The Hotel End

Sorry about another thread regards redevelopment!

The club currently have a job going for box office and CRM manager, nothing really interesting in that! However in the job description the following job role requirements are listed:-

c) Working with the club Chairman on how ticketing and stadium entry will work post re-development.
d) Look at costs and benefits of implementing an access control system into the stadium. Looking at avenues open to increasing matchday revenue and cost savings by having a full or part system in place.

Am I reading too much into this, or doe this mean the stadium work is not far from kicking off???

You are looking at the reason to make the succesful applicant redundant if he/she manages to survive over 12 months.

Can anyone inform me of what a CRM manager role would involve. I've never heard the term before

CRM = customer relationship management software.  In the world of sales we use it to track opportunities so you don't lose track of potential business.  It does sales forecasting and reporting and all that kind of stuff.  Pretty boring but crucial to sales teams.

To be honest the whole redevelopment saga has dragged on so long now that I am bored witless by it.
By the time it does happen I will be too bored to celebrate a bright new era for the club ::)

shouldnt this be in the The Official Summer Rumours Thread?!

In the latest video on Cobblers Player Cardoza says "we're really really close to making an announcement on the redevelopment but you just think you've done it and something else crops up, we're trying to finish off a couple of last minute bits and pieces and when we do then we'll have something to say". Will be interesting to see what this announcement reveals, if anything.

We are going to build a new ground on the site of the Greyfriers Bus station when it is knocked down.
The ground and especially the club shop will go a long way to ensuring that the regeneration of the town centre is continued by moving everything back inside the town centre bounderies.  :P

chron and echo page 7

Expansion bid for sixfields to be agreed

reading between the lines should be announced in a couple of weeks, as part of the new waterside regeneration zone. also interestingly, redevelopment of land near eagle drive that will be used as training pitches by NTFC, the complex will be named after Richard Butcher

Excellent news to wake up to.

Yup read that this morning, great news and just what the club needed, but would more new locals come down to the new ground? That ticketing should offer cheap £200 season tickets the first season to draw more people in :)

I won't believe it until the first diggers move on, we've been down this road too many times before

Excellent news. This should have been agreed years ago. Shame on the local politicians who were arse fu*cked by Legal and General

Same as.

Everybody's jumping on the bandwagon now  ;D

Northampton Labour ‏@Npton_Labour
Hope Cobblers development deal signed soon. @ntfc have had years of frustration from NBC particularly the last few. Well done to D Cardoza.

This.

I saw a convoy of lorries carrying HUGE diggers travelling South down the M1 this morning, just north of Durham. Looks like it's definitely happening  ;D

This news is confirmed by the Council, so well done so far to David Cardoza. I like the idea of a joint training facility with the Saints at Delapre. Any news on what specific expansion of the stadium is happening alongside the shops, offices and hotel agreed?

Yes, well done DC. It's taken far too long, but it looks like it's finally happening. Well done to all concerned. As for the previous council regime. . . . hang your heads in shame!

still on offy site,
http://www.ntfc.co.uk/page/Redevelopment/0,,10425~668356,00.html

Well lets get promoted before the revamp, you always tend to have your first year in a new ground a success, so promotion from league one haha

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/expansion-bid-for-northampton-s-sixfields-stadium-to-be-agreed-1-3904879

Great news as far as it is.....
Once the contract is signed.
Once the planning permission is granted.
Once the contractors move in.
Once they complete within budget.....

Then and only then will I be totally delighted for the chairman.
He has the patience of a saint.

(And before one of you clever arses say he's in it to make money... he still has patience!)

If you'd stuck £40 into a fruit machine, wouldn't you carry on playing it through drinking up time?

is this the quote of the year?? Where you sober when posted?

Think about it dopey. If you'd gambled a load of money, wouldn't you keep playing it until the last possible moment in the hope of even just getting your money back?

Yes. On the other hand if I'd stuck 7 million in a fruity I'd probably realise that I'd not be getting that back even if they had a lock-in.

yeah but remember the payout is a bit bigger on the machine big daves playing as well

It's exchanges like those above, that keep me coming back here. ;D

Classic line!  ;D

Nope. Wouldnt stick £40 into a slotter at all, especially coming up to last orders. Its a foolish and lonely individual that does.

....
Indeed I would, but it would still make me question myself still putting more and more in not knowing if it was actually programmed for a jackpot

I would hold my plums.

  ;D
Or lose your cherries.

I'm absolutely delighted by this news.

Does anybody know at roughly what point in the process we can expect some c**t from the Liberal Demotw*ts to "call it in" and leave my dreams a smashed and broken carcaus lying lifeless in the dust?

This made me lol  ;D

Nah, you start on it at about 3 in the afternoon and the more drunk you get, the more you think the win is the next spin

For neverbright this means he started putting money into NTFC in 2002 and with each decent season/big win/great game/promising bit of news the more he thought the golden news was just about to come in

Theres always help available.
http://www.steps2rehab.com/addictions/gambling/

I don't play them myself but I'll forward that to big Dave. I just need to get the Flux capacitor invented so I can whizz back to 2002

Lets hope it's all signed and sealed up quickly as I think this could help us in more ways than one.

The plans would have been rolled out to help entice ADB, we're an ambitious club etc etc. I think we're all generally agreed Aidy was an excellent appointment and gives us at least a chance of some success, that we'll have to see, but if the development finally starts and Aidy does turn it around on the pitch at the same time it may encourage him to stay longer.

Taking a team from the edge of oblivion to the Championship would do his CV the world of good! You gotta have a dream!

Taking a team from the edge of oblivion to the Championship would do his CV the world of good! You gotta have a dream!
[/quote]
That's just happy talk.

Of course, but why not, happiness is allowed!

Obviously had no idea what was said between DC & ADB at his appointment but I'm sure it wasn't "Ok Chairman you develop the ground and give me some money to build a team, I'll give you mid table"  There has to be some ambition now. Why else would ADB take the job? He want's to do the best he can so lets see, and for now afford yourself a small smile.

The latest comments from DC on the C & E website seem to say 'WHEN' not 'IF' the development of Sixfields goes ahead! This is backed up by the comments of David McCintosh the leader of the Council. Maybe, just maybe, off the field AND on the field will come together for a brighter future for the loyal supporters of NTFC.

Shhhhhhhhhhh! (The LibDims can still feck it all up!)

The LibDems deserve nothing but our complete contempt.  I am not political but full credit to the Tories if the revelopment happens after all this time. It is essential to the future our football club.

And still some of the whinging numpties on the Chron website are bleating on about how we're fleecing the taxpayer and why do we need a bigger stadium when we don't sell out the one we've got. It seems the fact DC has actually removed a financial burden from the taxpayer and the concept of corporate facilities are too much for the feeble minded f***wits of our parish to comprehend.

I also noted the Chron refers to the pending works as the following, Redevelopment, Development or refurbishment.  The scope of work  between all three is very different, but I'll take any of them right now.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/breaking-news-council-demands-urgent-talks-over-claims-plans-for-new-grosvenor-centre-are-not-viable-1-3941410

Is this L&G saying that they oppose the Sixfields and Saints progress?
"In particular, in light of the recent spate of retailer administrations, as well as the threat of recently proposed out-of-town schemes, Legal & General recognises that the extension to the Grosvenor Centre needs to be reassessed to ensure that it provides an attractive retailing offer for Northampton as well as a scheme which is economically viable."

When did we vote these c***s in to power?
Our town is being run by a fecking private company.......

Feckin fumin...... if they (L&G) are threatening the council to not develop the GROSSvenor based on Saints and Cobblers having a couple of shops, they need to be taken to task at the highest level.
They don't kick off about a feckin Tesco being on every BAsTarddd corner of the town....so why are they kicking off again?

Fick you L&G I hope your next crepe is a feckin hedgehog.... >:(

It'll be the rushden one. The one they complained about a month ago.

L+G have been taking the piss for too long. If they put their oar in about Sixfields or Franklins Gardens then a protest against the Grosvenor Centre and boycott should be planned....

Yeah good luck on that. Like l and g would care that super drug had 15 less customers One month. Nobody would even notice

Indeed. Of course if they'd got on with it and extended the Grosvenor years ago then it wouldn't now be an issue.

It's clear the Council have lost patience with L+G and the local MP's are calling on them to sell up. Can't see L+G's voice being listened to any more. Still, an absolute disgrace for them to have put their oar in for nearly 10 years about any other devlopment and then pull out of their "plans" for the Grosvenor.

Did anyone from nbc complain about Mk centre being built?

I don't believe anybody from nbc is complaining now

L & G were never going to develop the Grosvenor , if they didn't do it when it was first mooted ,when everything was booming ,they sure as hell aren't going to do it now. Its now that they have run out of excuses that they have been sussed.

  PS They missed a trick when Barton Co-op put up a trolley shelter , they could have protested about that  :)

Crack on with the enterprise zone, Eagle Drive and things that can be achieved in my lifetime.

On 31st May the club announced an agreement should be signed in 2 weeks between NBC, The Homes Agency and NTFC. I know delays are the norm in these situations but as we are so close the wait for an announcement is tantilising. The future of the club is totally dependant on this development. Any whispers or do we have to ask L & G on this as well?????

The pens are in the same boxes as the shirts.

I asked Wayne Bontoft who wrote the story in the Chron a couple of weeks ago and he said it shouldn't be long, still with the solicitors. Confirmed the Grosvenor Centre debacle would have no effect.

Maybe not, but it's sodding typical that it'd go through now, with land prices nowhere near the value they once held. Will it be a scaled down extension/rebuild? Maybe we'll end up with enough dosh to get the decorators in >:(

I reckon Eagle Drive will be Wootton mark 2. Might free up some space down the road though. ::)

 ;D ;D

Maybe any development   at Sixfields should object to any L&G plans

  I was told they intend to extend out over the service road to allow an extra 100 dining spaces/small conference area and a small bar/ function room . The roof will be removed and several small corporate boxes fitted before roof returned. The rest of the ground will remain as is. Better than the nothing we're accustomed to I suppose.

wooooo!

That scheme was shown at a Trust meeting years ago.

Just proves what a great bunch of guys they really are, truly cutting edge.

It won't happen,
get over it

And I bet they all sat there nodding like Churchill dogs at the altar of the almighty Cardoza.

Seriously, if we've waited nearly 8 years for a bigger dining room and a couple of corporate boxes, that will be extremely sad.

Wouldn't it just :-\

I've always enjoyed watching us play at Gresty Road.

I might be a bit simple but:
1. We do not fill the ground currently so capacity isn't really the immediate issue
2. Redevelopment has always been, in the first instance, about "enabling monies"
3. One way to get "enabling monies" is to increase your corporate facilities so that the ground is usable on a more than match-days basis
4. Our current corporate facilities leave very much to be desired (i.e. we effectively do not have any)

So I don't know why anyone is surprised.  Corporate facilities mean the club gets income on non-match days and potentially can reinvest that money further down the line.  That said I don't expect we'll see much in the way of immediate re-investment.  Until such time as we're regularly at the top of L1 or in the Championship there really isn't a need to expand the ground capacity. 

That said, some reinvestment in to the currently existing facilities wouldn't go a miss to make the match-day experience a bit more enjoyable

Suprised you comment on an item when you were not there and had no idea what was said!
Any expansion is to the benefit of the club. The extra new revenue from Executive boxes and corporate events during the week is the obvious way forward. If it also means 1500 extra seats in the West Stand excellent, so well done DC. The expansion of the South Stand is not required until we are in League One or the Championship. The North and East Stand are the least of the priorities.
I just hope the news is close and the start date no far behind.

To be fair though, if in ten years from now we are playing in a 10.500 capacity ground of which 6,800 of that capacity is held in the West stand, then the stadium will look fooking silly :o How is the later expansion of the South/East/North to be funded?

Expand the east stand, it was designed to allow bolt on extra seating and include the executive boxes/restaurant  whilst leaving the west as is and you get a decent looking stadium, fit for the championship for a fraction of the cost currently proposed, and avoids ending up with an odd looking single giant stand stadium.

Absolutely agree with this.

I agree expand the east stand for exec boxes, etc and if needed move the changing rooms and tunnel there aswell.
I would'nt want the ground to look like crewes but if we played like them ?

Can people not remember back to 2006 when we were towards the top 7 of the L2 table all season? I remember there being barely room to swing an earwig inside the stadium on many occasions that year, and the same will happen this season if we have a good one.

Saying we don't need more capacity until championship/top end of L1 football becomes a reality is extremely short sighted. We need to have the capacity there so that we can accommodate the additional customers, bring in the extra revenue and establish ourselves at that level if this happens.

Swansea were set up with the liberty stadium when they were still very much a league 1 club.

I will be very disappointed if the initial development doesn't incorporate a capacity uplift to around 10-12k, along with a row of corporate boxes along the length of the west stand.

We can't expand the East Stand without also having to pay to relocate the athletics track, part of the agreement of the 150 year leasehold was the athletics track was maintained by the club.  Expansion of the East Stand would require building straight on the athletics track so its an immediate no-go unless we can rehome it, which would be more cost.

Expanding the West Stand, regardless of aesthetics, is easier because we're just building out on to our own car park.

Although personally I'd actually build out the South Stand, and think about swapping away fans in to the East Stand as that would then allow us to charge a different amount for travelling fans than have the current situation where we have to peg it to the North Stand because of the same facilities.

