Brandywell Stadium Development

[stevebradley]

Well done to the 30 or so fans who turned up to protest at the guildhall, your efforts in letting the council know our disgust at the half a stand development are appreciated by all derry fans.

I maybe wrong but there is a sound of sarcasm in that post. It's a start and we plan further protests from mailys to the brandywell on sunday. Anyone wishing to join us we'll be at mailys from 12.30 on sunday!

30-40 at that time on a Thursday afternoon, with not a lot of advance notice, is a great turn out in my view.

Well done to Ady and everyone else who organised and attended. You're carrying the support and representing the views of many other City fans who feel the same way.

Sinn Fein need to be sent up the A6 left I no doubt that they have to secure the rest of the funds for that new stand in February.

[brandyball]

See Derry City has come out and said the knew all along about the phased nature of the re development.

http://www.derryjournal.com/sport

[shauna]

See Derry City has come out and said the knew all along about the phased nature of the re development.

http://www.derryjournal.com/sport

Well they didnt make it very clear at any of the fans forum's that they knew all along.

[campsie]

Just heard a good report on the protest on Radio Foyle. Well done to those fans. No one mentioning the plastic pitch though. I hate the idea of professional footballers not having a grass pitch to play on.

[shauna]

Well done to the 30 or so fans who turned up to protest at the guildhall, your efforts in letting the council know our disgust at the half a stand development are appreciated by all derry fans.

I maybe wrong but there is a sound of sarcasm in that post. It's a start and we plan further protests from mailys to the brandywell on sunday. Anyone wishing to join us we'll be at mailys from 12.30 on sunday!

30-40 at that time on a Thursday afternoon, with not a lot of advance notice, is a great turn out in my view.

Well done to Ady and everyone else who organised and attended. You're carrying the support and representing the views of many other City fans who feel the same way.

Sinn Fein need to be sent up the A6 left I no doubt that they have to secure the rest of the funds for that new stand in February.

The sooner Sinn fein are chased out of this town the better, All they and their military cohorts before them have brought to this town over the years is destruction and misery to its ordinary people, I despise them and all they stand for.

[micdaflic]

And sf arsehole on R Foyle this am trying to shift blame onto both the club and sdlp when challenged about their election claim in May that sf had got us the redevelopment, saying everyone knew we weren't going to get a full renovation right away and hopefully when new funding round begins next Feb the council can beg for another pittance. Maybe if our sainted Martin could get his tongue out of Arlene's hole for 30 secs he could demand proper funding on a par with Belfast

[yef from the port]

But what can the club do Steve really. The club has no money to put in the pot so we have to take what we can get unfortunately. I thought it was common knowledge that we're only get a bit part of a stand for now. Good luck and fair play to everyone that turns up on Thursday. I just hope some people from the council have the manners to turn up to hear your protests.

A range of people, including but not only myself, have been saying on here for over 10yrs that the club should start putting money aside in order to have something to contribute to any stadium development. We never suggested saving up millions - but something to help cover feasibility studies, credible consultant report etc as and when needed to help give the club a case to push. And if anyone says we didn't have the money - what about the unbudgeted windfalls we got for selling players like James McClean and Paddy McCourt ?

Instead every penny we've had over the last decade has been spent on players. Every penny. Resulting in no league titles, a few FAI Cups/League Cups, a bankruptcy that nearly killed us, and our first ever demotion. And it's left us in a helpless state re our stadium future, which is why we are where we are now.

What if we'd spent the last decade or more putting at least SOMETHING aside so we weren't reduced to beggars on this ? Or what if we'd shown a bit of imagination and made the case for a much better stadium development, potentially somewhere else ?

No-one has made DCFC helpless on this issue IMO. We've happily done it to ourselves.

Steve I do agree with your points but the money just isn't in Irish football to do what your proposing. Every club in the country north or south are all the same boat and let's be honest apart from a club doing what Dundalk have achieved this season how else can clubs make money. Crowds are dropping every year and that's usually clubs biggest income.

