Q&A with Andy Holt and Dave Burgess

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

actually been to salford this season and sat in the new stand. gave an excellent view and is actually better than the photo. underneath it there is a corporate type bar area and probably other things as a didn,t study it too much. wish i had now. if this is not an improvement on what we have already i,ll put some pepper and brown sauce on my trilby. think it is an improvment on the original plan as it goes the length of the pitch. much better than building a massive structure like at morecambe that is more than half empty most weeks and will give a better atmosphere if we ever did get promoted playing more local sides.

Just to be clear at Salford there is nothing underneath the stand as the picture shows. There clearly isn't the room for anything under it. At Salford, there is a corporate hospitality area built behind it and there's no mention in the bit from Andy the other night whether what he's considering would include a similar facility or not but i.m told not.

The view issue isn't really an issue is it ? as it would be i.d imagine just as good in either option but i.m a big lad and would question your opinion on the legroom issue for sure. Quite clearly anything would be an improvement on whats there now but that's not really the issue up for debate here is it ?

The question is do you want the cheapest and nastiest structure available just to get something that's better than whats there at the minute or do you want a structure that the club can be proud of and make the optimum use of for the next 50 years.

And to put your mind at rest Monkey what i propose would run virtually the full length of the pitch to but the constraint to this is of course, the room available at the corner with the Clayton end which is the problem that was addressed by the Whittle design.

To compare the situation with Morecambe isn't really a very fair one as they built a single large seated stand so they could leave the rest of the ground as terraced [ therefore it had to have a minimum of 2k seats ] and this stand and its facilities is what make Morecambe a lot of none match day money as well as what it generates for them on game day and to construct what would basically be a tin shed would bring none of these advantages.

Yes there would be cash implications of going for the better structure and facilities and nobody is saying Andy should put the club or indeed his own business in jeopardy or use money that should be spent on the team to do so but i would think if Andy investigated the various ways of raising the cash to put into the pot and maybe looked at the ways other clubs have done it. As i mentioned PNE actually got their 4th stand built for nothing as they did a 25 year lease with the local health authority then went out and borrowed the money and use the rent payments to service the loan if i remember correctly
it will be paid for in 17 years and if they'd done it at today's interest rates it could of been done in just 13. So if Andy could build a structure of the sort i envisage and get half a dozen tenants into the office space i.m sure their rent could service say a ten year million pound loan and add to that a Tiffosy bond, the 500k grant, Andy and the clubs contributions and maybe even some local enterprise funding and there should be enough in the pot to provide a decent structure that would also provide an income.

[DAV007]

Morecambe main stand makes them money.

Yes the rest of the ground is a breeze block wonderland , but the main stand is good and gives them the commercial and community opportunities to generate interest

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

Got to agree with Northernsoul's well argued case regarding the pro's & cons of the proposed Whinney Hill stand.
Surely the opportunity this project presents is the chance to maximise the potential concourse space created beneath.
Even our modest Fanzone behind the Clayton end terrace made clever use of this area, with new toilets & kiosks.
If the new stand becomes just a watered down version of the original proposal with little room for additional facilities, it would be an opportunity missed & one which I feel the club would live to regret.
Frankly, I'm amazed that the original proposal didn't incorporate new team changing rooms.
Ours are infamous for being the worst, bar none, throughout the football league.
I'm sure these could & should be included and still leave room for toilets, catering areas etc.
This would allow the old cramped changing room area to be redeveloped for better use.
I'm sure Andy Holt, being the canny business man he is, will be fully aware of any grants, subsidies etc. available for such projects.
Yes of course, we don't need a 5000 seat behemoth. But the club need to give serious thought to maximising the money-making potential offered by this project.

[Lord Didsbury]

Lord Stiff - indeed I'm sure Andy H will have looked into this closely, so you've got to start from a position of assuming he knows more than we do. For example, what works in an area like Salford may not work in Accy.

However, it would have been great for Northern Soul to have been able to (or if he had done) put his thoughts to Andy - because even the most astute businessman can make the occasional howler. If nothing else it would help us see the constraints and logic applied to the stand and cut short the moaning that will no doubt crop up with the benefit of hindsight.

The Salford stand does look pretty good on that picture.

[Exile on Spencer St]

All good points raised about the ground improvements but the Whinney Hill side is the most constrained in terms of space and, for potential tenants, on the wrong side of the ground. In addition, commercial rents in Hyndburn are low and I'm not sure how much new office space is being speculatively built and who would want to occupy something tucked away at the back of the ground.
The untapped potential at the ground is the away end, where there's both space and relatively easy access.
I can understand Andy Holt's plan to reduce the cost of rebuilding the Whinney Hill terracing, particularly given that the club offices, shop and changing rooms are also in need of rebuilding which would then give vastly improved facilities (and image) for the club.

