Ground Share - Town Revolution

[The Real Slim Azza]

100 an odd thousand not enough?

Whole of Furness, including Ulverston, comes to a combined population of 88 thousand.

You going by the 2012 consensus ?

[mall]

we dont want a new ground.all we want is new floodlights and a lid on H st end.

It's taking long enough to get these done.
Plus any expansion will cost too much.
Does not matter how big the population is there is not enough money in the local economy to be spent.

Exactly, and its gonna get worse.

[mall]

And the pitch would be well [SwearFilter]. The moaners on here would have a field day.

[Steeley]

Ah,rito, cos the Rugby are doing well we should 'groundshare'.
Funny that, cos I was only last night saying to my mate that when the Rugby finally get promotion and they only just manage to win a handful of games in the league above and come rite back down again,Thats, when the usual shouts of 'Lets Groundshare' start.

Exactly what the football did before casson.

[Atlee]

Whole of Furness, including Ulverston, comes to a combined population of 88 thousand.

You going by the 2012 consensus ?

Yep, 88,828.

[Alley_Cat]

I've always been in favour of a Proper Built new stadium on a new site with surrounding bars, restaurants & shops etc, A solid built stadium built to last not a modern souless lego affair, Built with the future in mind with everything both clubs need, Gyms, Treatment, Bars & Food outlets, Club Shops, Training facilities etc

Never going to happen though as the town is too inward looking to take the leap of faith required.

The facilities around the club that would be realistic for the area should be GP surgery, needle exchange/methadone clinic and obesity clinic rather than a gym

[Suffolk Blue]

Surprised no one has mentioned the dreaded Fylde again. Nice shiny new ground, shops etc. Population in the 10 miles surrounding the ground combined population of Kirkham, Wesham, Lytham, Warton and Freckleton three small towns and a village. Less than ours. Also a traditional Rugby Union and Golfing area. There gate for D&R was down to 1500 which of itself is not financially viable. But a lot of their money is now not gate related.

I don't think we need a new ground as long as the economics of redevelopment were sufficiently positive. Thing is you'll never get the numbers simply by talking about or promising it. You need to do it and take a risk. This is where our owner is less "attractive" than some others who are willing to build the ground first and then "hope" it will attract the requisite numbers of supporters. If you simply use on field economics to justify a rebuild then you'll be waiting a long time - which we are. This is when the rugby gets churned up - not because its a logical solution but because its a desperate one to fit a situation which has no other obvious options.

[The Real Slim Azza]

Surprised no one has mentioned the dreaded Fylde again. Nice shiny new ground, shops etc. Population in the 10 miles surrounding the ground combined population of Kirkham, Wesham, Lytham, Warton and Freckleton three small towns and a village. Less than ours. Also a traditional Rugby Union and Golfing area. There gate for D&R was down to 1500 which of itself is not financially viable. But a lot of their money is now not gate related.

I don't think we need a new ground as long as the economics of redevelopment were sufficiently positive. Thing is you'll never get the numbers simply by talking about or promising it. You need to do it and take a risk. This is where our owner is less "attractive" than some others who are willing to build the ground first and then "hope" it will attract the requisite numbers of supporters. If you simply use on field economics to justify a rebuild then you'll be waiting a long time - which we are. This is when the rugby gets churned up - not because its a logical solution but because its a desperate one to fit a situation which has no other obvious options.

Post of the year.

F ylde get money from occupants of buildings on the Mill Farm site. Crowds are up and a nice little earner from 1000 season tickets sweetens the books for the year.

You could argue F ylde is close to Blackpool/Preston/Fleetwood which could draw fans in . If you think about that though its all competition for fans in the ground on match day. Barrow shouldn't have that with being so rural but it does. Barrow seemingly compete with Premier League fans more than anyone else in locations around the country. If you go to Newcastle people support Newcastle, Manchester its red or blue, Liverpool is red or blue. In Barrow its Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and its seen as a bit of an embarrassment in parts to support Barrow. The old " Barrow are shite, you can watch Preston for cheaper" nonsense.

Either way. Barrow AFC is seemingly unfashionable. A new ground would be a new start, fresh place for locals to try and potentially fall in love with something new.
Casshons biggest mistake this season is mentioning that he has eyes on doing something to the crossbar, as if he thinks everyone has forgotten about broken promises 1,2,3,4,5 recurring. Everyone else in non league is moving on and building new grounds and looking to the future.

Barrow seem to be hoping they are lucky enough to find 3/4 good young players to sell on every season in the hope they build a side one year that will scab promotion. It won't be every year that a side at this level can make the profit Barrow did last year in selling players. That was a complete rarity. What happens to the money thats paid to the club for these players? Who knows?

On the pitch was great last season and I think PC should have made hay while the sun was still shining. I don't understand the often referred to line of " you have to get it right on the pitch first". Especially if the clubs building a new squad from scratch every year (two weeks before the season starts) then isn't that a bit of a paradox?

One last thing. Paul Casshon was asked "are you not able to fund the plans you had at the start?" He didn't give a yes or a no answer and basically avoided the question, indicated very lightly that he accepted he made statements he couldn't back up and said " you have to get it right on the pitch first" and moved on to say the main focus of the ground would be the Cross Bar end. He quoted it as the "next major development" in the kind of manner he spoke about all the other ground works which never happened. Also why do up the Cross Bar if there is even the slightest inkling you may need to knock it down soon?

Can anyone really feel confident in the future of the club at the moment with all these promises dying off?

[glasgow_blue]

Personally, I think if Casson had have pitched up, saying, I'm rich but not that rich but I can make BAFC competitive on the pitch and do some important maintenance on the ground, the vote would still have gone his way and he would have took ownership of the club. It's the false promises that made expectations high and why people have a go all the time. He's basically left himself wide open to criticism

[Rob]

Holker Street needs two steps:
1. The Cross Bar rebuild
2. 3G pitch

Together, these would create facilities to grow the use of the stadium for youth, women's and community football. Having the pitch used every day/evening, with facilities to buy food and drink would generate a daily revenue stream. Stick a family-friendly pub on the site that would cater for fans on a Saturday, people staying at the Travelodge the rest of the time.

We can do all this without a huge rebuild, and without ground-sharing with the egg carriers.

[The Real Slim Azza]

Holker Street needs two steps:
1. The Cross Bar rebuild
2. 3G pitch

Together, these would create facilities to grow the use of the stadium for youth, women's and community football. Having the pitch used every day/evening, with facilities to buy food and drink would generate a daily revenue stream. Stick a family-friendly pub on the site that would cater for fans on a Saturday, people staying at the Travelodge the rest of the time.

We can do all this without a huge rebuild, and without ground-sharing with the egg carriers.

Ive said before a full size 3G pitch outside of the ground would be a great earner. There are no other full size 3G Pitches in the whole of Furness. Youd have 4 or 5 games on there on a saturday and possibly the same amount on a sunday. So many games called off a season locally.

However it should never even be considered to be a playing surface for Barrow AFC

[HenneysKnee]

New Ground yes. Share with the rugby no
3G pitch for us and others to use yes. To use as our actual pitch no

[boyliegladbach]

Arnt ormsgill pitches going 3g soon.

[Rob]

Having a grass pitch and 3g training facilities would probably be ideal, yes

[Shaun]

What the [SwearFilter]'s a '3 G pitch'??