Goggles & Flippers

And that in one statement highlights the glass ceiling (pun not intended) many of our own fans put in place often artificially. The guy is saying weekly he wants the players to be the best they can be, exceed their what they assume is their own personal limitations and we’re seeing that played out. But yeah, with this, the bare minimum will suffice …. All I’ve said since my first post on the subject is it could be so much more with little effort or cost. Just my observation.

Quit being so salty. Having an opinion on something is not reliant on experience or first hand involvement. If you do, it adds a degree of qualification and others can weigh up how much they weight they give your opinion. However, an odd bloody argument on a football forum. By extension, anyone who hasn’t played at least semi-pro level just shut up about Jens, his tactics and our players. The relationship between the spaces and the flow is the issue for me. It seems cramped. It could be so much more with some more thought and rejigging. We are at the public consultation phase after all and this is the time as members of the public to give our two cents. Unsure why it’s triggered you to the degree it has. I and a few others came up with a rough costing for the facility with slightly different methods, but a rule of thumb is £2k per square meter is a workable benchmark. So aye, it’s infinitely better than what we have at present but as it stands, to me, looks like Stalag Fußball.

I’m talking about the space being usable, at present I’m not sure the design offers the best chance of that. But don’t let my observations get in the way of your hyperbole. Build cheap, build twice.

No issue, seems you don’t mind waiting half an hour to wash yer baws.

Expert is very generous, I did study architecture but never worked in practice. I did make a model of the Alfred McAlpine stadium in Huddersfield out of spaghetti (as it was far cheaper than balsa wood) for a second year precedent study, does that qualify me? There’s a couple more informed than me on budgeting and planning, StAndrew7 being one who deals with tenders and bidding in a slightly different field but most is transferable and his observations sound. What illustrates the issues with the design being a bit of a crowbar is little things you notice. Theres no pleasant communal/informal space for the players. There’s two shown which are effectively a glorified corridor between the main changing room and atrium which won’t be used in practice. Other wee things like a referees/management changing room with three showers, a home dressing room with ten and a secondary one with only four ….. I don’t know if anyone has used the gym at Wishaw Sports Centre, it’s an enclosed wee space that feels a bit claustrophobic, there’s a reason commercial gyms are in spaces from 15ft to double height ceilings. A way to combat this is extend the building to join the garage. In that space make the gym double height and have a mezzanine, halving the current gym footprint on the existing plan. Move the lecture theatre upstairs to the carpark side and a player lounge overlooking the pitches. It opens space on the ground floor to make things less pokey. The space vacated by the lecture theatre, the secondary changing room could be moved over to make the west side of the building less congested and a changing room better befitting the u18’s and women. The warm and cold plunge pools is nice but surprised a ten person sauna wasn’t included, you can get one for £7k. In for a penny in for a pound. Come WS, pony up.

The Tommy Gemmell statue in Craigneuk makes a nod to Ravenscraig with its' plinth. Still able to reference the past in a cost effective stadium with a good design team. Don't know if anyone else noticed, but the recurring theme with every stadium they covered was seven day a week use. They were all designed with that in mind from the outset. Kansas City Current I think want to make a gimmick of the Missouri river. The openness of that stadium may struggle here due to our climate. But the proposed stadium in Denver have made a thing of it too. When I look around North Lanarkshire there's not much to drive people here despite having a huge population within a 30 minute drive. NLC were envious that residents would travel to Hamilton or East Kilbride to use their shopping centres if a trip to Glasgow couldn't be faced, taking money out the area. Ravenscraig is a chance to create a draw and the only way we can stay in the town if we want something new unless Dalzell plate mill goes the same way. When I look around the local area I see things like the Sunday markets at Chatelherault and think, well that works. It's why in the presentation I allowed for a space where food truck owners could use it as a base and be a draw for lunchtime and evening trade as a draw in itself plus somewhere to have a shared prep kitchen, storage, refrigeration and take unsocial hours deliveries. You tell these vendors that over and above everything else every two weeks you deliver 10,000 to 18,000 folk to them, again it all seems to be mutually beneficial. The other thing which is total pie in the sky is COSM, but we could emulate elements of it but it needs investment and brings risk. The story behind it is pretty cool: Fans in the video say they paid $140-180 for a ticket no doubt before the $15-20 beers, it late explains admission starts at $70, which is a very American trait and how their sports is moving with dynamic pricing. But I suppose if folk here are prepared to pay £30 for a Scotland fanpark for the WC and often pay a commensurate hourly rate at places like Top Golf then could you fill it with enough revenue per week to make it viable? Our market would favour football and there's cameras to buy and install and move to the next venue here and in Europe, but piggybacking off the feed for the two American based venues would be a start. I don't know what they do outside their camera's being at an event to keep the place turning over. I doubt they'd be keen as LA, Dallas and ...... some brownfield site in Lanarkshire doesn't really have the same oomph or align with their premium brand, would be a bit like Del Boy's Reliant Regal. But it's all stuff to think about and rule out than never think of at all.