And the point about 2006 is so historic it's irrelevant, you're talking about 6 years ago, pre-credit crunch recession.  Everyone had more money, football was cheaper and we were a better side.  We've been nowhere near the capacity in the last couple of years so in the immediate term we do not need to hike the ground size.  What we need is corporate facilities.  If you want a 12K+ capacity stadium we would be better off moving out of Sixfields altogether.

Please can you tell me how much our ticket prices have increased since 2006?

Recession or no recession, the ground will be full if we are in or around the top 7 for a sustained period.

Don't you understand that the club is not cash rich and needs to have regular income. It may have to be done in phases as it can afford it. Get the conferencing and hospitality right and more regular income comes into the club. It wont just tick over like now and be break even every year but will start to become an earner. Getting another thousand spectators in every other week, although it helps, does not bring in enough to afford better players etc.

Consequences More income = More to be spent on team and ground expansion/facilities etc.

In the North Stand matchday ticket prices have gone up £4 in 6 years.  That is the worst example granted, but it's an above inflation increase no matter how you look at it.  East Stand up by £2, West Stand only by £1.  Concessions have gone up £2.50 across the board and the student discount removed.

The only people to have seen a decrease are those who've managed to stay between the ages of 16 and 18 for all 6 years, which is impossible

And I should add that is just matchday ticket price, it doesn't include any food, drink, programmes, travel, etc which also goes in to the overall cost of the matchday experience and ultimately would be what would make some people now think twice about whether going to the football is a must-have or nice-to-have when times are hard.

I don't know how feasible it is to have boxes, restaurants etc in the East Stand because all the catering facilities are in the West Stand and I know there are complications with the gas emissions from the rubbish underground which mean we're restricted in terms of what facilities we have and where they're placed.

My entry has gone down by nearly 20%..... £249 to £199 ST.

Did I say season tickets?  No I said matchday prices.  STH are irrelevant in this discussion as we don't have enough of them to require upping capacity, there is plenty of overhead in the stadium capacity after STH numbers are deducted, the only reason capacity would need to increase is if the number of casual fans (i.e. those that buy tickets on the matchday rather than hold season tickets) increases to take us over the 7,500 barrier which only happens when we're successful or about to get relegated.

It's those casual fans who will be weighing up the cost of the whole day at the moment and thinking it isn't worth it, so we don't really need another 1,500 seats to be empty on a weekend.  What we need, as MKMal said, is a regular income outside of match day.

Is it really that hard for those wanting a huge stadium to understand that a) we can't afford it and b) we don't really need it

Everyone talks as if we have no facilities at Sixfields now......forgive me if im wrong but we do have two or three "suites", restaurants, bars etc which seemingly can not be marketed to maximise revenue as it is. I like the way people seem to think it will all be magic, all the boxes will be filled and sold out, all the new conferencing facilities will be sold out and running 24/7 and then, and only then will we see more money coming in to improve the playing side and the facilities for the "ordinary" supporter.
I daresay people will say look at the Saints......but for me its not like comparing like with like. Yes they do have facilites but they cater to a different kind of client, and we're not going to ever attract sponsorship from the likes of Carlsberg, Travis Perkins, Monarch Airlines etc whilst playing 4th tier football.

Sometimes it is difficult to get your point across when speaking to the terminally thick. Suites, not seats us whats needed.

I think we need both, better corporate & Player facilities plus more general seats

Of course it all depends upon our ambition and attention to detail. personally I would prefer to see more money spent on the infrastructure / staff etc, even if it meant a player or two less.

we need to LOOK like we are trying to go places. These last two seasons I have been proved mostly right in what I said before, especially as DC has stated that he made mistakes, re cutting costs etc.

The corporate stuff will help, although I for one am not convinced it will actually be our saviour as some suggest, look at Oxford, they have a fantastic matchday hospitality set-up yet still in Div 2.

The more seats also depends where we REALLY want to be. There is no doubt that if we are in the top 2 of Div 2 or top 7 of Div 1, we need more seats. The main reason why we rarely sell out during these times is that many of the floating fans want to sit with or near their 'regular' friends but can't so don't bother or they are right on the front row or on the edge of the stand.

I do fear that it will be a typical 'Northampton' effort, mediocre in design, effect and appeal. i really hope I am wrong and that we have something to be proud of and help push us up the leagues into the Championship where we belong  ;D

Some of the neandertal 'do nothing' posters show an incredible ignorance of business. If you run a manufacturing business you plan investment in new facilities (ie equipment) to offer new opportunities to expand the business to new clientel. If you sit on your hands the equipment becomes old and inefficient and eventually worthless.
More power to DC and his plans to add executive boxes, more catering facilities and conference options to utilise our central location. Some of the biggest sport sponsors have their Head Offices in the County and will slowly get involved year on year if we are successful in achieving Championship football. If you do not try you never achieve!

 ;D

I would prefer to see the East stand redeveloped but if it its more financially viable to upgrade the West then I won't complain.

I just quoted my deal..... I pay up front for all my matchdays and it's great value.... maybe if we had 4500 ST holders as when the glory boys were out in 97/98 we'd have a different discussion.
Loyal... ;D

Would any sporting development at Eagle Drive incorporate a running track and Athletics facilities? This would free up current Sixfields East stand site. Throw in a joint venture with UCN relocation at Nunn Mills Avon site and all sweet for our sporting collegiate future!

I agree entirely..

When I hear people talking about bolting on stands and moving entire catering facilities I honestly wonder what planet they live on. At the very least this would require knocking down the East stand. Unless you intend balancing 15-20 executive boxes, extensive kitchen space and 2-3 corporately kitted dining halls on top of the existing stand.


As ever this splits us supporters right down the middle. Your half right, Sixfields was intentially designed to be able to extend the north, east and south stands simply. These stands are actually the bottom tier of any expansion and footings are in place for expansion. If any of these stands are to increase in size the existing roof is indeed simply a bolted on cantilever. This would even allow for the stand to be used during expansion.

I wholeheartedly agree that Sixfields was built without the necessary facilities for corporate entertainment and theseimprovements are planned to be in the West stand and will be, but with 25 restaurants closing a week in the UK anyone who thinks we will build a team from the proceeds of catering are sorely wrong.

It has to be a balance whereas corporate facilities are hugely expensive to run and indeed cause a loss a few extra seats as well should be the way forward, it's catch 22 but with success on the pitch more supporters come and with more supporters comes the corporate interest.

Next time your at a lower league ground with rows of boxes look at how many are actually used.

 Several million pounds of enabling needs to be raised before a single penny will be spent on the stadium, this ain't happening in our life time. We're being led by the nose. I'm resigned to following my team in
 an out dated sub standard 4th division stadium, which is where we'll always be. The trust guys were right all along.

The re-development is not just about corporate boxes being available on match days but creating a venue for hosting events 7 days per week.  I wrote sometime ago on this site that I had attended an event at a Premier League rugby club where the place was heaving on a midweek day with various workshops and professional seminars taking place.  I recall the bars were busy and there was a lot of catering.  At the time it was a stark reminder of what might be at Sixfields.  I only hope that finally after so many false dawns progress is made but that it is not a half baked solution which will haunt the club in the years to come and not deliver the income stream so badly needed if we are ever to fulfil our aspirations of playing at a higher level.

If you need any evidence how too much corporate hospitality and lack of provision for mere spectators can destroy the soul of sports arena go and visit the County Ground.

Excluding those who had a free T20 ticket, does the County Ground get many fare paying passengers these days? Not much of a local cricket fan myself, so i have never sampled the delights.

It's got a bar, its got bogs. What else do you need at a cricket ground. What more do you need at a cricket match?

It's also got food outlets. But the problem is the cost of it all and access restrictions once they have taken you money, not to mention £21 entrance fee to watch sub-standard performances on the field. Attendance for the T20 competition must be down to around a third of the figure from 2 years ago.

Haven't been up the County for a while. I think the last time was in the B&H on a Sunday afternoon for about £2.50. Gone up a bit by the sound of it.

Stumbled across this.......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/northampton_town/4420981.stm

Hard to believe that nothing has changed in over 7 years!! We're still being told that something is about to happen..........and then nothing!

AND THEN THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATES STUCK THEIR GRUBBY NOSES IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS DC to make an announcement re the expansion next week?????????????????



please.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-18686944

If there is any bottle at all at the Guildhall surely now is the time to open to build a Weston Favell size centre at Sixfields?

I'm surprised nobody else has picked up the piece in this weeks amazing local newspaper.

Sixfields deal to be signed off by NBC next week.....

Boys....girls, could it be we are finally going to get Teds good news?

At one of the first public meeetings about the redevlopment Tony Clarke said that L+G were very unlikely to redevelop the Grosvenor. That they looked at it at a bagged account and nothing more. That the Cobblers plans were ready to go and that the council should go with the party with the diggers ready.

All those years wasted and TC was totally right. And guess what, the Lib Dems are still saying the council should give L+G the benefit of the doubt!

it does all have the whiff of brown envelopes. I remember the council once saying why should the favour a private buisnessman (by allowing Sixfields plans) yet by being "neutral" they're favouring L&G. Should have taken a wedge of 50s out 8 years ago davey boy

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/sixfields-redevelopment-deal-to-be-pushed-ahead-1-4025007

As one of the great unwashed who can not justify the extra cost of 'Cobblers World' at present, can somebody summarise DC's press release concerning the redevelopment yesterday.
I have no problem with the initial release being on Cobblers World BUT surely the vast majority of supporters deserve to be informed of major information eventually, say 24 hours later, or do they not matter?

If its of any significance it usually ends up on the Chronic website within 24 hours

I subscribe to the official football league app and watched the interview on there... There was no mention of the redevelopement whatsoever. DC confirmed that that the priority is a centre half. A short term keeper to cover Higgs injury. We have a few trialists training with the squad in Croatia so Aidy may offer them something if they impress. He also went on to say that he wasnt happy or unhappy with the Jacobs deal but said it was a fair price... No other offers were received for Jacobs but he was always going to sign for Derby as he wants first team football, if Newcastle made an offer (they were linked) Jacobs would have turned it down for first time football at Derby

Should be some news thursday by the look of it.
Ashley Lambell ‏@ashlambell
Northampton Borough Council meet at 6pm on Wednesday where they will decide whether or not to approve Sixfields redevelopment.

Thank you......over to DC (and the Council) to deliver.

Items number 7 and 8 on tomorrow nights agenda ;)
http://www.northamptonboroughcouncil.com/councillors/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=528&MID=6859

My mum had something through from the saints about a public consultation, also detailed when they will apply for planning permission and when they'll start building. Already so far ahead of ntfc

That's a different interview which went on the website today. In the one about the re-development DC says the land deal will be signed off on Wednesday which puts the structure for re-development in place and is the big step, once that is done we can start looking at how much money will be made and how much we can spend basically.

Its a travesty that they're having to do an enabling deal during a biting recession rather than at the top of the market as the dongs got away with

Depending of course on no unexpected hiccups at the council meeting. Fingers crossed, everybody :-X

So very true. We've waited so long, and yet in all honesty the timing (economically) is terrible.

You say that but they could sell the land now with conditions and have it built on which'd take a year or two by which time we might be out of recession and property prices might have risen again & when the developer sells it we make a % on the final purchase price

Martin Wilkinson will no doubt piss the redevelopment money up the wall anyway ::)

You could be right. Let's just hope we actually get there this time, because doubtless the Saints will have the builders in and finished before any real headway starts to be made on the Sixfields complex. Fair does to them, but you can't fault their ability to get the right strings pulled.

The Saints are aiming to apply for planning permission in August 2013 and build in summer 2014 I think from the leaflet I read the other day

Wayne Bontoft ‏@WayneBontoft
Deal to push forward regeneration of sixfields agreed by northampton council. Full report online soon.

It's on the offish site now...... Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!

Massive, massive news! Well done to Mr C for his persistence! Hopefully this will give us a platform for an exciting future. Still a while to go but this is the first huge step.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/bid-to-redevelop-land-around-sixfields-backed-by-council-1-4045844

AsI said before, until the first trench is dug I won't be popping any corks.

Good news at last but clearly it will be years yet before we see any work starting at Sixfields, oh well at least we're on our way at long last. Well done to the likes of Grove who have campaigned for this day and everybody who took the trouble to lobby councillors, write to the Chron or anything else.

Can't wait to tuck into my prawns sandwiches and quaff champagne watching Fleetwood.
I'm the same, will believe it when the work is finished. Still waiting for the bloody beach they promised us! Cotton next the Sea.

I love the comments Fromm the lib Dems in that Chron article. Even out of power they are still in L&G's pocket.

Shes deluded, Legal & General have no intention of expanding the Grosvenor.

Interesting comment from Tony Clarke attached to that piece on the Chron site......

"Good news until you get to the comment about a "small" element of retail, as that won't pay enough to move the athletics track let alone revamp the stadium."

Yep, can see it now. The Saints fans 'happy clapping' in their nice new stand. Us getting f***ed over and short changed. Hope I'm wrong, I really do, but as others have said, I will believe it once the builders start work on the stadium. That's assuming there is enough money left in the pot to expand the ground.  :-\

Agreed there is still a very long way to go but at least it is a huge step in the right direction ... up the Tories  ;D

I may be taking an extremely cynical view here but I do fear that if this deal allows DC to recoup a fair share of his much vaunted £7m then he could then be bidding us all farewell.

I don't know exactly where that would leave us but I doubt it'd be a good thing.

