Loirston chosen for new stadium

Aberdeen FC set to move

EXCLUSIVE

By Charlie Allan

 

Published: 03/04/2009

 

THE Evening Express can today reveal the preferred location for Aberdeen’s new community stadium.

 

The £38 million community facility, which will become home to Aberdeen FC, will be at Loirston Loch in the south of the city.

 

It follows a year-long series of feasibility studies to decide if the site at Nigg would be the best location for the stadium.

 

The report on the recommendation of the Nigg site will now go out to consultation and will be referred to the council’s policy and strategy committee on April 28.

 

A number of other potential sites across the city, including one at King’s Links, were examined by Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeen FC and it was decided all of them were unsuitable.

 

Aberdeen FC managing director Duncan Fraser, who is also a member of the Arena Project Advisory and Monitoring Board created to advise of the best site and stadium design, said: “These recommendations have still to be approved and at the appropriate time, there will be a full consultation process with fans.

 

“Their feedback will be important.â€

 

For more on this story, and an exclusive image of the new arena, pick up today’s Evening Express or check back later

All this fucking about and the training ground has to come with an approved stadium in a stupid location is going to cost us our manager and players.

 

Seriously, another year if this is approved in October for our own pitch and couple of rooms? 

 

By the time the stadium is built McInnes will 100% be away as well. I still can't believe how many support this.

All this fucking about and the training ground has to come with an approved stadium in a stupid location is going to cost us our manager and players.

 

Seriously, another year if this is approved in October for our own pitch and couple of rooms? 

 

By the time the stadium is built McInnes will 100% be away as well. I still can't believe how many support this.

 

Yeah, a lot of folk like to diss Anti Kingsford people, they like to come on here like keyboard evangelists and be crass and poke fun at me (Oxford dons) being one.

 

But they don't want to look at integral bigger picture that ITS THE CLUB AND THOSE WHO OCCUPY POSITIONS OF POWER AND DECISIONS who are letting down our players by not putting in place training facilities and continually making FUCK UPS in planning since 1999.

 

Make no mistake, Kingsford is on the way out. You can come on here and say why you want but it doesn't bother me. But I know for a fact no training ground pisses off the players and the manager and it won't be long before they all bail out frustrated with the continual balls ups being made.

Yeah, a lot of folk like to diss Anti Kingsford people, they like to come on here like keyboard evangelists and be crass and poke fun at me (Oxford dons) being one.

 

Me inna' min!

 

But they don't want to look at integral bigger picture that ITS THE CLUB AND THOSE WHO OCCUPY POSITIONS OF POWER AND DECISIONS who are letting down our players by not putting in place training facilities and continually making FUCK UPS in planning since 1999.

 

Agreed  :'(

Fit like to abidy on here fae China.

 

As way of introduction, I've been following the site since it was set up but never got involved.

 

Anyway, my point is that if we don't build a new stadium we're fucked, plain and simple.

 

The question I'd like to ask is, what realtionship do the current toon cooncil have with the board of AFC? My feeling is that this might determine whether it happens or not.

Fit like to abidy on here fae China.

 

As way of introduction, I've been following the site since it was set up but never got involved.

 

Anyway, my point is that if we don't build a new stadium we're fucked, plain and simple.

 

The question I'd like to ask is, what realtionship do the current toon cooncil have with the board of AFC? My feeling is that this might determine whether it happens or not.

 

Welcome aboard 

 

I'd agree, we need some proper training facilities to start off with.  It's embarrassing and can't be good for player development.

What about the club remove itself from its dogmatic approach to joint training and stadia facilities and invest the whole £1.3m (approx) they get for Hayes in a dedicated patch of grass for a training place?

 

What can be done with 2 or 3 grass pitches and 2 x 4G pitches for all AFC players of any age group?  A club of Aberdeen's size don't need a Milanello.

 

I read today McInnes to Sunderland will generate £1m release cause.  If this eventuality occurs the club have serious money in its coffers.

 

Much rather see serious money invested in a long term training facility than blown on players wages.

 

 

 

 

Indeed. Partick are looking at £4M for their facilities. We should be looking at around that figure. It should have been on the cards way before the stadium, with two separate planning applications. A fair chance it could have been started by now.

