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Hauzen

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Posts posted by Hauzen

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Toby said:

    Yeah, I drive by there from work at 5pm every weekday and it can be a nightmare. But in the actual town there aren’t many alternatives. Suppose the biggest bit of available land would be the old Motorola site, but that wouldn’t be any better than K Park or Langlands, given the distance from any public transport links.

     

    The old Motorola site was bought over and developed by Copart, it's a massive car auction/disposal site now. 

    It is tough to see where else a ground could realistically go. I thought Langlands West, at the Lindsayfield end of where the newly dualled road could be an option but it's not much better than the current proposed site. 

    As johnmc80 mentioned earlier the land at Peel Park would have been quite good (sure that was earmarked for a Tesco/Dobbies in years gone by) but is now housing and about to be the new Hairmyres Park & Ride.

    Accessibility is the real issue - the only sizeable bit of land within the town boundaries I can realistically think of is at the back of where they built the Barratt houses on the Rolls Royce site - I think you could fit a stadium & parking in there with access from Law Place, but road network is probably not up to stadium traffic. That could be phase 2 of the housing development there though which would rule that out... probably why the shite location on Hurlawcrook Road is the selected site I guess.

    0

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted

    Yep that would have been ideal.

    I suppose with no other viable alternatives, and to avoid years and years of red tape delays through planning departments etc when trying to identify a new site then I'd rather see a new stadium at Langlands than nothing at all - assuming that the pre-covid planning permission is still even valid with nothing having been done.

    The club is really going to need it to commence sharpish if they get past Club 42 in a fortnight's time.

    0

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted · Edited by Hauzen

    41 minutes ago, johnmc80 said:

    On a side note. The location of the new stadium is terrible. I really hope they have a re think on that. Although central space in the town now is going to be a struggle they need to try and find somewhere more accesable. Matchday experience is everything at this level.

     

    Yep agree with you on that, it's probably the furthest away and most inconvenient site that they could have in the whole town. 

    Difficult to see where else they could go with the options available. In an ideal world the community trust would have been able to use the old Rolls Royce factory which was then bought and developed on by Barratt. They also missed a trick with the large plot now occupied by Copart, that at least would have been kind of walkable from the town centre and accessed off Stroud Road and not far from the recently dualled Greenhills Road.

    I think it's been determined that redeveloping John Wright stadium would be a no-go in terms of traffic, at least if the community council were hopeful of utilising the stadium for things like concerts & large scale events outside of football.

    1

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted · Edited by Hauzen

    2 hours ago, Nicholas Rage said:

    My own curiosity has always been what is the end goal of the spending? EK have been the dominant side of the Lowland League since it's inception, ridiculous winning runs and tremendous success. But the fan base isn't growing much in spite of that. Are they expecting a jump when they get into League 2 or League 1? And as I've said before, spending on the pitch is a very short term approach, spending off the pitch on facilities is when you can really become a pillar of the community and properly develop the club. Just for examples sake, 300k losses on players over a season is sunk cost, 300k building a gym is a facility that can help the club and be a local asset for 10-20 years.

    Not that the match going fans can do anything about it, absolutely fair play to you, enjoy the ride and the good times while they're here. Just where my mind goes when I think about EK.

    Yep it's a weird one as I'm sure by now they would have hoped to have pushed on well into the leagues and their investment would be to consolidate that rather than to still be trying to make that leap.

    But for a penalty shootout defeat to Cowdenbeath seven seasons ago they would be well established by now.. look at Cove Rangers who beat EK in the playoffs in 2019, since then Cove have made it to the Championship and I don't doubt EK would have managed something similar if it was them that had gone up.

    As you say though sustainability is the question - will they manage to become self sufficient in the coming years, I think there are enough people at the club doing the right things to forge links with businesses, sponsors, partners etc but they would have to grow the fanbase. They're unlikely to manage that within K-Park, and I'm pretty sure the much talked about community stadium will finally get off the ground once EK gain league status, though I'm not convinced the proposed location of that at the arse end of the Langlands industrial estate is the right location to attract a fan base. That stadium would do the job of creating the lasting community facility impact. It's not unreasonable to think they could attract crowds if done right and marketed right - Caledonia Gladiators seem to be doing alright at Playsport (though granted basketball is more of a novelty than yet another football club in the Glasgow/Lanarkshire area).

    As an aside it would be rather interesting to see EKFC start to skyrocket up the Scottish leagues just as Livingston look like they're about to plummet down them.. one new town moneybags team finally on the rise as another new town formerly-moneybags team begins another fall.

    3

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted

    9 hours ago, PELE said:

    Serious question. If you don't get up (I think you will), do you think the club will cut back on the spending? Is it mostly MK putting his hand in his pocket?

    I don't necessarily think the spending is any higher these days than it had been before- over the years EK have had the likes of Billy Stark, Chris Aitken, Brian Kerr, Kevin Rutkiewicz and Ian Durrant involved in the managerial/coaching set up as well as a lot of ex-Prem and league players probably on decent money (Steven Old, Lee Miller, Chris Erskine, Paul Paton, Chris Humphrey, Darren O'Dea, Greg Wylde, Kyle Hutton, Bryan Prunty, Chris Millar etc) so it's certainly not a new thing.

    2

    The East Kilbride FC Thread

    in Lowland League

    Posted

    Hope EK can get a decent competitive game lined up before the playoffs. 

    Looks like it could end up being Stranraer they face and not Clyde, I don't fancy EK's chances if that were the case and Stranraer are a side with a history & ground that I'd rather not see lost to the league setup.

    Would much rather it was Clyde who were getting papped into the Lowland with an EK victory.

    0

    National Team Kit

    in Tartan Army Ramblings

    Posted

    I'd bought the wee man a junior top from JD the other week, ordered an adult size M from dhgate as well for him to try and it came today - a noticeably different shade of blue and the yellow is a bit duller when compared side by side, but a reasonable effort for £9 that will be fine for kicking about in this summer.

    20240422-183953-2.jpg

     

    0

    FA Cup 2023/24

    in Misc Other Fitba Chat

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

    This taken from the BBC report on the match says so much about what is wrong at Man United. 
    “Brazilian wideman Antony cupped his ears at the Coventry fans at the end, even though United were 3-0 up when he replaced Alejandro Garnacho”.  Honest to God what an  incredible lack of self awareness. Antony is one of many who is the problem and never in a million years part of the solution at a basket case of a club. 

    Not part of the report but there's a clip that contrasts that brilliantly- where most of the squad wheel away to celebrate when they won the shootout, you can see Harry McGuire immediately move across and shake hands with the Coventry players. As maligned as he is at United, I thought that showed a real degree of class and self awareness of just now much they'd got away with it.

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