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My idea to relocate major football teams & others to a newly built 'sports capital'

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RichmondCommu

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Must be confused by the Arsenal stadium.

With the exception of West Ham, so far the London clubs have chosen to stay in pretty much the same area that their original stadiums were located. Land in London is very expensive but on the other hand local transport is excellent so there is no reason to move.
 
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Clip

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This has top be the strangest suggestion I've ever seen on these forums, and I feel there has been a lot of competition for that title!

At least they didnt want the 442's to transport people there as a new use ;)

That was not always the case as Kennington Oval hosted the FA Cup final for many years from 1871 onwards, with only two exceptions.

Of the first nine FA Cup finals to be held, Wanderers won it no less than six times, Royal Engineers twice and Oxford University once.

How was the travelling there from the great county of Cheshire when you were but a teenager ;):lol:
 

charley_17/7

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Milton Keynes has aspirations for both European Capital of Culture and 'International Sporting City'.

We still have the National Badminton Centre, but lost the National Hockey Stadium (now Network Rail HQ!).

Recently built additions include Stadium:MK (which hosting RWC2015 matches) and our little (unknown) Arena.

Given we are halfway between Oxford and Cambridge, how about hosting the boat race too!?
 

edwin_m

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Given we are halfway between Oxford and Cambridge, how about hosting the boat race too!?

Don't you need some kind of river for that?

Seeing as we are unlikely to get the eastern half of East West Rail for many years yet, MK is actually pretty inaccessible by rail from a large swathe of eastern England except by going into and out of London.
 

steamybrian

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It was my impression that teams must seek permission from the Football Association if they wish to move to a new ground outside the area which the team represents.
Many years there was big "news" when Wimbledon FC moved to Milton Keynes.
 

LuSiVe

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My team, Morecambe, only moved half a mile yet the number of fans fell sharply and has never recovered. That was mainly because the core fans lived within walking distance of the old ground (in a densely populated "working class"), whereas the new ground is in a sparsely populated "bungalow" land mostly occupied by the blue rinse brigade.

OK, there were other factors, such as the new ground being poor served by buses whereas the old ground was on a main bus route.

Back to the OP, what about all the spectators who currently walk, cycle or get a cheap bus to their local match - they're hardly going to spend a fortune on a train fare and overnight hotel room to watch a match 50/100/200 miles away!

I've never seen the sea at Morecambe, you're so far away from it :(

We moved, but not too much further out of town and to what I think is a better location overall. Attendances increased and have never dropped back.

Soulless out of town grounds like Shrewsbury though ....
 

EM2

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With the exception of West Ham, so far the London clubs have chosen to stay in pretty much the same area that their original stadiums were located. Land in London is very expensive but on the other hand local transport is excellent so there is no reason to move.
West Ham are still in the same area as their original stadium (if by original you mean The Boleyn Ground), the Olympic Stadium only being 2.9 miles away and both stadia being in the old County Borough of West Ham.
 

steamybrian

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With the exception of West Ham, so far the London clubs have chosen to stay in pretty much the same area that their original stadiums were located. Land in London is very expensive but on the other hand local transport is excellent so there is no reason to move.

Crystal Palace when in dire financial problems a few years ago did consider selling Selhurst Park and moving to their original base at Crystal Palace Sports Arena.
Millwall moved to a new ground adjacent to their old ground.
The new Wimbledon FC ground is located in Kingston.
 

Bald Rick

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With the exception of West Ham, so far the London clubs have chosen to stay in pretty much the same area that their original stadiums were located. Land in London is very expensive but on the other hand local transport is excellent so there is no reason to move.

Err... Arsenal? (First move)
 

Bald Rick

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When the FA was wondering what to do with the old Wembley stadium there were proposals to sell the land and build a new stadium near the NEC in Birmingham. In my mind it made more sense as the land is cheaper there with better transport links as Birmingham Airport, Birmingham International station and the M6 & M42 motorways nearby. It also made sense as football is more popular in the Midlands & North of England and national stadiums aren't always in a nation's capital (Scotland with Hampden Park in Glasgow for example).

The FA decided against it though as Wembley is the home of football.

Also, the land at Wembley was free...
 

LuSiVe

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I think that you might be confusing matters here....did you mean Southport?

Nope, curiously I *have* seen the sea at Southport (and it's a right walk from there to the ground).

Every time we go to Morecambe we look at how far it is to walk to the seafront and decide not to bother. After the last time we were there (0-3 up and lost 4-3) I think we'll do that *instead* of the football.....
 

SteveP29

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I think that we should build a couple of artificial islands, one in the Irish Sea, and one in the North Sea, each just big enough to contain a football pitch, changing rooms, etc.
Supporters would view only via personalised subscription TV channels.....

Failing that, all professional football matches would be required to take place between 02:00 and 04:00, thereby minimising transport problems for everybody else. Sale of alcohol would be banned anywhere in the country for 3 days prior to each match, and football grounds would require to be surrounded by anti-noise barriers.

Well - I can dream occasionally, can't I ???

If everyone had to have personal subscription to the channels, you presumably mean people would only be able to watchelp games at home, there'd be no transport problems.
Also, if the games were to be played on islands in the north and Irish seas with no supporters, there'd be no transport problems there either :D
 

12CSVT

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Milton Keynes has aspirations for both European Capital of Culture and 'International Sporting City'.