[baldy]

As Dave Burgess said at the meeting, The Main Stand is our “Hospitality/Coperate” stand

I see what people are saying about building a bigger stand but unfortunately we don’t have the money to be spending that kind of money!

We don’t even get 3k regular gate so why do we need to increase capacity?

Andy said we just need a stand that will generate money and one that’s better than what we’ve got, The Salford type Stand is more in our price range and is a lot more futureproof than a nice big stand!

Also in the football league you should technically have a “Family Area” but with so many people with reserved seats in the Main Stand it’s impossible for it to be in the Main Stand!

On the changing rooms, It was said that it was certainly on the list of to do’s but all a matter of priorities, do we want the best changing rooms in the league and a stand that isn’t generating money or a reasonable Stand with not so good changing rooms (for now)?

[maccawozzagod]

To echo what Baldy said, we build what we must - rather than what we want.

When we took the seats out of the Clayton End we ducked under capacity (FL seating capacity), so they MUST be put back in. The new stand will take us over that threshold again.

It will also be relatively cheap but is extendable at any point in the future.

It will have a concourse, just not as big as originally planned.

Andy mentioned capacity multiple times. It seems we cant go over 5000 for reasons relating to the area and roads in and out. So putting something bigger in place is just not necessary.

The stand is replacing an old stand that technically we dont need. However, once we have it it will tie in with Andys phase 2 - growing the club. We all know that we need to do more to target the kids and once we have somewhere to put them .....

[monkey hanger]

in reply to northernsoul i have to say i,m sorry about my lazy comment on salfords new stand having facilities underneath it. has i said i didn,t take much notice as i didn,t think it would affect stanley at the time, it just looked as if it was underneath. think the matter of the view of the game which for me is the most important part of attending the game or going to the cinema etc. if you can,t see it there is no point in going in the first place. as for leg room at salford it wasn,t that brilliant as i,m over 6ft. but better than a lot i,ve been too where my knees are sore by the end of the game with them being stuck to the seat infront. could always follow hartlepool and have no backs to the seats like in the millhouse.{joke**

[NORTHERNSOUL]

I think there are people on here who should understand whats being considered before making statements about a product that simply aren't true for instance you will see from the pictures i.ve included the links for it simply isn't possible to have a concourse underneath it even if you bought one three times as deep as the one at Salford due to its design and the way the stantions are placed.

Going by what Andy Holt is said to have said on the subject the other evening the pics i.ve included are of a stand of a similar capacity to whats being proposed for the Whinneyhill side and as for the hospitality area behind the stand at Salford there are lots of pics all over the place from the opening/renaming ceremony last week take a look if you don't believe it looks more like a tin shed.

And despite what they're tweeting Stadium Solutions currently do not have a way of extending a stand by increasing the number of rows of seats [ in other words the depth of the stand ] once its built as i understand it the solution is they buy it back off you at a fraction of what you paid for it and then sell you a new larger one.

Yes clearly they can be extended lengthwise but once again the stand of the same proposed capacity at Salford runs the full length of the pitch so you have to assume the one theyre talking about will do as well making an increase that way not possible.

The other thing to consider is the aesthetics yes when its completed at Salford and there is a continuous roof with a front cowling and the corners filled in and covered it will give an enclosed look which despite its small capacity i agree does look quite good but i think you.ll agree the single stand-alone structure that's being considered for Stanley doesnt have that advantage.

Please don't think i.m waging some sort of campaign here because i.m, not i just happen to think Accrington Stanley and Andy Holts legacy deserve something better than what's being proposed here.And if Andy wants to hear my views and suggestions based on the study of Football Ground development over the past 50 years [ having been introduced to the subject by Simon Inglis for a project while i was at school ] he has me on Twitter and only has to say so.

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[Lord Didsbury]

Andy Holt has been getting some ideas from this incredible video



In case you've never gazed in awe and wonder at it before.

[Lord Didsbury]

Does anyone recognise themselves in the video? Are all those Scottish players still living in Accy?

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Maybe hes suffering from a fear of Deja Va over building the stand having watched the start of that video.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Great bit of nostalgia, Lord Didders.
Fantastic footage of that night when the mighty PNE came to Peel Park, and to see The Coppice treeless.
One thing it proved conclusively, should there be more moans from the near neighbours over the prospect of a new stand, was that Stanley were there a long time before them.

[MikeA]

Andy Holt 'Hero of the Week' in today's Daily Mail:
Accrington chief Holt being rewarded for sound leadership | Daily Mail Online

...and a mention for Billy!

[Chimer]

Originally Posted by MikeA

Andy Holt 'Hero of the Week' in today's Daily Mail:
Accrington chief Holt being rewarded for sound leadership | Daily Mail Online

...and a mention for Billy!

And for Steve Evans