SUFC: The Future How would you redevelop Roots Hall?

[Strykr]

Or motorbike & sidecar

Sidecar? lets not get carried away....

 

[Shrimper]

My dream new Roots Hall

View attachment 29029

Not sure the Prospects Flat Owners would be happy :D

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

Re. turning the pitch 90 degrees - not worth the hassle.
Not least, for the fact that you'd have to go through a whole heap of assessments related to neighbourly matters by virtue of moving and modifying floodlight head positions and the like...

@Shrimpergarry - I recall you are from a planning background? My views are that you do whatever possible to avoid having to put in contentious planning applications...working with the existing infrastructure does just this.

Yep - spot on!

 

[Strykr]

maybes its just pure sentiment, but i get much more excited about a properly redeveloped Roots Hall then I ever did about Fossetts Farce.

 

[HertfordshireBlue]

It’s funny this thread popped up, I was massively thinking about this today. Realistically the main point of development will be the East Stand which could be redesigned to a model which is not too dissimilar from Peterborough’s new main two-tiered stand or Halifax’s stand on the side - this could be catered if we’re including the wasted space of the Rats office..

The west stand could stay (maybe a new roof which is flat and modernised).

The south unfortunately is stuck as it is.

The north bank has loads of potential to be changed into a new stand, again a single tiered stand which will probably be the most costly but again could take inspiration from Wrexham’s new stand as long as we are happy to build backwards towards the road.

If we are looking at a complete bank buster redevelopment of Roots Hall it seriously must be taken into consideration to get home fans back into the the true heart beat of Roots Hall - the north bank. It’s the biggest priority for me beyond any corporate opportunity the new stand could offer.

 

[thenobster]

Let's move it.. brick by brick to..... I don't know... um....fossets farm.

 

[thenobster]

On a serious note, how many food franchises have been approached? KFC, burger King, Macdonalds, noodle bar and so on. So much has been spoken about alcohol but we do need families for long term sustainability. I remember someone mentioned Rossis.. why not?

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

What a great thread - so nice to just forget the sticky stuff we are in and think to the future. Thank you @Ex-SouthendUnitedEmployee

A few years ago in a previous house when we had a bit of land and a third-size football pitch on part of it I started to build around the pitch, putting up a circa fifty-capacity stand behind one of the goals (which we filled once with a party). It was great, but other things in life became priorities and that was as far as it went, plus my wife started to get a bit concerned at all the money I was spending on wood. So the stand in the end started to leak and became a compost heap - not too dissimilar to parts of Roots Hall now really

Anyway, I digress with misty eyes. To the subject in hand. So many clubs have rebuilt their ground whilst staying there I see no reason why we cannot. For me the role-model is Plymouth. They knocked down three sides and built fairly boiler plate but neat wrap-around stands in their place really quickly. That then left the main stand which they did much later when they got the finance in place to do something properly that met all that they wanted and provided all that much-needed corporate hospitality stuff. They have also built a separate very large square box which provides for all of the fan entertainment facilities and is great, and that was financed by a separate entity who will make money on it for seven years and then the agreement is that it falls in to club ownership. Our new owners-to-be (fingers crossed) would do well to speak to the Argyle folk when the time comes, they have done great things but will have also learned lessons from what they did too.

 

[Sherif H]

What a great thread - so nice to just forget the sticky stuff we are in and think to the future. Thank you @Ex-SouthendUnitedEmployee

A few years ago in a previous house when we had a bit of land and a third-size football pitch on part of it I started to build around the pitch, putting up a circa fifty-capacity stand behind one of the goals (which we filled once with a party). It was great, but other things in life became priorities and that was as far as it went, plus my wife started to get a bit concerned at all the money I was spending on wood. So the stand in the end started to leak and became a compost heap - not too dissimilar to parts of Roots Hall now really

Anyway, I digress with misty eyes. To the subject in hand. So many clubs have rebuilt their ground whilst staying there I see no reason why we cannot. For me the role-model is Plymouth. They knocked down three sides and built fairly boiler plate but neat wrap-around stands in their place really quickly. That then left the main stand which they did much later when they got the finance in place to do something properly that met all that they wanted and provided all that much-needed corporate hospitality stuff. They have also built a separate very large square box which provides for all of the fan entertainment facilities and is great, and that was financed by a separate entity who will make money on it for seven years and then the agreement is that it falls in to club ownership. Our new owners-to-be (fingers crossed) would do well to speak to the Argyle folk when the time comes, they have done great things but will have also learned lessons from what they did too.

