Brandywell Stadium Development

[Lord Lucan]

Protest planned for thursday at 4pm guildhall!

In the Guildhall at the 4pm Open Meeting?

[fish-head]

i would think that the price of the ground works and other enablement and associated works would make up most of the cost of this scheme - assuming that they plan to lay the foundations for the end pieces. the cost of the two end pieces above ground would be proportionately much less expensive than the middle bit - if you know what i mean.

what we need to do is firstly, get confirmation that this is the planned option and if so, write to/contact/e-mail our local councilors and mla's en-masse in protest demanding that we get our stadium in the form that they offered us in the first instance. that's what i plan to do. will also join any planned protest as per adydcfc's post
we deserve more than to be made a laughing stock of while money is pumped into stadium upgrades around the country.

in answer to beanomorrocova, we will never grow our fanbase if we think small and backwards. thats what dcc are doing. we need make it attractive and with sufficient capacity.

i said before and others have too that dcc were bound to make a complete bollocks out of this. looks like they're nearly there

[adydcfc]

Barry Davey has created event on facebook. Plan to meet for 3.45 and the protest will take place outside as far as I'm aware.

[cousin kev]

Barry Davey has created event on facebook. Plan to meet for 3.45 and the protest will take place outside as far as I'm aware.

Link?

[cousin kev]

in answer to beanomorrocova, we will never grow our fanbase if we think small and backwards. thats what dcc are doing. we need make it attractive and with sufficient capacity.

Exactly. The support is out there..the facilities isn't.

[beanomoracova]

in answer to beanomorrocova, we will never grow our fanbase if we think small and backwards. thats what dcc are doing. we need make it attractive and with sufficient capacity.

While I agree with what you say, my point and what I truly believe is that we will never significantly grow our fanbase while we are stuck in the Brandywell (stadium and area). I think that's the real backward thinking here.

[shauna]

I'm annoyed that we're not getting the full new stand we were promised.
I'm annoyed we're getting an artificial pitch instead of grass.
I'm annoyed that we're being tied to the Brandywell actually and no other stadium options are being considered thus stifling our potential to attract new fans, especially those from the protestant/unionist persuasion although many catholic/nationalists wouldn't go anywhere near it either. And I haven't even mentioned how away fans view a trip up to us at the minute.

But just to play devil's advocate here, why would we need an additional 2500 seats on top of the 2400 or so we already have when our average attendance last season was maybe about 1300 and our biggest home gate was less than 3000 (cup semi against Dundalk)?

It's a valid question.

Its all relative, why did institute need a new stand when there attendances are only a few hundred, why are sdcc expanding rovers ground to 8,000 seats when there average is just over 2,000. There are loads of examples of clubs in the irish league that got new stands built that have never been filled and lie empty game after game.

[adydcfc]

https://www.facebook.com/events/170450803424883/?ti=icl

[cousin kev]

At this rate..I'm going to make my 1000th appearance on DC Chat.
Do I get a testimonial, maybe the opening game of the new halfastadium ?

[cousin kev]

https://www.facebook.com/events/170450803424883/?ti=icl

Slainte adydcfc

[TenaciousDee]

At this rate..I'm going to make my 1000th appearance on DC Chat.
Do I get a testimonial, maybe the opening game of the new halfastadium ?

Then if that's the case I deserve 3/4 a stadium, decent tea and a bog with a roof for my tally.

On the match Andy Bernard discussed earlier. Who will realistically attend that game on a Sunday at 1pm? The time is far from ideal adding the fact the weather is horrific today and will continue to be.

[fish-head]

While I agree with what you say, my point and what I truly believe is that we will never significantly grow our fanbase while we are stuck in the Brandywell (stadium and area). I think that's the real backward thinking here.

i agree but that debate is gone for now.
we need to make the most of the brandywell now that it's 'the only show in town'. a fully developed brandywell is better than a half baked joke one. dcc need to be called out on this one

[cousin kev]

At this rate..I'm going to make my 1000th appearance on DC Chat.
Do I get a testimonial, maybe the opening game of the new halfastadium ?

Then if that's the case I deserve 3/4 a stadium, decent tea and a bog with a roof for my tally.

On the match Andy Bernard discussed earlier. Who will realistically attend that game on a Sunday at 1pm? The time is far from ideal adding the fact the weather is horrific today and will continue to be.

