The Riverside Stand Renovation Thread

[Miller11]

Waggott thought that by bringing the Riverside prices in line with other areas he could get all the long standing season ticket holders in there to move. He is surprised they haven’t… because he doesn’t get it. He has a dream to replace the stand with a hotel and conference centre.

Other members of the Ewood brain trust have their own ideas. They want a council partnership to build a community hub, and another campus for the UCFB - basically overspill for the one at Turf Moor. Again, plenty of grants available. They think the best way to achieve this is to let the Riverside fall into disrepair to the extent it gets condemned, believing the council might then become more receptive.

 

[Mattyblue]

10 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

 They think the best way to achieve this is to let the Riverside fall into disrepair to the extent it gets condemned, believing the council might then become more receptive.

 

‘Never refuse a cheque’

[TheRovers1994]

Said all along riverside when the funds become available needs to be replaced with a smaller (3k) single tier stand (similar to Preston’s invincibles or West Brom’s main stand and close to the pitch, obviously throw in the extra facilities that can be used on non match days and would also like to see a club museum, make the blues bar drinks only and free entry, and build in a cafe for those wanting a traditional pre match footy meal like what you’d get at the blues 

[MarkBRFC]

Nothing will ever happen with this, apart from possible closure one day.

[Mattyblue]

Yet amazingly they couldn’t get the bulldozers in at Brockhall quick enough…

[tomphil]

There are loads of things that could be done whilst incorporating other things and reducing the capacity to something more sensible.

Billionaires owning dozens of companies you'd think might be able to come up with something novel especially to attract outside investment and sponsorship.

[windymiller7]

One of the biggest things for me would be to introduce a proper covered section for disabled supporters. It really does make me feel embarrassed seeing supporters in wheelchairs getting piss wet through at the front of the Riverside.

[TheRovers1994]

44 minutes ago, windymiller7 said:

One of the biggest things for me would be to introduce a proper covered section for disabled supporters. It really does make me feel embarrassed seeing supporters in wheelchairs getting piss wet through at the front of the Riverside.

That would come with the new stand 

[Ossydave]

We'll definitely need a new stand by the end of the season now. Burnley are set to bring a quarter of a million fans to Ewood in the home areas and will trash it.

[Dreams of 1995]

The infrastructure is being allowed to die through lack of investment and maintenance

Quite simply they do not care about Ewood and its surroundings. They’ve shown as much 

They would rather spend money on the “development of Brockhall” than they would on the stadium. The phrase we are looking for is return on cost; they don’t see a return in building a new stand, but they do in selling prime real estate to housing developers

Most football owners operate on a return on value - they see the value of stadium investment / maintenance to the fans, local community and businesses. The stakeholders (if you know, you know). 

Venkys clearly don’t operate that way. Any value is judged solely on profit and loss. And that is why we have seen Ewood and its surroundings left to rot. So any idea of a new stand is silly if you ask me

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Dreams of 1995

[Ossydave]

Not sure how many grounds you've been to this season but i can assure you there's grounds in a lot worse states than Ewood in the league!

[JHRover]

It will never happen. 

For as long as we remain outside the PL there is nowhere near enough demand - particularly with Waggott's punitive pricing & their clear desire to make the JW the 'shop window' of the club (levelling up prices, moving the cameras).

Therefore all they will ever say is that there's no point to doing it - we don't need extra seating and that we should be investing all our efforts into promotion not 'pointless' projects such as these.

Then if by some miracle we get promoted the narrative will shift - we will then have to survive in the PL for it to be viable, only when attendances inevitably increase they will then say it isn't feasible because it will require relocating lots of regular fans elsewhere and in doing to cutting our capacity and income.

Then if we came back down it would go on the backburner again.

Of course there are reasons to do it other than simple capacity issues - facilities (matchday and non matchday), improved supporter experience, improved atmosphere, improved media/corporate/revenue options, fully covered stand, no obstructed views, concourse provision, disabled access.

The ONLY thing that gives me any cause for optimism is that if we did ever get promoted the PL would immediately insist that we took steps to upgrade our media and disabled facilities - they would not tolerate disabled spectators being sat in the rain on the walkways at the front and would insist we took steps to deal with this - clubs have had to spend fortunes addressing this. For Rovers there would be one obvious and relatively easy way of doing this whilst addressing all the other issues and that is within a new Riverside. 

Sadly with Waggott he's more likely to put some cheap scaffolding up in a corner or rip out a portion of the BBE/DE to do it as a cheap alternative instead.

[Dreams of 1995]

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

Not sure how many grounds you've been to this season but i can assure you there's grounds in a lot worse states than Ewood in the league!

Of course there is 

Our current owners have nothing to thank for that though 

Our stadium has been in a process of managed decline for over 10 years - literally nothing has improved, only got worse 

[Ben-2000]

Completely agree this needs renovating and as suggested something smaller than the other 3 stands, closer to the pitch with the roof aligned similar to what Preston have done. It would give the stadium the finished look.

It needs to retain its existing 5k capacity though, reducing it to say 3k would look ridiculous. We've had more than 27,000 in the ground on occasions & if promoted we would do so again pretty regularly.

Also agree that it should incorporate a covered disabled section, perhaps along the full length at the rear on a raised platform.

 

 

[damo100]

A similar sized stand but much closer to the pitch. 

Steeper seating with each ends roof adjoining the BB DE stands.

This would greatly improve atmosphere/acoustics in the stadium. 

In need of a new jumbo screen, where would it or maybe two of them go?

