yon yes boy Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Have you any idea how many "flats" could be built on the Pittodrie site ? and being in Aberdeen even now most would be sold at a premium before they are even completed. Other projects haven't been going well. I too live in Westhill and can assure you that the worst place in Aberdeen to get to when it is busy is the Altens area and hardly anyone would able to walk to the games. Right... in your opinion whats the solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Cowden Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Right... in your opinion whats the solution? Somehow try and stay at Pittodrie, that's where the soul of the club is. Get a new chairman - Ian Wood? - he seems to have plenty of money to throw around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandyCromarty Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 If you have read Alex Fergusons book then you'll know that the main reason for him leaving Aberdeen was due to the poor support turning up for a midweek european game, I think the attendance if I mind right was 17,000, he felt he deserved more after all he'd done, a fickle fan the dandy. Mind you he did emphasise that the best Chairman he ever worked under was Dick Donald, another thing he mentions was that at the time he went to Man Utd for less money than he was earning at Aberdeen with his European bonuses, plus MU couldn't afford to buy his Aberdeen house off him which is the norm when a manager makes a move, yet he saw the potential and the rest is footballing history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncDon Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 I think we are getting too bogged down with who knows the streets of Aberdeen better than the next guy. The simple fact is Pittodrie is NOT fit for purpose, changing the situation on the existing site has been studied, examined and looked at in mega detail, and its not possible. So we have established Todders is finished, or as damned as near it... and Stewie boy ain't fannying about to just win an extra building contract... SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? We have to relocate. Yes, Pittodrie isnt in the best location, but they have managed with it for 107 years and I know the building is run down but it would be cheaper to repair than rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunkmedal Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Yes, Pittodrie isnt in the best location, but they have managed with it for 107 years and I know the building is run down but it would be cheaper to repair than rebuild. Not necessarily. Major structural repairs can sometimes cost more than building a new stand. There are general maintenance costs to think about as well. A stadium built in 2012 from a single plan will be much easier and cheaper to maintain than Pittodrie. Those maintenance savings will occur every year from whenever the new stadium opens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yon yes boy Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Somehow try and stay at Pittodrie, that's where the soul of the club is. Get a new chairman - Ian Wood? - he seems to have plenty of money to throw around. Great answer... Not an option, staying at pittodrie has been exhausted... " Three of the current four structures would have to be demolished and rebuilt and would have to be undertaken in a phased approach over a period of approximately five years. A conservative estimate for the costs would be in the region of £30m." "A redeveloped Pittodrie would need to comply with the standards of a Category 3 facility as set out in the above, requiring a playing surface of 105m x 68m with increased run off areas (5m) around the touchline. Given the constraints of the surrounding streets, the footprints available for new stands will be reduced for the Merkland, Main and South stands which coupled with best practice guidelines necessitating larger seats, additional leg room, superior disabled facilities, larger concourses, more toilets and vomitories will dramatically reduce the capacity of the redeveloped stadium to approximately 12,000. As many supporters will be aware, the Club did attempt, unsuccessfully, through the years to purchase the then adjacent gasometer and former Gray's Timber Yard" Right so we spend 30 mill we don't have to fix a stadium that long term would be dearer to maintain, and end up with capacity of 12,000 Aye good ane! We sell Todders "sadly" and have money to put towards building a new stadium... Private investment is more likely to be forth coming for a new project, which offers a positive future, than it would be for fixing the old and reducing the ability of the club to grow, and move into the 21st century. Couple of seasons ago we played Bayern Munich, I am sure you will remember, and that night there was something magical about coming down Merkland Road before the game, awakening old memories of past glories perhaps, something that would take along time to recreate at a new stadium... But I for one would like to club to move forward and create future success, not just live in the past... create new memories and new success, and to do that we need to move on. If Ian Wood or any body else wanted in they would be in, I don't see him going to his friendly Aberdeen Journals and going on about what he would do with the football club given half a chance.... and, you are completely deluded if you don't think those at AFC in charge of money and investment haven't tried all the oil guys, successful businessmen and famous people of Aberdeen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Leyenda Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 If you have read Alex Fergusons book then you'll know that the main reason for him leaving Aberdeen was due to the poor support turning up for a midweek european game, I think the attendance if I mind right was 17,000, he felt he deserved more after all he'd done, a fickle fan the dandy. Give over. What he meant, was that he realised Aberdeen were never going to be a big enough club to realise his ambitions. He thought with all the success we were having that Aberdeen would get bigger and bigger, selling out every week, having to make Pittodrie bigger, and perhaps looking at having an average crowd of 25,000 - 30,000, and pushing 35,000 - 40,000 for the big games, and being fairly comparable with the crowds the Old Firm were on. With the catchment area Aberdeen has, and the success we were having, you can't blame the man for thinking it was possible. However, when 17,000 turned up for a European cup quarter final, he said the penny dropped that it would probably never happen. He wanted to win the European cup and absolutely dominate europe, and knew he