Greg Dyke column

[banburybee]

I could not find a thread on this already. I read Greg Dykes column with my jaw dropping. It was fantastically ambitious. Is this really my Brentford he is talking about? I am so excited by the vision and can only wait in excited expectation and say 'go for it'. Imagine regularly watching games with 15k in attendance. Yes yes yes. COYR

 

[Nick Hester]

I could not find a thread on this already. I read Greg Dykes column with my jaw dropping. It was fantastically ambitious. Is this really my Brentford he is talking about? I am so excited by the vision and can only wait in excited expectation and say 'go for it'. Imagine regularly watching games with 15k in attendance. Yes yes yes. COYR

What would you honestly expect? 15,000 capacity is the minimum.... can you imagine if they announced that we were set to move into a 10,000 ground?

I don't call it 'fantastically ambitious' ??

 

[Infatuated Bees Alter Ego]

Was this in the Programme ? Does he write something every week ?
Can someone scan the article in here please

 

[TeeJayBee]

Was this in the Programme ? Does he write something every week ?
Can someone scan the article in here please

Now on the OS:-

http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/greg-dyke-on-lionel-road-nov-2012-484884.aspx

 

[bees66]

Was this in the Programme ? Does he write something every week ?
Can someone scan the article in here please

http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/greg-dyke-on-lionel-road-nov-2012-484884.aspx

 

[FlyBee]

Build it and they will come?

Bit worried about the linking to the Brighton experience as I think there are some fairly fundamental differences between the clubs and supporters/catchment areas. Think we need to be realistic, but totally behind the move it will revolutionise the club.

 

[absenteebee]

It's a bit like he's talking about a New Brentford...

 

[Downbeat Bee]

Build it and they will come?

Bit worried about the linking to the Brighton experience as I think there are some fairly fundamental differences between the clubs and supporters/catchment areas. Think we need to be realistic, but totally behind the move it will revolutionise the club.

I think there are massive differences compared to Brighton. They are the only league club for miles. And the next nearest is Crawley. Got a big catchment area along the coast.

Are the fans really out there in great number? I hope so but I am somewhat dubious.

 

[ladbroke]

Build it and they will come?

Bit worried about the linking to the Brighton experience as I think there are some fairly fundamental differences between the clubs and supporters/catchment areas. Think we need to be realistic, but totally behind the move it will revolutionise the club.

Though, he is right in that we did take a lot to Wembley and even Millennium Stadium..

I think new ground syndrome will do us well for a season or two.. but unless we are playing championship football, it'll be down to about 8-10k at most.

 

[Downbeat Bee]

Though, he is right in that we did take a lot to Wembley and even Millennium Stadium..

I think new ground syndrome will do us well for a season or two.. but unless we are playing championship football, it'll be down to about 8-10k at most.

I think 9k if we were in the same league in 2018 is certainly not overly pessimistic.

 

[Nick Hester]

but unless we are playing championship football, it'll be down to about 8-10k at most.

WHAT? If we are not in the Championship by that time you'll be lucky to get 4,000 in it...

It's about whats on the pitch not if there is soft bog roll and padded seats inside the stadium...

 

[ladbroke]

I still think a new stadium effect draws fans in for a season or two. More away fans - we do it too - who want to see the new ground. Lapsed fans coming to see it too...

You can then hook them in for longer term if the product is good.

 

[wibs]

Did he confirm the new ground will be called Susan?

 

[Carri Bee Un]

Did he confirm the new ground will be called Susan?

Not officially but he has mentioned it to me a couple of times, as I understand it this is a done deal.

 

[DavidgRushden]

I reckon what he has said is far better than saying"we are looking at a new ground, even though we will be lucky to get more than
5000 in a 20000 ground, and we will probably be in L1 or even L2 then".
I give him credit for what he said, and am pleased to see his is putting a positive viewpoint through on behalf of the club.

 

[Banana]

WHAT? If we are not in the Championship by that time you'll be lucky to get 4,000 in it...

It's about whats on the pitch not if there is soft bog roll and padded seats inside the stadium...

Oh really?

 

[nocoat]

It is about the quality of the handwashing facilities for this author.

 

[banburybee]

What would you honestly expect? 15,000 capacity is the minimum.... can you imagine if they announced that we were set to move into a 10,000 ground?

I don't call it 'fantastically ambitious' ??

I just thought a positive post about our club having ambition after years and years in the doldrums would be nice but it seems the doom mongrrs will not be cheered up.
Well i think its fantastic and no amount of amateur analysis by people who could not run a bath will put me off. 51st year of supporting and looking up not down.

