tom_widdows

Skye is now actually part of Ross & Cromarty.

Maybe its just a different mindset. Lot of people I went to school with grew up supporting other teams but have since changed to Ross County. Many did it after moving to Glasgow/ Edinburgh etc and experiencing much more of the baggage their former teams carried. I'll admit now I find myself drifting more towards Ross County and actually think Ive been to more County games than Dons matches in the last couple of years.

Population is about 5500 The key being the name of the club Ross County Ross and Cromarty population is about 50,000. Had Inverness Thistle gotten into the league back in 1974 or they just picked either them or Caley instead of amalgamating them back in 1994 then I reckon there would be much healthier crowds on the other side of the Kessock. County do so much (or at least used to when I was growing up) for schools and kids football around the highlands which probably helps so much with them attracting new fans.

Unless the height detailed in the applicaiton was as a result of initial discussions with the Planners then we can't actually establish if there is a formal 21m restriction on the site. Once you put dimensions on a planning drawing/ statement you are legally bound by them (there is a little bit of lee-way (mm)) so ideally at planning stage you want to leave yourself a bit of leeway by designing slightly bigger than is required. I'm a bit concerned at the suggestion the 21m might now be an issue when it is something that could and indeed should have been sorted before the application was submitted.

You need an additional separate Planning application if you wish to remove or change a condition(s) on an approved permission. This of course allows for new objections from neighbours and/or the general public so you would need to have a fairly detailed justification to apply for it. I've only skim read the planning documents and conditions but I didnt see anything about height restrictions and it seems bizarre to impose such a measure on a site in a semi-rural location. If the site was in the city centre or an established built up area i could understand it. Only mention of heights seems to be raising the ground levels to avoid potential flood issues. Does anyone have a link to a document which mentions this height restriction?

In my experience when you have height restrictions (be it for planning or building warrant purposes) the height is measured from the lowest external ground level in relation to the building ie if your site is on a small hill you wont get away with taking the measurement from the elevation which faces uphill. Whether or not restriction is just to the roof surface or includes cantilevered trusses etc I don't know as I have yet to work on an actual stadium (although my current employers have done one in the past) A trick to get around this could be to sink the pitch below ground level like Hampden partly is, however to do that on all 4 sides to the extent hampden is would push up the costs significantly and probably not feasible for club stadiums under a 40000 capacity. As for the gradient as I understand it the steepest you can have under Scottish Building regulations would be 34degrees (Tynecastle Wheatfield stand closest example). Once you go over that your stairs are too steep to be permitted for the general public (Stairs in private houses can go to 42degrees). If the pitch was built exactly at finished ground level at 34degrees it should be possible to get 30 rows of seating but that would be based on the roof surface being the level the height restriction applied to and not any cantilevered trusses. I have a rough cad section of a 34degree stand and one the length of the South or Main should get about 6000 seats with a goal end getting around 4000 which would of course = 20,000. I personally feel future permanant expansion is something that should be forgotten about. Any chance of a major sports tournament being hosted in Scotland is dead under the current FIFA/ UEFA capitalist wet dream but if by some miracle it did become a reality the best chance I reckon would be for temporary additional tiers to be added. That is something that is potentially sellable to planners as the benefits to the local area would outweigh the temporary disruption to the landscape.

I've only been in tory glen but the Aberdeen Sports village supposedly cost circa £28million. Toryglen certainly isnt freezing in the winter. Anyway estimated sizes based on 105m x 68m pitch 370m x 3m of blockwork (with steel windposts) Steel portal frame with pitched or barrel roof shape at a height which allows for an actual match to be played (15m?) 370m x up to 15m External cladding. This will need to have some form of insulation properties to maintain frost protection and prevent the building turning into a greenhouse in summer. Also need to be tough enough to withstand footballs being kicked against it, vandalisms, the salt content in the air, bird shite etc. 110m x 80m roof (composite cladding panels?) with deep flow surface water drainage. 74m x 110m reinforced concrete floor slab with suitable gas membrane protection (given what they dug out of that size). Cross flow ventilation system (passive or mechanical) to prevent condensation build up and over heating. Indoor flood lighting system Surrounding infrastructure for servicing/ maintenance. For building warrants a rough guide has the cheapest price per m2 for non-domestic buildings is £185 for general agricultrural buildings. The building ive described above is 8140m2 so if it was classed as a farm shed etc it would cost £1,505,900.00. The next cheapest price in the guide is £609 per m2 for warehouses.

Building control wont allow a basic breezeblock construction and hopefully neither would the club. Its not a case of just building a garage around a pitch. Full size modern articifial pitch completely enclosed in modern energy efficient structure with the required M&E/ lighting/fire alarm systems etc, Changing facilities & equipment store (no point players getting changed in one building then getting soaked walking across to the indoor pitch). £300k might get you a 5-a side one but I doubt you will get anything close to an 11-aside one for less than £3million. Ideally the indoor pitch should have been part of the current indoor facilities. Toryglen centre in Glasgow (1 indoor & 3 outdoor 11-aside astroturf, plus 2 smaller training pitches, and 3no 7 a side grass) apparenlty cost circa £17million back in 2006 although that does include a 700 capacity stand for supporters.

Its currently on BBC Alba Bizarre seeing the Kilie goalie trying to pretend the 2nd goal hadnt crossed the line when he palmed the ball off the underside of the net before catching it.

So Yon tic race into a 2-0 lead in about 20mins. Think I've got a fairly good idea of what those Hibs fans will be feeling like now. Much like the UK, Scottish football has gone back 10years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50214653 Arabs Min. 133% of turnover on wages. Defecit increased £3.5m in one season

Southampton FFS Epl showing even more what a joke league it has become

Josh Magennis!! For all the flack he got when playing in red you have to give him (and Northern Ireland) credit.

Whoever the co-commentator on sportsound during the Livingston game was is a muppet. Straight away said the Christie challenge wasn't a red card, and never actually retracted that statement despite numerous eveidence to the contrary. Just went on some meandering tangent of Livingston's style of play. Absolute shocking challenge no matter what angle you look at it.

Sam 'PolyFilla' Cosgrove

here we go....

Arabs lose at Alloa. Rob Maclean must have a bad taste in his throat now given how far his tongue seemed to be up the Arabs ass. Both irritates and pleases me when the commentary team sound surprised when the 'underdogs' outplay the favourites. Not really the performance Mr Shankland would have wanted with the international break coming up

Just because

Next up its 'Ghost Stories' at the Ambassadors theatre, London Apparenlty its a 'special' performance given it starts at 10pm on 31st October https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/sites/default/files/api/2464-1568632107-ghost-storieslandscapewest-end-without-website-19mb.mp4

Just been to see the stage show of 'The Exorcist' at Glasgow's Theatre Royal Excellent show (great set, special effects & acting - Ian McKellan as the voice of the demon) unfortunately let down by wankers in the audience. I cannot recall attending a show with so many people having coughing fits and/or deciding multiple times to go in and out of the venue. The first ones couldnt even last 10mins before they had to either go for a piss or get another drink. Hell really is 'other people'

Auchenleck Talbot 2 nil up against Kelty Hearts. Not too fond of AT and was initially backing Kelty but then I clocked who was in their dugout.....

Yes Luxembourg much like Iceland seem to have gotten their act together over the last few years whereas the shower of shite in charge of the Scottish game continue to live in the belief our country is still some sort of 'name' in the world of football and won't change their ways

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhtAR0GAhDk