New stand update

[dcbhoy]

Paddy Simpson (Director) spoke of the developments on Radio Foyle this morning. Cost will be around £2 million, funded by the club (POD). Hopeful it will be completed around May/June 2024.

The most important thing for me is the new area will incorporate safe standing area, which can revert to seating, similar to Celtic Park for European fixtures. Capacity will be around 6k and hopeful that we will be able to use the stadium for longer in Europe I.e for Tobol fixtures

It could possibly host the 3rd qualifying round i.e. Tobol, but seats aren't the only thing required, but that's it, if we ever got a qualifying round it's off to Dublin

[Keyser Soze]

On the subject of having to move grounds to play a Euro game, I see that Union Berlin had to move their 1st CL game to the stadium of Hertha Berlin, due to restrictions.

Their fans let uefa know what they thought of it

[brandyball]

On the subject of having to move grounds to play a Euro game, I see that Union Berlin had to move their 1st CL game to the stadium of Hertha Berlin, due to restrictions.

Their fans let uefa know what they thought of it

At least they're both in the same City.

[PauliAlonso]

.....

[PauliAlonso]

On the subject of having to move grounds to play a Euro game, I see that Union Berlin had to move their 1st CL game to the stadium of Hertha Berlin, due to restrictions.

Their fans let uefa know what they thought of it

They didn't have to move, they chose to move. Their home stadium meets UEFA criteria. Not sure what the fans were giving off about there.

[marcoloco]

On the subject of having to move grounds to play a Euro game, I see that Union Berlin had to move their 1st CL game to the stadium of Hertha Berlin, due to restrictions.

Their fans let uefa know what they thought of it

They didn't have to move, they chose to move. Their home stadium meets UEFA criteria. Not sure what the fans were giving off about there.

Probably moved it to a bigger stadium to get more ppl in and lift from money - hence the sign?

[Keyser Soze]

OK, read a little bit about it.
Appears their president decided to move it to let everyone who wanted to attend, actually get a ticket.

So uefa innocent in this case.

[stevebradley]

They didn't have to move, they chose to move. Their home stadium meets UEFA criteria. Not sure what the fans were giving off about there.

Probably moved it to a bigger stadium to get more ppl in and lift from money - hence the sign?

But the sign is giving off about UEFA, when the issue seems to be a decision by their own club?

Even if the issue is the UEFA regs - Germany is the most populous country in the EU, the richest country in Europe, and Berlin is its capital. If any German club couldn't meet the relatively basic requirements of 8,000 seats etc etc for a UEFA Category 4 fixture, then they would have no excuse IMO. Personally I think that UEFA is right to insist on basic stadards in football. Otherwise clubs appearing in Europe will juust spunk the large sums they earn from it on wages, rather than leaving something lasting from it all.

[stevebradley]

OK, read a little bit about it.
Appears their president decided to move it to let everyone who wanted to attend, actually get a ticket.

So uefa innocent in this case.

Imagine fans gurning about their club maximising its income and enabling more people to see a big game? That Union load are feckin' weird

[joe3576]

Steve - UEFA may say this nonsense about basic standards - but is it ever actually physically checked ?

Solitude is a dump to be honest and yet was allowed to host a game this year.

The facilities in Kuopio were very poor also.

I think UEFA types up these criteria but don't actually check them. It is box ticking exercise.

Commonsense needs to take over - for Derry to have to travel to Dublin and to attract a smaller crowd than what could have been accommodated at the Brandywell is a joke.

Then they talk about 'safe standing', i don't think you can have safer standing at the Brandywell either side of the Mark Farren stand, all new, loads of space, well lit, etc ? Why is that not safe to use in European games, especially when the away team brings very little fans to the game also.

That type of nonsense needs to be eradicated very quickly.

Could the Brandywell have accommodated 4,500 people for Tobol ? Yes, safely and with no issues at all. If the Derry & Strabane City Council do detailed on=site health and safety checks and say the Brandywell is safe for 4,500 - then I find it hard to accept that UEFA say you cannot have 4,500 in your stadium. UEFA are not health and safety experts - the local authorities on the ground are.

[marcoloco]

Steve - UEFA may say this nonsense about basic standards - but is it ever actually physically checked ?

Solitude is a dump to be honest and yet was allowed to host a game this year.

The facilities in Kuopio were very poor also.

I think UEFA types up these criteria but don't actually check them. It is box ticking exercise.

Commonsense needs to take over - for Derry to have to travel to Dublin and to attract a smaller crowd than what could have been accommodated at the Brandywell is a joke.

Then they talk about 'safe standing', i don't think you can have safer standing at the Brandywell either side of the Mark Farren stand, all new, loads of space, well lit, etc ? Why is that not safe to use in European games, especially when the away team brings very little fans to the game also.

That type of nonsense needs to be eradicated very quickly.

Could the Brandywell have accommodated 4,500 people for Tobol ? Yes, safely and with no issues at all. If the Derry & Strabane City Council do detailed on=site health and safety checks and say the Brandywell is safe for 4,500 - then I find it hard to accept that UEFA say you cannot have 4,500 in your stadium. UEFA are not health and safety experts - the local authorities on the ground are.

Yes, all true.

But also, you can't have each stadium assessed differently. You need minimum standards and uniformity especially across Europe.

It's really not too much to expect Clubs to reach the minimum standards.

On this occasion I don't have issue with UEFA.

If we had a fully completed MF stand then the game would have been in Derry.

[stevebradley]

Steve - UEFA may say this nonsense about basic standards - but is it ever actually physically checked ?

Solitude is a dump to be honest and yet was allowed to host a game this year.