The ridiculous thing is. If they built a training facility with however many 3G pitches it would pay for itself within 5 - 10 years, through facility hire.

Gym (sell membership for this also).

Meeting rooms. offices etc.

Two local town councils where I am have managed it and no local football league teams, you're not telling me the council don't make money out of it.

http://www.chippenham.gov.uk/stanley-park/

http://www.beversbrooksportsfacility.co.uk/

 

Here's a community sports club that have managed it.

http://www.rwbsa.org.uk/

 

If they built one indoor pitch too, or even an air dome thing. They could charge what they liked for hire of that, at times the club weren't using it, and it would be full all year round. I'd be harassing my club to hire us an indoor 3G for training over the winter if there was one locally.

 

Surely there is enough money on the board to front the initial outlay...

 

Bonkers that both my grass roots teams train on 3G September to March and AFC a professional club don't.

 

Unfortunately the training ground issue is tied up now in a certain other strategic aim.  It means the players are in limbo.

 

If you asked Del what he wants more than anything, and you asked the players what they want and need its the training ground.

 

If McInnes and Hayes go that is more than 50% paid for it already.  If Hayes alone goes (which seems odds on and at £1.3m this is an excellent deposit for the training ground mortgage) is this £1m++ going to be splattered on shite or on some proper investment.

 

Thistle are getting money from that couple who won the Euromillions - can Aberdeen not use this same funding source? 

So............................

 

..........we have a training facility partially funded and completed, err, when?

 

And in the meantime we've spent all our money and have a first team squad of who, exactly? Not going to be very good on the park in this scenario, or is that what you want?

 

 

Thistle are getting money from that couple who won the Euromillions - can Aberdeen not use this same funding source?

 

I've not checked my ticket from Friday night yet so you never know 

So............................

 

..........we have a training facility partially funded and completed, err, when?

 

And in the meantime we've spent all our money and have a first team squad of who, exactly? Not going to be very good on the park in this scenario, or is that what you want?

 

Are you suggesting that we couldn't afford the £4-6M that it would cost to build training facilities? If that's the case, do you think it's even remotely sensible to build a £40-50M stadium? Or have I misunderstood your point (probably!)? If we have to have a poorer team on the park for a couple of years while we develop facilities, would that not be acceptable? After all, we've had a poor team on the park for the vast majority of Milne's tenure with absolutely nothing to show for it.

So............................

 

..........we have a training facility partially funded and completed, err, when?

 

And in the meantime we've spent all our money and have a first team squad of who, exactly? Not going to be very good on the park in this scenario, or is that what you want?

 

Strange the way people that want good players for AFC on the pitch also want £50m spunked on a new stadium mortgage that will saddle the club with huge debt for 20 years.

 

This is a club with 10k season ticket holders that cannot get people in the door and who want to move 6miles outside the city.

 

You really think £50m spent on a stadium will allow funds to be released for player purchases for next 20 years?

 

I would have thought you do not have to be S.Hawking to work out that if they get £1.3m? for Hayes that it goes a long way to paying for a training ground of some sort with pitches etc.  And a significantly smaller mortgage would entail.

 

Hibs training ground cost £4.5m, the Thistle one is costing £4m.

 

Longer decision makers go on farting about with a training ground idea especially if you package it up with stadium the longer there is no outcome whatsoever which does nothing for the players and more importantly the manager who must be getting more and more pissed off every year as regards non delivery.

 

May I remind you this has been going on since 1999!

See there's a few new unfavourable documents up on the application.

 

I couldn't be more certain this doesn't have 0.1% of a chance.

 

Out of interest, is it possible to get permission to build on where Pittodrie Street is now and re-route it? I've noticed it's the side that prevents all others from working.

Out of interest, is it possible to get permission to build on where Pittodrie Street is now and re-route it? I've noticed it's the side that prevents all others from working.

 

It's never been tried. Insurmountable apparently. Unlike bussing 6,000 people out to the sticks every week. It's amazing how quickly the hurdles were written off as impossibly large when discussing re-developing Pittodrie when those facing both Loirston and Kingsford are seemingly simple inconveniences. I'm not suggesting re-routing Pittodrie street is any way easy of course, but it certainly isn't an avenue that has ever been explored in detail. Even turning it into a single lane, with zero parking on one side (and zero on either on match days) would greatly allow room in what is a reasonably wide road (4 cars wide currently).