[pmac]

Our councillors and our politicians are a disgrace. They now also have found a way to stop any development of the A6, having stopped the A5. However Belfast is looking for another £140m to relieve a bottleneck, but they say they haven't the money. Just watch this money appear, with SF looking for a pat on the back for finding it.

Slightly off track, but still relevant.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... 43393.html

[cousin kev]

Just listened to the Radio Foyle report......dear Jesus! we don't stand a chance.
I will say that Patrica Logue is right,if only to deflect the criticism directed at her party. that DC need to talk to their fans. not just shareholders or the inner circle of the chosen few,but anyone,like me who just turn up buy tickets,merch etc . a choreographed statement along with the council is not good enough.
still yet, when probed by radio foyle, too many words like hopefully, vision, etc being used, not one guarantee this will ever be completed.
the interview was rapidly descending into the usual point scoring by both these eejits.


most ominous thing was that the $hinners need the stoops to agree the budget up in Stormont for funds to be released.
don't hold your fkn breath waiting for anything to happen there
As for the DCFC Bored. just do as your told per usual by people like that !

[KEVK]

Closing statement from Patricia Logue (Sinn Feinn) on Radio Foyle this morning - 'Derry City FC need to communicate more with their fans'

Does she have a point?

I hate the fact that those tasked with looking at tender applications and design will not have a clue about football and football stadia in general. I don't think those running the Club do either and that's why I have no faith at all in this ending well.

- The whole pitch thing would have seemed like a good idea 10 years ago.
- There will be nothing behind both nets which takes away the real 'football ground' feel and atmosphere
- Will they add a few more rows of seats at the front of the Southend Park stand and move the pitch across to within yards of that?
- Portaloos? WTF?
- Will consideration be given in the design for the Club to maximise income? Not just a bar/corporate facilities but a proper Club Shop, a Kids Club or after school youth Club based at the Stadium - just a suggestion

The Club should be submitting a wishlist to the Council based on the Club's needs - if you don't ask you don't get. Based on that, the Council should then be applying for funding from Stormont and be able to justify why it's needed. I get the impression the Club are just sitting back and hoping to see what will come of it all.

Derry City and football is the biggest show in town across the north west region and has a huge dormant and potentially new support that can be tapped into with the right facilities and marketing.

[fergal]

Sinn fein had a billboard up at beside the showgrounds for a wile durin last season sayin they delivered the brandywell.

[brandyball]

Sinn fein had a billboard up at beside the showgrounds for a wile durin last season sayin they delivered the brandywell.

any chance of returning it?

[rodgers]

I hate the fact that those tasked with looking at tender applications and design will not have a clue about football and football stadia in general. I don't think those running the Club do either and that's why I have no faith at all in this ending well.

Agree 100% Unfortunately, this seems to be the way things are done now. I was in touch with a councillor who sent back reams of nonsense about the justification for an artificial pitch. My hope at the moment is that it will be removed in the next 5/10 years and grass put back in.

Increasingly, breaking away from the council and Brandywell would seem to me to be the best way forward. How realistic that is given the current 'vision' of the board is another matter.

[brandyball]

McCann's the Man

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/brandy ... -1-7698295

[Andy Bernard]

This adequate seating claim by POD is an insult to fans. One of the reasons for ground devleopment was the embarrassment that the European run brought to highlighting our facilities. In the new ground we wouldn't even be able to host any sort of champions league game or anything past a europa 2nd qualifying round. What is the point in this

[Andy Bernard]

McCann's the Man

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/brandy ... -1-7698295

Good on him. He's said more there than the deputy first minister has ever said.

[KEVK]

McCann's the Man

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/brandy ... -1-7698295

Good on him. He's said more there than the deputy first minister has ever said.

No money from Stormont spent on Brandywell in past 5 years according to that article. I wonder if any applications were put in by Derry City Council during that time? A bit of a non-argument if there wasn't

[stevebradley]

McCann's the Man

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/brandy ... -1-7698295

Good on him. He's said more there than the deputy first minister has ever said.

No money from Stormont spent on Brandywell in past 5 years according to that article. I wonder if any applications were put in by Derry City Council during that time? A bit of a non-argument if there wasn't

I'd guess not.

