You cannot tell me that this wouldn't make Oakwell fit for the future

Repeating myself here. Leave the existing West Stand lower tier and extend it into the VW corner with rail seating.

Knock down the existing upper tier and build a new single tier structure that incorporates the turnstiles into the back wall on grove street.

Have the new single tier structure run the full length of the pitch including over the VW corner and make sure the roof extends to the pitch side.

This wouldn't improve capacity but would look a damn sight better and be more comfortable.

 

I know but it would be better than the corner flag situation we have now

 

Who said oversized? Convenience and extra, marketable and usable features are gonna be important for clubs like ours. Oakwell doesn't really have any.

 

Rather have something like Oldhams new ( ish) stand, have about a 5000 capacity with other facilities as income generation, oh and put the changing rooms and tunnel back there, I don't think if we ever got back in the PL would we fill the top photo, reckon and it's only a guess that in the PL we would probably average 18000 home support, many as tourists of the PL ( oh and to run the full lengh)

 

This, in spades. Tunnel in the middle, home fans at either side, players coming out surrounded by home fans and facing the east stand fans is an idea I've thought about for years.

 

EDIT: Never mind, misunderstood!

 

Miner's lamps to find their way from the changing rooms under the north stand.

 

Unless they've ripped out the old changing facilities, they were underneath the West Stand and led out onto the old tunnel between the two halves of the stand. Probably would need updating (a lot) but they were used until relatively recently...

 

If we were to upgrade it :-

- outside exec box
- More exec boxes
- link to Ponty end (not sure how that is possible with that corner - but perhaps a replicate of Corner Stand if only for tv comms
- dressing rooms under west stand
- tunnel from dressing room leading to halfway line
- possible safe standing



I think that the area behind the stand needs to be wider than in the 90s when the East Stand was built. Not sure how much room there is from the pitch to grove st. Isn't there also water work pipes that run the length of the ground that need moving?

 

Bound to be some re-plumbing and such needed but, as already suggested, it would be good to have the new structure going right back to the perimeter wall with turnstiles leading directly into a new concourse.

Im not a structural engineer/architect/builder etc but there must be some way to make it work, if the owners have the will if course

 

I suppose in relation to the formation of the universe it was relatively recently, aye

 

Ponty - 4508
East - 7492
West - 4752 given half cannot be used 2,376
-------------
14,376 home tickets available

They've also had to close off a few rows of the Ponty bottom corners because of the advertising boards. So just over 14k home tickets available.

So averaging around 12,500 in the third tier with hardly any away support, the home ends are around 90% full. There were 13,337 home supporters there on Saturday.

People look at the crowds (12k) and the capacity (20k whatever it is reduced) and think that the grounds only just over half full, but those spare seats are mainly all in the away end.

Also the last Championship attendance is nothing to go by due to one of the worst seasons in recent history, but there's only one site l can see that says our average was under 13k

 

People also assume the east stand is massive compared to the west stand. It isn't. The west stand just looks small because it's two separate things, a small lower tier and a separate small upper tier set back from the pitch by a few miles. In reality there are only 11 extra rows of seats in the east stand than there are in the west stand. People also assume it's really deep. It isn't. It was designed so to fit within the west stands boundary exactly so that it could be replicated.

If you were to build an east stand style stand on the west side the lower tier would have about 5 less rows than the east stand currently has and 2 less than the west has. This would be to allow for better leg room in the stand and would mean that back row was at ground level on entry to the stand so the entire row could become a disabled area, something which we are sadly lacking down either side of the pitch.

Behind that and raised like it is in the east stand would be executive boxes and above that the upper tier which to go to the full height of the east stands upper tier would be just 6 rows more than the west stands upper tier.

In reality you've only actually added in 4 extra rows of seats than the west stand HAD available 15 years ago before it was allowed to crumble. Is that really such a crazy addition to the stadium?

Personally I think that the additional disabled seats, the extra hospitality suites, and the non matchday revenue it could generate make it a much more realistic and logical course of action than building a tiny stand just because it's little old Barnsley

 

Based on? Shiny new stadiums attract a whole new fan base, families for one. You can't just use basket case Wigan as an example.

 

Were you in the West Stand at the weekend trying to get your kids between the 10ft gap in the corner to use the toilets with hundreds squashed in? Or telling them that they can't have any food because it's impossible to get anywhere near the counter? It's 100 years old and the design shows - it's now an horrible experience taking kids in there.

 

In baseball a shiny new stadium increases attendance by upto 37% in the first year and attendances remain above baseline for up to 10 years and isn't linked to team performance.

 

Doncaster Rovers?

 

I am not a structural engineer it that sounds a lot more expensive than knocking it down and would still result in something not fit for purpose

 

Your proposal, which is a handed reciprocation of the east stand, does not accord with the east stand design done around 15 years ago. Neither would it fit within the curtilage of Oakwell. There is a pinch point at the south west corner which means your proposal would encroach into Grove street. Your proposal could be modified if the upper tier cantilevered over Grove street; however, it may not satisfy planning requirements.

 

The thing everyone is forgetting is new stands/stadiums create more buzz and fans.

Swansea used to get 3000 before they built their stadium, Brighton were in the doldrums, Leicester, Derby, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Plymouth weren't anywhere near as well supported as they are now.