 

Anyway, there are plenty of reasons why it would be very difficult, just as there are plenty of reasons why Kingsford is. The problem is that we're not looking at the two side-by-side, and what little presentation given of Pittodrie is not given equal weight.

That's always been the most sensible way of doing it.

Pittodrie Street is not much good for any traffic other than people nipping into Pittodrie.

 

 

No doubt the council would have some objections.

The same council, mind you, that blocked off Bedford fuckin road.

It's never been tried. Insurmountable apparently. Unlike bussing 6,000 people out to the sticks every week. It's amazing how quickly the hurdles were written off as impossibly large when discussing re-developing Pittodrie when those facing both Loirston and Kingsford are seemingly simple inconveniences. I'm not suggesting re-routing Pittodrie street is any way easy of course, but it certainly isn't an avenue that has ever been explored in detail. Even turning it into a single lane, with zero parking on one side (and zero on either on match days) would greatly allow room in what is a reasonably wide road (4 cars wide currently).

 

Anyway, there are plenty of reasons why it would be very difficult, just as there are plenty of reasons why Kingsford is. The problem is that we're not looking at the two side-by-side, and what little presentation given of Pittodrie is not given equal weight.

 

If it were cut off or even re-routed around the edge of the main stand car park which surely wouldn't be too hard to negotiate replacing a street with a street, then as far as I can see there is nothing unworkable about 3 new stands at all.

Oh God, incoming..................

As I've said before, just rerouting Pittodrie Street, if it were simply a case of realigning the road, probably would be doable, although I'm not sure we would have an aesthetically pleasing end result either in completed stadium or surrounds.

 

However the bit folk just don't seem to get is that there a shitload of services running right under Pittodrie Street. Sewers, gas, electric and phone/broadband cables all lie underneath and also need rerouting. This would have to start a fair way up Pittodrie Street probably 250-300 metres of road and services needing rerouted. How much do you think this will cost?? And lets not forget any new stadium would need its services hooked into these too...we couldnt just use the existing ones. This is what causes the redeveloping Pittodrie option ( to a 20000 capacity sized stadium) unrealistic. Costs are just too great. Whereas selling Pittodrie gives us a base chunk of the costs for a new clean sheet stadium on a new site.

 

Its time to move on.

When people say the idea of redeveloping pittodrie hasn't been properly investigated they are right to a certain extent. It's just when you scratch the surface of the idea it's pretty obvious it would cost an awful lot more so what's the point digging further!

When people say the idea of redeveloping pittodrie hasn't been properly investigated they are right to a certain extent. It's just when you scratch the surface of the idea it's pretty obvious it would cost an awful lot more so what's the point digging further!

 

Unfortunately for those of you who want to move to Kingsford that also costs a lot - at the moment £50m.  Aside from that it's not going to get past ACC come October so at the moment is costs that are being spunked on plans and nothing else.

^^^ stuck record

^^^ stuck record

 

If one repeats a message, it doesn't mean that it's wrong.

 

The only thing that matters is the truth.

 

I don't know what's best but I wouldn't slag another without having evidence to hit him with.

 

Personally, I can neither agree or disagree with him.

 

Because I don't know.

 

The consistency of his position isn't a cause for offence nor ridicule.

If one repeats a message, it doesn't mean that it's wrong.

 

The only thing that matters is the truth.

 

I don't know what's best but I wouldn't slag another without having evidence to hit him with.

 

Personally, I can neither agree or disagree with him.

 

Because I don't know.

 

The consistency of his position isn't a cause for offence nor ridicule.

 

Exactly. Given the opposing position is "we need to move on", both sides are a stuck record until the evidence is actually presented.

 

Ten Caat, as for the Pittodrie street services, I'd guess a million or two? I suspect Stewarty's housing developments are rarely held up by such a concern. But the fact that we don't know is the biggest concern. The fact that, as fans of the club, we haven't been presented with a statement of cost for the ground to be re-developed. £35M is a lot of money for re-development of Pittodrie, and that's the non-Pittodrie-sale-related funds being found for Kingsford.

 

I'm certainly surprised more people aren't against this. If this were the hun being moved from Ibrox by Dave King (or Hertz with Romanov), we'd all be laughing at them getting screwed.