It's a shame we can't have a warm clubhouse bar in each stand with the match on screen for if you get fed up but still want the matchday experience.
I cannot believe the amount of people that would just up and leave our home of over 100 years. Don't throw away the baby with the bath water. Secondly, I suspect 'safe standing' * is not what people are expecting, and think they'd be quite disappointed with it, if it eventually came. (* I know I've gone on about this in another thread)
I agree. I honestly don't 'get" new stadiums. The concourse, toilets, bar areas are all the same. Maybe you could get lucky and have a slightly wider seat but given they want to get bang for their buck I doubt that will happen. If we're at Oakwell youngsters can easily get to games, just one bus ride. Move out of town and its 2 buses, a souless stadium no thank you.
I’d stop going if we left Oakwell. Improve the west stand both in terms of seating and some safe standing. Fill in the sides. Get some better screens that show replays etc. Build a social club. Still Cheaper and better than building a new stadium but clearly not gonna happen until ground ownership is sorted.
Disagree. One stand and a scoreboard is an embarrassment. The other 3 and the excellent academy complex are things to be proud of.
Something has to be done. Preferably by modernising, improving and developing where we are. The access in and out is awful which is a shame given the car park size we have. The changes don't have to be wholesale all on one go. But definitely things have to be done. As people state many people try to spend as little time at Oakwell other than the 90 mins of the match. Having said that, decisions have to be made if the ground owners whoever they may be won't invest in it. Cant go on forever without proper upkeep and attention.
I have said many times, traffic control and good game day management on the approach roads works for many clubs. I don't understand why we don't see anything other than a few car park attendants inside the ground.
This has done it for me, even above the way the club is being run. I'm glad we seemingly can't afford safe standing. It would be a woefully regressive step.
The academy is totally separate from the main stadium and the academy facilities were rightly lauded as some of the best in the country... but that was 15-20 years ago, even they are looking tired these days, on another thread today I read that the return of home grown talent seems to have dried up too, so we can't even say the academy is making us much cash anymore. The East Stand needs a wad of cash spending on it (shocking lack of use of space on the concourse and 1990's WMC club executive facilities), the North Stand? Jesus Christ, don't get me started on that. The only stand that is anything near up to standard is the Ponty End and even that looks like it was built with nothing more than saving cash wherever possible in mind. And as many others have mentioned, access to the ground is getting ridiculous. There's no getting away from the fact that Oakwell in it's present form is getting close to no longer being viable.
What's wrong with the north stand? It's a football stand with 6000 seats in it and Refreshment stands. Just because it's underutilised due to poor stewarding records doesn't mean the stand is knackered. The east stand is fantastic. The lower concourse since they revamped it is one of the best I've been in. Spacious, has plenty of refreshment stands and bars, lots of toilets, a lot of TVs and nice artwork. Not sure what else people want from it
Are the concourse, bar areas and toilets any different or any better at Oakwell though? Best ground I’ve been to is the Twickenham Stoop, for the rugby. They have a proper bar area behind the stands, rather than a concourse. So you get plenty happy to sit and have a beer after the game at the ground.
I agree. The sooner the North Stand is sorted out the better. It is a pathetic embarrassment. From the fact that it can’t be filled, it’s bigger than the home end, and it houses the entrance to the pitch. Who designed it -Stevie Wonder!
I’ll debate it with you then. I don’t want to stop you sitting down, why do you want to stop me having the choice to stand?