[Morecambe_Shrimp]

moondog, on May 29 2010, 04:36 PM, said:

Got to agree, but maybe we should be grateful they didn't give the money to McIlroy instead

Sammy Mac will have a much bigger budget this season.

To finish 4th with such a pittance of a budget was terrible wasnt it! Massive clubs like Bradford left trailing.

Its absolute bollo* to keep going on about ex non-league clubs etc etc. 3 of the 4 play-off teams were what you would call "ex non-league" teams.

Yeovil were non-league and they are doing ok

[moondog]

Morecambe_Shrimp, on May 29 2010, 05:34 PM, said:

Sammy Mac will have a much bigger budget this season.

To finish 4th with such a pittance of a budget was terrible wasnt it! Massive clubs like Bradford left trailing.

Its absolute bollo* to keep going on about ex non-league clubs etc etc. 3 of the 4 play-off teams were what you would call "ex non-league" teams.

Yeovil were non-league and they are doing ok

I've not got a problem with former non leagues sides entering the league and doing well, curious as to what the business case was on building a £13m new stadium though

This post has been edited by moondog: 29 May 2010 - 04:48 PM

[Morecambe_Shrimp]

moondog, on May 29 2010, 05:45 PM, said:

I've not got a problem with former non leagues sides entering the league and doing well, curious as to what the business case was on building a £13m new stadium though

The business case was that Christie Park only had income on 30 days of the year. The club lost around £200,000 per year which the chairman cleared by buying shares.

They wanted a sports complex (not only a football ground) that makes money 365 days a year. Banquet suite, bars, pitches for hire, Gym subscriptions. Planning permission has been granted for a hotel and fast food outlets on the site.
Also we get an FA state of the art training pitch.

Our fanbase is growing , most of the young kids in Morecambe wear Morecambe shirts rather than Man Utd or Liverpool.

We will need a bigger , probably all seater ground sometime in the future but right now we are doing it the right way and are a debt free club. How many of what you call "proper clubs" can say that.

[lindave]

I say hats off to Morcambe, I hope they continue to prosper, its a good day out on the coast, I wouldn't mind seein Southport back in the league as well. The new ground looks similar to Chester but without the seats. What will the entrance fee be next season, £13 was great only matched by ACCY.

[moondog]

Morecambe_Shrimp, on May 29 2010, 05:59 PM, said:

The business case was that Christie Park only had income on 30 days of the year. The club lost around £200,000 per year which the chairman cleared by buying shares.

They wanted a sports complex (not only a football ground) that makes money 365 days a year. Banquet suite, bars, pitches for hire, Gym subscriptions. Planning permission has been granted for a hotel and fast food outlets on the site.
Also we get an FA state of the art training pitch.

Our fanbase is growing , most of the young kids in Morecambe wear Morecambe shirts rather than Man Utd or Liverpool.

We will need a bigger , probably all seater ground sometime in the future but right now we are doing it the right way and are a debt free club. How many of what you call "proper clubs" can say that.

Not me mate, but thanks for the answer, I hope you get the payback on your investment and it doesn't backfire. Amazed you are debt free

This post has been edited by moondog: 29 May 2010 - 05:41 PM

[Bankrobber]

Morecambe_Shrimp, on May 29 2010, 05:34 PM, said:

Sammy Mac will have a much bigger budget this season.

To finish 4th with such a pittance of a budget was terrible wasnt it! Massive clubs like Bradford left trailing.

I'm struggling to square this 'pittance of a budget' thing with Morecambe losing £200k per year.

[Posh]

As a Morecambe fan I had to come on here to respond to a few of the naive comments in this thread.

Firstly why have Morecambe built the ground like they have? Simply because every club in the country loses money on matchday football and, bar a couple of clubs, football in general loses money. The first principle of our development is to reverse that.

Our new stadium is built on a large footprint of land. The first part is the main stand which has a function suite that can cater for 300 people. The intention is to have this busy all year round as well as other meeting rooms, dining areas and bar. It's a revenue generator outside of match days and already two of the largest employers have booked the function suite for Christmas parties.

We have our own training facilities and gym paid for. These along with two five-a-side pitches, full size pitch, netball, basketball, tennis and other facilities can all be rented out generating further income.

Then there is the other land which is being developed for a hotel, fast food outlets all on a busy thoroughfare through town. There is more land too. All of this generates money.

The Main Stand is built to generate match day income with exec boxes all of which have been sold, President's Club and more including charging for parking. It is an incredibly impressive stand.

However for the ordinary fan we've got terracing, which is what people wanted and it will cost home and away fans no more than £15 and in other areas less. We're also keeping our catering costs down and using good locally sourced which had won us awards.

We never aimed to build Wembley, we aimed to build a sustainable ground that gets more income outside match day than on it. That money will be ploughed back into the team and help us remain debt free.

