forza wrote:Sure Linfield played Dundalk in HOLLAND in the 70s in the proper old European Cup for those of us codgers who remember.
This was on security grounds.
The belfast scum rioted in Dundalk and linfield were banned from using Windsor for the second leg as a result. A small irony was that after getting a 1-1 draw in oriel linfield lost 2-0 in holland.
It doesn't matter where your ground is when this lot come to town.
shauna wrote:Its nothing to do with safety its stupid eufa requirements like dressing room size, vip parking, hospitality areas, press box size and it goes on and on that determines what category your stadium is rated 4 being the highest, i would say we just about meet category 1. Heres a link to the different categories https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_stadium_categories
We might scrape Category 2 with the addition of the various temporary things we've provided for big Euro games in the past, but I'm not sure there's any difference between Cat 1 and 2 in what you can host so it probably doesn't actually matter (?)
standstill period is standard in larger public contracts - which this is.
it's usually a few weeks so that any unsuccessful bidders can lodge and clarify any challenges to the awarding of the contract. it's not for any other challenges.
Does anybody know if maginn park has floodlights, if not then we wont be able to play there on our usual friday night time for the first few months of the season.
shauna wrote:Does anybody know if maginn park has floodlights, if not then we wont be able to play there on our usual friday night time for the first few months of the season.
shauna wrote:Does anybody know if maginn park has floodlights, if not then we wont be able to play there on our usual friday night time for the first few months of the season.
Temporary lighting will be in place.
People parking their cars up beside the pitch and turning their headlights on
KEVK wrote:People parking their cars up beside the pitch and turning their headlights on
I can use the torch on my phone too.
Besides, if they start the pitch next month (which it obviously, definitely will), would it not be finished by the time the season starts again?
If you look at the programme of works i posted last week constructing the 3g pitch alone is down as a 5 month job so if construction begins at start of december the pitch wont be ready until start of may.
KEVK wrote:People parking their cars up beside the pitch and turning their headlights on
I can use the torch on my phone too.
Besides, if they start the pitch next month (which it obviously, definitely will), would it not be finished by the time the season starts again?
If you look at the programme of works i posted last week constructing the 3g pitch alone is down as a 5 month job so if construction begins at start of december the pitch wont be ready until start of may.
I wonder what sort of state Brandywell Stadium will be in by the time our first Europa League qualifier comes round. We can probably get away with playing in a building site with the FAI, but I'm not sure UEFA would be so lenient.
So surely one of these 3 things has to transpire :
1) The Stadium itself won't be touched until we're out of Europe
They can do the rest of the Showgrounds work in the meantime.
2) The stadium work will be finished by the time we're in Europe
Hard to see how that can be the case with only 8mths or so to go.
3) We'll be playing our European game(s) somewhere else.
With Sligo the nearest possible alternative ?
We could really do with some clarification on what work is happening when, and when things will be ready.
In my opinion:
After they appoint the contractor, there is the @standstill@ period and time for the firm to get all the details sorted out. This will, I think, put us near the end of November before there are boots on the ground never mind bulldozers etc. Preliminary work involving exterior walls etc will take up most of December. Then we have the Christmas period along with the New Year and the bad weather in January, so I the it will be February before any real building work gets started. There is talk of our league season starting in February next year so I am of the opinion that we will not be able to play any of our games in the Brandywell next season. Building work of this type , I would imagine, will take more than a year to finalise so perhaps we could be starting the 2018 season in the rebuilt Brandywell. Although, come to think of it, as they are only ever going to do Phase 1, maybe we might be able to hold our Christmas 2017 party in the new stand. On a positive note, if we are to play in Maginn Park, we might see our average gate increase as there is a big untapped spectator source in Innishowen who might just come to see us play as we would be on their doorstep. I await your comments