Does Tony Clarke have any sort of expertise in these matters? That's not a loaded question by the way, I just want to know if his opinion's worth listening to (it's not on most things) or if he's just spouting rubbish

No idea, just thought it was an interesting comment for him to make seeing as he was originally saying how much the club would benefit.....
In the beginning it was all meant to be about retail wasn't it? That's where the big money would come from, so the words of the council leader when he says about 'a small amount of retail' do not really start the pound signs flashing!!
It all depends on what type of development ends up there...two shops, a vets, a pub, a hotel and a skate park (for example!) wouldn't bring in that much would it?

Where's that picture of the fancy football stadium that was wheeled out several years ago? Maybe time to give an updated artists impression of what will be a similar looking sixfields albeit one with a bigger kitchen several hospitality boxes and a few extra seats. 

I think you're being far too cynical. Why would DC plough all that money in, to just walk away from the venture once it starts actually being profitable? I'd say it was the opposite. The more successful the redevelopment is, the longer he'll stay around and pick up the profits. Whether the football club sees any profits is another thing, but I genuinely believe he wants to see NTFC go up the leagues. The higher we play, the more revenue, the more profit for big Dave.

I don't think anything will change for a long long time.
The plans are passed so now we will wait for a development to be passed and agreed.
We will need to get the right amount of outside investment to make it feasible.
We will then need to get it built.
I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
It's a step in the right direction no doubt but remains just that.
A step.

What exactly does that now allow DC to go ahead with?
What benefits to the club can we now expect, monetary or other, and when can we expect to see those benefits?
Does this enable DC to spend money on the club that is expected to be generated by this or do we continue to be as prudent as now?  (My preference but it will not please Shouey)

My understanding is that it allows him to go ahead with nothing yet! Until the land is prepared and made ready, then sold off in packets to the retailers, hoteliers or whoever, who then apply for planning permission for each individual building, then there's no idea how much money is coming in. And then we dont know what split we get of that money anyway. We're still years away from even seeing a watered down upgrade of Sixfields.
Its going to be far easier for the Saints, selling off to one party (Asda) and then building with the proceeds, which are still two years away even for them.

In reply to NECobblers post......you seem to be working on the assumption that any increase in revenue would suddenly make the club profitable. Fact is there are numerous clubs up and down the country with such facilities who still don't turn a profit. In fact do any clubs make money....apart from a big one or two? To actually recoup the £7m will take years, decades maybe, if at all.

Will the various parties sell off the land for short term gain or rent it for a steady income stream?

A massive, vertical shopping mall, with hotels, pubs, clubs, etc etc. From the top, to the top of the Lighthouse and onwards to the top of the new station roof there could be a cable car. Develop the wet area to the south, make a beach and watch the RL while the wife and kids get some sun.

Bloody hell, it's exciting, isn't it?

Great idea until your mentioned 'sun', where would we get that from?  :P

 ???

Mall is something you do with a pair of tit.s

 ;D ;D

and

Plenty of tits down Sixfields most Saturdays!

Cheltenham posted a profit last season. It can be done!

Nandos to open at Sixfields. That should keep some players happy.
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/legal-general-reveal-expansion-plans-for-northampton-in-sixfields-1-4199681#.UDdxISh3jl8.twitter

Well after years of objections Legal and general have now made their application to develop land owned by them at Sixfields.

Perhaps they will object to themselves!!!

Those Liberal councillors certainly had the wool pulled over their eyes

legal and General the worst thing to happen to the town since the asset stripping of the shoe industy. Spend years objecting to and putting spanners in the works of our redevlopment stating it will harm their town centre plans...then abandon the grosvenor plans and build more stuff at Sixfields.

It's a fu*king joke

Can you explain "the asset stripping of the shoe industry" for me please, I haven't heard of that before?

Look up Charles Clore.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/legal-general-reveal-expansion-plans-for-northampton-in-sixfields-1-4199681

This really does take the biscuit.......but all is moving in the right direction at last.

Found this "Sir Charles Clore was a British financier, retail and property magnate and philanthropist." Can't find anything on "asset stripping though?

BORING. The redevelopment blah blah blah will never happen and probably shouldn't either.

So L & G have put in there planning application good luck to them but has there been any more news on what’s happening with the clubs application?
Sorry if it’s been reported elsewhere but I’ve not seen anything since the council made their decision a few weeks ago and was wondering if any timescale had been mentioned. I did hear DC mention about the Athletics track being moved on the wireless (word of the day) before the Cardiff game. Does that mean they may develop the East stand rather than the last plans I saw which were for a massive West stand only development.

Oh and wasn’t it Charles Core who’s to blame for getting rid of Freeman Hardy and Willis?

Tell me more?

You are showing your age. What about Beatties?

I really hope they redevelop the east stand and just modify the west, let's hope they see sense as all the previous proposals were always non starters or just leave the place looking plain ridicules.

Nothing that Legal and General do will ever benefit our club. Their only aim is to fleece our town and in the process make successive NBC regimes look like lemons.

How exactly? This has nothing to do with the Cobblers plans, in fact I think it means that there will be 3 or 4 less potential customers when the land finally becomes available. This seems to be more of a gazumping move by L&G.

I remember a few years ago DC trumpeted a deal with a company (who's name escapes me) which had the plans to develop all the land around the current retail units......I missed the bit when this all died and L&G got their hands on that same land.

LXB or LBX. Something like that

 Thats the way to redevelop land,buy the land 2 years ago, object to anyone else who might have the same ideas, while at the same time getting plans ready, also it seems they have names of companys who want to move in. 
 How many names has DC got ? 

LXB retail properties. The same people behind the proposed development at Rushden Lakes, that L&G kicked off about. Just click on "investment portfolio", and then "Rushden Lakes" if you are bored.
http://wwww.lxbretailproperties.com/index.php/

So LXB sell Sixfield retail to L&G then buy Rushden Lakes and propose large development that L&G who own the Grovesnor centre object to?

Erm, "David" and "Anthony"?  ???

Does anyone else feel that NTFC are going to get caught in the cross fire of a large scale land grab as the value of the regeneration zone hots up? It would only take a few large organisations be it in retail, manufacturing or distribution to show an interest in the land and Sixfields would find itself seriously helmed in with loss of car parking and any hope of future expansion.
The well being of the town should always come before it's shabby little football club!

there not going to build on the hill are they and the athletics track is ours anyway. its always been known the large car parks will go at some point and there will only be the south one left

 As the team is playing much better than i hoped for (long may it continue) As the rumour thread seems to going in a circle bigger than Bayo's waistline. As i cant think of anything else to do...

 Anybody know whats happening?????????????????????????????????

 There's a barrel of real ale being sold, hope that helps.

True.... and in the great big scheme of things that is much more significant than a pipe dream !
I bloody love real ale.

One thing's for sure: if it's going to happen, it is closer than ever with each day that passes.

Think they've only just finished testing the land

You have wisdom exceeding your years, grasshopper  ;D

The men who test the soil were at sixfields a couple of weeks ago.
That process wouldn't be happening if progress were impossible.

Did he find a natural spring whilst testing the soil?

They probably found as much hot air than has been spouted over the whole saga.
All that matters is that Bayo gets his own Nando's, preferably as an ensuite to the changing rooms.

Anyone still got a "Lets move the Cobblers to Brackmills" sticker on their car?


If so your cars f ucking ancient or vintage as it is now called.

They've been there since a day or two after the last announcement about having to test the soil. So how long is that? About 2 months?

I guess it shuts the whingers up who love it when nothing happens. ;D ;D

It has been quiet on the development front for a while. I really do hope something transpires before the next ice age though.

If (that huge word again) we do get up a division it will be essential that some improvement takes place so we can capitalise on any bigger crowds and or the potential commercial opportunities. With some big clubs hovering over the relegation zone in the Championship (I'm not including Boro in that) and other potential games we need the extra cash to stabilise and compete in the division.

Sadly without any ground development I fear we'll be back down before you can say "Barry Fry's illegitimate."

I'm afraid it is typical of the club, for all their PR, to tell us absolutely nothing for months on end. Not a sausage since the last posting on the official site on 24 May last year. I'll believe the 'redevelopment' when I see the JCBs moving in.

Clint, I take it then you didn't go to the last open forum nor read the minutes from that meeting. I also Aimee you didn't read the chairmans comments regarding tests, and easy stand development....  ???

Well if anyone hears anything positive please pass it on.

It just seems many other clubs even non league seem to just get on with it and put up decent sized commercially viable stands reasonably quickly without problems. Obviously it's more difficult for those with hemmed in grounds like Luton or Pish but we shouldn't really have a huge problem in a small improvement.

We know our ground is poor but I feel is doesn't need huge improvement just some quality commercial/corporate facilities and a reasonable increase in capacity so we're prepared for any bigger games/play offs/promotion.

We need to match Aidy's ambition or we'll lose him because with the facilities we have mid table Div 1 is our limit.

 

About 2 months ago at the last forum they said they need to test the land. They have been testing the land over the course of the past 2 months. This has been detailed in the previous pages. What do you want? Somebody to read it aloud to you and draw pictures?

It only took 2 months to return soil samples from Mars!
What would happen if the soil was contaminated? Prohibition order on Sixfields?
The soil was fine 20 years ago so just stick down a big arsed heavy membrane and Build!

Marquis-'read it loud or draw pictures' No!.... BUT whispering it to 60 fans at a trust meeting or an interview to the small percentage of fans that have Cobblers World is not great PR, surely better would be a 4 or 6 monthly update on the main club website. Some of us think the expansion is as important as the great work AB is doing, so are interested in any development news, however small.

I didn't go to the forum and I knew about it so it wasn't really whispered. The problem is if they say something then you'll jump on them when it doesn't happen soon enough and if they don't say anything you'll jump on them for not saying anything.

 ;D

Sorry chap, I was only asking generally that's all, didn't mean to hit a nerve if it's something your working on. I live and work away from the Town and often miss announcements etc.

They haven't even built the hotel on the car park yet! Come to think of it what happened to the rival schemes where hotels were going to be built in other places....nothing happened there either did it?

South stand like the one behind goal at Bescot would be a good start. Actually anything tangible.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WalsallF2Go.jpg

Agreed Zen.

Don't know why after all the hassle DC has continued with the big development. A second tier on north or south stands with corporate facilities between makes more sense than screwing around with the west stand.

Surely as a property developer he has access to schemes for development projects. A sensible first phase could be bank financed and with the corporate facilities run correctly year round it would fund itself.

If we sell bayo in the transfer window a lot of fans on here will soil their pants.
I wonder if that will also need testing before redeveloping :o

We need to be looking at increasing capacity by a minimum 4000 if we have any ambition to ever play in the Championship, while there is no money in the pot, we need to look at doing it quickly and on the cheap. 2000 standing terraces built up behind the North and South stands. Keeping them as basic as possible, foundations,  supporting steel sections with pre formed terrace sections, the roof to be metal sheets on supporting purlins and supported by 2 large supports as opposed to a more expensive cantilevered roof.
Erect a supporting scaffold behind the East stand to hold 12 corporate / sponsor boxes. supporters bar and sponsor lounges can be created by use of temporary mobile type structures, hired or purchased 2nd hand and tarted up. These could be Hired out and used be used 7 days a week?

This would leave us with one of the best looking/ quirky little stadiums in the land.


As for the enabling works,  flog the land around sixfields such as the North car park, prime land for a hotel and retail etc and use a  little of funds raised to up grade the Stadium on the cheap.

Its got to be a better option and more manageable than anything proposed over these past 10 years!
I doubt anyone would object to this happening at Sixfields?

I don't think we own the north car park so unfortunately we can't sell it.

Quick someone get DC to give this man a job, He clearly knows how to solve all our problems in one quick step!!!!

OMG.....and the main contractor for all this? Trotter Independant Traders aka Delboy  ;)

I hate to think what an extension to your house would look like  ;D

What a fantastic idea - you should be Chairman. Or Prime Minister, or something. Locked up probably.

Maybe we should have a word with the Towns most progressive club, Northampton Rangers (silby) They seem to be getting things done ;)

Lets love and embrace Division 4 for another 20 years and wait for something to fall out the sky ;D

 ;D

I think you fell out the sky, Mork. Nanu nanu  ;D

Would anyone need any of these as part of the Sixfields development?  :P

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4818472/Obese-football-fans-will-get-supersized-seats-at-the-World-Cup.html

Relax chaps.... Just relax. :afro

The soil samples are back?
Was it negative?

i understand building works are beginning w/e 17th March. The new East Stand will be ready for the Barnet game, and the corners will also be filled in by then as well. A new feature of the new seats is a pipe centrally positioned in the seat, linked into a network of further pipework leading to Carrs Bar. This will allow, with minimal effort, a high pressure real ale colonic irrigation whilst you watch the game. Designated drivers and non-drinkers have a choice of hot tea or masala sauce (sponsored by Taste of Spice, Duston) as alternatives to be siphoned directly up your rear end.

The small print says the system has a design capacity to meet the anal demands of around 6000 fans, any attendees over this figure run the risk of having compressed air (potentially with metal filings left over from the installation) unfortunately piped into them due to a design fault.

The ticket office advises all fans to arrive early, a one way system will be in operation due to a clash with a half time w@nking competition.

Lmao.
As I said guys.... Just relax. Have a Guineas. Good things come to those who wait.

