If you're trying to convince a player to join the club...

...possibly on less money than they could get elsewhere but trying to convince them that a year or two with us will help their career and then this greets them on turning up to Oakwell:



Surely some new cladding on the stand wouldn't cost that much...and seriously, broken glass on top of the perimeter wall?

 

It's character building!! 'Welcome t'well, it's sh!te ere!!'

 

with all the rules and regulations on health and safety these days am surprised there actually allowed to still get away with that

 

It's a shame that, despite all the redevelopment, the only side of the ground which is on a public road hasn't been touched.

 

Waiting to be able to buy the houses and school that's what I always thought was the sticking point. That and we can't fill the rest of the ground so why build another new stand.

 

I've been hoping this was one of the "off the pitch" things that has been referred to. Spot on and if I was a player turning up and knew little about the club I'd run as far away from that as I possibly could. As someone else said the glass surely can't be allowed in this day and age.

Can get some decent cladding systems in place at around £200 psqm & a new entrance perimeter surely wouldn't be that expensive.

 

I think building a new stand is beside the point, I think maintaining, modernising and upgrading the stand is the answer.

 

I'm not saying build a new stand, be nice but would be very expensive, at least £5m for something half decent. Saying that, I'm sure it could be paid for over a very long period of time like a mortgage.

 

Apparently the wall was the inspiration for the Berlin Wall - blame Oakwell for 45 years of German division.

 

That's not really feasible. That structure is over a hundred years old, any refurbishment would be a waste of time. You will end up replacing every part of it. Financial bonuses such as the cup run would make a nice down payment on new stand and I think possibly the council might be persuaded to cough up a bit. I think a modern equivalent of what's there now would be smashing, housing the dressing rooms so the players come down the tunnel again like the olden days.

I'm very fond of the West Stand. :smile:

 

I think if you look back Jedstar you'll find it was the inspiration behind the great wall of china

 

The stand is another example of the club saying things (well Don anyway) and then not following through with it and assuming that we are all too ignorant to remember what's been said - back end of 2011 Matt Bailey was talking about it during commentary saying that some plans for it were on show in the library and the main purpose of the new stand was to provide better facilities to the media as opposed to increasing capacity which we obviously don't need.

New stadiums often spark interest from stayaway fans, I'm sure a nice new stand would do the same to some extent which obviously offsets the cost of it slightly.

 

Could factor in a decent supporters club a la the good ol days, better media gantry, perhaps some more corporate facilities and then something to generate income on non match days, nursery, community centre summat like that. Agree that increasing capacity would be pointless so it needs to pay for itself in other ways.

 

There have been plans for the new stand since the 90s, unfortunately never the money. Fans want everything, a new stand and a new striker. The North and East stands were funded somewhat directly by player sales, but the fans and manager are demanding the money gets invested back into the playing staff. We can't have everything.

 

[video=youtube;1pm4fQRl72k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pm4fQRl72k[/video]

 

Nowt wrong wi it.

 

I know what you're saying but I think the west stand has a real character about it, its a proper old fashioned stand that is sadly lacking in a lot of modern day soulless grounds with little or no identity.

 

What would the security be? The club does not own the ground.

 

The school is/was up for auction. I've said before that the club should have bought it to turn into flats and a pre match venue/ hotel.