FGR stadium plans unveiled

[Chris FGR]

It wouldn't surprise me if the next change is the name of the club to Ecotricity Green Rovers. I'm sure that was the plan all along.

Vince has offered assurances that the name wont change.

That tofu chomping, Linda McCartney sausage BBQ'ing, Hyper Global t-shirt wearing, long haired Swampy wannabe needs to stay out of our turf.

Your turf?

 

[Railway Blue]

That's the plan...

For Vince, the long-term vision is a place in the Championship: “Part of our rationale is the higher up the leagues we move, the bigger platform we have for our message."

.........which is?

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

This idea seems too pie in the sky rather than good business.

The out of town new ground effect may have worked for clubs like Shrewsbury where their gates have doubled since their move but that's because it's near a huge residential area in the South of the town.

Another out of town new ground is Chester, it's by far the worst of all out of town new grounds, down a mile long dead end lane through an industrial estate to nowhere. It's killed the club, they still get good gates for their level but for a city of its size (130K plus) it's very poor considering we're half the population of the city of Chester in Crewe and get more than double their gates. But the location has an impact on crowds because the ground is seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

This is why I think that this is a stupid idea, the ground is going to be near J13 of the M5, there's hardly a soul in sight when you come off the motorway there. I don't think hoardes of people will travel down the M5 from Gloucester and the A419 from Stonehouse, Stroud and Cirencester to watch Forest Green play in literally the middle of nowhere. Yes the business park will be there for many years to come you feel because it's a new company HQ but I fear that the stadium and its state of the art training pitches will be a white elephant if this ever gets built.

I for one feel it'll never get built. Seen bigger clubs with bigger pie in the sky ideas (Coventry and Bristol City moving into retractable roof stadiums, Liverpool moving into Stanley Park, Everton moving onto Kings Dock/to Kirkby) and it's never happened, so this one definitely won't I can assure you now. Mind you AFC Fylde are spending £18 million on their stupid idea of a new 6000 seater stadium/retail park near the M55 and the small Lancastrian town of Kirkham which will be a white elephant in a decade or so, so who knows what the future holds.

 

[RobS]

Let's ignore for a second the fact that this makes little footballing sense.

A simple question: how is building an 'Eco Park' at a motorway junction in any way a 'green' move? It forces staff who work at the park, people going to matches, and people using the sports facilities to drive. You can put on some buses but they'll only take 5-10% of people travelling there. And then of course there's the businesses (FGR included) that'll relocate from towns to the business park, removing shoppers from the town shops and cafes, which will struggle and close, so that people have to drive to their nearest retail/entertainment park on the edge of town. It's all well and good generating green electricity (which to be fair Ecotricity seem to be pretty good at) but frankly he's wasting his time if he undermines that by building unsustainable businesses that force people to drive.

If FGR were proposing a sustainable development in Stroud then the move, while a little bit distasteful to the purist, is probably justified, both sportingly and environmentally. This just seems like nonsense.

 

[EnglishRed]

I'm all for pushing the eco agenda. But you will never make a self sustaining football cub out of Forest Green. They will always need financial propping up. A club with no large natural fanbase or history of success situated in an area of the country that seems largely apathetic about football. It just seems like Rushden and Diamonds all over again, just with less leather boots and more veggie pies.

 

[GTFC1979]

Nowt so great as a bitter Gloucester City fan.

Buy you liked his post.......

 

[Si Robin]

I liked his comments about Dale Vince.

 

[Greenacres]

Nowt so great as a bitter Gloucester City fan.

You would think he might be a bit more gracious towards us. Considering the fact that our respective clubs allowed his team to spend time as lodgers, and probably avoid going to the wall, after their ground by the dump flooded in 2007.

 

[Southern Shayman]

You would think he might be a bit more gracious towards us. Considering the fact that our respective clubs allowed his team to spend time as lodgers, and probably avoid going to the wall, after their ground by the dump flooded in 2007.

Oh yes they should be massively grateful - as you continue to move closer to their home town in an attempt to pick up fans you can't get yourself.

 

[Chris FGR]

Oh yes they should be massively grateful - as you continue to move closer to their home town

What do you mean, continue to move closer? We have never moved closer to Gloucester before.

in an attempt to pick up fans you can't get yourself.

We averaged 1578 last season, the best Gloucester have managed in the last 20 years was 1112 back in 96/97 when they were in a promotion battle with Cheltenham in the Southern League. Since then they've never managed to average more then 3 figures, whilst we have continuously and are increasing our support year after year. It's been a very, very long time since they averaged bigger gates then us.

It seems that it's them that can't get fans, not us.

 

[Greenacres]

Oh yes they should be massively grateful - as you continue to move closer to their home town in an attempt to pick up fans you can't get yourself.

I understand that Gloucester aim to move to their new ground in time for the 2016/17 season. I can't see us moving to Stonehouse, if at all, for at least five seasons. That should give Gloucester at least three or four years to soak up any support from the south side of the city before we move anywhere...how much notice do they need?

It is a free country, people can support whoever they want, how many people leave our supposed catchment areas to follow "bigger" teams instead of following ours? I can think of a couple of places fairly near to where I live where coaches stop on a Saturday to take people to Liverpool and Manchester Utd to watch games. Yeah, I wish they didn't, but that is the way of football.

 

[Southern Shayman]

What do you mean, continue to move closer? We have never moved closer to Gloucester before.



