Aberdeen's new stadium

[Drunken Hobo]

What do Dundee Utd have?

Some pitches at St. Andrews Uni, are a fair few pitches but not sure if they have their own designated ones, as the uni team trains/plays on some of them.

[Desert Nomad]

Give over.

What he meant, was that he realised Aberdeen were never going to be a big enough club to realise his ambitions. He thought with all the success we were having that Aberdeen would get bigger and bigger, selling out every week, having to make Pittodrie bigger, and perhaps looking at having an average crowd of 25,000 - 30,000, and pushing 35,000 - 40,000 for the big games, and being fairly comparable with the crowds the Old Firm were on.

With the catchment area Aberdeen has, and the success we were having, you can't blame the man for thinking it was possible.

However, when 17,000 turned up for a European cup quarter final, he said the penny dropped that it would probably never happen. He wanted to win the European cup and absolutely dominate europe, and knew he would have to be at one of the biggests clubs in europe to do it.

As he put it, in his own words. East Stirlingshire could never be a St Mirren, St Mirren could never be an Aberdeen, and Aberdeen could never be a Man Utd.

How times change, at least St Mirren can reach a cup final!

[thisGRAEME]

I'd immediately say yes, as anyone that sticks the away fans with an open ended stand facing the sea is a b*****d and owes me some restitution by building a stand far away from the sea so I don't freeze my right ear off every time I sit there.

So. Bloody. Cold.

[HeartyHelen]

Yes, Pittodrie isnt in the best location, but they have managed with it for 107 years and I know the building is run down but it would be cheaper to repair than rebuild.

there is the question of VAT.

VAT is not payable on a new build (or at one point wasn't) where as for major repairs you are adding on £175 per £1000 spent on the building works.

[AndyM]

there is the question of VAT.

VAT is not payable on a new build (or at one point wasn't) where as for major repairs you are adding on £175 per £1000 spent on the building works.

Good point. There is also the question of site preparation. Aberdeen would also have to demolish the 4 stands before handing it over to the developer which would be at least a couple of million. Even though that would probably be Stewart Milne he'd hand Aberdeen FC the bill for it too.

[La_Leyenda]

Good point. There is also the question of site preparation. Aberdeen would also have to demolish the 4 stands before handing it over to the developer which would be at least a couple of million. Even though that would probably be Stewart Milne he'd hand Aberdeen FC the bill for it too.

The "why Aberdeen can't rebuild Pittodrie" has been done to death, but the main reasons are:-

-Where is the money coming from? At least selling Pittodrie helps fund some of the new stadium. How do you fund knocking down Pittodrie and rebuilding?

-Merkland Stand (to those unfamiliar with pittodrie, basically the small family stand behind the goals) was where the big two tiered stand was originally mean to be, but residents in the houses behind objected saying it would block their light. Therefore, Aberdeen can't build a big stand there.

- Main stand - there's no room behind it.

- South Stand - we don't own the land behind it anymore.

So what exactly would we do to pittodrie anyway taking the above into account. Even if we did have the money, all they can do is slightly upgrade three of the stands - leaving the stadium looking almost the same. Thats sounds well worth the money.

[La_Leyenda]

Here you are lads. No need to visit the internet porn websites tonight, just have yourselves a w**k over this.

http://backoffice.afc.co.uk/arena/flythrough.htm

*Video takes a wee while to load. Be patient, its worth it, its fucking sexual I tell you*

[KyleLEITH]

If aberdeen build this then they should be applauded, would be fantastic for them and scottish football

[Aberdeen Cowden]

If aberdeen build this then they should be applauded, would be fantastic for them and scottish football

And even more fantastic for Stewart Milne!

[jamamafegan]

It should be bigger than 21,000 I think. They should aim for 25,000

[CityDave]

Pittodrie has had its time, Aberdeen FC needs to look to the future and move forward. A new stadium would give everyone a lift not just in Aberdeen but in Scotland as a whole, Internationals anyone?. It would also strengthen any future bid to host the European Championships.

