Brandywell Stadium Development

[marcoloco]

Coleraine looking to build "a stadium for the NW".

Whilst we are trying to do the same.

Will history repeat itself?

The more north west regional stadiums the better.

When a club is doing everything to better themselves and put things in place to modernise and grow then it should be encouraged and supported. Will be great to have all these modern stadiums in an all Ireland league in the future. Good luck to Coleraine its an exciting project that they've got. Same with Stute. They've secured lands from the Department and are progressing their stadium plans also - hopefully we'll see 3 great stadiums in the north west in years to come.

[PauliAlonso]

hopefully we'll see 3 great stadiums in the north west in years to come.

...Harps as well.

[rodgers]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9de34l556lo

Derry and Coleraine have applied for 21.8m of a 36.2m fund. I would guess Glentoran have a sizeable amount applied for as well.

[IfYouTolerateThis]

Coleraine F.C. certainly can't be faulted for their transparency. Ambitious and keeping supporters informed.
https://colerainefc.com/coleraine-fc-su ... plication/

With ours, that's two big projects at least. Be interesting as well to see how much Stute have applied for. If they've gone for big money too, then I see ours as having less and less chance, as Stute and Coleraine need that money more than we do.

Spokesman for Crusaders said he believes that at least 8 clubs have applied for upper funding limit.

It was on the BBC article, apologies for not providing the link

[stevebradley]

I don't know if I've mistyped or misspoken somewhere, but you seem to be answering issues I haven't raised. DCSDC owns the Brandywell and is responsible for all things development-related in the ground, not our Board. Asking why the Council should develop the stadium - "it's their job", (Roy Keane, 2024).

This is where the disagreement is Pauli.

You think that it's DCSDC's job to develop the Brandywell to whatever standard Derry City want. Just because they own it.

I disagree - and say that it is only the council's job to ensure it provides decent facilities for its ratepayers. It is NOT its job to spend large sums of money over-developing its facilities to meet only the needs of one elite professional football club. A process which would actually prevent/reduce ratepayers from using such a facility (e.g. a grass pitch, which would reduce the number of bookings at the ground).

Derry City should consider itself feckin lucky that it's had a stadium provided to it on a plate for an absolute pittance of a rent for the last 40yrs. When other clubs have had to bust their balls investing in their facilities, fundraising etc - we've had the freedom to burn all our money on signing mediocre payers in a failed attempt to win anything much. If we weren't happy with that arangement, we could at any point have decided to go elsewhere. But we choose not to - presumably because the club realised they were onto a sweet hassle-free deal (both that, and a lack of ambition/vision IMO).

I honestly think it's outrageous to have a view that just because the council happened to own the only decent stadium in the area when Derry came back into football, that therefore makes it fully responsible for developing that facility way beyind its own needs into an elite-level professional facility for one club. The job of the council is to provide services for atepaters - not for one elite professional organisation who have until recently been uttrely incapable of looking after themselves.

You'd be some craic signing a rental agreement for a house Pauli - and then demanding afterwards that the landlord put in a jacuzzi, sauna, swimming pool etc - because "it's their job"

(And before anyone mentions Tallaght Stadium - it has been developed by that council as a strategic move to bring multiple events to the facility/area, across a range of sports and non-sporting events. That just isn't the case with the Bradnywell).

[marcoloco]

I don't know if I've mistyped or misspoken somewhere, but you seem to be answering issues I haven't raised. DCSDC owns the Brandywell and is responsible for all things development-related in the ground, not our Board. Asking why the Council should develop the stadium - "it's their job", (Roy Keane, 2024).

This is where the disagreement is Pauli.

You think that it's DCSDC's job to develop the Brandywell to whatever standard Derry City want. Just because they own it.

I disagree - and say that it is only the council's job to ensure it provides decent facilities for its ratepayers. It is NOT its job to spend large sums of money over-developing its facilities to meet only the needs of one elite professional football club. A process which would actually prevent/reduce ratepayers from using such a facility (e.g. a grass pitch, which would reduce the number of bookings at the ground).

Derry City should consider itself feckin lucky that it's had a stadium provided to it on a plate for an absolute pittance of a rent for the last 40yrs. When other clubs have had to bust their balls investing in their facilities, fundraising etc - we've had the freedom to burn all our money on signing mediocre payers in a failed attempt to win anything much. If we weren't happy with that arangement, we could at any point have decided to go elsewhere. But we choose not to - presumably because the club realised they were onto a sweet hassle-free deal (both that, and a lack of ambition/vision IMO).