 

[eaglebee]

I just thought a positive post about our club having ambition after years and years in the doldrums would be nice but it seems the doom mongrrs will not be cheered up.
Well i think its fantastic and no amount of amateur analysis by people who could not run a bath will put me off. 51st year of supporting and looking up not down.

Over 60 years of support here, I hope I live to see the dream!!! your right, the doomongers WILL NEVER be happy, I think it's the best news since sliced bread, onwards and upwards.

 

[Brickie Chap]

As long as we have that Noades urnial

 

[westwing]

I just thought a positive post about our club having ambition after years and years in the doldrums would be nice but it seems the doom mongrrs will not be cheered up.
Well i think its fantastic and no amount of amateur analysis by people who could not run a bath will put me off. 51st year of supporting and looking up not down.

You're right to be happy mate.
there are some real eejits on here who haven't got a clue.
Brentford are planning to play in The Chanpionship with the facilities to suit.
The plan WILL happen because we have the full backing, financially and morally.
It will be 15K minimum but I believe the club are actually going for the full 20K capacity.
Build it and the punters will come !!

 

[shouldbee]

You're right to be happy mate.
there are some real eejits on here who haven't got a clue.
Brentford are planning to play in The Chanpionship with the facilities to suit.
The plan WILL happen because we have the full backing, financially and morally.
It will be 15K minimum but I believe the club are actually going for the full 20K capacity.
Build it and the punters will come !!

We need to have faith in the project and believe it will happen.............if not what's the point ?................but PLEASE Matthew not a flat pack Northampton stadium The comparison with Brighton is nonsense though.

 

[FlyBee]

I just thought a positive post about our club having ambition after years and years in the doldrums would be nice but it seems the doom mongrrs will not be cheered up.
Well i think its fantastic and no amount of amateur analysis by people who could not run a bath will put me off. 51st year of supporting and looking up not down.

I don't think many would disagree with the sentiment that the proposals are great for BFC, I think it's just that some are of a cautious nature and don't see things with absolute blind optimism.

The long term success of the club is dependent on numerous factors, the ground facilities are one of them, albeit an important one, but it won't guarantee a viable and successful future in isolation.

 

[westwing]

We need to have faith in the project and believe it will happen.............if not what's the point ?................but PLEASE Matthew not a flat pack Northampton stadium The comparison with Brighton is nonsense though.

Okay, Reading FC then ?
for years we were a biiger club than them.
Reading were on their knees at Elm Park, they're having better times in their new place,
even though it's out of town.
Bring on LR, GP is a dump hole !!

 

[jlove]

I think many get blinded when thinking of a new stadium. First and foremost, it must be a cash-generating machine, so that Brentford FC can play there without having to fund a decaying financial black hole. This should mean that Susan is an attractive venue with high quality lavatorial facilities that is used for more than 30 days per year. This is the relevant comparison with the AmEx; their list includes: Weddings; Conferences; Exhibitions & Trade Fairs; Banquets; Christmas Parties. The proximity to LHR and transport links gives Lionel Road a great location for many non-sporting events and it should be a net contributor to the bottom line.

 

[Kingston Bee]

Fully agree with what he had to say, about time we had some ambition. Over the last 10-15 years we have seen many clubs who have been in the lower leagues do something similar, some have worked some have not. We have to try, I do not want to go through my life supporting Brentford thinking what if. There are no guarantees in life let alone football, but I just feel if we do not have anmbition to progress it will be a slow death. I maybe glass half full but I believe we now have the professional structure off the pitch to allow us every chance of success. Wallowing in the memories of Griffin Park will not secure a future for the club, unfortunately.

 

[hanworthbee]

sounds great but we need to match that ambition with the product on the pitch....I know we have the budget but the time may come sooner rather than later of speculating to accumalate

 

[Wayne]

Half of those miles are in the Sea!!!

 

[Milton Keynes Bee]

Well done Mr Dyke for 'talking up' the Club and the future. There is nothing to be gained by doom-mongering about the future - that won't get us anywhere.

 

[NorthamptonBee]

Well done Mr Dyke for 'talking up' the Club and the future. There is nothing to be gained by doom-mongering about the future - that won't get us anywhere.

Do you think we should get off our arses and move to MK, call ourselves the MK Bees and do this for real? I'd be well up for that.

