Erm............... on 06:00 - Dec 13 with 2722 views | Grifter |
Erm............... on 02:13 - Dec 13 by karlski | 40k is a lot, and I share the fear of playing in a half-empty stadium. Don't suppose there is much hope of lobbying a slightly lower figure? But given that moving is inevitable, I think being at the heart of an actual regeneration rather than just a stadium development with a few add-ons plonked around us is a HUGE benefit. We might just fill the stadium with newcomers to the area (eventually), and more importantly we are at the heart of an entire new, mixed, community that is not too far away, which means hopefully the club can continue the good community work it already does. Moving into what is essentially our historic heartland is brilliant for building an identity, and it's hardly miles away from LR. There is an opportunity here - albeit a delicate one - to create something special in terms of the modern football club: historically aware, community driven and commercially self-sustaining with, hopefully, an atmospheric and unique stadium to play in. Whatever your views on regeneration, it can be done properly. King's Cross is shaping up to be a major success, regen of Paddington basin and even Shepherd's Bush with Westfield has generally improved the areas. Don't forget this isn't some horrible Elephant and Castle style social cleansing (Heygate etc), but instead revitalising a completely derelict area. I thought when this moment came I would be rather despondent, but the more I think about it, the more I'm willing to buy into it. If a new family wants to come along and watch the club from their new flat in a glass tower next to the ground - well, great. That new family was me 20 years ago. As long as we do this with a community spirit and with some involvement from the fanbase, I don't see why it can't be a success. A different type of success or enjoyment than we're used to, but not necessarily a worse one. The devil, as ever, will be in the detail. [Post edited 13 Dec 2013 2:17]
|
Best post on a QPR forum I've seen for a while! | | | |
Erm............... on 06:17 - Dec 13 with 2708 views | Pommyhoop | Pictures look blinding! 40,000 tho? Could do with a few fans like this jet setter. | |
| |
Erm............... on 06:47 - Dec 13 with 2686 views | DWQPR |
Erm............... on 06:17 - Dec 13 by Pommyhoop | Pictures look blinding! 40,000 tho? Could do with a few fans like this jet setter. |
Hate to think where the armrest has gone! | |
| |
Erm............... on 07:01 - Dec 13 with 2675 views | komradkirk | stay out of cyberspace on an evening and wake up to this. I have just heard it will make us big four in the premier league....oops I will be due senior concession by then,if I have any money left. | | | |
Erm............... on 07:18 - Dec 13 with 2643 views | eghamranger | As it's next to the hs2 terminal there will be new stations built around it. Could get massive away support coming down from up north in years to come. | | | |
Erm............... on 07:39 - Dec 13 with 2613 views | BlackCrowe | Obviously I would much prefer we could afford to stay afloat and competitive at Loftus Rd for time evermore. But as we can't, this seems a best possible alternative but only if TF can move the C&S to the vicinity or at least construct a high speed shuttle. | |
| |
Erm............... on 07:47 - Dec 13 with 2591 views | ShotKneesHoop | Boogar me, I'm gobsmacked. Hats off to you, Tone, unfortunately, it's just not feasible and practical to carry on where we are; - more's the shame but...... logistically the location is probably as good as it could be. You have to admire Tone for his commitment, and it seems well thought through too. Maybe this thinking will extend to potential transfers too? The major question for Tears of a Clown and me is - what's the seating leg room going to be? Please let's have generous non shin scraping depth. And can we have two stands called Ocean Billy's Stand and the White Horse stand? Let's hope Tone doesn't follow the Cardiff and Hull owners route and change the shirts and orientalise the name to something like Queens Park Ninjas. [Post edited 13 Dec 2013 7:48]
| |
| Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me! |
| |
Erm............... on 07:50 - Dec 13 with 2584 views | dolcelatte | Let's face it lads LR is full of memories for all of us but it really is way past it's sell by date. The fans are the club not the ground and most on here will follow regardless. Mind you some still throw hissy fits over a badge so maybe not.. Time to move on.. | |