I honestly think it's outrageous to have a view that just because the council happened to own the only decent stadium in the area when Derry came back into football, that therefore makes it fully responsible for developing that facility way beyind its own needs into an elite-level professional facility for one club. The job of the council is to provide services for atepaters - not for one elite professional organisation who have until recently been uttrely incapable of looking after themselves.

You'd be some craic signing a rental agreement for a house Pauli - and then demanding afterwards that the landlord put in a jacuzzi, sauna, swimming pool etc - because "it's their job"

(And before anyone mentions Tallaght Stadium - it has been developed by that council as a strategic move to bring multiple events to the facility/area, across a range of sports and non-sporting events. That just isn't the case with the Bradnywell).

There's a few things going on here...

It's a Council owned facility first and foremost.

Derry City have been tenants since their inception so there's a degree of stewardship the Club has a responsibility due to their long term involvement.

As for the facilities Derry have been paying a modest rent, annually, for use of that stadium. As the years have passed the stadium had fallen into disrepair and the Club has continued with its relationship to use and lease the ground.

Without that sustained period of use god only knows what would have become of the stadium as we know it. Where it not for the football club there would not be the facilities that are there today.

So Steve is correct that the Club are not legal owners but without their long term involvement the stadium would not be in the condition that it is today. Also, more recently we've now seen the Club invest in new facilities and that was before there was any mention of long lease terms being presented to the Club.

So here we are - Council and Club. Their relationship intertwined - with some good and some bad as a result of that partnership approach.

Ultimately, the Club and its fanbase are local ratepayers and they make a contribution to the City.

The future is definitely brighter now than at any time in the past.

[PauliAlonso]

I don't know if I've mistyped or misspoken somewhere, but you seem to be answering issues I haven't raised. DCSDC owns the Brandywell and is responsible for all things development-related in the ground, not our Board. Asking why the Council should develop the stadium - "it's their job", (Roy Keane, 2024).

This is where the disagreement is Pauli.

You think that it's DCSDC's job to develop the Brandywell to whatever standard Derry City want.

Yeah, that's what I said.

One last time and pay attention. DCSDC owns the Brandywell and is responsible for any development. If they don't want to do anything more with it, they should say so. I'm sure you'll be able to provide me with the news article or council minutes where they've confirmed this. Because I'm sure we could all find plenty of statements from local councillors and policiticians over the years confirming the opposite - that the facilities at the Brandywell need to be improved and modernised and, if that's the case (spoiler alert: it is), then it IS their job to deliver it. It doesn't mean handing us an 8000-seater stadium. But it also doesn't mean, as you've alluded to, that any elite-level improvements are of the sole benefit of DCFC. You've spoken often enough, and at length, about the benefits to the surrounding area that an improved stadium can bring. Don't leave that bit out now.

If DCSDC doesn't want to develop the Brandywell any further and wants to back a lease to let the club take it over, good for them. But it in no way absolves them of the decades of neglect that they oversaw.

[stevebradley]

DCSDC owns the Brandywell and is responsible for any development. If they don't want to do anything more with it, they should say so.

I'm sure you'll be able to provide me with the news article or council minutes where they've confirmed this. Because I'm sure we could all find plenty of statements from local councillors and policiticians over the years confirming the opposite - that the facilities at the Brandywell need to be improved and modernised and, if that's the case (spoiler alert: it is), then it IS their job to deliver it.

The issue isn't a lack of desire within DCSDC to improve the stadium. They've repeatedly shown their desire for that to happen over years (and partiucularly the last decade, with their own £7m investment) The issue is finding someone to pay for it. Because the council is pretty skint, and as the old saying goes - you can't take knickers off a bare arse.

The fact that the council acted very quickly on the issue of a lease for the club when it was clear that that would unlock additional funding proves both of these things (i.e. that it is keen to see the stadium developed, and that it can't afford to do it itself)

It doesn't mean handing us an 8000-seater stadium. But it also doesn't mean, as you've alluded to, that any elite-level improvements are of the sole benefit of DCFC.

Who else would realistically benefit from a significant improvement to the stadium facilities at the Brandywell, above and beyond what is there currently? Who else has the need for facilities beyond those currenrly provided there?

You've spoken often enough, and at length, about the benefits to the surrounding area that an improved stadium can bring. Don't leave that bit out now.