That's the most comprehensive statement I've heard about the 'redevelopment' in years  ;D

No, it was full of white dog do.. 8)

No, that would be the stool samples

Whatever happened to white dog do?? You just don't see it anymore ??? ;D

Dog food used to contain loads of chalk to bulk it out until it was banned I thought?

Did anyone see this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22187828

"Cardiff City would not be in the Premier League without the new stadium,"

They should use all that methane under the pitch to power under soil heating

Any news on the soil samples ;D
Any news at all come to think of it ;D

I'm sure the deal is 'almost ready to be signed off'.....stop being so impatient!!   ;)

They haven't lost the pen again?  ::)

A proper update from the Club would be nice.

We could move to Rockingham Road for next season.  The pitch will suit our style of play, and the facilities will give everyone something to moan about....

http://paulstott.typepad.com/i_intend_to_escape_and_co/2013/02/a-derelict-football-stadium-rockingham-road-kettering-.html

Nothing will be announced until every t is crossed and every I is dotted...
Why would DC make an statement only to have this board catch fire if something went wrong.
Patience.....

That is a real shame and really tugs at the heartstrings. Just hope to god that an Imraan Ladak type never gets his hands on us.
Makes you thankful for David Cardoza.

Never stopped them in the past

Too true!! And how long has Tony Clarke been gone now? I remember him saying we were only a month away from building work starting!

Here we go. No really this time. Maybe....


http://m.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/sixfields-expansion-plan-finally-ready-to-go-1-5033506#.UXjSUDMNb4w.mailto

Well done DC and NBC for finally helping the club get approval for ground expansion. Making the east stand the new main stand with boxes etc. makes sense... Although I refuse to believe it will happen until work starts

A bit more here as well
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/cobblers/northampton-town-chairman-cardoza-reveals-sixfields-redevelopment-plans-1-5033207

Maybe one day we'll be hearing about the Amazing East Stand Atmosphere!

 :afro

Signs of progress at last, I hope. Wasn't the ground constructed in a modular way, so as to facilitate expansion? I wonder what the project plan timescale is for the building work (the stadium that is), and in which year it will actually start?

Now is a good time for the club to listen to what the fans want within reason. So we don't have years of complaints after.

I wonder if the modular way the ground was constructed 20 years ago is still the way grounds are built these days? Listening to the plans for the East Stand I wouldn't be surprised if the East Stand as it is now will be demolished to be replaced by a completely new structure.

From memory the North, South and East were all designed with that approach in mind, the West wasnt. Not sure if the East modular design took in housing the hospitality etc.

Hopefully we'll get an updated design with time scales soon.

Probably looking at this simplistically, but if the east stand is dismantled, could it not be re- utilised as a second tier to either the north or south stand, would help keep costs down.  ???

Apart from the length of the grass, that stadium looks exactly as it did the last time I attended a match there. I'm not joking either.

I'm not sure modular was the best description for it. I think it was only a case of being able to take the roof and building upwards.

If the corprate facilities are being moved to a new east stand then I'd like to see the executive restaurant/players lounge knocked into one big room and turned into a proper supporters bar similar to the long bar at the saints.

Now that is a good idea...

Or a pound shop.

;D

Here this this bollox every couple of years then it disappears. I wouldn't believe anything just yet. If we do go up I'm sure that would kick-start things..

In DC we trust!

Hurry up though, because I'm 57 now and want to enjoy the facilities and a higher grade of football soon!!!

Good news that could be even better with a time scale!

Very pleased they're now making the east the new main stand. Just having a new east stand with a 6000 capacity would give the ground the look of a proper stadium and enough capacity to survive in the championship, also giving the club an important 7 day income.
I just hope they don't go lose those soil samples!

Will all spectators in the East be issued with sun visors?  8)

Come on now, the ageing residents of the West Stand aren't that bad!  :-X

I think I have watched games from the East stand three times and I found the constant need to shade my eyes from the sun a right pain in the arse.
I do however understand and agree with knocking down the current East stand and replacing it with a new main stand. I hope it will be classy and not done on the cheap though. I guess it will also be the new main entrance to the ground also so everything will need turning arse about face to where it is now.

What, like made from cardboard and sticky tape?

As we will soon be playing 1 touch football only to feet there will be no need to keep looking up at the sky. For those that request them there will be claret tinted spectacles made available. Apparently they go well with claret flares.
 

 

I must admit the sun-in-eyes thing is a genuine problem from that side of the ground. I have only sat in that stand maybe a dozen times, and on each of those occasions it was spoilt by the glare. 8)

I'll believe this when I see the construction actually begin.

However, if it does begin, I wonder what will happen with the away allocation. I assume the club won't be giving a section of the main stand to away fans?

So we really will see an atmosphere in the west one day then

That would be very dissapointing.

Away fans in the north stand ?

Maybe, if new roads and entrances are built into the new East Stand then the club might prefer the away support out of the way at the other end of the ground.

 Cant see away fans in the North Stand, dont see the benifit. At least in the South Stand the police can get the away fans on the coaches and away quite quick. 
Mind you if they do put  away fans were in the North you might get some noise coming out of it  ;D

Yep, put the away fans in the North, build a big hotel where the south is with a standing lower terrace facing the pitch and hotel rooms/conferencing above like at the DeVere Whites/Reebok then we can have the Hotel End back.

Slightly aspirational I guess....

;D ;D

You read my subliminal message then?   ;D

To be frank, if there is no helipad then I'll simply not be coming.

Coupled with the helipad I presume they'll be implementing zip wires from the hill to your seat?

Someone get this intelligent man on the design team - NOW!

When the kids were younger I sat in the East stand quite a bit, on sunny days the sun was a problem and the East stand salute was needed however for the majority of games on cold wet winter days and evenings the sun was never out.

Newcastle are considering copying Utrecht and installing slides and escalators. I can't see why we can't have one of these from the top of the hill. . . http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2284350/Slides-built-St-James-Park-permission-granted.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2284350/Slides-built-St-James-Park-permission-granted.html)

I cant wait to see the H&S excuses for this one!

Should we get the right result at Wembley we'll be playing some well supported clubs next season and Pish.

Now it seems the redevelopment would be focused on the East stand first, would it not be worth the club considering a Gillingham style temporary extension to either the North or South stands? The roof to either of these stands would be fairly simple to remove and a meccano job could be placed behind.

This could be erected during the close season and with the extra coming from Wembley would it not be a case of speculate to accumulate?

If it was done to the south, I'm sure the likes of Wolves, Brizzle City, Cov, Sheff Utd and erm, oh I forget now would bring more than 946 or whatever is the current capacity. That would leave all the east for us if were doing ok?

Any sign of a digger yet anyone?

Do you mean Rebecca?

I've not seen her, but she is only 4 miles away.

When's the next set of local elections? That's when you can next expect an update..!

Sad, though likely very true :-X

I’ve just seen a white “construction” van leaving the M1 J15a heading into Northampton maybe an announcement from the club will be imminent

I bet it set out early this morning from Torquay, and was driven by an Irishman.

;D

Did you notice if the driver was wearing a hi-vi vest?
It'd be handy for the subs bench.

Has just been given the nod of approval at tonights council meeting. (http://www.katzy.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/thumb.gif)

@WayneBontoft
The loan deals for the saints and cobblers have been passed unanimously by the council's cabinet. Full report on Chron site later...

Revised plans expected by mid August...this year 2013   :)

Are we having a roof ? Would love a roof.

As long as it has owls!

 I really hope that this development is well done. It would be interesting to know what  proportion is being spent on the stadium of the £12 million total sum and what is going on the rest of it all, housing etc.
 It would seem that developing the East Stand to incorporate boxes would make sense if any plans do not already have this as to build a new stand without then spend money on adding to the West seems a bit mad. Both maybe. If you take a look at the Bescot stadium they spent £3million developing the stand behind the goal to include boxes and 4000 seats. The impressive Parkside stand at Fleetwood cost £4million but only 2000 seats.
 Whatever happens it can only add to the facilities as long as the loos are big enough!

 Hopefully good times are on the way.

Are you planning on doing some giant poos?

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/politics/sixfields-land-deal-is-due-to-be-approved-1-5557046

The latest?

Is there similarities with the st Crispin and st Edmonds development, where part of the deal to allow houses to be built was that they would also redevelop the existing's buildings. Anybody travelling down Welly rd could be forgiven thinking they're in Syria at the state St Edmonds has been left in.

What's getting built first, houses or ground redevelopment ?

Stage one...and I also know that the athletics club now has a new home ....
It's getting closer....  :)

Care to share ???

The £12m loan for the ground redevelopment tends to imply the ground will be redeveloped first with the loan, and the loan will then be paid off from the proceeds of the house building.

Looking on the bright side , when we are in the conference and playing pay as you go at Nene Park a 10,000 seat stadium
could come in very handy as an immigration centre.

athletics club are relocating to moulton college, and is apparently being funded by part of the 12m being borrowed from NBC.

E-shot received earlier indicates exciting news towards the end of this week. I'm looking forward to it!

Me too  :)

Is the council(ie taxpayer) funding the redevelopment or are the club also putting some money towards it??

It's dragged on so long I honestly don't have a clue.

It would seem off for the tax paying public of the county to pay for any redevelopment that could make any individual a profit without putting in any funds themselves.

Does the deal include the cobblers board having to personally pay back the 12M before trying to sell for a profit or can the board line up a buyer in excess of 12M without fronting a penny.

I'm only asking as I don't think it is posted anywhere and as a bloke who has paid money through the turnstiles as well as taxes I don't think it's unreasonable for the position to be made clear.

Is it entirely tax payer funded??
Partly ntfc(board) funded.
What is the split.
Has the ammount the club are putting in as opposed to the taxpayer been announced??
I'm sorry for raising a point that I'm sure has already been answered by the media/knowledgable members of this forum but it's dragged on for a decade and I may have missed the odd post in the last decade ;D

 As far as im aware the money comes from Central Government, the money is given to the council then passed onto the Club in the shape of a loan, that's in simple terms.  All councils throughout the Country have access to this type of money for various projects.

Like you don't know the answers when you have views on everything!

A Loan.

Also see Silverstone for similar activity.
 
The way I see it is The council ultimately own the stadium which we lease and maintain. We then borrow money via the owners to do up their asset and then pay them back with interest. The club then hopefully has a firmer financial basis and better match day facilities and experience which hopefully includes on the pitch.
The Athletics club get new and improved facilities that also improve Moulton Colleges facilities.
Impact on local council services as a result of the loan. Nothing at all.
Additional housing that will undoubtedly have to include some element of social housing as a component of the deal when waiting lists are at all time highs.

Shoemaker...your the sort of bloke who wins 10million on the lottery but before picking his winnings up demands to know how the money from his £1 ticket was spent and then moans about it.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/business/business-news/sixfields-expansion-plan-to-be-submitted-tomorrow-1-5566712

Plans to be submitted tomorrow....to be approved by Christmas......work to start in February.........stands completed by August.

Thanks for the answers seems a great deal for the club without them fronting a penny!!
Got to be good news for DC and maybe for the club as a whole.
That said sometimes if something is too good to be true it usually is.
Obviously I hope this is the exception to the rule ;D

When can we see the plans ? Do we get a look before there submitted ?

Pretend you're a lib-dem, put in an objection to the council and then ask if you can scrutinise the plans.  ;)

Next week according to NBC.
http://www.northampton.gov.uk/news/article/1700/sixfields-stadium-plans-getting-ready-for-kick-off

I think I would rather wait until it's built,  >:D

Looks like we are getting closer...

Fingers crossed the ball starts rolling soon, could really do with 3 seats to myself as apposed to the 2 I normally have.

well if that's your thing may I suggest stad mong, you can have 20 there.

  ;D

This is the man who moans incessantly about spending money, then when we get a government LOAN to invest in exciting new facilities...questions it.

A tool...if ever there was one.

Is your a rse that big? If your planning on flying soon let us know so I don't coincidently end up sitting next to you.

do you still not quite understand the reasoning behind the redevelopment? is it still just that little bit too difficult for you?

There is no point Marquis, beyond help.

Anyway I like the sound of the new East Stand, few extra thousand seats, corporate boxes, gym, conference facilities, more food outlets, larger bar area - all very positive.

I might even indulge in a corporate box.

Over the years little pockets of friendship have grown amongst the STH's in the East , as I suppose they have in all of the stands.
I hope that after our stand is rebuilt the club looks into ways of offering us the facility to stay together.
I assume that while the development is going on we will all be scattered through the west and north.
Can put up with that if we can all get back together in a nice shiny new stand though.

Shoey any chance of you and one or two others getting to use the quote facility correctly ???

Unlikely I'd say.
More chance of having a 10,000 attendance for a match at sixfields ;D

Had a mental too much cheese dream last night that I won loads on the Euromillions. Dreamt that I took over the whole thing and scrapped Sixfields and moved the club to the St Edmunds site on the Welly Rd and built a shiny 25k stadium sponsored by Istanbul Chef.

That is almost Shakespearean  ;D

You should have seen the food kiosks Midwest, Imran, Dangs....
Compulsory to do the Welly Rd before and after every game!

 Shame I woke up really. ⚽🍻🍔

Like this post Viewy. My mate, his lads and myself have been season ticket holders in the same seats in the middle of the West for about eight years now and have also built up a friendship of sorts with those around us. We are mostly upbeat and healthily cynical which has led to us having a right laugh at most matches. I hope we all keep the same seats once the development is completed because if I'm honest I probably wouldn't have travelled from Nottingham so regularly in the last couple of seasons or so. I don't have a great deal of faith in David Cardoza, I truly hope he gets this development right and oversees the building of a modern and attractive stand over there. I'll remain healthily cynical and upbeat though either way.