You can get to cut the ribbon on the new 34 seats we're getting Dee. maybe POD will upgrade you to hospitality with the mayor and the clowncillors who "delivered"

[dcfc_jp_1989]

If our protest towards the council fails then we need to call the ambitions of the board into question. An ambitious board/chairman would not be settling for this, instead they would be putting their own plans & feasibility studies together

[KEVK]

I'm annoyed that we're not getting the full new stand we were promised.
I'm annoyed we're getting an artificial pitch instead of grass.
I'm annoyed that we're being tied to the Brandywell actually and no other stadium options are being considered thus stifling our potential to attract new fans, especially those from the protestant/unionist persuasion although many catholic/nationalists wouldn't go anywhere near it either. And I haven't even mentioned how away fans view a trip up to us at the minute.

But just to play devil's advocate here, why would we need an additional 2500 seats on top of the 2400 or so we already have when our average attendance last season was maybe about 1300 and our biggest home gate was less than 3000 (cup semi against Dundalk)?

It's a valid question.

Keep hearing this question get asked.

Facilities is everything nowadays. Good facilities means you can attract the non-football fan and they can have a good night out regardless of what happens on the pitch.

So many examples locally of bars/restaurants/cinemas/dog racing where an upgrade in facilities led to an in increase in footfall.

Could the Brandywell in its current state attract the same clientele as The Bowling Alley or Lifford Race Track?

[beanomoracova]

Keep hearing this question get asked.

Facilities is everything nowadays. Good facilities means you can attract the non-football fan and they can have a good night out regardless of what happens on the pitch.

So many examples locally of bars/restaurants/cinemas/dog racing where an upgrade in facilities led to an in increase in footfall.

Could the Brandywell in its current state attract the same clientele as The Bowling Alley or Lifford Race Track?

Again you're ignoring the fact that I believe the Brandywell, whether it be in its current state or refurbished, is the biggest stumbling block to us maximising our fanbase.

[shauna]

Keep hearing this question get asked.

Facilities is everything nowadays. Good facilities means you can attract the non-football fan and they can have a good night out regardless of what happens on the pitch.

So many examples locally of bars/restaurants/cinemas/dog racing where an upgrade in facilities led to an in increase in footfall.

Could the Brandywell in its current state attract the same clientele as The Bowling Alley or Lifford Race Track?

Again you're ignoring the fact that I believe the Brandywell, whether it be in its current state or refurbished, is the biggest stumbling block to us maximising our fanbase.

I think all of us except the council and our board agree that the brandywell location will never let us maximise our fan base but we are past that argument now and the builders are about to move in so our focus should be on making the best of a bad situation and getting the proper brandywell redevelopment that we were promised.

[gary]

I think all of us except the council and our board agree that the brandywell location will never let us maximise our fan base but we are past that argument now and the builders are about to move in so our focus should be on making the best of a bad situation and getting the proper brandywell redevelopment that we were promised.

I think you are 100% right, its too late to discuss alternative locations,
However we should not be accepting over 6m put in to give us nothing extra.

It looks to me like the council are bending over backwards financially, however the assemebly \ MLA's
Dont seem to be doing anything towards this, yet are pouring money hand over fist into projects in belfast.

The vast majority of money from this project is coming from the local council \ local rates.
Were was all the promised money from the Assembly when the Windsor Park and Glentoran money
was announced. This is Derry getting shafted all over again, and local MLA's doing nothing.

I have no vested interest in the council, and i dont know anyone working or involved,
it just looks to me like they have done there bit, but are getting very little support elsewhere

[deetee55]

John Kelpie, Town Clerk DCSDC, confirmed on Radio Foyle this morning that the current £6.3m project is for the dog-track, the new 3g pitch and Phase 1 of the new stand. He stated that this was always the case and that Phase 2 of the stand is to be added later.

If this was always the proposal then what are we protesting about? The Council, the councillors, the club and anyone who examined the plans should have been aware of this. Why the uproar now? The time to protest was when this proposal was put forward and approved. It's too late now.

[shauna]

John Kelpie, Town Clerk DCSDC, confirmed on Radio Foyle this morning that the current £6.3m project is for the dog-track, the new 3g pitch and Phase 1 of the new stand. He stated that this was always the case and that Phase 2 of the stand is to be added later.

If this was always the proposal then what are we protesting about? The Council, the councillors, the club and anyone who examined the plans should have been aware of this. Why the uproar now? The time to protest was when this proposal was put forward and approved. It's too late now.

"Added later" is a kop out it really means never.