Have I? I thought I'd been pretty consistent over a least a decade now that I think Brandywell is completely the wrong location for Derry City's long-term future? Whilst it's great to see an improved stadium there, given it's been made ''The only show in town', I still hold to this view. That location will limit our longer-term interests and ambitions as a club. And part of that is due to the impact upon the surrounding area in terms of matchday capacity, as it isn't suited to coping with up to 8,000 people attending a game every fortnight - a very large percentage of who will be driving. As I've said a number of times - if you were to survey peopke in the Brandywlel to ask them what their area needed, I doubt 'A much larger Brandywell Stadium' would be anywhere near the top of the list. Hence I have repeatedly proposed relocating the stadium elsewhere (where it genuinely CAN deliver neighbourhood benefit/gain), with at least part of the existing stadium footprint utilised instead for things that Brandywell residents will no doubt say they genuinely needs (e.g. more low-cost housing, employment and training opportunities, community services etc).

If DCSDC doesn't want to develop the Brandywell any further and wants to back a lease to let the club take it over, good for them. But it in no way absolves them of the decades of neglect that they oversaw.

They clearly DO want to develop it. And they themselves have delivered what they can of that on their own. They just haven't got the money themselves to do any more now - and nor does anyone have the need either except for Derry City FC. The council clearly remain fully supportive and enabling of securing alternative sources of funding to enable it to be developed. Can you point to any occasion where the council HASN'T done what was required to facilitate securing additional external funding for the Brandywell ? They've literally just signed the long-term future of the place over at the drop of a hat to ensure a current funding stream doesn't get missed FFS.

If the club was at any point over the last 40yrs unhappy with the state of the Brandywell and the inability of the council to do much to it with its own funds, they could of course have made plans to look to secure their future elsewhere instead. But they chose the easy route & refused to look anywhere else ('the only show in town'). Removing all pressure from themselves to improve the ground until literally the last 12mths, and instead dumping it all on the council to sort out.

As I said previously - there are plenty of reasons to give the council a hard time. Not using money they don't have to create a stadium well-beyond their own needs just because Derry City has struggled to ever look after itself and move on from a begging-bowl mentality is in my opininon not one of them. If you disagree, then that's ok. We're allowed to disagree on things

[forza]

Would put your head away. Whatever happens it's clear none of us know

[attack!attack!attack]

S Barrett was on 'Talking Derry City' & mentioned the possibility of the Celtic Park's 'College Field' Carpark (Approx. 120 spaces) being open for use on DCFC Matchday's - a nod to antcipated increased capacities when the new stand opens.

It's not perfect, but it could certainly help us. In addition, the GAA also utilise St Cecelia's Car Park if needs be, not to mention the array of on-street parking (as is typical up and down the country).

Parking situation is not ideal, but is it ever, at any ground. Despite the club being notoriously poor at diplomacy over these types of things, deepening the relationship with Derry GAA would be a good move.

[bt47red]

S Barrett was on 'Talking Derry City' & mentioned the possibility of the Celtic Park's 'College Field' Carpark (Approx. 120 spaces) being open for use on DCFC Matchday's - a nod to antcipated increased capacities when the new stand opens.

It's not perfect, but it could certainly help us. In addition, the GAA also utilise St Cecelia's Car Park if needs be, not to mention the array of on-street parking (as is typical up and down the country).

Parking situation is not ideal, but is it ever, at any ground. Despite the club being notoriously poor at diplomacy over these types of things, deepening the relationship with Derry GAA would be a good move.

Lets hope this is a small step in GAA and Football co existing in the city and complementing each other rather than competing against each other.

In similar cities such as Cork, Limerick etc the GAA and rugby co exist rather successfully with fixtures at underage level on alternate days/weekends, so lets hope that relationship broadens for the benefit of Derry City FC and also Derry GAA making further inroads into the city in terms of participation, schools etc...

[IfYouTolerateThis]

S Barrett was on 'Talking Derry City' & mentioned the possibility of the Celtic Park's 'College Field' Carpark (Approx. 120 spaces) being open for use on DCFC Matchday's - a nod to antcipated increased capacities when the new stand opens.

It's not perfect, but it could certainly help us. In addition, the GAA also utilise St Cecelia's Car Park if needs be, not to mention the array of on-street parking (as is typical up and down the country).

Parking situation is not ideal, but is it ever, at any ground. Despite the club being notoriously poor at diplomacy over these types of things, deepening the relationship with Derry GAA would be a good move.

Aye, who put this wee plan/map together? Not even getting the name of the Mark Farren Stand right just smacks of the amateur image of the club.

A few weeks ago someone suggested the club website carry notifications of where to buy terraced tickets before every game...this was responded to with a reply saying folk already know (new patrons dont) and it would take time to do this every week.