Is there a market for half time Chihuahua and chips?

The Michelin guide recommended Dangs you mean?

I didnt realise that it had achieved this status, but then I dont tend to dine out in restaurants where the local delicacy is canine based.  ;D

In a worst case scenario where the cobblers are relegated to the ranks of non league football surely attendancies will fall significantly.
Will this affect the ability to pay the council they're twelve million pounds back?
If then heaven forbid the club folded would the twelve million still be owed.
Does anyone know if DC has personally guaranteed the loan or is it set against the club in which case it could be annulled if the club went bust.

I feel this is an important question and apologies if it's already been answered because as it stands there is a chance of this occurring and if DC thought the loan couldn't be financed it would be tempting to liquidate to avoid payment.
If however it was personally guaranteed then I feel the club would be at less risk if the worst happened.

I'm sure many will moan and see this as a doomonger post but I believe it's actually very important for the position to be made clear as would any fan with the future of the club at heart.

I'm not moaning just trying to raise an important point.
Has it been mentioned or does anyone(or the media) know the answer?
Up the tayn.

Please just f uck off.

Yawn...... If the club folded not one person would give a flying f about the status of the loan. This model has been used numerous times before around the country.  I'd usually give you more credit to understand that. I wouldn't knock the first bit of ambition this town has shown for a long time. Well, that's maybe a little unfair but it's a significant step towards making Northampton a better place.

I'm not knocking any ambition whatsoever.
All I've done is ask what I feel is a justified question and if anyone can answer it and surprise,surprise pelters.

Is it not fair to be concerned when it is entirely possible(god forbid) that the club could this time next year be a non league club with a twenty million pound debt(as I understand it DCs loans and the stadium loan).

A non league club with a £20m debt is not good is it?

I hope to god that relegation is avoided the ground is redeveloped,it is full every week and we have a good team on the pitch.
I also hope if that's the scenario that DC if he chooses to cash in makes a decent profit on his investment.
It goes without saying that I along with everyone else whose followed the cobblers wants this outcome.

The trouble is as soon as you ask a serious question to members of this board that isn't claret tinted or fits in with a happy clappy philosophy you are instantly vilified.

Which happens to follow an hour or two after an away defeat. DC's prior investment is his look out and he'll never get it back should we 'fold', neither would the council.
The laws of probability mean we will get relegated at some point with our history. It's just now would be the worst and most ironic time to suffer that fate. It wouldn't be the end of NTFC though.

In June the average house price in Northampton was £165k. The plans include 300 houses alongside everything else.

300 x a modest £120k house price estimate is 36 million return before build costs. Plus hotel, leases on retail units and conference centre returns etc. Plus stadium change in income streams.
 
 Worried? No. Whether this will translate into better football who knows?
Default on the council loan on the ground and the land the council own. Not really likely.

Thanks for a balanced reply tone.
Makes a change from being swore at(something I've never done to any other fellow cobblers fan on this board).
Whilst many obviously dislike me it's getting to the point where I can't raise a genuine concern without abuse which is unfair.
I've no problem if the powers that be would prefer that genuine concerns were not raised on this board and would adhere to it.
If the head honchos decide for a watered down forum of pure banter where best pie fillings or favourite players haircuts are discussed that's fine by me(I actually find lots of posters humour on here brilliant).

If its uncomfortable to raise concerns then I'm all for a pie and haircut forum and we can leave concerns to be aired in other mediums.
I'm all for that.
I'd rather have a laugh than personal insults even if it means certain issues being avoided on this forum.
At the end of the day were all cobblers fans and if certain issues lead to fallings out/insults then this forum will be better as a chicken and mushroom/Peter Gleasure board.
Up the tayn.

Don't go too deeply into it Shoey....forget about the loan as this will be pretty much all paid back by the housing. You are of course right to question whether we'd have a white elephant of a stadium if we did go down, and of course crowds, sponsorship, commercial revenues would all slide if we did go down with the inevitable further pressure on the playing budget.
I think when push comes to shove Cardoza pretty much manages to squeeze a few more quid out of his bank/dad and we bring someone in. We've certainly got more scope to do that than an Accrington/Torquay/Dagenham I think. The trick is not to leave it too late!

Just off on a slightly different tangent.....isn't tomorrow the day the demolition crew move in?
Coventry v Sheff Utd live on Sky isn't it?!

It's definitely Coventry v Sheffield United on Sky tomorrow at 3.30. They could really have played today with the Cobblers being away but I guess Sky dictated what day the game would be played. I wonder who get's the Sky money, Coventry or us as owners of the stadium .

yeah if we go down that affects the land value you half witted twát

well coventry obviously  ???

I've heard that the owners of pitchside adverts have been told to pay another £600 for the cov games, or they get covered over, seems reasonable, especially this weeks when 10 million will be viewing.

Where's this 'Artists Impression' then?

I do a great impression of a p1ss artist.

Sixfields stadium planning application no: N/2013/1048 is now on the NBC website.
You may need to be an architect to understand it though.  :D

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/info/200206/planning-applications/1918/sixfields-stadium-planning-application

 It is exciting as we have never got to this stage before. The easiest thing to do is read the Design and Access statement. There are some spelling and grammatical errors though but don't let this trouble you. (mail toilets, Northampton football club etc)
 It states that the total capacity of the re developed East stand will be 2192 instead of the current 1042 + 106 disabled. It is actually 4124 + 24 so will be larger in capacity than the current West Stand with the ends remaining the same as we knew. The boxes will be at the top above the seating. Some reduction of overall disabled spaces I think.
 I make it a total capacity of 10017.  How the away following will be accommodated is unclear and may be the same as now but whether it makes sense and how they will segregate etc in larger stand will become clearer.

 All good though.

 Current East Stand holds about 1,700, so new stand should be somewhere around 4,000. Seating wise roughly same as West but will have to be bigger to take into account boxes etc.

My figures are precise! Taken from the architects drawings.

 Never trust an Architect  ;D Those figures he has quoted don't add up to the current capacity  ::)

But incorrect ;)

 ;D ;D ;D

"The proposal therefore includes for retention of the spectators terraced
seating, removal of the entire roof structure, whilst retaining its support
structure at the and of the seating terrace, adding additional terrace
containing 12 rows of seating with total seating capacity of 2192 seats at
the pitch side."

The proposal as i read it is for 12 new rows of seats which will increase the new seating capacity by 2192, rather than as Zen suggests a total seated capacity of 2192. Otherwise, if Zen is reading it correctly (and I am wrong) then it basically means 3/4 additional rows of seating to what we have now? Pointless.

Does anyone have any actual figures for how many the exec boxes will hold, ie the final total capacity?

That would make sense as each row is a out 200 seats long, so 12x200=2400, minus some for exits etc. So, 12 additional rows on an upper level, plus boxes...?

Hopefully the club will make an in depth statement soon,

Plans and drawings will be available for viewing at tomorrows NTFC Trust Open Forum.

It wouldnt surprise me if theyre also in tomorrows Chron.

Go into the spec in the planning application. On the drawings for the stands at the front aspect has a figure for the seating plan. All the other stands are as they are currently. The east stand and my figures add up. Whatever whatever....
 If the planning application is wrong then it's all f ucked up .

 I'm still pleased.

Shoemaker. C'mon have a go. Add some negative sh it.

It is a a case of flickinh through the plans.

On the ground floor there looks to be some kind of function room - 385m2 which is just over 4,000 ft2 so like a larger small supermarket like a Tesco Express etc.

It looks like there is a large amount of space on the first floor - not sure where the plans are for this?

The key plan is 3909490 this shows the first floor which has a 500 seater + function room.  Clearly this is where the plan is to make the commercial streams.

Looks like each tier gets its own concourse as well.

Plan 3909496

There are 10 boxes plus a very large directors box - I wonder in reality if this will be like a lot of new stands with a function room overlooking the pitch - Rotherham have done something like this. 

In effect they have added 10 rows of "normal" seats.   The 10 boxes hold 24 each (seems quite large).  The directors box holds 80.
As pointed out already the totals are not correct as the boxes say 2 x 24 = 44!

http://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/article/redevelopment-pics-1116733.aspx

Now it's getting real....Bring on the diggers. :)

Looks good...all complete by August 2014?
Will the executive boxes have reactalight windows?

Given what we've seen on the pitch recently, will they even have windows?

Probably need black out curtains to shield the patrons from the pitch....  :P

Released just before the supporter's forum  ;D

hopefully there will be more than just one there!

(http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/webimage/1.5592454.1381952930!/image/2277820792.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_595/2277820792.jpg)

The garden shed at each end will look even worse now, but this looks good!

Garden shed is better than Oxford's garden fence!

Maybe they could use a bit of the windfall to build a 3000 safe standing terrace behind the North stand, that would complete the ground off nicely, in preparation of our assault on the championship.

Just a thought...

We usually give extra seating for some teams in the east stand, what's the situation going to be now? Surely we wouldn't sit away fans in the best stand in the ground. It could be hard to sit them in the West with the concourse being there, security issues. Does this mean that we could only allocate what's in the South stand and never give any more away?

The East is having a concourse too isn't it? So the same problem would now arise there...unless there was something like a roller shutter built in to partition off part of the concourse. I haven't been able to open the plans to look at them but the directors box is moving to the East so does that mean the end of the comfy seats in the west or will they be available to the minions now? Also, is the press box staying in the West? I thought there was talk of "improving" the West as part of this development.....it just seems like only the East is being done, therefore improvement to the other three stands will be a long way off.

Move the home end to the south stand (the hotel end), and make that the terracing  :P

 ;D

Looks like they have photo shopped the West stand. Looks good though and hopefully the beginning of a brighter future on and off the pitch.

It only goes 2/3rds of the length with a new score board and a bowling club behind it?

Dunno if it has been mentioned but the West stand is going to refurbished with a new fascia, Carr's Bar and changing rooms enlarged, new box office and shop, staff + player canteen, new seats...

Looks pretty bog standard.

Would prefer to have the boxes centred, but hey what do I know....  ;)

 :P

As opposed to the stand being designed by a kid with crayons?  :P
Explains a lot. Architects and accountants.......

Maybe there should be a row of additional floodlights along the roof edge. The picture shows big pa speakers. This is so we can hear crap music and blabbering drivel more clearly without added tinnitus!

 I may relocate. Who's with me?

Report on BBC website says that the new stand will hold 2000, instead of the current 1,700. So how does that increase capacity to 10,000?!

You can get 1500 in the function room...

That was just the confusing bit with how the initial plan was worded. It is actually +2000 on top of the current capacity, plus a couple of hundred in the private boxes. Probably capacity will be around the 10,059 mark.

Typical, you build a new stand and no-one turns up. Maybe it's because it's a nice sunny day and everyone's at the seaside. Be dark by the time they all get home.  :-[

Its actually an exact drawing of a Coventry game.

;D ;D

Don't you mean the Conference??  ::)

Wouldn't that be looking straight into the sun at times ?

As it faces north, no, never.

Time to slag me off ladies and gents.

What a boring and uninspiring design that is. I guess I should have seen that coming with my old buddy Mr Cardoza in charge and what I've grown used to when it comes to anything NTFC, uninspiring.

As you were.

I've just seen the details of the development and it offers the football and commercial community quality facilities equating to a Championship sized club. It is pleasing to see the upgrade of the west stand included as well.
Very well done to Mr Cardoza in overcoming all his off-field battles to get to this stage. I look forward to seeing the results in less than 12 months.
Now let's get the first team players fit and scoring goals so we start climbing the league (s)!!!!!

Agreed

But also agreed!

What would have you liked? Is there a stand at another club that would have been a good example. Bit late now but curious.
Not having a go at all as good design shouldn't necessarily equate to higher costs. Or does it? The architects amongst us could possibly advise?

Everyone who comes on this site should have a look at the presentation to the Chamber of Commerce that is presently running on the official site. It explains a lot about the club and how the new facilities are going to be used both on and off matchdays.

If it all comes off I think it will be a major step forward for the club and maybe, just maybe, make some of the cynics on here have to find something else to moan about.  :-*

I think it makes the ground look pretty decent and with the most important part, the 365 days a year commercial buildings in place, it certainly looks like the spring board we've been waiting for.
Well done those concerned in getting it this far.

And they will.....

Does this mean we are going to lose the mural of the fingers?  >:D

The town has a high proportion of morons so the club will always suffer because of that.

And like you have for the last few weeks banana. Glass houses and all that.

Me ... a cynic.
Quote me..... lol.

If only I was that sad.  ;)

Surely Richard III's head is a bigger draw?  :P

When the work is complete, the ground will be a bit odd.  Firstly, all the corporate facilities will be on the east side of the stadium which is undoubtedly the worst side to spectate from because it's right in the sune when it's shining and very open to the westerly elements on a wet and windy day - hardly the obvious side to have the highest paying spectators seated.  I know some will counter that there will be boxes for them to sit inside, but I much prefer to sit outside a corporate box any day.  Secondly, all that corporate and hospitality gubbins will be on the opposite side of the ground from the players and player facilities (there doesn't appear to be a tunnel in the new East Stand.  I can't think of many grounds where the two are on opposite sides of the pitch; surely the corporates and their guests will want to mingle with players after a game?  It looks a bit odd to me.

