.
The arguments as to whether the VS site is a good one, or how much it costs, or what work needs to be done to it or whether it is a good atmospere etc are all valid arguments BUT the fact that it is currently called the Victoria Stadium and that vics currently rent it is irrelevant.
Even if Vics did own it it would be irrelevant but the fact it is that Vics have NEVER owned this ground! They have rented it from business that own it.
Obviously if we did go down this route there would be the odd comment from vics fans such as ‘it was our ground first’ etc…so what the facts are it never was their ground and even if it had been so what! my house used to be owned by a vics fan but no one comes round saying it is not my house or you copied us by having a house with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms etc if I had bought a new one it would have been a similar spec anayway!
So why do you go to Wincham Park then? If you apply that argument Sainsbury is home!
The club NEEDS to move on and so do you!
Your loss not Wittons - the figures we are talking about make the odd few fans who would refuse insignificant compared to the opportunity to turn a desperate fincancial situation into a good one
Anyway it would not be called the Victoria Stadium and it would not be the Victoria Stadium.
I agree WWWitton, but the main reason for not going to the Victoria Stadium is that it is a WHITE ELEPHANT, far too big for our club or any average non league club. We might get it cheap, but remember Vics have a lease on it so we cannot kick them out so it would still be known as the Victoria Stadium no matter what new name we gave it. I would only be in favour if Vics were not involved in the deal at all, then it could truly be OUR Stadium. But in the end the running costs would cripple us so it has to be a no go.
WHS.
WWWitton, i think you are being much more short-sighted than you could ever accuse me of.
So Witton lose a significant proportion of their support for moving to a ground that would never make financial sense to buy anyway, but that is not Witton’s loss? Do you understand the economics of football at this level?
Throughout your post you refer to the stadium as the Victoria Stadium, but by your logic should you not be referring to it under it’s later name of the Marston’s Arena?
Unfortunately in your short-sightedness you have only voided your own argument.
This is football, things like that matter. Would we start wearing green just because there was a cheap kit going spare?
Robbo - you took one hell of a beating there from WWWiton !
Think robbo has met his match!
I for one agree with Robbo on the proposal not making sound finacial sense. Would I watch Witton at “that” Stadium? Yes, I suppose I would, but I wouldn’t like it.
WHS.
There is one possible solution to us moving to the Marston Stadium. Take down three sides, just leave the fancy stand and redo the other three sides making them smaller and more mangeable. That way the capacity would be much less, the place less of a cavern and because we would make the alterations the ground would feel like ours, our stand could even go up in place of the terraces opposite the present stand. There are a lot of possibilities if the price is right. Offer the reciever three quarters of a million and he might just go for it, we would then have the finances to make the alterations.
WHS.
PS I for one do NOT want Vics anywhere near any stadium we own at any price. We would be crazy to bail them out, they are dead and buried and I don’t want to help them resurect themselves once again. They can start again in the Mid Cheshire League and groundshare with Barnton.
WHS.
If we are going to build 3 sides of a ground why dont we just build 4 sides somewhere else?! And the side you suggest keeping is the one thing they brought with them from the Drill Field?!
Moving to Wincham Park was supposed to “secure our future” but look at us now, look round the once proud little stadium at todays (or any other home) game, don’t you feel sad? all that money p*ssed up the wall, wasted, squandered. If we moved again and had lots of money again you just know it would all happen again, someone allready posted about “spending some of the money on the squad” NO NO NO!
NOW anyone got £20,000 spare for the floodlights. By the way, do the floodlights need totally replacing? or is it £20,000 to replace the top/light gantry parts???
THe side I am suggesting keeping is NOT the one they brought with them.I am saying our problem is finding a suitable piece of land. I also agree that some stupid manager will come along when we have a bit of money and tell the board with just a few more thousands for transfers and wages he can win us the FA Cup!! The job of the board is to keep the club solvent and take the flak because the team isn’t winning enough. Supporters want success, it is up to the board to make them underdstand that money cannot be spent if we haven’t got it. I am bitterly upset we are going to spend another season in this very poor league, but we have to accept we haven’t got the money to buy us promotion, what we need is a manager committed to the task and players like Pritch and Mike who will die for the club.
WHS.
It’s a good point WHS but I can’t imagine Mark Harris squandering the developers money on a massive playing budget al la Vics. But if we got say 2.5 million for our ground and could build a new ground for 1.3 million then that would leave us for 1 million to invest in a bond etc to secure the future of the club. We could maybe use the remaining 200k to invest in team along with any other revenue such as potential ground sharing or letting ground out to league reserves side etc. We saw under Vince what can happen when we get a decent team together.
My concern would be as Thatch referred to I think we would struggle to buy land and build a ground in today’s climate for less than at least 2-3 million. These figures are only guess work but maybe someone with better knowledge might be able to put me right.
Again just to play devil’s advocate people are talking about these massive overheads that we would encounter at the VS but I can really think that they would be that huge the mess that Vic’s find themselves in is mainly due to financial miss management through the Stone, Connett and Rushe eras in spending huge amounts of money on players, hotels and generally chasing an impossible dream. If the VS was managed properley especially with the new housing development then it could be turned into a profit making enterprise but again maybe someone can come up with some facts and figures etc to prove me wrong.
Certainly an interesting debate though!