We still have the National Badminton Centre, but lost the National Hockey Stadium (now Network Rail HQ!).

Recently built additions include Stadium:MK (which hosting RWC2015 matches) and our little (unknown) Arena.

Given we are halfway between Oxford and Cambridge, how about hosting the boat race too!?

Well I suppose you could say that Wimbledon FC play their home matches at Milton Keynes
 

Hadders

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Northampton town used to play at northamptonshire cricket stadium. Also the stadium in Cape Town used to have cricket and football played there I believe.

The football club played on what effectively was the cricket club's car park.
 

DarloRich

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The usual posters are showing their usual hatred/jealusy of football and anyone interested in it! The idea suggested by the OP is bonkers and utterly daft.

It could work, but travel to national games is a pretty insignificant amount of travel. When there's an event at Wembley, even something like Liverpool vs Manchester, I don't believe that they stop the WCML trains at Wembley, certainly they don't run chartered trains.

Yes they do! All the time, although they now run into Euston or other London stations with connections by tube. LM increase the number of trains that stop at Wembley on event days

A total non starter, who is going to support a team that is playing miles away from their home?

Let's say I live in Manchester and my team are now playing all their home and away fixtures in London, I'm really going to be a regular attendee aren't I?, or am I supposed to move too London as well?

Back to the drawing board I think

Agreed, although i think it depends on the distance. My team Darlington are currently playing at Bishop Auckland which is about 12/13 miles from home. Our crowds have gone down slightly.

For me a home game is a day long round trip from MK but there are quiet a few of us make long journeys to watch home games. Although i haven't been often this season due to financial pressures sadly.

BTW Bishop is the 5th ground i have seen Darlo play home games in. It will hopefully be 6 next year when we move back home.

Milton Keynes has aspirations for both European Capital of Culture and 'International Sporting City'.

We still have the National Badminton Centre, but lost the National Hockey Stadium (now Network Rail HQ!).

Recently built additions include Stadium:MK (which hosting RWC2015 matches) and our little (unknown) Arena.

Given we are halfway between Oxford and Cambridge, how about hosting the boat race too!?

I think we have already stolen enough sporting clubs don't you? ;)

Don't you need some kind of river for that?

Seeing as we are unlikely to get the eastern half of East West Rail for many years yet, MK is actually pretty inaccessible by rail from a large swathe of eastern England except by going into and out of London.

We have a canal and plenty of lakes ;)
 

miami

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Yes they do! All the time, although they now run into Euston or other London stations with connections by tube. LM increase the number of trains that stop at Wembley on event days

So not to Wembley then. I was under the impression that chartering trains was rather problematic, hence the chaos caused the other week when 60,000 people leave Old Trafford and try to get on trains to London.

LM stopping at Wembley may help people from Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempsted, but as a national game, the bulk of people are presumably travelling from further affield. Why don't virgin stop?

We have a canal and plenty of lakes ;)

That would be an interesting improvement -- have the boat race going through locks :D
 

DarloRich

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So not to Wembley then. I was under the impression that chartering trains was rather problematic, hence the chaos caused the other week when 60,000 people leave Old Trafford and try to get on trains to London.

LM stopping at Wembley may help people from Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempsted, but as a national game, the bulk of people are presumably travelling from further affield. Why don't virgin stop?

I think there isn't the slack in the timetable these days to stop Virgin trains there.

The idea seems to be go to Euston (or other terminal) and tube or LM or Chiltern or LO to one of the Wembley stations and back with the return charter leaving London late enough to cover extra time and penalties.


That would be an interesting improvement -- have the boat race going through locks :D

there is a local canal race where you have to get out and carry your canoe round the locks!
 

Tetchytyke

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LM stopping at Wembley may help people from Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempsted, but as a national game, the bulk of people are presumably travelling from further affield. Why don't virgin stop?

Leaving aside capacity constraints, the fact that Wembley Central's platforms are very short.
 

GarethJohn

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I've never seen the sea at Morecambe, you're so far away from it :(

We moved, but not too much further out of town and to what I think is a better location overall. Attendances increased and have never dropped back.

Soulless out of town grounds like Shrewsbury though ....

I see your location is Chesterfield who copied Shrewsbury's ''Out of town soulless ground''.
 

Howardh

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Taking the idea to a local level, all of Bury, Rochdale and Oldham have problems with their own grounds. Too small, old and in the case of Bury, very poor access (one side).

It has been suggested that if all three sold up - prime housing land the three of them - they could move to a purpose built sports city central to all three and adjacent to the motorway. The clubs would keep their own identities, but the pitch would have to cope with 80+ home game in 9 months, only really possible with astroturf.

But the biggest drawback is simple....it's hard enough to get locals to go to the games when the stadium's at the end of their street, never mind off a motorway junction.

Same with Bolton, who moved out-of-town. In the Premier fans were *happy* to travel by dedicated bus or pay high car-parking charges. Now they are on the verge of the Third they will be far less happy, and unless the club offers free parking and/or buses, think the ground will be 2/3rds empty or worse.
 
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