| | Login to get fewer ads
Erm............... on 07:58 - Dec 13 with 2574 views | simmo | BOOOOOOOO! | |
| ask Beavis I get nothing Butthead |
| |
Erm............... on 08:19 - Dec 13 with 2530 views | ShotKneesHoop |
Erm............... on 07:50 - Dec 13 by dolcelatte | Let's face it lads LR is full of memories for all of us but it really is way past it's sell by date. The fans are the club not the ground and most on here will follow regardless. Mind you some still throw hissy fits over a badge so maybe not.. Time to move on.. |
The last ever game at Loftus Road should be a sell out, we'll probably lose that one in the 9th minute of added time, just to remind us of what it was like to be at Loftus Road. The old place, (especially the Ellerslie Road gents toilets) still has a certain magic when you're there and the crowd is going nuts, that feeling can never be transplanted anywhere else, so we just have to hope we get a decent new stadium with the fans views being considered. I'd still have the pitch six foot maximum away from the stand walls, the closeness to the players is part of our uniqueness. | |
| Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me! |
| |
Erm............... on 08:27 - Dec 13 with 2501 views | BlackCrowe |
Erm............... on 08:19 - Dec 13 by ShotKneesHoop | The last ever game at Loftus Road should be a sell out, we'll probably lose that one in the 9th minute of added time, just to remind us of what it was like to be at Loftus Road. The old place, (especially the Ellerslie Road gents toilets) still has a certain magic when you're there and the crowd is going nuts, that feeling can never be transplanted anywhere else, so we just have to hope we get a decent new stadium with the fans views being considered. I'd still have the pitch six foot maximum away from the stand walls, the closeness to the players is part of our uniqueness. |
Aunt Nelly will have a ticket. | |
| |
Erm............... on 08:30 - Dec 13 with 2484 views | Pommyhoop |
Erm............... on 08:19 - Dec 13 by ShotKneesHoop | The last ever game at Loftus Road should be a sell out, we'll probably lose that one in the 9th minute of added time, just to remind us of what it was like to be at Loftus Road. The old place, (especially the Ellerslie Road gents toilets) still has a certain magic when you're there and the crowd is going nuts, that feeling can never be transplanted anywhere else, so we just have to hope we get a decent new stadium with the fans views being considered. I'd still have the pitch six foot maximum away from the stand walls, the closeness to the players is part of our uniqueness. |
I'll get a ticket back to the Motherland for me an litlun for that. When I go down to the Ellerslie Road bogs for the last time I'll keep an eye out for that bare footed nutter.. | |
| |
Erm............... on 08:50 - Dec 13 with 2435 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Erm............... on 04:00 - Dec 13 by VancouverHoop | I wouldn't get too excited about the illustration. It's an artist's impression, not an architectural rendering. We won't have anything like a realistic schematic for a while yet. It's possible to design a 40,000 seat stadium that looks full when it's half empty. Here in Vancouver, BC Place holds 60,000+ but draws crowds of no more than 30,000 most of the time. Drapes are used to cover the upper decks. They look fine, just part of the architecture. I'm not saying that's what's will be done but it's one solution. Part of the problem with half empty grounds, is where the vacant seats are located. I watch part of the Napoli v Arsenal match yesterday and the entire lower area was deserted. Similarly, at Wembley, the corporate seats – often unused – are at midfield right in line with TV camera One. It gives a lousy, and often inaccurate, impression that can easily be remedied through seat placement. |
"I wouldn't get too excited about the illustration. It's an artist's impression, not an architectural rendering. We won't have anything like a realistic schematic for a while yet." I think this is true. With that in mind last night's news hasn't affected me much at all, because it's not really news. We all knew this was coming and nothing in it is a shock. This may even be rushed out to beat an exclusive to it (only three pictures? no big press launch? - it's not really Fernandes' style is it?). Ownership of the ground is something we have to keep an eye on, and I notice the absence of a definitive sentence on that in the blurb. I'm mostly in the Loftus Road camp. If your family can't be happy and unified when they meet up then the size of your house is irrelevant. | |