As a former councillor myself I don't like being unduly critical of local authorities - but the Derry one is just awful. Take tourism. The Derry Walls were announced as one of the 4 ongoing signature/landmark tourism schemes for Northern Ireland about a decade ago. Along with Titanic Quarter, Giants Causeway and a vague one about St Patrick. Belfast got £60m for the Titanic Quarter - the entire NI Tourism capital spend budget for that political cycle. The Giants Causeway got £18.5m invested in it, mostly for a new visitor centre, paid out of Heritage Lottery Funding. What has Derry got for its walls in all those years ? About £200,000 for the DoE to fcuk around with bits of them and effectively reduce their heritage value (e.g. by replacing old/original brickwork inside the arches with new bricks). I defy anyone to show or tell me what difference that £200,000 made to the Walls and their appeal.

The Walls of Derry are the largest monument in state ownership in Ireland, and helped play a key role in the direction that European history took in the 17th Century. Yet our council refuses to make the case for a Visitor's/Interpretation centre for them, similar to Giants Causeway (the Friends of Derry Walls have been pushing for this) ? There are centuries old documents about the City walls sitting in boxes in Belfast and elsewhere because there is nowhere to put them on display. And 2018 is the 400th anniversary of the walls being built - would've been the perfect time to open a swanky new visitors' centre for them.

Apologies for the tangent, but it's not just stadiums where the council is letting Derry down badly.

[fish-head]

stevebradley, the list of things that derry and the north west have been left behind on or blind-sided on is endless. the big ones are normally due to the orange run state stifling anything which might encourage growth or prosperity in this part of the region, others are due to the local authority here not being capable of organising anything much more than the bin collections and halloweeen. the walls issue you describe is another depressing example of a mixture of both.

as for the dcc and dcfc statements in the media today re the phased approach was always clear, maybe it was to them and to those closer to the process - and those who took the time to read the detail, it was never made clear to us the fans and the full blown stand was the image they presented to us continuously.

i'm going to reorganise my support accordingly into two phases to coincide with the stadium upgrade.
phase 1: i will support dcfc via drive 105 and radio foyle to coincide with stadium phase 1.
phase 2: i will buy a new season ticket and return to the phase 2 full size stand at the brandywell.

[Budgie]

I'd guess not.

As a former councillor myself I don't like being unduly critical of local authorities - but the Derry one is just awful. Take tourism. The Derry Walls were announced as one of the 4 ongoing signature/landmark tourism schemes for Northern Ireland about a decade ago. Along with Titanic Quarter, Giants Causeway and a vague one about St Patrick. Belfast got £60m for the Titanic Quarter - the entire NI Tourism capital spend budget for that political cycle. The Giants Causeway got £18.5m invested in it, mostly for a new visitor centre, paid out of Heritage Lottery Funding. What has Derry got for its walls in all those years ? About £200,000 for the DoE to fcuk around with bits of them and effectively reduce their heritage value (e.g. by replacing old/original brickwork inside the arches with new bricks). I defy anyone to show or tell me what difference that £200,000 made to the Walls and their appeal.

The Walls of Derry are the largest monument in state ownership in Ireland, and helped play a key role in the direction that European history took in the 17th Century. Yet our council refuses to make the case for a Visitor's/Interpretation centre for them, similar to Giants Causeway (the Friends of Derry Walls have been pushing for this) ? There are centuries old documents about the City walls sitting in boxes in Belfast and elsewhere because there is nowhere to put them on display. And 2018 is the 400th anniversary of the walls being built - would've been the perfect time to open a swanky new visitors' centre for them.

Apologies for the tangent, but it's not just stadiums where the council is letting Derry down badly.[/quote]



Well said.

The potential of a new stand would not solely benefit DCFC.

Many events could be hosted in a revamped stadium.

I just cant help compare the Windsor Park Development and feel sick. Even when the old Kop Stand collapsed during their revamp, there was never an issue finding extra money for that unforeseen event and complete the rebuild.

1/3 of a stand? I thought the Brandywell rebuild would have been delayed and troublesome. Never imagined it would have descended into this level of farce.