SUFC: The Future How would you redevelop Roots Hall?

[superblue24]

After the 4th October, I think I’d be in favour of turning it into a supermarket. It would be good if the building is listed and they have to improvise on the build, sort of similar to Highbury. It would be a reminder of when we had a football club

 

[nick12]

I have already thought about this and definitely East stand, the porta cabins are a disgrace and the whole stand is so dated and tired.

There is room behind the East so it can go back and maybe accommodate 5-8,000 in one modern stand, the rest of RH can then be developed as and when funds are available, no rush!

I can't think beyond the 4th atm but it is nice to dream and fantastic that we are discussing our home rather than the ridiculous, fictitious f ing fantasy farm

 

[Sherif H]

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.

That was/is another of our projects...

 

[gpd]

My dream new Roots Hall

View attachment 29029

Looks like the car park has been designed by Philip Miller. Cut & paste from tilbury docks? :-) Lots of housing lost. Have another dream.

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

As it looks likely we will (if we survive) stay in this division another season, it may be best to redevelop the North Bank first. Hardly any income will be lost and, of course, once redeveloped give it back to the home fans.

 

[Smiffy]

As it looks likely we will (if we survive) stay in this division another season, it may be best to redevelop the North Bank first. Hardly any income will be lost and, of course, once redeveloped give it back to the home fans.

Agreed. I'd love to see the NB modernised (perhaps with some safe standing) and returned to home fans. Entrance via main car park.

Get the NW corner sorted and that is a perfect spot for away fans, with their own access via Fairfax Drive. Plenty of seats in there to accomodate most away turnouts up to League One level.

Move the whole stadium footprint slightly East & North and it will create room to improve all stands. There is so much that could be done at RH and for a lot less than what it would cost to build FF.

I just hope we get to this point of potentially redeveloping the old girl and I also hope that if and when the time comes, @Sherif H is utilised by all the right people at the club to make it happen.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Tidy up both the west and south bank can’t go to much with them due to external areas build an indoor Concorse along the back using up all the space at the west .. heighten the north by building further seating higher over the small entry lane that runs directly behind it effectively tuning it into a tunnel sweep around to a large two teared main stand with a fans park that’s open all week etc and function space tidy up the entry and exits at all points allowing smoother flow of vehicles and fans .

Make the south stand away fans top tear open for normal matches both tears for big games

 

[Ramsdenblue]

I think the 2no. stands (2 tier) at Burnley are very nice,

One running down the side of the pitch, the other behind the goal.

If we built these in place of our current east and north stands, then that would really improve the Hall.

 

[OldBlueLady]

If we get to stay at RH, then I'd be investigating the possibility of a complete re-build incorporating some of the car park and rotating the stadium. The West stand entrance would become the away fans', with the new West stand being their dedicated stand. The rebuilt North and East stands would hold better corporate and non match day revenue streams, and we would look to include the Victoria Avenue flats as part of the plan for access and revenue areas, either incorporating something into the rebuilt South stand or on some of the land off Roots Hall Avenue.

Would mean a ground share temporarily.

 

[Ex-SouthendUnitedEmployee]

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?

I've mentioned Rossi's previously - I'd think would be a cracking sponsor for front of shirt, but also the guy who now owns them also owns Cookies and Cones, Marsh Farm, Partyman etc... so would be a great sponsor if there was 2,000+ Replica Shirts with Rossi on, and they also had a match day area to sell - as Rossi now do Coffee and Cakes etc too.

Again mentioning Birmingham, they have street food vendors on match day etc.

 

[Supershrimper]

I've mentioned Rossi's previously - I'd think would be a cracking sponsor for front of shirt, but also the guy who now owns them also owns Cookies and Cones, Marsh Farm, Partyman etc... so would be a great sponsor if there was 2,000+ Replica Shirts with Rossi on, and they also had a match day area to sell - as Rossi now do Coffee and Cakes etc too.

Again mentioning Birmingham, they have street food vendors on match day etc.

I don't think I can walk past a Rossi without purchasing one, Even in the depths of winter

 

[Sherif H]

If we get to stay at RH, then I'd be investigating the possibility of a complete re-build incorporating some of the car park and rotating the stadium. The West stand entrance would become the away fans', with the new West stand being their dedicated stand. The rebuilt North and East stands would hold better corporate and non match day revenue streams, and we would look to include the Victoria Avenue flats as part of the plan for access and revenue areas, either incorporating something into the rebuilt South stand or on some of the land off Roots Hall Avenue.

Would mean a ground share temporarily.

If you do this, you might as well build a purpose built stadium on a new site.
The benefits of staying at RH will only be realised by working with the existing infrastructure as far as physically possible.

 

[Shrimper]

Does Ron currently own RH through Roots Hall Limited?

 

[Smiffy]

If you do this, you might as well build a purpose built stadium on a new site.
The benefits of staying at RH will only be realised by working with the existing infrastructure as far as physically possible.

Would shifting the footprint north & east slightly be an option, to gain a bit more space on the West and South sides?

 

[Napster]

Does Ron currently own RH through Roots Hall Limited?

Elounda owns Roots Hall

Elounda is in turn owned by Julie, Jack and Tom

 

[SouthendSpence]

Repeating a lot of the above.

A: Nice, big and new East stand pulled back towards the car park.

B: The whole pitch moved slightly North to give a bit more space in the South.

C: Modest, but clean and tidy North, West and South wrapped, something like Gigg Lane?


Job done, in keeping, still home and I've tried to keep it realistic here!

 

[kaymac]

I’d suspect the cost of a total revamp of RH and with better less cramped seating, proper catering and toilet facilities etc as bare minimum improvements would be a multi-million pound outlay?
Luton’s recently redeveloped (small) stand cost them £10m alone, yet their plans still are to move to a new stadium in the next few years as staying at Kenilworth Road no longer viable for the long-term.

 

[Stubb]

Thanks @Shrimpergarry for digging out my original musings.

First thing to clarify - the redevelopment of Fratton Park in its current format was essentially pushed in to the thinking of the owners over a number of meetings, and I had to persuade them as to the merits of building over the existing infrastructure. We are now on Phase 4 of that project and there are no signs it is going to end any time soon, such are the benefits in terms of cost and time versus the old chestnut of demolition and re-build.

If I am given some remit to do so by the (fingers crossed) new owners, then the first thing I'd need is a few weeks trawling through the stadium management plan and prioritising the jobs which are currently and/or imminently going to continue to cause both capacity and functionality to be shut down.

Worth noting - on the East Stand...we could theoretically build the mother of all modular structures on there with better hospitality and mixed/flexible space than most Clubs, but get it done in the closed season so there is no down time.
If you want to see what that could look like, check out the temporary stadium and triple decker structure we built for the Anthony Joshua v Andy Ruiz fight in the desert in Saudi....

I have to say that, as an irregular visitor to Fratton Park, you have done a wonderful job to a stadium that was in a similar condition to RH.

 

[Ramsdenblue]

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?

Don't think that is a problem.

Ipswich in the away end concourse would have a bookies there to place a bet.

Buy your burger, place a bet, go up the stairs and find your seats.

Oh, i miss those away days to Ipswich.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Spaceport.