| |
Erm............... on 08:51 - Dec 13 with 2432 views | Rs_Holy |
Erm............... on 00:26 - Dec 13 by Northernr | If I can keep going to Loftus Road with the people I go to Loftus Road with I honestly couldn't give a flying fck if Brentford, Wimbledon and Hampton and Richmond Borough went past us mate. I'll write as little as possible about this, because I'm an unreasonable Luddite and people don't want to read it. I recognise why we need to move and the potential of it, but we're fast approaching the point where I jack it in. Watching a monied QPR, in a television dominated Premier League, in a concert venue, in Old Oak Common, surrounded by new build pubs and crappy food places - sooner or later (sooner) you have to ask yourself why you go to the football any more. The underdog status? The atmosphere? The unique stadium? The local identity? The people you sit with? All gone. Trying to grab a plastic pint glass in some Punch Taverns hell hole and then being told I can't call Jermaine Jenas a fcking tart because it's offending 6 year old Hector at his first match? Stick that thanks. |
I am no longer a season ticket holder and as a member its a struggle to get a non-restricted view seat in the R Block. Coupled with the fact I need to stand after 20 minutes of every match (because of the lack of circulation to my lower legs) and the pi55 poor facilities I think we simply have to move. Get the ticket prices right and get back some of the tens of thousands of fans who "used to support QPR". (Its amazing how many people say this to me when I wear a QPR shirt). I am not saying we will fill the stadium every match but I think we can get close to 30K (if the ticket prices and right). I love Loftus road and will probably shed a tear at our final match their but its a bit like an old car thats starting to play up... Loads of character and memories but a some what past it. | | | |
Erm............... on 09:01 - Dec 13 with 2398 views | Gloucs_R | Great news. I get to take my kids to a new modern stadium with quality facilities. Fantastic. As for being to big, I'm sure you could shut the top tier and who knows about other parts of the stadium but it looks great. Behind the goal looks like a larger version of the loft. well happy today. | |
| |
Erm............... on 09:09 - Dec 13 with 2380 views | wombat |
Erm............... on 09:01 - Dec 13 by Gloucs_R | Great news. I get to take my kids to a new modern stadium with quality facilities. Fantastic. As for being to big, I'm sure you could shut the top tier and who knows about other parts of the stadium but it looks great. Behind the goal looks like a larger version of the loft. well happy today. |
one draw back of the location of the new ground Bloody long walk to cookes for the pre match pie and mash maybe tony can lay on a mini bus service from 12 !! if this does happen you can imagine how many people are gonna go to the last game tooled up with spanners etc to take home what ever momentos they can grab im defo having my seat thats for sure | |
| |
Erm............... on 09:22 - Dec 13 with 2342 views | QPRMUSO | It's not location, location, location, this time it's legroom, legroom, legroom. Really looking forward to that. The plans look awesome, well done Tone. | | | |
Erm............... on 09:26 - Dec 13 with 2326 views | queensparker | I don't want us to move. For me going to football is more about meeting up with my mates and family in the Crown and Sceptre like we've done for decades, than the actual game. It's about history, tradition, routine, sitting where my grandad once sat, knowing that Marsh and Bowles once played on the actual pitch where I'm now watching SWP fall over. But if we're going to move, this is about the best solution we could have hoped for. The most important thing is it's still in the area, not Hillingdon, Park Royal or any other Godforsaken hell in outer west London (not an easy feat at all in this day and age). In fact we're moving back closer to where it all started. (Plus it's nearer my house) | | | |
Erm............... on 09:27 - Dec 13 with 2326 views | RANGERS4EVER |
Erm............... on 09:01 - Dec 13 by Gloucs_R | Great news. I get to take my kids to a new modern stadium with quality facilities. Fantastic. As for being to big, I'm sure you could shut the top tier and who knows about other parts of the stadium but it looks great. Behind the goal looks like a larger version of the loft. well happy today. |
Would that mean we wouldn't sell any ST's for the top tier? | |
