West Stand article in YP

Not sure about the size of Oakwell being a problem but you're right about deteriation, scary to think I Sat in the newest bit the day it opened in December 1999, ironically against Port Vale (we on 3-1 as well if memory serves). 22 years, where did it go....

 

Disappointing to say the least. I get the club can't really do much until the lease is sorted with the council.
My opinion is that it's no longer fit for purpose. In said interview, Khaled even admits that the west has it's limitations. If that's the case then why can't we sort it out? Either make it so the whole thing can be opened up or knock it down and build another.

 

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I haven't heard the interview, but you've kinda answered your own question haven't you?

We're limited in what we can and can't do with it until the lease issue is resolved. Closing it went down like a lead balloon, and we can't renovate it at the minute, so we are where we are.

 

But there's a big difference between having something that is adequate, and having something good, that will encourage new fans to come back.

I think the club will have some difficult decisions to make. How do they rebuild the West stand. Before even thinking about any covenants that might be in the way, if they knock the stand down and start again, where will directors and media go until it is rebuilt? The East Stand Upper is the only upper tier I've been in that you access via the lower tier concourse, rather than through the dedicated turnstile and straight up the stairs. This could confuse newcomers. The concourse in the Ponty is too small to be able to stand and have a drink in when it is full. And I have no idea what the plans were for the North Stand when it was built. At the moment, it seems to only exist for the Sheffield clubs, or anyone else that might have a 4k+ following. May as well have left it like it was in the Prem.

 

But why can't we make it fit for purpose? Why has the other half been shut for the last 10 years without question?

 

Apologies. Didn't realise there was already a thread on this. Admin, could you add mine to the other thread on this matter please?

 

There's allsorts of things to consider with this. We aren't filling the stands that are operational so it doesn't make much sense business wise to invest in the West Stand if we're struggling to keep afloat financially.

Same applies to the council in terms of their respective financial situation.

As much as I'd love to see Oakwell refurbed a bit, I'm not sure now is the time to do it. If we cash in big time on a player like we have in the past then maybe that would be the time to consider.

 

So nobody actually knows the reason why the other half of the west stand is closed then?

 

Also length of lease to factor in, it would make absolute no sense for either party to invest heavily into the ground until the lease is resigned with such a short time left.

 

No offence and without knowing the ins and out of the clubs commercial lease that’s pretty standard in most leases. That minus reasonable usage/ wear and tear you have to return a property in the state you got it in. The ones we deal with at work go down to repairing pin holes in walls. Having all buildings cleaned on exit etc. obviously the club may have not got the standard commercial clauses and maybe free to run it into the ground with no compunction to complete maintenance and no financial penalties for doing so. It would be unusual but Football is unusual

 

Could be wrong but I seem to recall that they had to improve the facilities for the media, which led to one of the toilet blocks being knocked down to make way for some of these new media facilities.
This left that half of the stand without enough toilet facilities to be able to open.

 

tvm

 

But that's the point I think, if there's difficulty in agreeing a new lease, why spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a stand in a stadium we might be evicted from in the not too distant future. Are we even allowed to make those alterations which would make it fit for purpose?

 

I guess that depends on the owners. Do they want to spend approximately 20 million quid on a new stadium or improve the current one following negotiations with the owners. Hopefully relations have thawed a little now so you would expect discussions to be underway.

Bottom line is I can’t see at the moment any idea that the owners are ready to fund a new stadium build and we aren’t in the position to sell Oakwell to part fund that. So we need to come to an amicable arrangement.

 

So responsibility to maintain the stadium isn't for the leaseholder then? I was told by Oakwell community assets that it was when I had a go at them back in 2020.

The fact there'll be investment that comes with a new lease isn't really relevant to the terms of the current lease is it?