[Beelzebub]

Posh, on May 30 2010, 03:32 PM, said:

As a Morecambe fan I had to come on here to respond to a few of the naive comments in this thread.

Firstly why have Morecambe built the ground like they have? Simply because every club in the country loses money on matchday football and, bar a couple of clubs, football in general loses money. The first principle of our development is to reverse that.

Our new stadium is built on a large footprint of land. The first part is the main stand which has a function suite that can cater for 300 people. The intention is to have this busy all year round as well as other meeting rooms, dining areas and bar. It's a revenue generator outside of match days and already two of the largest employers have booked the function suite for Christmas parties.

We have our own training facilities and gym paid for. These along with two five-a-side pitches, full size pitch, netball, basketball, tennis and other facilities can all be rented out generating further income.

Then there is the other land which is being developed for a hotel, fast food outlets all on a busy thoroughfare through town. There is more land too. All of this generates money.

The Main Stand is built to generate match day income with exec boxes all of which have been sold, President's Club and more including charging for parking. It is an incredibly impressive stand.

However for the ordinary fan we've got terracing, which is what people wanted and it will cost home and away fans no more than £15 and in other areas less. We're also keeping our catering costs down and using good locally sourced which had won us awards.

We never aimed to build Wembley, we aimed to build a sustainable ground that gets more income outside match day than on it. That money will be ploughed back into the team and help us remain debt free.

I can't disagree with any of that but it doesn't alter the fact that you have built a non league standard ground. It is probably well suited to your needs and certainly has the capacity to be extended if you ever have the need and money at the same time but it doesn't have the wow factor that you deserved to expect from the most ambitious development your club has ever undertaken.

From the outside it looks like you started out with more ambitious plans but had to scale down due to financial constraints. I can't believe you originally planned to have a very narrow uncovered terrace down one side of the ground. If the B2Net had ended up looking like the Globe the natives here would have been very restless indeed,

[azul]

Posh, on May 30 2010, 03:32 PM, said:

As a Morecambe fan I had to come on here to respond to a few of the naive comments in this thread.

Firstly why have Morecambe built the ground like they have? Simply because every club in the country loses money on matchday football and, bar a couple of clubs, football in general loses money. The first principle of our development is to reverse that.

Our new stadium is built on a large footprint of land. The first part is the main stand which has a function suite that can cater for 300 people. The intention is to have this busy all year round as well as other meeting rooms, dining areas and bar. It's a revenue generator outside of match days and already two of the largest employers have booked the function suite for Christmas parties.

We have our own training facilities and gym paid for. These along with two five-a-side pitches, full size pitch, netball, basketball, tennis and other facilities can all be rented out generating further income.

Then there is the other land which is being developed for a hotel, fast food outlets all on a busy thoroughfare through town. There is more land too. All of this generates money.

The Main Stand is built to generate match day income with exec boxes all of which have been sold, President's Club and more including charging for parking. It is an incredibly impressive stand.

However for the ordinary fan we've got terracing, which is what people wanted and it will cost home and away fans no more than £15 and in other areas less. We're also keeping our catering costs down and using good locally sourced which had won us awards.

We never aimed to build Wembley, we aimed to build a sustainable ground that gets more income outside match day than on it. That money will be ploughed back into the team and help us remain debt free.

If you say!!!

The stadium is still gash though, cheap but not too cheerful

Must say you Morcombe lot are all very positive

This post has been edited by azul: 30 May 2010 - 03:20 PM

[spireitetoo]

azul, on May 30 2010, 04:23 PM, said:

If you say!!!

The stadium is still gash though, cheap but not too cheerful

Must say you Morcombe lot are all very positive

NO, they are realistic, they have'nt got a club that has come out with, "championship football in 3-5yrs" statements, they have built a ground based purely on the needs and current ambitions of the club, which is at the moment to consolidate, and then maybe push on from there, without the need to put the club in any sort of financial hardship, well done and good luck morecambe, a progressive club, doing things slowly yet safely.

as for the posters calling their new ground, GROW UP, you sound like the kids down our road, " our new ground is better than yours"ner nerr.

[Beelzebub]

spireitetoo, on May 30 2010, 05:18 PM, said:

as for the posters calling their new ground, GROW UP, you sound like the kids down our road, " our new ground is better than yours"ner nerr.

I don't think anybody's been doing that - just expressing surprise at what they have got for their money compared to us. If the ground they are building suits them, fine, no problem, I'm simply astonished that it has cost so much. Obviously the desire to have terraces rather than seats and the consequent loss of grants has had a major affect on the development.

[azul]

spireitetoo, on May 30 2010, 05:18 PM, said:

as for the posters calling their new ground, GROW UP, you sound like the kids down our road, " our new ground is better than yours"ner nerr.

You should read the posts matey

If you relocate and build a stadium that that seems poorer than the original it begs questions and that is all people are doing, asking them.