Trust me - the model is Portsmouth.
I'd love to show you every detail we have covered there, but alas, it isn't complete yet and I'm not at liberty to share anything other than that which has already been shared by the Club.

 

[jnl]

Just a random thought. Instead of rotating the pitch etc, could we move the pitch and a new North Stand north a bit, then enlarge the South Stand, that would help the overall look of the stadium. Then work on improving the West Stand and also rebuilding East Stand with corporate facilities and other revenue streams which have been mentioned on this thread.

 

[Supershrimper]

Rotating the pitch would make the coin toss important again. After sitting in the East Stand for well over 16 years I can tell you the view when the sun is in your eyes is very unpleasant. I know don't go into the East Stand without a sun hat.

 

[thenobster]

Carrying on the franchise meandering, is there, has there been a gym open to the public? What's the legal side of having a bookies there during match day?

 

[rshepp]

It's tight. But I don't think rotating the pitch 90 degrees is going to give the space desired for a good sized money making main stand. Better to stay as is and re-develop to make a decent sized 2 tier main stand. Then subtly improve all other stands similar to Pompey. @Sherif H has already mentioned this in great detail somewhere.

A 7 days a week sports bar/restaurant that shows all the live games is a must.

Keep the pitch N/S.
E/W will put one goalkeeper in bright sunlight.

 

[bazzashrimper]

There is a fair bit of space behind the north. Capacity can be increased there - or maybe the pitch budged a few meters to enable a bigger south in due course?

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Trust me - the model is Portsmouth.
I'd love to show you every detail we have covered there, but alas, it isn't complete yet and I'm not at liberty to share anything other than that which has already been shared by the Club.

OK, I'll trust you, but I can't stand Portsmouth. If though the new plans contain a muffler for that bell-ringer then I'll take a peek when you can share

 

[Pak Power]

Long term...rotate,
But we are non league, so for now I would just slowly improve what we have.

Maybe get volunteers for season tickets to re vamp what we have got, then if we get back to EFL incorporate the space behind the west stand, to bring that waste of space outside (Where we used to change ends at half time for the older ones on here)

Roots hall as is is good enough for Non league (with a bit of help)

 

[ms brush]

Agree with most of the sentiments, and the one to look at, at least short to medium term is Luton. Not quite sure how they did it, but their ground is tighter than ours with awful access, yet they upgraded to accommodate premiership football over the summer with no downtime ( maybe 1-2 fixtures shifted right at the start of the season)

There would the option to move the east stand back a good few meters, change the access to the South stand and sort out the North. The East stand does need rebuilding but i have thought for years that RH just needs a bit of imagination and some investment to get it back to a completely viable venue, which obviously never suited the hidden agenda!

Done correctly, RH could become the central point of a whole scale regeneration project for the City, sorting out several issues in one fell swoop. That would more than negate the loss of housing, and would provide much needed community and leisure assets as well as a refurbished home for the club that should last for the next 50+ years.

 

[Jai]

Just been putting together a 'summary' of the history of our attempts to move to Fossetts for the benefit of the work going on in the background by the Trust and groups.

1,300 words later (and that is really over-simplifying a lot of it) I need a drink.

Reading through old Echo articles and old Shrimperzone posts, it is incredible how so many of us were taken in (I include myself) by Ron over Fossetts. Remember the march to the civic centre with the plans? The rather sinister campaign against those shop owners on Vic Avenue? The wrangling with Prospects?

What a saga.

 

[Boreham Blue]

Trust me - the model is Portsmouth.
I'd love to show you every detail we have covered there, but alas, it isn't complete yet and I'm not at liberty to share anything other than that which has already been shared by the Club.

The Portsmouth updates look impressive https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/who-we-are/fratton-park/fp-redevelopment/

 

[bazzashrimper]

Just been putting together a 'summary' of the history of our attempts to move to Fossetts for the benefit of the work going on in the background by the Trust and groups.

1,300 words later (and that is really over-simplifying a lot of it) I need a drink.

Reading through old Echo articles and old Shrimperzone posts, it is incredible how so many of us were taken in (I include myself) by Ron over Fossetts. Remember the march to the civic centre with the plans? The rather sinister campaign against those shop owners on Vic Avenue? The wrangling with Prospects?

What a saga.

Yes. It got me. I still haven’t been to any of those pizza shops…