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Post by rhythmisarover on Mar 6, 2022 21:26:59 GMT
I was listening to the Livi v Celtic game on Radio Scotland today. A lot of commentary mentioned plastic pitches as Livingston obviously play on one. They also mentioned that Brian Reid has proposed to the board that he would like to have an artificial pitch at the ground instead of the grass pitch. Whether he has really said this I don't know. Personally I think he has much more pressing matters to attend to.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2022 22:22:06 GMT
It was looked at previously but no harm in looking at it again but I suspect they'll find we can't afford and as they have a limited lifespan what happens when it needs replaced? Agree with above post that the manager has more pressing concerns at least for the rest of this season.
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Post by mildrover on Mar 7, 2022 13:04:18 GMT
Arbroath are doing well on a grass pitch. To lay and maintain an artificial pitch and put in decent changing rooms etc plus paying staff to run the facility would see no change out of half a million. Add in the fact that we would be in opposition to at least 4 NLC artificial pitches in a mile’s radius and we would take in far short of money needed to pay for the facility never mind bring in extra revenue. Comparisons with other clubs are pointless. Take Forfar for instance. The club paid nothing for their pitch as it was paid for jointly by Angus Council and an SFA initiative. Also they have no competing facilities in the town. This was looked at in detail a few years ago and sensibly rejected as financially unviable. In my dreams I would love to see us playing in Coatbridge at an Annan like stadium with an artificial pitch. But in the real world the main thing is the long term survival of the club and we should not be side tracked by schemes that would lead us to financial ruin. Ronnie Have we looked into possible grant money? Have we looked into the how busy these other facilities are? A mile as the crow flies is far different to a mile commuting in Coatbridge. I assume you’re meaning Rawyards and St Ambrose as examples of these pitches, which might as well be on the other side of the planet for travelling. St Ambrose’s parks aren’t great either so no competition there. If you don’t think the people talking about changing the pitch and stadium have the long term interest of the club in mind when they ask for a potential business plan to be drawn up on this matter then you couldn’t be more wrong, the beautiful old lady that is Cliftonhill is falling apart, every year we are relying on the good will, hard work and bargaining skills of individuals to get us passed the safety certificate. With investment (the hard part granted) and or going to a bank with a solid business plan we could have an artificial pitch, some 7’s and 5’s pitches around the perimeter all bringing in between £40 and £75 an hour (possibly low balling haven’t played 5’s or 7’s for a while) and hiring out the actual pitch on top of that. Not to mention the £200-300 a week we’d be saving on training facilities for ourselves. The under 21’s could use the stadium instead of St Ambrose plus other teams in the local area who want to have their players playing in “a stadium atmosphere” My fear is that as a club we are afraid of change so haven’t PROPERLY looked into this, happy to be PROVED wrong though 👍🏼 Jaydee Was PROPERLY looked at in detail a few years ago. Sat through many a presentation and read many glossy proposals. I am as aware as most people about the challenges of getting the safety certificate. That challenge will still be there after an artificial pitch is laid as the infrastructure will still be 102 years and counting. However there is no harm in the BOD looking into this again and spending huge amounts of their time doing so. If the process starts again there should be a number of guiding principles: The board should drive the process not the football management team That costings include not only the pitch but maintenance, survey work, planning permission costs, facility upgrades, disability compliance, running costs including staffing That the figures for potential income should be from the real world…not fantasy figures like £900000 profit a year quoted by the anonymous poster Lastly as this is such a big move with huge financial risks that could threaten the existence of the club any proposal should only proceed after the go ahead being given by the shareholders Ronnie Boyd
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Post by mildrover on Mar 7, 2022 13:15:23 GMT
Ok here’s another stat for you. In League 2 the top 5 in the league all play on artificial surfaces and the bottom 5 all play on grass. League 1 is slightly skewed in that 7 teams have artificial surfaces but 6 out of the top 7 have artificial grass, Full time Queen’s Park the only ones playing on grass in the top 7. To put it another way in the professional lower leagues in Scotland only 1 grass park is in a promotion play off position. We all want what’s best for the club, at the moment there seems to be different opinions in what that is. I cannot see how the stadium as it is is sustainable for the future of our club. ‘Cannot see how the stadium as it is is sustainable for the future of the club’ I can agree with that point to a certain extent Jaydee. However, the mistake you and the others pushing for an artificial pitch is that you are mixing up pitch with stadium. You can spend 400k of the club’s money on an artificial pitch and still have a stadium that is creaking and struggling hard to get a safety certificate. I suppose the 9000000 profit a year can take care of the 4 million needed to build a brand new stadium on site. Ronnie Boyd
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Post by mildrover on Mar 7, 2022 13:21:18 GMT
I think all that proves is that the clubs with loads of money can get plastic pitches and have huge budgets for players and are at the top of the league because of the money and not the pitches. The other one has loads of money and play at Hampden on the bowling green or if they have moved on the plastic at lesser Hampden. We have neither unfortunately. So about as useful as parading our record against said rich clubs as a reason for not exploring the artificial pitch route then? Is that rich clubs like Stenhousemuir and Forfar? Ronnie
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2022 15:21:33 GMT
Richer than us and one currently in the play off positions and one just outside while we languish in second bottom.
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Post by Nanook on Mar 7, 2022 19:06:00 GMT
Ok here’s another stat for you. In League 2 the top 5 in the league all play on artificial surfaces and the bottom 5 all play on grass. League 1 is slightly skewed in that 7 teams have artificial surfaces but 6 out of the top 7 have artificial grass, Full time Queen’s Park the only ones playing on grass in the top 7. To put it another way in the professional lower leagues in Scotland only 1 grass park is in a promotion play off position. We all want what’s best for the club, at the moment there seems to be different opinions in what that is. I cannot see how the stadium as it is is sustainable for the future of our club. JD not against having another investigation. What is played is called football, but it is not football. Top 4 in the Premier League all play on grass, we can all pick and choose what suits us. What is clear is that nothing will change in the immediate to near term future. Let's concentrate on the now.
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Post by liveinhope on Mar 7, 2022 20:11:15 GMT
Here is where I stand on this. Football on an artificial pitch is simply not football as it was supposed to be. There are a number of clubs that have chosen not to go down this road. At Cliftonhill it would be like putting lipstick on a pig. It is up to the authorities SFL and and SFA to put an end to this. I've got a number of friends in England who follow championship teams and when they watch so called Premier league football on TV they just can't take it seriously. Only lower league clubs are considering this or clubs in higher leagues who have budget constraints. I hate going to away games to watch the Rovers on artificial pitches. Personally I would tax the richer clubs to help lower league teams spend money on their pitches and infrastructure. I would lobby local authorities and government to make funds available and encourage local communities to get behind a campaign. Some of the massive TV money should be made available in grants for clubs like ours to access. The future is definitely not artificial pitches and if it is I DEFINITELY will no longer watch it. The future of Albion Rovers and the issues it faces does not lie in this short sighted option and anyone who thinks it is is just fooling themselves and creating massive problems for the next generations of Rovers supporters. I don't care about the stats, it just isn't football.
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