| |
Erm............... on 09:32 - Dec 13 with 2308 views | wombat |
Erm............... on 09:27 - Dec 13 by RANGERS4EVER | Would that mean we wouldn't sell any ST's for the top tier? |
would say they would be the cheap seats for any promotions the club runs to fill the ground each week | |
| |
Erm............... on 09:35 - Dec 13 with 2301 views | ShotKneesHoop |
Erm............... on 09:26 - Dec 13 by queensparker | I don't want us to move. For me going to football is more about meeting up with my mates and family in the Crown and Sceptre like we've done for decades, than the actual game. It's about history, tradition, routine, sitting where my grandad once sat, knowing that Marsh and Bowles once played on the actual pitch where I'm now watching SWP fall over. But if we're going to move, this is about the best solution we could have hoped for. The most important thing is it's still in the area, not Hillingdon, Park Royal or any other Godforsaken hell in outer west London (not an easy feat at all in this day and age). In fact we're moving back closer to where it all started. (Plus it's nearer my house) |
"It's about history, tradition, routine, sitting where my grandad once sat, knowing that Marsh and Bowles once played on the actual pitch where I'm now watching SWP fall over. " "the actual pitch where I'm now watching SWP fall over" - that for me is one of the main reasons why the move can't come quick enough. No surprise there then. Tony "If you build it, they will come!" (as long as there's 4 foot pitch between rows - that is!) [Post edited 13 Dec 2013 9:36]
| |
| Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me! |
| |
Erm............... on 09:35 - Dec 13 with 2299 views | derbyhoop | I know this has been trailed for some time, but it is still a fantastic and welcome surprise. I fully appreciate that details are sketchy at this stage. No dates have been included in the Official statement but there is a commitment to consult the fans. For all its fabled atmosphere, Loftus Road is no longer fit for purpose. The 18,000 capacity cannot be increased and it is far too uncomfortable for anybody over 5'4". There are obvious doubts about whether we can fill a 40,000 capacity stadium. Initially, we probably won't. But it depends on how successful we become. Even after the dross of the last 2 seasons, our gates are over 90% of capacity this year. The club wants to be playing in the Premier League and that, IMHO, needs a stadium of at least 25,000 close to capacity every week. Fulham have done it, from a considerably lower base than us. It might require careful ticket pricing and better marketing than we've shown in the last 20 years. Even if we can only reach the 40,000 mark for a limited number of PL games, careful design can ensure that it looks full and the atmosphere is a good one. The developments around Old Oak will mean that we have good transport links (HS2 and CrossRail are both scheduled to go through the area) and an increased fanbase to target. The new ground will have the capacity to be far more widely used for other events, all of which will bring in revenue to whoever owns the ground. Could be Tune Group or QPR Holdings. Initially, it may be a white elephant in the middle of a building site. But that's what Pride Park was like at first. The infrastructure builds up around the ground. I don't want to see a range of budget hotels, a Beefeater/Harvester and a Frankie and Benny;s but that's probably what we'll get. I can understand many of the reservations but this could be the best move QPR have made in my lifetime (White City in 1963 wasn't). | |
| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
| |
Erm............... on 09:40 - Dec 13 with 2475 views | simmo | Am I the only one that would be happy being a small club that occasionally punches above it's weight, producing or polishing up the odd gem and giving the 'bigger boys' a bloody nose? I fcking hate Canary Wharf, corporate, clean, well mannered. FFS, it is not what I want from my football team. All the 'it's the way football is going' and 'current area is not fit for purpose' etc doesnt wash with me because if I could I would take 2001 - 2004 QPR for the rest of my life. Do I want to trade my soul and identity to be part of the corporate, suit wearing, velvet roped human centipede 'EPL' club wnkfest? No. I AM NOT MY FCKING KHAKIS. | |
| ask Beavis I get nothing Butthead |
| |
Erm............... on 09:42 - Dec 13 with 2698 views | Pommyhoop | See the jumper on the left? Thats a goalpost. | |
| |
| |