The facilities in Kuopio were very poor also.

Solitude has a Category 2 license. Therefore it can host category 2 games - which it did this Summer. But it can't host anything above that. Presumably the same re KuPS.

I think UEFA types up these criteria but don't actually check them. It is box ticking exercise.

It is pretty well known what Category stadiums meet. It's pretty obvious really, from the number of seats etc. You don;t nneed someone with a clipboard going round them all. Everyone knows what the craic is with the stadia in their league. And the stadia have licenses issued locally (inn our case, by the council) which outline the core info needed re capacity.

Commonsense needs to take over - for Derry to have to travel to Dublin and to attract a smaller crowd than what could have been accommodated at the Brandywell is a joke.

A joke how? All we needed to be able to host that fixture was 4,500 seats. That is hardly a big number. Is it UEFA's fault that Irish football is a basketcase and that a fairly big club with a multi-billionnaire ownner in a city of over 100,000 people can't sort its sh!t out and have a fairly modest stadium with 4,500 seats? Clubs playing in Europe get a lot of money for doing so, and would presumably burn it all in wagess of they could. Longford Town played in Europe 3 times approx 20yrs ago, and to this day still have a pretty good stadium as a result of the standards required for them to fulfill the fixtures at home back then. Without them they'd have zero to show from that, and would still be playing in a pretty crap stadium.

Then they talk about 'safe standing', i don't think you can have safer standing at the Brandywell either side of the Mark Farren stand, all new, loads of space, well lit, etc ? Why is that not safe to use in European games, especially when the away team brings very little fans to the game also.

As already mentioned, UEFA is looking seriously at enabling safe stannding. Safe standing is terraces where people can't be crushed by surges. The standing space at the Brandywlel is not stepped and doesn;t have crush barriers, so would offer a relatively poor and unsafe experience if it was packed. Hece only a small number of tickets are issued for there for LOI games, nevermind Europe.

Could the Brandywell have accommodated 4,500 people for Tobol ? Yes, safely and with no issues at all. If the Derry & Strabane City Council do detailed on=site health and safety checks and say the Brandywell is safe for 4,500 - then I find it hard to accept that UEFA say you cannot have 4,500 in your stadium. UEFA are not health and safety experts - the local authorities on the ground are.

If we want to enter UEFA's competitions then I'm afraid we have to accept that that comes with certain basic requirements. And I woud say that they are pretty damnn basic too. There is no point giving off about them, as they are what they are. Our energy wuold be better spent trying to get our fairly mediocre stadium improved to meet the fairly modest stadards laid down for European football, rather than complaining about rules that have been in place for years, that we've been well aware of throughout, which in my opinino make sense, and which aren't going to be channged just because we can't even get a stadium sorted with 4,500 seats !

[joe3576]

Steve - my issue is why does UEFA dictate it has to be all seating ?

What is the issue of 250 standing on good well lit tarmac either side of the Mark Farren Stand ?

What danger is this ?

I was one of the 20 fans in Kups and all that we had was terracing, and very poor condition at that that. Most of their hardcore fans stood in their own quite high elevated stand for the whole ground, that is hardly safe ?

So this stupid UEFA rule of only seating - why is this not challenged by the smaller clubs ?

We could have easily have accommodated Tobol at the Brandywell and very safely too.

But UEFA make this stupid rules like all seater, yet the majority of clubs in the earlier rounds are getting small crowds in grounds with standing - so why does UEFA not try and help the smaller clubs, if that is what UEFA claim to do ?

Then last week we see 12,500 fans standing at Bayern Munich as it is classed as safe rail standing ! I still cannot understand why 250-300 people either side of the Mark Farren cannot be regarded as safe standing too.

[marcoloco]

Here's a mad thought.

Casement Park will be completed (costing£120m odds) well before the Mark Farren stand.

[brandyball]

Here's a mad thought.

Casement Park will be completed (costing£120m odds) well before the Mark Farren stand.

What's mad about that thought?

[TenaciousDee]

Northern Ireland has been like the Bucket family. Grandpa Joe has been lying in his bed watching the family fall into poverty but given an opportunity to develop Casement Park then up we jump to sort it.

[paul60]

UEFA have some strict regulations for grounds including lighting which would take a Ph D to understand. They pander to the wealthier clubs as demonstrated by the formation of the “champions League” which has more non league winners in it than league winners. Thank god fan power sorted out the super league formation as it’s always going to be those subscribers who pay to sustain competitions.

[TenaciousDee]

You mentioned the lighting Paul; at the Rovers game I moved across to the Southend Stand from MF Stand and the lighting on that side of the pitch was poor. I am not sure if the lights are positioned correctly but I struggled in the first half to see who the players were (not helped either by Rovers numbers being badly printed). It seemed to improve slightly in the second half. Is this a common issue for spectators on that side or was it a one off?

[Keyser Soze]

The lighting at the Brandywell is terrible. The pitch is not well lit at all. Not sure what the issue is.

And as for the Super League @paul60, you may get used to it, as the CL revamp coming soon is basically a super league by another name.

[stevebradley]

Just a thought on the new terraced stand.

It won't be ready until Summer 2024 - well after the season has begun. And construction of it will require the demolition of Blocks A and B.

Block A isn't an issue, as it's always kept for away fans. Though it will mean the furthest Block at the ed of the southennd will instead be kept for away fans. Presumably there are people at that far end with season tickets? And are there also in Block B ? If so, they're all going to lose their seats next year and have to relocate somewhere else. All whilst the stadium's capacity is temporarily reduced until the new terrace opens.

So tickets will be even harder to get than now for half of next season. Even more reason to get a season ticket sorted if you can