Wouldn't it have made more sense ....

[CP Gull]

... to delay building the new Grandstand until the new year?

Clearly, for whatever reason, the club were unable to start the demolition/rebuild straight after the last home game which would have been ideal, and so now we are looking at a proposed start date in early July with hopefully the development completed inside 7 months and ready to use in February 2012.

Now as far as I am aware the old Grandstand hasn't been condemned just yet and still could potentially be used next season? If so, why not wait until the middle of January 2012 to start - which would then make it ready for use at the beginning of the new season in 2012-13.

Looking at the fixture list, there are 14 home games that will be played with only three sides of the ground available between now and the end of January 2012 - but that doesn't allow for any potentially lucrative home FA Cup ties or should we progress (fat chance!) any Carling Cup ties. Not only that but included in those 14 league fixtures is the massive home game against Plymouth as well as the potentially very lucrative home games against Swindon and Oxford over the festive period. I would imagine that there is every likelihood that all of these games could now be made all ticket and could easily all sell out given our reduced capacity of c 4000.

If we were to delay it until mid January 2012 then we would only lose 9 league games as we are unlikely to be involved in the latter stages of the FACup - the only downside as I can see it would be that we would "miss out" on the Bristol Rovers game and of course there is potential for one or two of the end of season games to attract bigger crowds depending on whether we are involved in a promotion run and further still a potential Play Off semi Final (wishful thinking!).

Of course the club would need to agree a fixed price contract for the build so as to avoid potentially escalating costs and it might not fit in with Westlands school and their plans - clearly they would need to agree to any such further delays.

So, not only would a delay enable us to maximise income over those 14 games but it would also minimise disruption to the team and the fans and the media! It would seem to make a lot of sense to me but clearly I don't know whether such a plan would be feasible or not but if it is surely it would be worth considering? I mean we've waited so long for a new Grandstand, what difference is another six months going to make in the big scheme of things!

[basil75]

Can't see any firm agreeing a fixed price contract, particularly at the moment - and those that might, would add a huge premium to the bill for doing so.

6 months is a long time and the cost of building materials could go sky rocket in the near future - particularly if Greece completely implodes, which is looking increasingly probable.

Get it done while we can.

[Fonda]

Have to say i'd be concerned if they opted to postpone at this stage. The fear would be that something would transpire in the meantime, meaning that it would never get done. The permissions and funding are in place, lets get it done.

[Richinns]

Have to say i'd be concerned if they opted to postpone at this stage. The fear would be that something would transpire in the meantime, meaning that it would never get done. The permissions and funding are in place, lets get it done.

I agree - get it sorted asap.

Shame the Football League could not support our requests with the fixtures. This would of more than halved the concerns of having a whole stand not in use.

If it had been a request from a 'bigger' team then I am sure they would have acted accordingly.

[numpte]

Wouldn't be surprised to see it up earlier than Feb. My understanding is that its a modular type structure so once the old stand is gone (and I still want to buy a couple of seats for down the garden if anyone at the club is viewing) they bring in the various pieces and bolt them together.

Would imagine it wont be too long before the flat piece of ground that is now the grandstand will be filled with something so the ground has 4 sides, albeit 1 empty.

[cambgull]

Wouldn't be surprised to see it up earlier than Feb. My understanding is that its a modular type structure so once the old stand is gone (and I still want to buy a couple of seats for down the garden if anyone at the club is viewing) they bring in the various pieces and bolt them together.

Would imagine it wont be too long before the flat piece of ground that is now the grandstand will be filled with something so the ground has 4 sides, albeit 1 empty.

Probably the most sensible post you've ever made!

The time consuming aspects I would imagine would be sorting out the IT suite for the school, building the bricked parts and putting in the seats. They're probably saying Feb with a little leeway for bad weather.

[Regiment]

this is england don't forget - if a building project comes in on budget and on time, they've forgotten to do something !!

[numpte]

Well , lets hope there are plenty of Polish workers still in the bay, especially ones that are good at lining up and tightening bolts.

[SuperNickyWroe]

to hire a hitman for buckle and.....................

oh sorry, didnt read the OP...... :Oops: =D