[HibeeJibee]

It should be bigger than 21,000 I think. They should aim for 25,000

Why? The club is not going to be averaging the high end of the teens on a regular basis anytime (the 3 biggest games in their history... 2x CWC SFs + SuperCup Final... drew 24k 23k +22k, at the height of their powers); Scotland is never going to get the Euros, which requires 30k anyway; and it's effectively an increase on Pittodrie which only has ~20k SPL compliant seats IIRC?

In the same way Hibs aren't going to need more than 20,500 anytime soon... Aberdeen aren't going to need more than 21,000.

Design look nice.

[HibeeJibee]

Pittodrie has had its time, Aberdeen FC needs to look to the future and move forward. A new stadium would give everyone a lift not just in Aberdeen but in Scotland as a whole, Internationals anyone?. It would also strengthen any future bid to host the European Championships.

That won't be a factor. You need 30k seats, and with it expanding to 24 teams, 10-12 stadiums in 9-11 cities... Even a Celtic bid would never get the required stadiums + cities assembled.

[BUNTS]

It should be bigger than 21,000 I think. They should aim for 25,000

I belive Aberdeen are being quite smart about regarding capacity. I believe the 21,000 could easily be expanded if Scotland were to hold the Euros however any expasnsion would have to be funded by the Scottish Goverment. Therefore AFC only pay for the size of stadium they need.

[EdTheDuck]

Looks fantastic, much better than i imagined it would, but 2 questions spring to mind, La leyenda

1 - do you think it will ever be built like that?

and

2 - all that glass, visiting fans; good idea or not?

[HibeeJibee]

I belive Aberdeen are being quite smart about regarding capacity. I believe the 21,000 could easily be expanded if Scotland were to hold the Euros however any expasnsion would have to be funded by the Scottish Goverment. Therefore AFC only pay for the size of stadium they need.

Let's remember "the government" are paying for part of this already, aren't they ? I think this is really looking at the issue from the other end of the telescope. Aberdeen don't need more than about 20k seats + Scotland is never realistically going to host the Euros ever, from now on... = 20k seats it is. Sensible.

[KyleLEITH]

Looks fantastic, much better than i imagined it would, but 2 questions spring to mind, La leyenda

1 - do you think it will ever be built like that?

and

2 - all that glass, visiting fans; good idea or not?

need to keep the away fans from that glass block.

another thing is it looks like only 2 corners will have seats, give it a unique look inside

[HibeeJibee]

Interesting snippet from the article:

http://www.afc.co.uk...2275060_2118783

...

The stadium is orientated east to west with the Main Stand located to the south, with an ideal vantage point over the loch.

...

The all-seater arena will have 3 public stands and a Main Stand which contains the hospitality section, with the first 11 seating rows circling the whole pitch.

...

The arena will accomodate a variety of matchday hospitality facilities including 26 high level hospitality boxes, hospitality suites and a supporters bar

Take it from this the stadium is effectively 3 'regular' stands... with a different stand on 4th (touchline) side - 11 rows will be about 1,500 - 2,000 seats? - with boxes etc. behind? Presumably 11 rows only means corners?

EDIT: In fact if you look at these PDFs from the design page, you can see the South (aka Main) stand appears to have a different, slightly smaller, lay-out. Will it look odd with 3 full-size stands, + one different?

http://backoffice.af.../planning4.html

http://www.afc.co.uk/staticFiles/71/52/0,,10284~152177,00.pdf

[Darren]

Looks fantastic, much better than i imagined it would, but 2 questions spring to mind, La leyenda

1 - do you think it will ever be built like that?

and

2 - all that glass, visiting fans; good idea or not?

The two questions I would like to ask Aberdeen fans:

1 - Do you think it will ever be built

2 - If yes, how exactly is it being funded? Up to £40m?!

[KyleLEITH]

The two questions I would like to ask Aberdeen fans:

1 - Do you think it will ever be built

2 - If yes, how exactly is it being funded? Up to £40m?!

The two questions I would like to ask Hearts fans:

1 - Do you think it will ever be built

2 - If yes, how exactly is it being funded? Up to £51m?!