Odd but only a minor problem in the bigger picture!
Just build the bl**dy thing.
Well done to DC for being the person who has walked the walk.

Too many people seem to be missing the point here. The rebuilding of the East Stand is primarily to create additional sources of revenue throughout the year. Whilst it will add approx. 2500 extra seats we all know that in the short term they are unlikely to be used. The main focus was always going to be the Executive boxes and the facilities away from pitchside. What did people expect?

In respect of the boxes being on the opposite side to the Tunnel and players - Wycombe, Torquay, Leyton Orient, P*sh, Fulham, Forest, Watford, Luton. All of these spring readily to mind

Someone asked about the sun issue at a recent forum and DC said they're putting a big roof on it. As someone who has sponsored games regularly I can tell you the players don't hang around after a game. Quite often if you blink you miss them!

I can recall one occasion when Johnson led the players out from the East Stand.

Yes , they had all been on the naughty step in there. :D

This was the final confirmation that he had lost the plot and was really clutching at straws. AB should try the coming out of the club shop corner.

Yes there will be windows. Apparenty they will be facing towards town and the people in the box's will get a free pair of Binocluars so they can watch the Saints.

The front will look like there's windows, but the will be angled such that they can blind the opposition goalie should the sun shine and /or be able to melt a few of the away fans in the south stand.  ;D

It might be a bit controversial but there is a chance that the new 'facilities' won't be getting a lot of use until the hotel is built. We may get a bit of extra income on match days but can't imagine there will be a bit queue of big corporates waiting to snap up boxes. Outside of match days virtually every conference facility comes with accommodation. Maybe if they are a decent price our best bet (on match days) may be some small local customers or maybe ST syndicates.
Without looking it up what is the latest completion date for the hotel?

I think the point that there'll be more use of the conference facilities once the hotel is built is a sound one, but I know a bit about the business at Colchester's new ground where there is no hotel, in a town smaller than Northampton. They can and regularly do seat 1000 people for a "business breakfast" event and the profit from this can be greater than from a Tuesday night game where the crowd is pushing down now to 2000 in League One, in what is a horrible breeze block and corrugated plastic, out of town ground that hardly anyone can walk to, unlike the old Layer Road.

The income that can be generated from this kind of conference activity shouldn't be under-estimated: the football ground is actually a very nice conference centre with a cheap and nasty football ground tacked on the side to secure the planning permission. Be careful what you wish for!

Fair enough. I've been using and booking venues for 20 years but wouldn't consider one without accommodation. There is tons of competition in Northamptonshire too. Having said that any income is better than what we get from the current ground. I hope we do a good job of it. Highgate house, Staverton, Grange Park, Brackmills all good venues that regularly so deals for big businesses. Competition is healthy though to stay ahead of the game.

To be honest, I think its an easy winner. If they 'sell it right' then businesses will use it. Offering them 'freebies' etc as part of a package = no brainer. And yeah, once the hotel is there it will be even more profitable.

Are they looking at hitting the wedding market as well? There are literally hardly any decent size wedding venues in the area, certainly not unless you've got mega money. The profit margin in holding weddings is astronomical! Rushden and Diamonds used to do well with weddings and that tells you all you need to know!

Have I missed the point here? The hotel is being built for Hilton (?) who will then pay rent to the Cobblers?

The Hilton at Collingtree has its own conference facilities and meeting rooms.....if the Hilton Sixfields has the same won't that in fact put then in direct competition with the Cobblers? Being as Hilton don't normally do budget hotels in the Premier Inn/Ibis mode and being as the budget and build price for the hotel is so high I'm assuming they'll have some facilities of their own?
So how much "co-operation" as proposed in the above posts will happen in this scenario??

maybe collingtree is always running at maximum capacity so they would like another site

I suspect if this is a Hilton - it could be a DoubleTree which they have at Framchise World.

how do you even know that

sorry.

meant to say

why would you even know that

If it is going to be a Hilton it might be a Hampton by Hilton which is their budget chain. We have one near us in Corby.

So long as they don't want it on a matchday Saturday afternoon?
They wouldn't be able to book before the season's fixture list comes out?

There is one of those at Luton Airport. Surely Northampton is more classy than that.

DC might be kicking Coventry out fairly soon then?!

I am sure in the presentation on the official website by the Commercial Manager to the Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting that he says that part of the deal for the hotel is that they don't have Conference facilities and will use the new East stand with a link building. It will also have the largest room facility in the region (over 1000 sq. ft.) which can be divided up into three.

Maybe we should all have a look at that before speculating and rumour spreading.

http://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/article/redevelop-presentation-1117826.aspx

(sorry don't know how to make it into a link)

Really?  :P

Wouldn't it be prudent to invest money into the playing squad rather than worry about the redevelopment.

When the executive boxes are ready we could be welcoming alfreton.
I'm sure local businesses will rather have boxes to see the saints,Coventry or mk dons before offering their clients the chance to watch some non league fare.

Stick this redevelopment on the back burner.
It will fall flat on its arse if we are relegated out of the football league.
If we can't afford to put a decent team on the pitch we shouldn't be getting grants to build a bigger stadium that will never be more than hall full.

Incoming.......

is this another wind up or are you genuinely thick?

You clearly are a wind up merchant. Trouble is I don't think you realise it.

The fact that housing and a hotel means we can have a bigger stadium will count for nothing if we are relegated.

Extra revenue streams from executive boxes will not be filled by companies eager to watch alfreton town.
So that's a red herring.
Come back and tell me we will fill the stadium when we are no longer a football league club.
We can't fill the one we have got.
You might have a few houses built.
You might have some rooms booked in the hotel.

You will have crowds of around the 3000 mark watching the cobblers play the likes of alfreton.
How exactly will companies invest to watch non league football at the cobblers when they can watch top level rugby down the road.

Confirmed: Genuinely thick...  ;D

big conference rooms will still get used on a wednesday whether we're playing kettering or not spacker boy

 ;D

Let's agree to disagree then.

But come this time next year when the cobblers will be playing alfreton on a wet Tuesday night in a crowd hardly touching 3000 please feel free to come back and tell me all about the positives the housing and the hotel have had on the club.
Please regale me at halftime on the subject of revenue streams whilst we can contemplate a Tuesday night trip to Gateshead.

The talk of revenue streams,housing estates and hotels will warm the cockles of my heart on the long journey home.

As for being thick I think you will find that I predicted this whole mess pre season and decided not to renew my season ticket because of my feelings(which of course is my right as much as it is yours to attend).
No much more knowledgable people knocked my negativity and shouted me down when I discussed budget cuts,free transfers deemed not good enough for league two rivals,yet again relying on cheap youth loans.
Well I'm happy to be thick and the happy clappers can be happy with what I predicted.
A poor quality team of freebies and loans out of two cups first round,bottom of the whole football league and s***ting themselves about the prospect of embarrassing themselves on national telly at the hands of the footballing galacticos of bishops stortford.

He's not alone though is he  ;D - there are two others at it full time :-X

...or maybe he's actually quite good at it...

Shoey - your unintentionally winding yourself up - I think :)

Those are just my opinions and I don't mind that others may disagree.
That is debate which keeps forums lively.
I dont always agree with others on here but I never abuse them for having a differing opinion and often acknowledge people when they are right.
That's because I am not bigoted or up my own arse.

However seems as I had seen this scenario as far back as June and the lack of any quality additions,joke signings to bolster the squad(you know the ones from non league clubs whose names I can't remember as they never play).
The two bob foreign training camp which would help us hit the ground running.
The ripping out of the whole spine and experience of the team to be replaced by players deemed not worth keeping by our league two rivals(none of whom are currently below us in the table).
I said it all,that I thought hell of a lot was wrong and the happy clappers put on their claret tinted specs and gave me personal abuse.
Now have a look back see exactly what I said has not come to pass and see if any one of you whether you like me or not has it in you to at least realise and acknowledge that on this occasion I was spot on.
Anyone......

The chairman is fully aware that league status is imperative and the financial implications of relegation to the Skrill.

Rest assured he won't allow it to happen, if you don't believe me hear it from the horse's mouth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qDh8m1-QSM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Shoey some of the above is not factually correct; for a start you omitted the injury list and some of the signings will probably go at Xmas.
Just remember that hindsight is not always a reliable friend.

I thought everyone had got the message that we have a top 7 budget , the problem is not the amount of money it's what Aidy has spent it on. The playing budget has got absolutely nothing to do with the re-developement , the council loan is to build on the stadium ,which they own , not a loan to NTFC to do what they want with.The loan will be paid back by developing the surrounding areas ,at a profit and that profit will re pay the loan !

I agree everbrite they have had injuries to a couple of key players but my points still stand.
As far back as the shambles of a pre season tour I could see this coming and posted my concerns.
I was derided for my negativity but in fairness it was totally justified.
That doesn't make me any better than anyone on this forum but maybe on occasion I am maybe a bit mor perceptive than others.
Don't think spotting this a mile off makes me happy it doesn't it pisses me right of the whole avoidable situation.

Actually strangely for a bloke whose followed the team for quater of a century or more it does make me happy that I didn't buy a season ticket as it would break my heart to be there watching this seasons demise.
Seriously I'd either be in tears or so bloody angry that I'd say or do something such is my despair/anger that I'd probably be barred from attending,so I'm happy to be at home rather than at sixfields.
I must acknowledge though the tremendous support of the away fans who must have tremendous fortitude/no feelings left who trapse up and down the country to almost certain defeat leading to depressing journeys back to Northampton.
Il be the first to admit I couldn't stomach that so you those supporters are a credit to your team and have my wholehearted sympathy/respect.
You deserve SO much better and I hope somehow you get it.

Up(there's no other way) the tayn.

Anyway as regards the stadium as we go back on topic.
I am still of the opinion that the only way it will ever be filled is if we get to the championship(which was in case anyone has forgot the blueprint for success).
Regardless of any disagreements about funding a bigger stadium will just look two bob if it's one third full.
It wil also be pathetic if it ends up hosting non league football.
If that happens the general public of the country at large will wonder why exactly we expanded it when the club was going down the tubes.
That's the impression others will get and it's not good.
Whichever way you look at it the boards blueprint for championship football for Northampton in five years has proved false at best,downright laughable at the minute.
My one hope for the future of ntfc is that DC realises in time that action must be taken or he has invested in a project that at best will be holed beneath the waterline.
I'm sure we'd all agree that being relegated,losing youth team funding,losing a place in the league cup,playing in the fa vase,qualifying for the chance to play in the fa cup and a dramatic loss of match day revenue is a scenario worth avoiding at all costs.
The stadium redevelopment is much more stable long term if we remain IN the football league.
Having seen the DC video it gives me a little hope as long as things actually materialise.
It does beg the question though...now that DC is going to have to invest serious money to keep us in the football league...
Why did he decide to cut the budget in the light of an unexpected cash injection via wembley.
It's a decision that unfortunately for DC has proved disasterous and has come back and bitten him on the bum.
It is a decision that I will never understand.

Well proof was in the pudding at Nene Park. The Diamond Centre ended up being a rod on the back of two clubs. Aren't conference centres just a little dated? Web meetings, video conferencing etc.

Shoey,
The playing budget, and redevelopment budget are two totally different things.
The stadium expansion is funded by redeveloping surrounding land.
The value of said land remains the same regardless of what division we are in.
The expansion of the stadium means revenue coming in on non match days.
On non match days it does not matter how many empty seats there are.
I have written this in "bulletpoint" Shoey style to help you understand.

The Saints have announced their development which is very similar to our own, they will build a stand with 2000 seats. 12 exec boxes, restaurant, bars etc.

They not only have to build a whole new stand but demolished all the old stand, where we only have to build a structure behind an existing stand.

The other difference is the cost of both projects, despite having to carry out a lot more work at the Saints stadium, its costing 5.5 million compared to our £12,000,000.

Probably with a little tweaking of the figures, we could build up behind one of the goals, bit of an atmosphere inducing safe standing terracing, it would give us a quality stadium, best one out there.

This is our one and only opportunity to get it right.

This looks like a whole new stand to me.  :D

(http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/webimage/1.5592454.1381952930!/image/2277820792.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_595/2277820792.jpg)

bottom bit looks familiar

South beds - out of the £12m £4.5m is being spent on the hotel and £7.5m on the new east stand and west stand refurbishments.

Here is another clip from the man himself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC2le6uMDwY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Well despite the wembley money we still made a loss last year. The budget cuts would have made to reduce the size of these losses.
As DC has said this season the club has the 9th highest attendances and the 11th highest income. The redevelopment will help to address this but I don't think it will ever have the impact some supporters think it will. We are what we are which is the ninth biggest team in the division.
That said we still had a top 7 budget despite only generating the 11th highest income, I not really sure what more you can realistically expect from a chairman.
I'm also not convinced  the decision to cut the budget is that relevant to the position we are in now. Since the start of the season we have brought in 2 experienced defenders and 4 loan players, AB has given resources way beyond our top 7 budget to address the problems and still we look awful. AB has shown a shocking judgement in the players retained and players brought in, a manager who believed a dream strike partnership is Platt/O'Donovan.

It has also been documented that after expenses and costs were taken into account the club made very little money out of the Wembley appearance. It was certainly not a large cash injection. In fact we will probably get more income from renting the ground to Coventry this season that we did out of getting to Wembley.

