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Firhill: The Future?


Jaggernaut
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On 1/27/2018 at 9:38 AM, Jaggernaut said:

 

What kinds of choice, comfort, and quality would you like to see at football matches?

Would like to see the Main stand being redeveloped,  Maybe the man whos name is on the stand could maybe help out financially, I Investment in improved facilities can only be good,  attracting new players to the club etc.

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3 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

It is most weeks, but not on bigger occasions.

The fewer places for supporters of the visiting ersecheeks, the fewer sources of income for the club.

And that last comment sums up what is badly wrong, we should only care about ourselves and not how much money we can make from that lot. No wonder they think they are gods

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Maryhill & Partick are our spiritual home, our identity our history, if we can’t afford to fix Firhill then we should look in the surrounding area ideally Partick, but here lies the problems. Apart from the huge amount of cash required to buy the land and build the stadium we will struggle to get planning permission for a football stadium in any of these areas, residents won’t want 1000’s of marauding football fans milling about on a Saturday or week night, access roads etc need to be big enough, parking needs to be in place. Look to the problems Aberdeen are facing for a stadium that’s basically out of town, in a city where they are the biggest team and have a huge support and a lot of good will. 

My fear if we moved it wouldn’t be across the canal, down the Clyde side or even Milngavie (large Jags catchment area)  but we’d end up in the middle of nowhere, stuck on to the end of a crappy shopping centre with no rail,bus, subway links, no pubs, chippies, or restaurant and we’d become another Clyde.

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Norge's point about Aberdeen is spot on but it's his last paragraph that really strikes home.

I've got no real facts and figures to back this up but I get the impression a club has to be on the up to upsticks and move to a new area. When for whatever reason you're forced into a move and the club is either not doing well, or even just in limbo, then that's when the problems set in. Imagine being a Stirling Albion or an ICT supporter and having to make your way every two weeks to Forthbank or to whatever ICT's ground is called. I suppose I could add Falkirk,  Airdrie, Clyde, & Dumbarton as examples.

Besides most effective ground moves occurred when supermarkets still competed largely on floorspace. That's unlikely to return so I don't envisage a demand for Firhill that would realise a price which would make a move lucrative. Anyway, as said before we're building a stand alone training complex. Building a new ground separate from the training complex would seem an expensive folly.

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7 hours ago, Norgethistle said:

Maryhill & Partick are our spiritual home, our identity our history, if we can’t afford to fix Firhill then we should look in the surrounding area ideally Partick, but here lies the problems. Apart from the huge amount of cash required to buy the land and build the stadium we will struggle to get planning permission for a football stadium in any of these areas, residents won’t want 1000’s of marauding football fans milling about on a Saturday or week night, access roads etc need to be big enough, parking needs to be in place. Look to the problems Aberdeen are facing for a stadium that’s basically out of town, in a city where they are the biggest team and have a huge support and a lot of good will. 

My fear if we moved it wouldn’t be across the canal, down the Clyde side or even Milngavie (large Jags catchment area)  but we’d end up in the middle of nowhere, stuck on to the end of a crappy shopping centre with no rail,bus, subway links, no pubs, chippies, or restaurant and we’d become another Clyde.

Spot feckin on. 

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11 hours ago, Norgethistle said:

Maryhill & Partick are our spiritual home, our identity our history, if we can’t afford to fix Firhill then we should look in the surrounding area ideally Partick, but here lies the problems. Apart from the huge amount of cash required to buy the land and build the stadium we will struggle to get planning permission for a football stadium in any of these areas, residents won’t want 1000’s of marauding football fans milling about on a Saturday or week night, access roads etc need to be big enough, parking needs to be in place. Look to the problems Aberdeen are facing for a stadium that’s basically out of town, in a city where they are the biggest team and have a huge support and a lot of good will. 

My fear if we moved it wouldn’t be across the canal, down the Clyde side or even Milngavie (large Jags catchment area)  but we’d end up in the middle of nowhere, stuck on to the end of a crappy shopping centre with no rail,bus, subway links, no pubs, chippies, or restaurant and we’d become another Clyde.

You're right, the only place I could think of near Maryhill where there could be enough land to build a stadium could be the Dawsholm park area

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15 hours ago, Norgethistle said:

Maryhill & Partick are our spiritual home, our identity our history, if we can’t afford to fix Firhill then we should look in the surrounding area ideally Partick, but here lies the problems. Apart from the huge amount of cash required to buy the land and build the stadium we will struggle to get planning permission for a football stadium in any of these areas, residents won’t want 1000’s of marauding football fans milling about on a Saturday or week night, access roads etc need to be big enough, parking needs to be in place. Look to the problems Aberdeen are facing for a stadium that’s basically out of town, in a city where they are the biggest team and have a huge support and a lot of good will. 

My fear if we moved it wouldn’t be across the canal, down the Clyde side or even Milngavie (large Jags catchment area)  but we’d end up in the middle of nowhere, stuck on to the end of a crappy shopping centre with no rail,bus, subway links, no pubs, chippies, or restaurant and we’d become another Clyde.