I agree with the attendances, football success is cyclical. For us in recent memory the trend has been good for a couple of seasons then mediocre for a few, above average for one and repeat on a five year cycle, heavily influenced by manager, recruitment and academy progression. I do think a new stadium if designed wisely could get bump in attendances for home and away fans due to the novelty and nuance. What maintains that long term is emulating the footballing side from the past 18 months as much as possible. Hosting Livi midweek in early December has a lot cobwebs even now. I think you can do things integral to the design to enhance the atmosphere even at half capacity or less. Stuff like steep stands (building regs have it at 42 deg pitch max I think). Proximity of opposing fans, similar to the old shed where tribalism manifests and can flourish, one of my best memories was at Brockville and the too and fro'. Perception, situating the fans so on telly at least the stadium looks busier (ie none under the main TV gantry), Hampden does this when the OF aren't involved. If parts of the stadium are unused there's no need for stewarding, McLean stand for Ross County fixture for example. If you count the top flight three OF, potential of top six and a fourth, a city club requiring more than 4,800 tickets and a early cup tie then we have potential to oversell our current offering in roughly a quarter of our home fixtures, and outsell massively in three to five of those games. If projected income can be used to give us a much better stadium to enter when we get the keys, I see the negatives as minor. The spaces I suggested in the presentation, only one corner I envisaged as being office space (both for the club and an incubator space for SME's). The other corners/stands were a mixture of spaces where people have/wish/aspire to go to, such as a gym with or without a pool/dance studios, etc, street-food court and a "Makers Space", using one set up in Boston as an idea. I suggested our executive boxes could be used as hotel bedrooms on non match days. For me the stadium and it's spaces have to be fully dynamic, configurable and adaptable plus the asset has to be sweated massively outside the 25 games hosted per season. A coffee shop/restaurant is complimentary to all of the above and ensure the building would be in use universally almost 24hrs a day but certainly from 0700-2300 if all ideas employed. A 12,000 capacity allows us to mimic what we have at present by and large, except our current maintenance costs are swapped for a large mortgage and lesser maintenance costs, this would undoubtedly affect our player budget. Moving to 15,000 or 18,000 stadium allows the club in theory to recoup approximately £20m over 20 years from other clubs supporters to finance the stadium while filtering the same ticketing revenues we currently enjoy to fund the team. Add in increased home crowds, enhanced hospitality functions, rents of sub leases, etc. all of these allow us to move away from current peer clubs like St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Dundee.

Yeah funding is key, I took from the AGM we're due eight installments for Lennon spaced every six months, if we realise some or all of the interest in our players that's been brought up in the past couple of months then we in theory have a healthy downpayment to get the ball rolling. The skill is talking to institutional investors and making the case and extracting every penny from the public purse as possible. You'd hope the authorities see a fan owned community club as a different entity to Dermot Desmond or the 49ers when it comes to decision making. Issue is the developer of Ravenscraig has been sitting on it for 25 years with minimal movement for a host of reasons. If we make player sales in excess of what Lennon went for in back to back seasons then they'll know that and we move from being an anchor/draw to further development on the site to being asked for money for land that limits our ambition. We have a unique situation in Scotland where two clubs hoover up support from the entire country. I have no issue with following what Motherwell has done in the past and extracting every single green and blue pound possible. I'd also add the figures I cobbled together only account for three OF visits per season, we've qualified for the top six half of the time since the split was introduced, a high flying Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen have potential to exceed the McLean if there were extra seats available, not to mention home cup ties before semi final stage. When you add National team matches at all levels there is plenty of scope for these to all be cream over and above any repayment commitments. With respect to the feasibility report, as things are kept close to the chest, maybe only enough to endorse the decision made at board level to sell it to the wider support. While I'd favour a move if the decision is a new POD then I'll shoulder shrug and see it as a lost opportunity. If it's a Ravenscraig move, then I suspect there were be a genuine heads gone from many.

Ha true-ish, my career path took a different twist so no beret, cravat and any clothing with arm patches as I never worked for a practice.

An indoor 200m one, not a 400m which I agree with you on. Not intrinsic to the design, just trying to sweat the asset. It would be below the pitch anyway and not get in the way.