All just projects an image of a half arsed run operation. While Steve Bradley has lots to say and opinions to give, the club could do with someone half as invested as him to start operating on a more professional level.

[attack!attack!attack]

That's because it is a half arsed run operation - every man and their dog knows this. Sean Barrett does everything from recruitment to organising everything else with volunteers.

He said on the podcast that they were hiring an 'Academy Director' but when Tiernan came in, it fell under his and Andy Mitchell's remit. I mean, what?! No manager should dictate club structures - but again, shows how void we are of footballing IQ at boardroom level.

A bit like the 'General Manager' they were hiring in 2018: https://www.derrycityfc.net/2018/11/can ... l-manager/

This also never happened - they half ass everything - and such an approach trickles down the entire club. For too long the solution was for Philip to write a cheque and everything was grand - so he too is complicit in this culture festering.

Hilariously, they also stated here when 'hiring' a GM, 'it is a clear indication that the Board recognises the importance of managing the support and administrative structure of the club as much as the playing side of things. The successful candidate will be responsible for the operational and financial management of Derry City Football Club and will assist the Board of Directors in further developing the club as a sporting entity, a business, and as a community-centred organisation.' Let's pause for a moment so we can all let out a collective laugh.

Just look at the staff and structure at Shamrock Rovers, which is attached. We are MILES behind, don't be fooled.

Now all of a sudden, we have more talk from the club about professionalism, standards, being the biggest club in the country etc etc. I'm sorry, it is all bullshit. Just like Philip saying at Ruaidhri's first press conference that he'd like to think in the next 3 years we could bring a league title to Derry. That's all well and good, but it is not a light switch, we are an empty vessel until the right structures are in place.

It's high time boys at the club & at board level stopped talking and starting DOING.

[dcfc_jp_1989]

S Barrett was on 'Talking Derry City' & mentioned the possibility of the Celtic Park's 'College Field' Carpark (Approx. 120 spaces) being open for use on DCFC Matchday's - a nod to antcipated increased capacities when the new stand opens.

It's not perfect, but it could certainly help us. In addition, the GAA also utilise St Cecelia's Car Park if needs be, not to mention the array of on-street parking (as is typical up and down the country).

Parking situation is not ideal, but is it ever, at any ground. Despite the club being notoriously poor at diplomacy over these types of things, deepening the relationship with Derry GAA would be a good move.

Aye, who put this wee plan/map together? Not even getting the name of the Mark Farren Stand right just smacks of the amateur image of the club.

A few weeks ago someone suggested the club website carry notifications of where to buy terraced tickets before every game...this was responded to with a reply saying folk already know (new patrons dont) and it would take time to do this every week.

All just projects an image of a half arsed run operation. While Steve Bradley has lots to say and opinions to give, the club could do with someone half as invested as him to start operating on a more professional level.

I've never seen that image on any of the club's social media pages

[attack!attack!attack]

S Barrett was on 'Talking Derry City' & mentioned the possibility of the Celtic Park's 'College Field' Carpark (Approx. 120 spaces) being open for use on DCFC Matchday's - a nod to antcipated increased capacities when the new stand opens.

It's not perfect, but it could certainly help us. In addition, the GAA also utilise St Cecelia's Car Park if needs be, not to mention the array of on-street parking (as is typical up and down the country).

Parking situation is not ideal, but is it ever, at any ground. Despite the club being notoriously poor at diplomacy over these types of things, deepening the relationship with Derry GAA would be a good move.

Aye, who put this wee plan/map together? Not even getting the name of the Mark Farren Stand right just smacks of the amateur image of the club.

A few weeks ago someone suggested the club website carry notifications of where to buy terraced tickets before every game...this was responded to with a reply saying folk already know (new patrons dont) and it would take time to do this every week.

All just projects an image of a half arsed run operation. While Steve Bradley has lots to say and opinions to give, the club could do with someone half as invested as him to start operating on a more professional level.

I've never seen that image on any of the club's social media pages

It's from Derry GAA's website.

[rodgers]

We are four days away from the apparent opening of the new stand. Any information from the club on what the arrangements will be?

[magspat]

What arrangements are you looking for come into the stand watch the match and hope Derry win leave after match is over what more do you want.

[rodgers]

How about when tickets will go on sale, how much will they be and how can we buy them?

I'm guessing I can't just walk in to the stand for free.

Useful information for people who want to go to matches!

[DerryDerryDerry]

The club aren't interested in telling their customers anything.

[magspat]

If DCFC own the stadium now do they charge other's for using it.