Yeah but when you ask the bank for a loan to pay off your debts you always put down the reason behind it is for something tangible like a house entension. What's the difference?  ;D let's spend the fcuker on some decent players instead, then we can sell em for a profit and build a much bigger ground!

Yeah but you wouldn't want the current guy having 12 mill in his back pocket. Platt would probably get a 5 year deal on 50k a week.  :P

;D ;D

Someone seems to be strangely attracted to Alfreton Town !!!!

That was as far down the alphabetical list he got before he couldn't read anymore...  :P

 ;D ;D ;D

I think if you look into the detail the 12 million budget is not all down to building the stand and a very large percentage of it is going towards the hotel. The figures have been published somewhere but I couldnt be bothered to look them up.

I could be bothered to look it up Nagger haha and posted it above on the thread!!! Here are the latest figures made available by Mr Cardoza:

How do you build 300 houses and some shops with those figures or are there further finances?

The builder company will finance building the housing development. It'll be the same as any other estate these days I would imagine, with a mix of social housing. Without getting into too controversial an area, it hasn't done Upton any favours over the road.

You needn't worry about that sort on here, as its message board policy to forbid anyone to have at one time, presently or aspires to live in  social housing.  ;D

It's the law, gotta be a certain % of 'affordable' housing on any new site. Which I suppose means the rest is unaffordable.

 ;D

Sometimes a contribution towards affordable housing and infrastructure can be made rather than a mixed tenure. Given that its ultimately council land it should include that combination of mixed tenures within the 300 properties. Posh it up all you like but its a development next to a football ground built on a tip with methane vents and a siren.
 Still it's progress. Whatever happened to the pitches over the road in Upton?

As a resident of Upton I do wonder sometimes where this nonsense comes from. I've lived all of the town and its easily the nicest area I've lived in.

Absolutely love those town houses you see approaching Sixfields, they look like old Georgian types that's been there for 90 years.
All new houses should look like these.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northamptonshire-mp-s-concern-over-anti-social-behaviour-on-prince-s-estate-1-3588012 (http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northamptonshire-mp-s-concern-over-anti-social-behaviour-on-prince-s-estate-1-3588012)

This was off the back of an isolated neighbour dispute which was resolved before I even moved here. I can't recall even seen anyone dropping litter let alone antisocial behaviour. Don't take my word for it though, I only live there. What would I know?

I moved from there and took my daughter out of the school due to some extremely unsavoury residents. In fact there were over a dozen families who switched schools (that I know of) in the same year, which was before you would have moved there. I'm pleased that it sounds as though the estate has got its act together. Sbeds is right, there's some lovely houses there and guess you get trouble everywhere.

I don't know if there were issues before I was here but I've not seen any issues in 18mths I've beenin the area. I've moved before myself because of nuisance neighbours so I understand how difficult that can be. I can only talk from my own experience and people I know who live in the area. It's been nothing but a thoroughly pleasant place to live.

http://purelocation.com/location/crime/27251-Upton-Grange-Northampton-NN5-4 (http://purelocation.com/location/crime/27251-Upton-Grange-Northampton-NN5-4)

If you really are that weasily that you scour the internet to dig up dirt on what is a perfectly fine area now you could at least make sure the information is up to date.

http://www.ukcrimestats.com/Postcode_Sectors/NN5_4/ (http://www.ukcrimestats.com/Postcode_Sectors/NN5_4/)

I have no idea how this compares to a national average, although i'm sure if you wanted to take the time to look this up. Looking at its comparison to the other NN5 areas listed, I won't be worried about stepping outside of my door anytime soon.

Hardly scouring. Just googled Upton and Crime and that popped up.

To make amends why don't we do a Come Dine With Me. Yourself, me, and a burgler and crack head from down your way  ;D

Aww it's a nice offer but I wouldn't want to bring the area down any further  :-*

;D

(http://l.wigflip.com/Em7dYeq6/roflbot.jpg)

 ;D

And it all moves ever closer

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-25010816

The Council Approves the expansion...

Anyone in particular?  ;D

Oh yes! ;D

(http://www.katzy.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/hmmmm.gif)
Not sure, but I would have a guess...

And you'd be right ;D

Oi , I'm a miserable fcuker from the East stand and I dont want to be tarred with the same brush as any other miserable fcuker from the East stand.

WELL DONE MR DAVID CARDOZA!
To achieve this result after being shafted by Cllr Church, Hadland and the 'Slug'! is excellent. Potentially this is a catalyst for a sustained brighter future.
Now for the players to earn their salaries!

Excellent news. I bet Richard Church and a few others are pig-sick about this  ;D

Great news for the future of the club.
DC must be very happy and we should all be happy for him.
Now we have a new stand being built the club is now safe from relegation from the football league.
Phew.

So you want me to move to the "Brite" side of the road ?
Sorry no can do. :D

Yes it could have happed years ago if only people had been prepared to pay the required amount to Mr Church in used notes in a brown paper bag.

I hear he accepts direct debit these days

He'd probably accept a few tins of baked beans, these days ;)

Great news

Excellent news. Despite the ludicrous jibes on this forum from so called fans there is nothing negative about this news at all.

It's great news but it's never been as important as maintaining our league status. That must be preserved no matter what the cost.

Forgive my ignorance but is Mr Church from the rather fine shoe dynasty or the overprice kitchen pot shop?

On the bright side, the builders must be due in soon.

Our current predicament can be heavily blamed on the slow progress on the development front.

It would be nice to have a progress update...assuming there has been progress!

The extra 10 rows of seats and 10 corporate boxes when complete will give  a great boost when competing with fellow lower league clubs.
If we were to have a good start to any season with the development in place, you can easily see an extra 2/3000 joining the ranks of us hardy 4000, the feel good momentum would soon have us playing in the Coca cola championship and not the feckin Skrill version which we currently seem to be levitating towards.

When, yes when we reach the 2nd tier of English football do you think as a club, we have contingency plans in place to allow us to survive and thrive in this very competitive quality loaded  division which is the 5th or 6th top division in Europe in terms of attendance figures and transfer fees paid by the clubs?

If we were to play league games against any of Forest Wolves Qpr Leicester Cov Palace Birmingham Leeds etc, visiting fans would number between 3 and 5000, of which all would need accommodating  so would there be a further expansion plan or would having the ground made ready now be a no brainer as we have the finances in place, finances which have been made available by the tax payer.
We may never get this opportunity again, so as a mere supporter it would be nice to know how the enabling funds are  to be distributed to achieve maximum return for hopefully long term gains.
Which means having a ground fit for purpose.

Hope nobody takes offence to my impertinent questions but these are the FAQ that haven't been asked yet

We'll, if we get relegated, just knock the East Stand down and replace it with duckboards.

I'm not sure 'levitating' is the correct term  ;D

 ;D ;D

True, but for the want of a description of a club floating over the trap door playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun

My smiley things ain't working...testing :) Its making my posts look sinister :D

Either the redevelopment is starting today or we are signing ten vans of blokes from tripod crest ltd ;D
Stadium sorted.
Now for the team.

Think you'll find its road surfacing outside KFC ;)

Final soil testing done yesterday


http://www.northampton-news-hp.co.uk/News/Northampton-News/PICTURE-Final-soil-testing-today-at-Northampton-Town-FCs-Sixfields-stadium-before-building-work-begins-on-redevelopment-20140109121500.htm

That's been going on most of the week, not just yesterday

But the 'final' soil test was done yesterday.

They were testing all over the waste ground last year and then all this week they've been doing the athletics track. If you want to get picky you could say the final day of soil testing but all this week has been the same job. The way it's written is as if they were there just the one day when in fact they've been there most of the week. The point being, this news is olds.

They had better not sneak back in to do any more soil testing after this or I may be forced in to getting shoemaker to ask his people in the know (who have their finger on the pulse at the top end of the scale) to jolly well tell us what they think they are doing. Bleeding soil testers, you just can't trust them. ;) 

Don't worry you are in good company - JollyCobbler made a similar out of date comment ;D ;D ;D

No news or old news?

Did I? ??? Explain yourself, Superfan(ny). Or is this yet another unfounded accusation on the part of everbrite? :-*

Newspaper article date ....

Published: 09/01/2014 12:15 - Updated: 09/01/2014 12:34

Key word in the newspaper article....

Final


I never thought it would come to this desperate measure but....   ::)

Please wait - your patience , courtesy and goodwill are/is important to us. Can you take another cup of Horlicks whilst I rummage thru' my collection? Happy waiting ;D

Breaking News;

Further soil tests to take place tomorrow morning.

You heard it here first.

Are we talking about your underkrackers ? ;D

Thank you for your patience in this matter it is appreciated. We/I always appreciate feedback but in this instance you need not bother >:D
In the meantime please refer to the "Bayo Bucket" thread.  Matter now closed - Toodle Pip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blP3i_pwW6w   Rip Clint  :'(

Building a house near sea level requires piles!

My opening line from that particular thread "Apologies if this was already posted and I missed it." So you ain't having that one. Besides, just because it was an old article doesn't mean that everyone here had previously read it... after all, it was posted in a **** tory rag ;D

Now SHUT UP! You're not supposed to be bothering me anymore :-* >:D

 :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

Ok - you stop badgering me and I'll stop bothering you...........I enjoy it in a light hearted way; your a good bloke so fair do's ;D

You're rarely ever about here on a Sunday. Is that because you're out knocking on doors and God-bothering people with readings from everbrite 3:16 >:D

ok 1-0 to you :D

You two get a room

Was it Miles who tested the soil? I hope so, he might have found a spring whilst he was doing it.

If you two do get a room can i watch please or even better film  :P

Behave yourself Mate - what is the point of it. Don't be weird just for the sake of it.

OK dad, sorry. I will be more like you from now on then. 

Dad, dad, dad, dad,daddad DAD >:(

May I ask who is your alter ego as I see that your ISP address is the same  as 2 others on here :o

I know you are a lad but really impersonating others ..........so unlike you Flyers 8)

One answer at a time.

Yes you can.
No body as far as I know, enlighten me!
I am only impersonating you at the moment dad. All you have to do is ask me nicely and I will stop if it is too much for you ;)


Are you alright Tony... seriously  ??? Feel free to PM me if you need to  :)

sorry Mate not available for comment - please try again later. ::)

Accepted.

what for :afro

I don't know! Maybe accusations that are just plain wrong  ;)

Quite simply at the moment I am bored with our pointless quips/brownie points scoring. In your parlance - move on.

I heard from a good source yesterday that work starts on Monday.
The club is clearly keeping this quiet with on pitch news the priority.

It will be interesting to see if this is the case.

The club have posted on twitter that their will be road works around sixfields this week.

The KFC road is taking longer than first thought?

Will this impact on permanent signings being able to reach the stadium ;D

Big Dave is busy behind the scenes doing everything he can to find a new road work manager as the situation is getting critical. Interviews have been taking place for weeks but as you can imagine this is quite a big decision and the board want to take their time to get it absolutely spot on. Until then all matters concerned with the running of the football club will be on hold.

Does anyone really give tuppence about the redevelopment at the moment ?
Maybe the Cardozas do but I cant see many supporters being that bothered. I know I'm not for one.
Priority must be to concentrate on taking the right steps to stay up and worry about everything else later.

Couldn't give a f*** about the development - sort the team and manager out first.

Maybe it's all a plan to get us relegated and eventually merge with Coventry...

 At least our rivals would be able to sing the Chim-chiminey song when they played us, always liked that one.

Any idea of when building work is going to start?

Probably when we are 4-6 points clear of the drop!

Thought DC said end of Jan!? All gone a bit quiet again hasn't it!!

It's all still on schedule according to the leader of the council 2 weeks ago.

So what's the schedule?

Further soil tests are taking place for the next 6-8 weeks, there is confusion as the soil now seems to have more moisture than when the final soil tests were completed.

The schedule ? now that's a secret only known by the few  ;D

Where does this come from?

Think about it!

I meant  the info not the moisture !

Apologies, I was just pulling your leg... at least I think it was your leg!?

jan 2018 when we're top of the conf..

Announced today, 24th Feb work should start. Cheers for answering my question Dave

Or just outside the playoffs..

No chance ;)

Would'nt be too bothered if work did'nt start till the closed season.
With the weather as it is the last thing I want is for them to take the roof off the east stand.

At least now Boothroyd's gone the decision on which way the seats will face should be easier.  :P ;D

Thought work was supposed to start next Monday (24th)?

It's already started.

I saw a builder up there yesterday. He scratched his head, then shook it, then made that face where it looks like you're whistling (without the sound) and said something like....

"It's going to cost you"

I think I saw them too. Drinking tea.

http://youtu.be/z7Bvd33V9dQ

My lad is in the youth set up.
They have been told that all training moves from sixfields to duston from 5th March due to East stand construction work.

Take that as a crap rumour if you like. .. but I'll be dropping him off at duston upper.

Before the end of this season

Not tomorrow then ? Whats happened ?

It's still all on schedule ,this came from David McIntosh ,the leader of the council. I also heard that they will be breaking ground the end of this week/start of next week , this didn't come from David McIntosh.

As with any major project there has to be a week or two of hanging around in white transits
weighing the job up , pouring over the plans , eyeing up the local talent and drinking a lot of tea.
Its no good rushing into things , Rome wasnt built in a day.  :P

there's f/ck all talent at Sixfields! We're 92nd!

Anyone here any rumours yesterday if it might be starting this week?