would have to be at one of the biggests clubs in europe to do it. As he put it, in his own words. East Stirlingshire could never be a St Mirren, St Mirren could never be an Aberdeen, and Aberdeen could never be a Man Utd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Leyenda Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Yes, Pittodrie isnt in the best location, but they have managed with it for 107 years and I know the building is run down but it would be cheaper to repair than rebuild. Somehow try and stay at Pittodrie, that's where the soul of the club is. Get a new chairman - Ian Wood? - he seems to have plenty of money to throw around. We've got a right zoomer here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker-T Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 if there was such a thing as god (which there isn not!) then i would pray that aberdeen stay where they are! there is nothing better in Scottish football than going to Aberdeen for away day.... a real football stadium, some pretty decent bars along the beach end, friendly fans etc - if it's not broke............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Pittodrie is looking like a tired stadium in a lot of respects these days. It's getting old (bar the RDS) - and must be very inefficient to maintain... In a lot of respects it is also too big. If a new stadium can secure the clubs financial future, and give them a decent modern vibrant 20,000 seat park, it is the option which must (and will) be seized. The move out of the city - and thus to cheaper and more spacious land - is an inevitability if the club is going to stay level and improve, with plan to one day thrive again. Presumably they also have an eye on possible facility sharing, for example with a 3rd rugby proteam if the SRU ever get back to the position of being able to run one. Manchester City moved into a new "out-of-town" arena in a wider sports complex - hasn't hurt them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasgow-sheep Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 If I park at the current stadium, then it takes me a good hour to get home to Westhill, and it doesn't matter what route I take. I'm either having to go through Union Street, or can try bypass it and go through Seaton, or further on and go through Bridge of Don, or try go the same way as the away supporters buses and go near, ironically, Altens/Cove. All routes take me an hour from getting into the car to actually getting home - 45 minutes if I'm very lucky and the crowd has been small. It shorter if its a lunchtime kick-off or midweek game obviously, but for a 3pm kick off, saturday afternoon, with a crowd of over 15,000, you're looking at an hour to get home. Even if I take public transport, its a good 15 minute walk to Union Street before I get my bus anyway. It'll take me no longer to get home from Cove. Besides, like I said before, look at Glasgow and how long it takes to get home from their three stadiums, its not a new phenomenon. My folks stay in Banchory and it takes me less than that to go home. I suggest parking on University Rd and head up home via Kings, up St Machar Drive to Anderson Dr and out the Lang Stracht. Never an hour to Westhill in a million years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdTheDuck Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 anyway this new stadium i've seen the artists impression of the space age bowl that looks like something out of star trek, all sleek lines and sexy curves hands up who thinks it'll actually end up as a 4-box open-cornered concrete eyesore with as much atmosphere as the moon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huck The Fibs Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 They need to move to something like a 6,000 seater. Then they might almost fill it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandyCromarty Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 I've always maintained the Dick Donald stand is facing the wrong way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasgow-sheep Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 I've always maintained the Dick Donald stand is facing the wrong way. I disagree, you get a fine view of Aiberdeen from the my ST seat (well it was my ST seat, although doubt anyone has nipped in a taken it while I've been procrastinating) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Leyenda Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Aberdeen to share Cove Rangers' new stadium:- http://www.afc.co.uk/articles/20100730/aberdeen-fc-and-cove-rangers-fc-_2212158_2106004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 About time Aberdeen got a dedicated training centre. For various reasons - including players... McGhee and predecessors described the way that potential signings were put off by them getting into minibuses to use public parks, school fields, etc. - SportVillage & Balgownie? has improved all of it a bit, but a dedicated purpose-built centre is long overdue. Also useful for the nation... we'd never be able to host an age-grade championships etc. currently, we haven't enough elite-level facilities. Good for Cove, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Sensible Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Good to see that a club like Aberdeen will get their own training centre. However, if its shared with Cove Rangers then its hardly "dedicated". The only clubs that have dedicated training centres are the Old Firm, Hibs & St. Mirren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Good to see that a club like Aberdeen will get their own training centre. However, if its shared with Cove Rangers then its hardly "dedicated". The only clubs that have dedicated training centres are the Old Firm, Hibs & St. Mirren. Dedicated to football, and not open to the public all the time. Is the suggestion not of a dedicated portion for Aberdeen anyway? Not sure. Anyway, as I said, any addition of elite facilities is welcome, as we've so few. What do Dundee Utd have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Leyenda Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Dedicated to football, and not open to the public all the time. Is the suggestion not of a dedicated portion for Aberdeen anyway? Not sure. Anyway, as I said, any addition of elite facilities is welcome, as we've so few. What do Dundee Utd have? It was never going to be dedicated solely for Aberdeen, because part of the plans, planning permission, funding etc has been on the basis that it was for the benefit of the community. It will be free to use for Aberdeen six days a week. And it will be a stone's throw from the new stadium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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