Plans put on hold.
Good news, IMHO
Agreed - We don't need a new ground with the current tv deals.
Thank fcuk for that.I nearly didn't renew this season as a couple of seasons at Wembley was looming.
I bet the locals are overjoyed.
Will the club want their compensation money back I wonder?
I don't think they actually paid it (other than for the properties they bought).
Absolutely.
At least we agree on that.
Now that Abramovich is unable to work over here at the moment, is this the start of the end with him.
Will the club be up for sale in the near future, I wonder?
Wouldn't be surprised in the current climate.
Roman big pals with Putin isn't he? Came as a shock to see he's pulled out of the stadium. The way he's stopped spending lately, wouldn't surprise me if he's losing interest a bit/fcuked off with the UK, so could well be the beginning of the end.
Don't think we'll have a problem finding a buyer though.
Not sure about Abramovich giving up completely, even before the whole visa business I don’t think he’s spent as much time over here like he used to so not sure how much that would impact on his Chelsea ownership. It appears that Marina runs the show nowadays
What work did he do here before?
Erm
He has visa free access as an Israeli citizen so bizarrely, might have more fuss free access than before!
He'll try and buy Wembley instead
We need to upgrade, our facilities are poor, need the new stadium for commercial opportunities, increased fan base and brand. North and shed end are not a great experience. Big statement from Roman. Huge blow I feel.
... said no fan, ever
I know.. But if you see some of the stadiums in the states they are places you want to get to early, drink at and visit the bars restaurants they have inside for the masses and not corporates. Instead of being in the back of the north stand, packed in with huge queues and piss floating out of the bogs in the freezing winter cold.
I get that and I appreciate you’re coming from a different angle here, but it still doesn’t stop tourists from coming to the games to experience an authentic English football match/stadium and spending their money. The club are also getting a ridiculous amount of revenue from the TV deals.
Chelsea’s ‘brand’ has become famous and successful because of what’s happened on the pitch.
They’ve got a similar set-up to what you’re referring to at the Etihad. It’s pleasant enough but it’s so sterile. Look at what’s happened with West Ham’s move, for example. I preferred Maine Road and Upton Park. I‘d rather go to Goodison and Selhurst Park. I’m not going for the ‘customer experience’ and nor are the vast majority of fans, in fact being seen as a customer is likely to piss off most regular match-goers.
We fcuked up big time with the redesign of SB .(MH stand and Shed in particular)Be good to try and at least extend/improve them and leave the rest alone.
We are benchmarking against UK grounds which are not the latest design and also affected by UK licening laws around drink. Also you need to consider the desires of the millenials and how their spends will change. Stadiums now incorporate extensive retail. This future proofs the ground. You my friends like me are all getting old and habits change..
Obviously this just anecdotal, but many of the young lads/millennials I see going to Chelsea etc. nowadays are probably even more old school in many of their football tastes than the generation before them.
Yeah I get that and maybe we have a solid base for another 20 or 30 years but these kids opt for technology and some buy a car cause its got wifi. Other stadiums have gyms around certain sports so that you can go for a workout during the game!! Bizarre I know. You cant stand still and the ground needs to move on and TV money may not be about for ever, so all the income from Food booze is vital. Foreigners think we are nuts that we shut food and drink out at half time etc. Cant drink in our seats. I know the hisotry and the laws but you can make these places nicer to visit. Why do 70% of the crowd arrive in the last 30 mins in the uk. Cause the experience and facilities are poor. Even wembley suffers when chelsea go there against say saints, as we turn up later cause the beer price, queues, poor service. Im not saying sit in an armchair with a foot massage but it could be a bit nicer. I will save my thoughts on tech, lighting and sound for another day.
I appreciate you’ll know more about all this than I do, but is the worry with millennials not so much that they expect a sanitised, more American style experience at a game now, more that their football viewing habits now make it more likely that they’ll just sit at home watching games or highlights or clips of goals etc. on their phones and tablets, rather than actually go to games? Which then leaves the match-going types, who are a different breed, and prefer the older style way of viewing football.
The alcohol law’s a different issue and I don’t think it matters what the stadium’s like, the culture of having a beer in a pub will usually win out over having a beer in the ground. I think that’s probably the biggest difference with English football fans and fans of sports in other countries. I could only see that kind of thing changing slightly if they allow drinks in the stands, but I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
I feel with the way the world’s going, it won’t be long before you can log on in China or Australia and choose where in the Bridge you want to sit and you’ll have a virtual reality view of the match happening as though you were there live in that seat. The amount of money clubs will make (and are making) from TV/online rights would then, more than ever, dwarf the extra few quid they’d make in having a few more people buying more food & drink at a match.
We shouldn’t underestimate the message from Roman to UK PLC. Namely, a big two fingers to you if you think you can not give me a visa and still expect me to invest 1bn quid...
I think that is the real reason and nothing else.
Yup.That's a lot of jobs and money gone out the window.