This post has been edited by azul: 30 May 2010 - 04:35 PM

[spireitetoo]

azul, on May 30 2010, 05:37 PM, said:

You should read the posts matey

If you relocate and build a stadium that that seems poorer than the original it begs questions and that is all people are doing, asking them.

well its pretty obvious, to those of us that can see past the end of our nose, that their new ground has a bigger main stand, to generate non matchday income, as well as a sports complex to generate income, all of which will be invested in the club, thus allowing them in future to expand and grow, so how is that WORSE than the one they have moved out of.??

This post has been edited by spireitetoo: 30 May 2010 - 04:41 PM

[azul]

spireitetoo, on May 30 2010, 05:43 PM, said:

well its pretty obvious, to those of us that can see past the end of our nose, that their new ground has a bigger main stand, to generate non matchday income, as well as a sports complex to generate income, all of which will be invested in the club, thus allowing them in future to expand and grow, so how is that WORSE than the one they have moved out of.??

no you haven't read the posts have you, tut

[Zeus]

Beelzebub, on May 30 2010, 04:21 PM, said:

I can't disagree with any of that but it doesn't alter the fact that you have built a non league standard ground. It is probably well suited to your needs and certainly has the capacity to be extended if you ever have the need and money at the same time but it doesn't have the wow factor that you deserved to expect from the most ambitious development your club has ever undertaken.

From the outside it looks like you started out with more ambitious plans but had to scale down due to financial constraints. I can't believe you originally planned to have a very narrow uncovered terrace down one side of the ground. If the B2Net had ended up looking like the Globe the natives here would have been very restless indeed,

Well I heard that the original plan for our stadium only included three sides, and the fourth was demanded by local businesses as a Community Stand to provide facilities like the gym etc.

[Beelzebub]

D Loizou, on May 30 2010, 06:07 PM, said:

Well I heard that the original plan for our stadium only included three sides, and the fourth was demanded by local businesses as a Community Stand to provide facilities like the gym etc.

that was a rumour going round at one time but it was strongly denied by the board and architect and they should know!

[dalekpete]

D Loizou, on May 30 2010, 06:07 PM, said:

Well I heard that the original plan for our stadium only included three sides, and the fourth was demanded by local businesses as a Community Stand to provide facilities like the gym etc.

There was never a serious intention to only build three sides, had it been the case it was the North Stand that would have been missing. There was an option to build the East Stand as a seats and concourse only stand but this would have had no effect on match days. The building and fitting of facilities behind the East Stand has not been demanded of any local businesses but by CFSS and now the Community Trust.

[Posh]

Alex Green, on May 30 2010, 06:14 PM, said:

Is that the Union for Cocklepickers and Harry Ramsdens?

Is there a doctor in the house so they can stitch my sides up?

Of course even the thickest of the thickest knows that Harry Ramsdens is from Guiseley.

Just so you know OCS Group (65,000 employees worldwide) and British Energy (two nuclear power stations). Morecambe and Lancaster unemployment rate less than half the national average, Chesterfield double the national average.

Quote

If you relocate and build a stadium that that seems poorer than the original it begs questions and that is all people are doing, asking them.

I can assure you, having toured the ground, it isn't poorer than Christie Park. Admittedly the home terrace is smaller then before but then that was never full. The offices, shop, catering, secretary and stewards all worked out of temporary buildings and the bar under the Main Stand was tiny and very poor; the away dressing room was horrendous and the home one wasn't much kop either.

You've got a beautiful new all-seater ground. But having been to grounds like MK Dons and Shrewsbury where the capacity is much greater than the average attendance they are pretty soulless places. We've got a ground that will keep us in the Football League on a debt-free basis and give us the financial means to push for promotion without spending what we haven't got.

[Town_Fan]

Posh, on May 30 2010, 11:33 PM, said:

Is there a doctor in the house so they can stitch my sides up?

Of course even the thickest of the thickest knows that Harry Ramsdens is from Guiseley.

Just so you know OCS Group (65,000 employees worldwide) and British Energy (two nuclear power stations). Morecambe and Lancaster unemployment rate less than half the national average, Chesterfield double the national average.



I can assure you, having toured the ground, it isn't poorer than Christie Park. Admittedly the home terrace is smaller then before but then that was never full. The offices, shop, catering, secretary and stewards all worked out of temporary buildings and the bar under the Main Stand was tiny and very poor; the away dressing room was horrendous and the home one wasn't much kop either.

You've got a beautiful new all-seater ground. But having been to grounds like MK Dons and Shrewsbury where the capacity is much greater than the average attendance they are pretty soulless places. We've got a ground that will keep us in the Football League on a debt-free basis and give us the financial means to push for promotion without spending what we haven't got.

When people sing "sh*t ground no fans" at your tinpot new place I hope you remember how much it cost.