 

[Voice from the Braemar]

Well done Mr Dyke for 'talking up' the Club and the future. There is nothing to be gained by doom-mongering about the future - that won't get us anywhere.

too right....always said we should be going for 20k capacity minimum...Reading is the prime example of the build it and they will come...they were on 3-4k home support in a ground which makes gp look luxurious....and look what happened ! and a bigger plus point is that we are building a new ground even more centrally located with stations , numerous good pubs, restuarants etc all within 15mins walk of the ground and in even lovelier surroundings.....id expect our average in L1 to be at least 10k and if we're in the championship around 15k plus...we can give away fans more seats if needed for some games (ie no more sheff weds, leeds, soton debates) and we should leave enough room to build on another 5k should we get in premiership.......this is the way forward

anyone who thinks we should build 15k only ground needs their head testing....it will just be costing us more in a short amount of time to having to make it bigger eventually

 

[Milton Keynes Bee]

Do you think we should get off our arses and move to MK, call ourselves the MK Bees and do this for real? I'd be well up for that.

What a great idea - all those holidays I could fund with the petrol savings to Lionel Road and back.

And for once there would be a real team gracing stadiummk

Well pleased to hear you survived what sounded like nasty incident on the way to GP last week.

 

[Bizzy Bee]

Ex BBC spin!

 

[Invipai]

Of course we have to aim for 15k attendances on a regular basis, there's no point otherwise. When I said to my Wednesday supporting friend we were building a 15k stadium when we have a gate of 5.5k, he joked that we shouldn't be building a new stadium with a higher attendance, we should just lower the capacity of Griffin Park.

Opening game of the season will see 15k sell out attendance, and a whole load of the following games will follow suit. It's a fantastic way of getting more supporters to come along, we will get a lot of new fans sticking with the club. If we're in a higher division by then as well they will stick (I presume we'll be out of League One by then, maybe at my own peril).

It does sound a bit ambitious saying our attendances will x3, but we have to aim up rather than sideways. One of our players (possibly Craig) said that buying the land for the stadium backed up the clubs claims of their ambitions and as a result helped convince him to sign....of course that could be the usual spout, but the stadium does make us sound like an attractive prospect...

 

[staines_bee]

Completely agree. The new stadium effect always brings in new punters. As much as I love GP, it's about time we got behind the notion of securing the long-term future of the club.

 

[finsbury_bee]

I think there are massive differences compared to Brighton. They are the only league club for miles. And the next nearest is Crawley. Got a big catchment area along the coast.

Are the fans really out there in great number? I hope so but I am somewhat dubious.

I don't agree with that. I think Brentford's catchment could potentially be much bigger than Brighton's. I know there are big local clubs (though none to the West), but if we play attractive football in a modern stadium at Championship level, then Brentford could attract fans from the hundreds of thousands of people that live within just a few miles. We have to be ambitious, and 20000 is not that many in the scheme of things.

 

[westwing]

Build a 15K stadium and we would struggle with that in The Championship.
Get Fulham, QPR, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and many more, in the 3rd round of the FA Cup
and 15K won't be enough. It will be back to messing around with joe public giving up cos he's not a member etc.
Have Faith !!

 

[Hullbee]

It is about the quality of the handwashing facilities for this author.

No sinks I understand to reduce so people won't being tempted to piss in them!!

Each toliet will have a designated freshen up guy who will hold the door open and ensure that patrons us the hand gel provided. Thoose that don't won't be allowed to leave until they sing the freshen up snogging three hundred times.......... Or alternatively just give the freshen up guy a quid

 

[Nick Hester]

Oh really?

How would you know anyway? You don't go anymore...

 

[scruff puppy pup]

Though, he is right in that we did take a lot to Wembley and even Millennium Stadium..

I think new ground syndrome will do us well for a season or two.. but unless we are playing championship football, it'll be down to about 8-10k at most.

I think you're right. And being a London club is very different from being Brighton and Hove Albion. I wouldn't make that comparison.

 

[Sydney Rooster]

A note of caution. The Withdean only held about 6,000 so they were never going to get higher attendances while they were there, regardless of how much success they had.
In my opinion success on the pitch would be the main driver of increased crowds for Brentford.
A new, well designed stadium would certainly have an initial novelty effect.

 

[Aussie Bee]

When we get Susan up and running I reckon the place will need a statue out the front - I believe the Susan we should be going for is Susan HAYWARD who was a real stunner in her day

I reckon this will look good in the forecourt...

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/506032

Unless of course Susan is named after Susan Bloggs from 42a Braemar Rd or something

 

[Carri Bee Un]

I am hesitant to click on that link at work. It's a fair question though.