Exactly, we would require two spaces to accommodate 18-20 stripped players plus 6-7 management team and a further room for officials. Add in showering/toilet facilities. Cost and logistics come into play for water/waste/electric hookups all for a space that will be redundant for only nine months of use. Personally I'd rather avoid anything temporary as it's money we'll never see back and put it into something we can use going forward. Also worth highlighting that Liverpool's Anfield Road redevelopment had the primary contractor going bust when they were on the home straight but already overrunning. As it turned out they got the keys a good six months behind schedule and had a lot of compo/apologies to make for tickets sold. Hearts also had a sizable overrun on their main stand. If we aimed for a one season build (mid May to Mid July the following year - 14 months) if there's any overrun say to Xmas then that seriously affects revenues when we assumed we'd be generating an increase on what they are now. I'd suspect a good number of local residents would make the planning process a pain but even those not classed as busy could easily highlight the regular disruption in a residential area. For me, Fir Park will always be limiting. As for what I'd love to see and I appreciate it's very much lottery win territory .... I covered much of it in the presentation, get a planning consultant well versed in extracting every penny from government. Find an architect with a track record of frugal but quality builds, highlight the need for off the shelf opposed to bespoke components, while a Zaha Hadid ornate roof is captivating and wins awards, pragmatic-industrial should be our brief and feeds into our heritage. Identify gaps in the market, at present there is only one covered football pitch in the UK, considering our climate that's both surprising and a bit wild but offers opportunity. The Northern Arizona Skydome was constructed in 1977 inexpensively, with it you have a unique space can be configured for indoor athletics to tennis, basketball, gymnastics, graduations, black tie banquets, exhibitions and concerts. NLC is in need of the latter, the area is in need of all the others, however the issue remains with the pitch, the easier option would be rails to allow it uninterrupted wind, rain and sunshine when it allows or wheeled inside if frost forecast. The alternative is permanent grass indoors that is managed with grow-lights, don't think that is feasible however. I'd look to have a 18,000 capacity, the reason for this is two fold, allow for an increase in our home gate over what we presently have (you have to have some ambition of growth) and exploit the away support (especially the OF). Chapman and Dickie realised and then maximised their visits with the McLean Stand in the early 90's. At present we sell 4,800, double that and the club has the ability to earn in excess of £20m over 20 years for those extra 5,000 seats. Jeopardy ensures if we are relegated or there's another Covid like event. However we can leverage borrowing based on future income without touching what we currently earn with our 13,000 stadium. Finally, the fear that FP can already feel a bit cold and echoey in mid-winter hosting Livi or Ross County, that is true, 5,000 extra seats to an 18,000 seater does not help that in the slightest unless you manage that seating. Moveable partitions based on the projected crowd to ensure supports are not spread out and any unused seating minimised on the TV coverage, helps alter perception. It would already be a novelty for locals and away fans due to it being indoor, streetfood pop ups to cater on matchdays in addition to traditional offerings, I'm sure we get an uplift in home support and away support off the back of the best stadium to visit, currently held by Tynecastle where demand outweighs supply. Stress testing/Devil Advocate: NLC is looking at closing sports centres and libraries to save money. I also don't know if the concert hall was a revenue generator worth the hassle of having it. Holyrood/Westminster is broke too thanks to stagnant/minimal growth. The Regional Sports Facility, NLC may not want its potential revenues harmed with a similar space next door. Thanks to the Commonwealth games in 2014, the Emirates beside Parkhead also offers an indoor venue for multiple indoor sports. Cost overruns are inevitable. As a club in the past we've often under-resourced initiatives and then surprised they didn't work. What I outlined is both pragmatic but also has many complex facets to it. It can be achievable and done on a budget but often contractors bill for perceived complexity regardless. And yes, I've got a Euromillions on.

I think the issue with the corners is the floodlight towers flanking the Cooper form part of its structure. I’ll look closer and check at the Hibs game, but I think they support the front girder that is hidden behind the advertisement. I don’t know how you fill them in with any hope of putting any seats in to justify the expenditure. The McLean needs major work and not only the seats and metalwork in the lower tier that have been exposed to 35 years of rain, wind and Green Brigade but I’d invite everyone to look at the underside of the roof with the triangular support braces at the next home game, it’s almost fully orange with rust.

Not cited directly but part of the final bullet point. It’s also in the presentation. I’ve also mentioned on P&B in the past that not only changing rooms but laundry, commercial kitchen, all hospitality offerings, manager and media offices, press conference space, etc. It also brings Club 100 into play as a temporary sticky plaster of sorts but I’d personally avoid that place like the plague. Relocation costs, temporary leases, loss of ticketing income, limited premium and minimal enhanced ticketing options plus having to segregate the McLean to accommodate the POD spillover, it all adds up very fast.