The Washington square has disappeared  :o

Was told by box office staff east stand roof will be off by the next home game,backing up what was said in the letter sent to me.

What was in the letter ?

Some writing on a piece of paper one assumes.

  ;D :D ;D

It said, bring a coat.

All the STH's in the East have had one.
They are taking the roof off imminently and we can either sit in the rain or move to the North or the West.

Ground to be broken this Friday. Im no building expert, but dosnt it seem a bit ambitious to have this new stand in place for the start of the season?

We don't want those misfits from the East Stand in the West, put them in the North Stand with the rest of the unwashed  ;D  ;D

Roll on next week  8)

Maybe they're bottom men! Anyhoo when they take the roof off the East stand bang goes the atmosphere in there so!

Not strictly true; we've been season ticket holders there for 16 years or so and haven't heard a peep! I guess we'll have to take Gareth Willsher's advice on the radio tonight and contact the club or we'll end up sitting in the rain a la Gillingham!

my mate and his lad east stand ssh) have been given tickets next to me in the west stand due to the roof being removed shortly and they have the choice of where to sit, not a rumour ;)

Can't we do a Gillingham and use the East for away supporters once the roof is off?!

Good idea banana

Leave it out Banana , a large proportion of us old codgers are staying there due to being welded to our seats.
We will also be able to have a bloody good moan once we get soaked through.  :D

How do you know when you're ready to move across to the East? There's someone who sits near me, in the West, who's not stopped moaning since I first came across him in 1999. Is it purely an age thing (he must be in his mid to late 50's by now), is it based on whinge percentage, or is it some kind of age : whinge ratio?

Dunno why you would choose to sit in the East, full of fidgety Kids and middle class parents and you get the sun in your eyes. It's not like the West is like the Shed end circa 1980 is it?

I much prefer the East to the West. You are (or at least feel) closer to the pitch and can hear more of what is being said by the players. I don't have any kids sitting near me on a regular basis and there is a pretty good group of people sitting in the immediate vicinity to us who have a decent chat each match.

You'll know when its time N.E.
Its when you get grumpy about almost everything , you're over 60 and have backache , dislike intensely anyone under 30 who drinks lager and are generally a right miserable old git.
Anyway , someone told me that the West is going to be the new family stand after the development so all you lot will get moved to the East to get the sun in your eyes. All us old bastards will be sitting  moaning in the faded glory of the West.  ;D UTC

Do we have to tick all of those boxes or only one or two?  ;D

so next season when the east is rocking and awash with new money, will the west will become the new east?
I'm certainly staying put the west. Anyone moving across?

Should think that with a capacity of 10k we will be able to sit where we like.
Next season's season ticket offer will probably include a BOGOF.
Sixfields will be a bit of a ghost town otherwise.

your having a laugh - I hope ;)

I'm suggesting they take the roof off the south stand, recycle it and use it for part of the new east stand.
It'll save big Dave some money and reduce the noise coming from.the visitors.

Hey, that's me. Excellent, recognition at last...!

No chance, I'm not.

so its the oinks v the plebs - should be interesting

Depends on what's where next season... Is the east still going to be the family area or is that moving to another of the ground?

The East stand will be the Sixfields version of the duckboards, which end will eventually be the Hotel?

Huh  ???

Carry on stalking.

oops - apologies as I just merely used your message to make a "East v West" jest. It was careless but nothing personal whatsoever :-[

Ok? ;)

The ground breaking will take place tomorrow , Friday, at 1.30 all fans are invited to attend .

Do we need to bring a shovel?

It might come in handy  :)

A spade is for digging a shovel is for er shoveling!

Forking obvious.

where did you rake that one up from :D

Hoe, hoe, hoe.

Shear we go again with the puns...

No mower, please....

I bet we can find a shed load more.

It's hard to rotavate myself to trowel through all these puns.

How on EARTH do you come up with all of these puns.

This is too much, I girder go...

It is getting a bit hardcore.

It is getting a bit hardc0re.

Hardcore?

ManUre?

Stand...earth...building...hardc0re....forget it. Don't want to distract you from clogging up each and every thread with your inane bickering, although you'll probably now start on me...

;D

I was just showing you how to spell hardcore without having to result to using a zero.

Wish I hadn't have bothered now.  ::)

Hmmmm....while clearly you are an expert on so very many things, perhaps internet security settings isn't one of them...?

Are you telling me you are unable to write hardcore on here with having to resort to using a zero?

How is Hornby's injury coming along ?   :P

The sod has been cut!!! and no, im not talking about human slug Tony Woods!!!

So what was the groundbreaking development news? Anyone?

Ahh okay.  Found the story now.  :-[

It appears listening to DC that boxes are to be put in the West as well..

Looks like a firm called The County Group are doing it, I've never heard of these so I don't think they're local which disappoints me as I had hoped there would be conditions applied to the loan which meant the work had to go to local companies to keep the money in the town. Shame. Poor show from both club and council on that one if this is the case.

A quick look on Companycheck has revealed that, both of the Cardozas are directors of
County Midlands Ltd, and County Developments (Northampton) Ltd.

oh hello

Somehow I'm not surprised.

Loads of Introduction letters to get on the list of Sub contractors winging its way to Cardoza towers...Just hope he doesn't hold grudge's as many on here wont see any action :o

Oh go on then. .. something else to moan about without thinking first.

If you award the contract to your own business. . Then you're going to give a dammed good price and get absolute best value for every penny aren't you?
 ::)

Yeah, you will get a good price.

For clarification - is that NTFC getting a good price or The County Group?

Hehe.  :)

Does anyone know who the people in the photo from today's soil cutting ceremony are?

I wasnt moaning, just pointing out the facts. And I thought about it first.

I'm just amazed that in the day we've fought for over such a long period. ... there is someone out there who instantly sees wrong doing in what the club is doing.

It's incredible.

I've seen stadium developments costs broken down to per individual seat costs.
Cardiffs millennium stadium ranked well above Wembley and so on.
2000 seats for £15000000 will give us the top priced seats?

  ;) That's a first  >:D

You have awol - about to send out a search party 8)

My apologies. I have been working in Clerkenwell for the last seven weeks. I assume that you have missed me?  ;D

I was working there today , I didn't see you  ???

I was stripping out the basement of the Old Sessions House on Clerkenwell Green. Where were you?

Who was moaning and who has seen wrong? Betamax pointed out who the company were and I just thought that as we're a community club and as the money is coming from our council that the jobs should go to local firms first. I said this when the loan thing first came about and I say it again now it's happening.

Of course, when it's finished there will scrutiny in how the loan monies have been spent. The increase in capacity does look small at the moment. Are they actually building the East Stand from scratch or adding to the existing building (roof off)?

Just an extra 10 rows on top of existing and several boxes.

I've just been asked on the private message if I was sceptical about the redevelopment.

The answer is Im delighted with it and very thankful to our local council for faciliting what was required to get the thing moving.
My only reservation on proceedings was that at the end of this phase of development, we will be nowhere near to  a successful challenge on and getting into the championship and maintaining our position.

A 10,000 seater stadium makes a championship club not, so what's the contingency plan for having a ground big enough to welcome 3, 4 or 5000 visiting fans from the dozen or so local clubs that easily sell that many tickets week in week out?

Its my opinion that we are being extremely shortsighted in not adding just a few 1000 more seats, making us ready for the step up, which l believe will do soon.

Please don't take offence, this is just my view.

Any way must dash, got somewhere to be.

 ;)assume = ass u (&) me ;)

Given how quickly they seem to expect to complete this work (sort of, add on to existing rather than re-build) I would expect that capacity in the north & south stands could be increased reasonably quickly too when (& if  ::) ) the need arises. Suspect that the Chairman might adopt a wait and see policy after the raised expectations that were dashed by our previous 2 "high profile" managers!

On the 4th floor of Café Saffron ,Indian restaurant in Aylesbury St working on an O2 site. We sat for 3.5 hours outside the café on Clerkenwell Green waiting for access to the job!

You do talk some rubbish at times.

That's got to be a euphemism for something really disgusting.

It was pretty messy. ;D

You clearly don't know me then. ... although you do.

Stewards enquiry ;D :D ;D

Have you reserved your box yet Shoey?

No.
Never ever buy until you know what you are actually buying!
If I'd have bought a pass to get into the fans village or a season ticket for the rugby league club I'd have been hugely disappointed.

And there was me thinking that was an attempt at humour  : ::)

It must have been the lack of a smiley that went over his head....

;)  ;D  :)

Doesn't seem to be much activities over by the East, is the completion date still before next season?

Nothing's happened yet as far as I could see. Thought the roof was supposed to be off by Sat??

They are going to have to get the guy with the megaphone from Extreme makeover home edition on the case. I dont see how this will be done by August?

I believe they've gone back to the drawing board to re think the plans, as they stand we will not be in a position to get promoted out of the lower divisions and shows very poor return on a £15,000,000 investment to leave a town of 230,000 with a tiny little ground still not fit for purpose.

I just hope the experts behind this project don't serve up a shiite sandwich on a broken plate!

Time for a question and answer session.

My 1st Question, When will we developed the ground to achieve our aspirations of playing in the championship, or must we hope to be a Yeovil and fly by the bones of our arrses.

2nd.. I know as a mere fan of this club and therefore shouldn't question the proposed development, but I would love to know how the club will make money from the hotel? Is it a one off payment, a little annual rent or a decent % per rooms occupancy.

3/ Are the council overseeing the spend to make sure the Town and club get the absolute most benefit from this once in a lifetime brilliant wind fall.

4/ Am I the only one out side the loop or is there zero transparency and no one has a Scooby what's happening or proposed.

What's this no development?

Well blow me down.

If 11 years of false dawns and broken promises have taught me anything it is not to believe a word I hear about the topic of NTFC and 'development'.

And to think it was all going so well when they broke that piece of grass the other week ::)

p.s. If you want to know what building a new stand looks like I suggest people take a look at a professionally run club - NCCC and the County Ground. They've got a massive f*cking crane, what looks like a a stand shape structure emerging upward from the ground and best of all very little in the way of hot air.

Maybe they're waiting until after the Portsmouth and Wycombe games.

I was in the club shop yesterday and I asked about the East Stand roof. He seemed to think they had changed their minds and it will stay in place till the end of the season. In the meantime they will perform other works behind the East Stand. TBF he wasn't 100% that it was the case, but it sounded like a reasonable plan to me!!!

Maybe the council have decided that the cobblers won't need a redeveloped stadium if they plummet out of the league.
You could see where there coming from.
Even so I'd expect the houses to get built so its not all bad news.

Shut up Shoey.

didnt I tell you I'd bin you off if you continued to refuse to understand what the redevelopment is all about?

Do us all a favour and carry out your threat Karl, the bloke doesn't even support the team, just undermines them at every turn. I wouldn't care if he was honest about his allegiances but pretending to support the club whilst criticising at every opportunity it's getting right on my nerves.

Piss off Polly!

So other posters can show scepticism regards the development but I share those concerns and get targeted.
Moderation at its best!

You have probably posted what the majority were thinking...  ;)

That's right throw your two penneth in.
I never threw my two penneth in when you didn't post for a year or two because it had nothing to do with me whether you did or not.
I have my opinions and il stick to them.
As I've constantly said I do want us to stay up and the overwhelming reason is that I fear for the future of the club(as did the chairman in his comments regarding our escape under GJ).
I made a decision just to take in a handfull of away games after having a season ticket for many years and that's what I'm doing,hardly the action of a person wanting the team to go down.
I leave the non attendance and supporting of other clubs to the majority of Northamptonshire and stand by the right to be in the minority and support the club and attend games.
Hey ho.

Er , just asking but why isn't he entitled to his opinion ?

All Shoey is doing is repeating unfounded rumours started elsewhere. I really don't think the council is going to cancel / downsize a multi million project , where all the steel as been ordered and contracts signed because the Cobblers failed to win a couple of games. The re-development is going ahead 100% whatever division we are in next season.

I agree Shoey is getting boring. He's either dense or on a constant wind up. Everyone knows the redevelopment isn't just about NTFC but has many other factors contributing to it.It will go ahead whether be play Bristol City or Braintree next season.

No shoemaker, the reason is because you constantly say why do we need more seats when you know that the extra seats aren't the reason for the development. It's the other 6 days a week it is focused on.

And you bore me

All valid points Karl.

It's like having a member from Loose Women on the message board.

That's good to hear Barton but does anyone actually know when.
There are dates that come and go and no updates and that does nothing to alay fears/contribute to rumours.
Can anyone on here please tell me WHEN is this actually starting?

Erm, it's started...

Awhh you've gone and spoilt it , you really shouldn't let facts get in the way of a good rumour !  :)

That's good.
Now to stay in the football league.

The roof is staying on until the end of the season.  The internal works are well underway. I guess if you can't see it Shoey or indeed you didn't have a meeting with the chairman about it. .. then it's clearly not happening.

The infrastructure of the East will be built around the current structure until the season is over.
The West Stand will have boxes built in now as well as the East. .. Yes Shoey. .. this generates turnover to pay for players wages.

I understand that the face of the West well look different to accommodate the boxes.
I also understand that significant pitch improvement will be made in the summer.

Oh

There were some blokes there today in hi viz vests. They were drinking tea and sucking through their teeth. As soon as it started drizzling they got in the van.
It's in full swing.

I might go park up outside tomorrow with a full load on, that'd get people wet

What ya hauling trucker?

Going dogging again?