I don't know about everyone else but I have always assumed in my mind that Susan is a mermaid. So a big statue of the brentford die-hard mermaid Susan for me. I'll mention this to Gregster as he indicated there was a fairly considerable budget allocated for sculptures.

 

[pauljd1964]

As well as having supported Brentford for over 30 years, I have also supported Harlequins through thick and thin. 10 years ago we struggled to get 4 or 5 thousand into the Stoop, were playing poorly and had at best adequate facilities at the Stadium, suffered the humiliation of relegation from the Premiership and the Bloodgate scandel. Ten years on, following sustained progress on and off the field and investment in the the clubs infrastructure, Academy set up,improved sponsorship,community and marketing links and stadium development; the club is now enjoying it's most successful period in the professional era of Rugby. It did'nt happen overnight, the club engaged with supporters, developed an exciting brand of Rugby played by largely homegrown players and instead of losing it's best players to it's rivals can now attract and keep some of the best players in the country. The Stoop regularly sells out at around 14,000 and again the club are having to look at expanding. This Christmas will see the 5th Big Game played at Twickenham which each year has seen sell out crowds of nearly 80,000 for a Quins home game. Success has come late for Quins, but has been achieved by belief, innovation, hard work and commitment by all associated with the club. If someone had said to me 10 years ago on a cold icy afternoon in January when we were getting thumped again by Leicester or Wasps that one day we would regularly fill a modern stadium, be top of the league all season, play a brand of rugby that the England coach wants to emulate and finally win a title at Twickenham in front of a full house, I would have had serious doubts about their sanity. My hope is that Brentford may enjoy a similar transformation, we have endured so many false dawns and let downs over the years, but now thanks to the generosity of our owner have a wonderful future to look forward to, that a few seasons ago could only have been dreamed of; and that like Quins is being built on sustainable foundations by people/supporters committed to securing the long term well being of the Club. Like being a Quin, now is a fantastic time to be a Brentford fan, the future can only be positive. COYR!!!!!!!

 

[Banana]

How would you know anyway? You don't go anymore...

You're talking about the future right?

 

[8 Bee]

When we get Susan up and running I reckon the place will need a statue out the front - I believe the Susan we should be going for is Susan HAYWARD who was a real stunner in her day

I reckon this will look good in the forecourt...

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/506032

Unless of course Susan is named after Susan Bloggs from 42a Braemar Rd or something

I would have thought that Aussie Bee might go for THIS Susan.

Karl could then serve as the club doctor

 

[spirebee]

too right....always said we should be going for 20k capacity minimum...Reading is the prime example of the build it and they will come...they were on 3-4k home support in a ground which makes gp look luxurious....and look what happened ! and a bigger plus point is that we are building a new ground even more centrally located with stations , numerous good pubs, restuarants etc all within 15mins walk of the ground and in even lovelier surroundings.....id expect our average in L1 to be at least 10k and if we're in the championship around 15k plus...we can give away fans more seats if needed for some games (ie no more sheff weds, leeds, soton debates) and we should leave enough room to build on another 5k should we get in premiership.......this is the way forward

anyone who thinks we should build 15k only ground needs their head testing....it will just be costing us more in a short amount of time to having to make it bigger eventually

To add another 5000 to the original 15000 will cost a fortune in such a congested site.
Reading is the better comparison that Brighton, as we are very similar to how they used to be before the move.
Building a decent ground sends out a message to all the fair-weather supporters (like I am now). 15000 will show there's no great faith and this will show in the attendances.
We should be going for 20K, with the possibility to expand to 25/30K in future.
There are plenty of rugby clubs that would come on board (IMO) and spread the costs.
Up until we ruined GP in '86 (wendy house) the ground held nearly 40000!
I'm sure we'll nick plenty of local Chelsea/Arsenal/Tottenham fans that are fed up with the plastic Premier League once they've had a taste of our Susan!

 

[FlyBee]

Up until we ruined GP in '86 (wendy house) the ground held nearly 40000!

Are you sure?

 

[Garybaldbee]

Are you sure?

It's not so far off the mark. As late as 1983 there were reports that the club was expecting up to 30,000 for the Liverpool Milk Cup tie. Though, if you accept the official gate, you wonder where another 12,000 would have fitted in..........

 

[Garybaldbee]

Reading is the better comparison that Brighton, as we are very similar to how they used to be before the move.

I agree that Reading are the better comparison but its easy to forget that they were enjoying a big upturn in their fortunes even before they moved to the Madjeski. By that stage they had already spent a couple of years in the 2nd tier (albeit yo-yo ing with the 3rd) and Elm Park was regularly packed with 12-13,000.