BB and DE Roof?

[Mattyblue]

On 23/02/2020 at 15:33, Mattyblue said:

Close proximity to the pitch, has the TV gantry, Exec facilities etc. Just need to add raised platforms for disabled supporters. Good, old, decently sized club. Hawthorns is 27,000.

⬆️This is what we should do.

 

‘Blackburn Rovers have confirmed they will be closing the Riverside Stand at Ewood Park’

⬆️This is what we will do

Edited March 23, 2023 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

9 hours ago, Ben-2000 said:

Completely agree this needs renovating and as suggested something smaller than the other 3 stands, closer to the pitch with the roof aligned similar to what Preston have done. It would give the stadium the finished look.

It needs to retain its existing 5k capacity though, reducing it to say 3k would look ridiculous. We've had more than 27,000 in the ground on occasions & if promoted we would do so again pretty regularly.

Also agree that it should incorporate a covered disabled section, perhaps along the full length at the rear on a raised platform.

 

 

Unless something different is done with it like the suggestions in this thread that also go along with less seating there is absolutely no point rebuilding it.

If you want to retain the same number of seats then just leave it as it is. The whole rebuild idea is to incorporate something else into there which might be useful and improve income whilst improving atmosphere and giving us a capacity more in keeping with the size of fanbase and regular crowds.

At the moment they maintain a 5k seat stand for a regular 1 or 1.5k bums on them which is kind of daft when you think about it.

If we want a big capacity just in case we need it once in a blue moon then just carry on as we are. Otherwise 27/28k is more than enough for us Prem or no Prem.

Edited March 23, 2023 by tomphil

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

On 10/07/2020 at 15:28, Ozz said:

THINK BIG

Exactly how Jack wanted the stadium to look in the end with a 40k capacity.

Keep the 5,000 capacity but include social facilities and the much mooted Museum etc.

Sadly,I doubt they have even given it a thought.

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[tomphil]

I don't think it would be possible to do the things that have been suggested and keep the capacity.  The issue has always been room and the river so coming closer to the pitch is the only logical answer. That would mean a small capacity to allow for incorporating things behind the stand that might contribute to the clubs income.

That's something i'd be all for as there is a purpose to it as well as making the ground look better and a much needed improvement to the atmosphere at that side.

Mind you if we could get another thousand or so in there regularly it wouldn't matter. There is something unique and old school about the riverside but facilities aren't great and it looks awful on matchdays when there is only 12k or less.

[Groundhog]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

At the moment they maintain a 5k seat stand for a regular 1 or 1.5k bums on them which is kind of daft when you think about it.

If we want a big capacity just in case we need it once in a blue moon then just carry on as we are. Otherwise 27/28k is more than enough for us Prem or no Prem.

Totally agree -  reduce the capacity and make a better stand, 3k is fine - and add a safe standing area too. Let's face it unless football changes on a grand scale, we'd be lucky to get above 20k for most games in the Prem. In the last 20 years we were only near capacity when Liverpool or Man Utd visited Ewood. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Be lucky to get more than 20k a game in the Premierleague?....give over eh!😄

[Dreams of 1995]

17 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I don't think it would be possible to do the things that have been suggested and keep the capacity.  The issue has always been room and the river so coming closer to the pitch is the only logical answer. That would mean a small capacity to allow for incorporating things behind the stand that might contribute to the clubs income.

That's something i'd be all for as there is a purpose to it as well as making the ground look better and a much needed improvement to the atmosphere at that side.

Mind you if we could get another thousand or so in there regularly it wouldn't matter. There is something unique and old school about the riverside but facilities aren't great and it looks awful on matchdays when there is only 12k or less.

You could wrap it to the Darwen End / BBE and still retain capacity whilst making better use of the room behind the actual stand

It could make a nice indoor fan zone, and with many pubs failing in the area a decent pub linked with local breweries would go a long way to attracting home fans before the game. It is what many clubs are doing these days to increase match day footfall

A safe standing area in one of the corners could also go a long way to improving atmosphere

Again though, all of these are ideas that require owners to be connected with the club. Ours don't give a rats ass so it'll be left to fall down

[tomphil]

I think @Groundhog referring to home fans and i agree most games will be under that number.

[superniko]

Even in the relegation year under Kean and Venkys we averaged 22.5k.

We'd be a popular away trip as it'll be a while since some clubs have visited (Fernhurst rubbing their hands together), it won't be the case of 400 Reading fans etc. Every club would easily bring 3k+ up there, except the south coast clubs maybe.

BBE Lower and JW would be pretty much full which is 15k or so, then add in the bits of Riverside, worst case it'd be 20k for a regular game and 25k for the 'big clubs', average out around 22k-23k for the season (far fewer Tue/Wed night games helps this too).

EDIT: Ah, agree if it was meant as home fans attendance.

By the way, has something been released about the stand at all? Or has the thread randomly got back to life as it does each year?

I actually thought the stand to the left of the away fans at Bramall Lane looked like a good option for the Riverside, albeit a little bigger than we'd want. Similar to WBA/PNE above it had a box level at the top.

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by superniko

[Groundhog]

5 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Be lucky to get more than 20k a game in the Premierleague?....give over eh!😄

Don't want to get into an argument about attendances as it's boring as fook but I'll bite:

Under Hughes we averaged in the low 20s. They were "good" seasons with exciting football and a European challenge. If we got promoted, in the current climate, do you really think that fans are going to come back, with the current prices, to watch a small underfunded squad getting smashed every week? I'd love the opposite but need to be realistic.