You're dead right: that would lead to the "Clydeification" of Thistle.

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Despite being in the top league for 4 consecutive seasons, our gates like those of almost all clubs, are shrinking.   Thanks to the stupidity of the Scottish league league we are saddled with a stadium that is too big and ageing fast.  Increasingly that adds to our costs and reduces the money available for players each year.   It is difficult to imagine any long term situation where Thistle, Queens Park, Warriors and (yes) Clyde continue to have their own stadium, each used for about 25 days a year by around 3000  people and survive, far less compete effectively.

Some rationalisation is needed and some serious discussions need to take place between the clubs and Glasgow Council.  Ground sharing has to be explored properly.

A redeveloped Firhill to reflect smaller crowds would be ideal, would reduce costs in the medium to long term, and would add atmosphere that is lacking at present.  How that could be achieved financially however is difficult to imagine, and there has to come a time when the generosity of the Weirs is replaced by other sources of income. 

I'm quite sure the Club understands all these issues, and perhaps now is the time for more formal discussions between them, the fans and other clubs to begin.  Unless long term issues are addressed, the Old Firm will increase their stranglehold on Scottish football. 

The Club's long term priority has to be to maximise the playing budget.  That cannot happen in a oversized, underutilised ageing stadium.

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On 2/9/2018 at 12:35 PM, Pinhead said:

Wonder of there is any way of taking away some rows at front of JH Stand and moving the pitch accross the way. Knock down the main stand and move the North stand to where the main stand was and extend it. Then get some standing behind the goals. Probably cost loads to do this and its pie in the sky thinking but sure we can tap the Weirs lol

would be cheaper to turn the enclosure of the Colin Weir Stand into a safe standing area.

 

over 12's in the safe standing area, with any others (families) that want to be in close proximity to the "singing section" can sit behind in the seated area.

 

Give the North Stand back to the away fans and when the OF come to town, still give them the JHS and the regular JHS fans have the choice of the CW or the NS. 

 

If we aren't able to sell enough tickets to justify having two stands give the OF the NS too... £ £ £ (preparing for severe condemnation of this...) 

 

Would be interesting to know how many home fans were at the last to games against the OF...  Does anyone know this..?

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58 minutes ago, P-T-118 said:

 

 Would be interesting to know how many home fans were at the last to games against the OF...  Does anyone know this..?

I was abroad and listened to Rangers game on Jagzone. Crowd quoted as 7300, 1300 Home fans. At Celtic game crowd was announced as just  under 7000, so probably around 1000 Home fans.

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2 hours ago, jaggy said:

I was abroad and listened to Rangers game on Jagzone. Crowd quoted as 7300, 1300 Home fans. At Celtic game crowd was announced as just  under 7000, so probably around 1000 Home fans.

I think the Celtic game was televised and the sevco game wasn't.  If so would the 300  drop off (roughly one in four fans) reflect the power/draw of television?

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10 hours ago, eljaggo said:

Despite being in the top league for 4 consecutive seasons, our gates like those of almost all clubs, are shrinking.   Thanks to the stupidity of the Scottish league league we are saddled with a stadium that is too big and ageing fast.  Increasingly that adds to our costs and reduces the money available for players each year.   It is difficult to imagine any long term situation where Thistle, Queens Park, Warriors and (yes) Clyde continue to have their own stadium, each used for about 25 days a year by around 3000  people and survive, far less compete effectively.

Some rationalisation is needed and some serious discussions need to take place between the clubs and Glasgow Council.  Ground sharing has to be explored properly.

A redeveloped Firhill to reflect smaller crowds would be ideal, would reduce costs in the medium to long term, and would add atmosphere that is lacking at present.  How that could be achieved financially however is difficult to imagine, and there has to come a time when the generosity of the Weirs is replaced by other sources of income. 

I'm quite sure the Club understands all these issues, and perhaps now is the time for more formal discussions between them, the fans and other clubs to begin.  Unless long term issues are addressed, the Old Firm will increase their stranglehold on Scottish football. 

The Club's long term priority has to be to maximise the playing budget.  That cannot happen in a oversized, underutilised ageing stadium.

Reducing Firhill even further, to 4,000 or 5,000, would cut one obvious source of income for the playing budget, namely occasional crowds that are bigger than that. I suppose if we draw a bigger team in the Cup we could always ask to play the match at their stadium instead of wee Firhill. But wait..... talking about the ersecheeks' increasing stranglehold..... that's exactly what would happen.

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I'm not sure how you have linked a reduction in stadium size to 4000 - 5000 to my last post Jaggernaut.  My point was that serious discussions should take place about ground sharing, and those discussions would obviously consider capacity in any new or re-developed ground.    You have to weigh the income gained from Old Firm games against the cost of providing increased capacity (or the savings from reduced capacity), and also factor in that Thistle may not always be in the Premier League and therefore would not benefit from Old Firm income.

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