We averaged 1578 last season, the best Gloucester have managed in the last 20 years was 1112 back in 96/97 when they were in a promotion battle with Cheltenham in the Southern League. Since then they've never managed to average more then 3 figures, whilst we have continuously and are increasing our support year after year. It's been a very, very long time since they averaged bigger gates then us.

It seems that it's them that can't get fans, not us.

Apologies, that was meant to read continue to plan to move closer*.

Bristol Rovers may have helped you average 1578 last year but any club wants to increase their fan base, your plan seems to want to do it by moving towards another club.

 

[Clem Fandango]

We averaged 1578 last season, the best Gloucester have managed in the last 20 years was 1112 back in 96/97 when they were in a promotion battle with Cheltenham in the Southern League. Since then they've never managed to average more then 3 figures, whilst we have continuously and are increasing our support year after year. It's been a very, very long time since they averaged bigger gates then us.

It seems that it's them that can't get fans, not us.

We are into our 9th season in exile, and in 1999 the club were relegated into the Midland Divison and were almost wound up. A smidgen of facts help at times. On the subject of facts, we both played at a neutral venue at Whaddon Road so to speak in the FA Cup last season and you lot brought 600 odd, bolstered slightly by some friends from Cheltenham whilst we had twice that amount in the stadium.

Move along nothing to see here.

 

[chairboyexile]

If FGR do move it will alianate what little support they have left they will go back to being Stroud fc vince wont plough any more money in the club goes under and a phonix club with the old collours & crest run by the fans will rise from the ashes

 

[Chris FGR]

Bristol Rovers may have helped you average 1578 last year but any club wants to increase their fan base, your plan seems to want to do it by moving towards another club.

Even taking the Bristol Rovers attendance out, our average crowds were still vastly better then anything Gloucester have managed in a long time, including at Meadow Park. Even in games against the likes of Braintree, Telford and Nuneaton we managed 1300+, and In bigger games over 2000 against the likes of Kiddy and Aldershot and over 2600 v Dover.

We aren't a big club at this level, but we are now a significantly better supported club then Gloucester, and that's without moving into "their" territory.

We are increasing our support with good marketing and excellent engagement in the local community, not by moving into Gloucester's territory or stealing their fans.

 

[Si Robin]

I honestly don't see how you can compare your attendances to Gloucester's. You have to bear in mind that from 1999 to 2009 FGR were always 2 divisions above Gloucester. Since then, they've been playing in Cirencester and Cheltenham.

The fact they average as many as they do astounds me. I have no doubt that were they to have been in Gloucester since 2007 and playing in Conference North they would be averaging a lot more. They would also have a much better and more competitive budget as they would be making their own money and not paying us rent.

There is a large, untapped, fan base in the suburbs around Gloucester, when they go home and should they market themselves right, coupled with decent results, they could very much challenge FGR and ourselves (as much as it pains me to say it).

 

[CFC2010]

This idea seems too pie in the sky rather than good business.

The out of town new ground effect may have worked for clubs like Shrewsbury where their gates have doubled since their move but that's because it's near a huge residential area in the South of the town.

Another out of town new ground is Chester, it's by far the worst of all out of town new grounds, down a mile long dead end lane through an industrial estate to nowhere. It's killed the club, they still get good gates for their level but for a city of its size (130K plus) it's very poor considering we're half the population of the city of Chester in Crewe and get more than double their gates. But the location has an impact on crowds because the ground is seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

.

Although I am no fan of our ground, the location as well as the design is terrible and it does limit our crowds to an extent, its a massive over exaggeration to suggest its killed our club, in fact if it was not for The Deva we would probably be still playing in the Evo Stik leagues on a local field. Going further back, it also allowed us to return to the City after playing home games in Macclesfield.

Obviously your crowds will be higher after a sustained period of success in the 2nd and 3rd tier, whereas we have not been higher than the 4th tier in 20 years, going through administration twice, two relegations to non league and liquidation in that time.

 

[Chris FGR]

There is a large, untapped, fan base in the suburbs around Gloucester, when they go home and should they market themselves right, coupled with decent results, they could very much challenge FGR and ourselves (as much as it pains me to say it).

That would be a good thing for the region imo, the more football fans/rivalries there are the better. Anything to stop the egg chasers dominating.

Personally I would rather stay where we are, but I don't think a move to Stonehouse will affect anything Gloucester do, especially as they should be back long before we move. It will then be up to them to convince the locals that they are the team to support, as Greenacres says it's a free country and people are allowed to support who they want. It'll be better to see more of that support remain in Gloucestershire, whichever club they're supporting. 3 strong clubs getting decent crowds will help push each other imo.

 

[Greenacres]

There is a large, untapped, fan base in the suburbs around Gloucester, when they go home and should they market themselves right, coupled with decent results, they could very much challenge FGR and ourselves (as much as it pains me to say it).

I agree with this and, although the county has a strong rugby bias, there are plenty of people who have moved here from elsewhere who may be more interested in football than any other spectator sport. Over the next 5-10 years there is likely to be new housing built around the county, what the three football teams have to do is to try and attract anyone new to the area who is interested in football to attend games at their ground. Given that there isn't much of a difference in status between the teams it might seem like a pretty fair battle with no team being a far greater draw than any other. There was a lot of interest locally last season for the "Glossico" when Rovers and Gloucester met in the FA Cup, having derbies on a more regular basis will surely increase interest even further.

As Chris mentioned above, anything to stop the egg chasers dominating, I want our county to be just as well known for its footballing exploits...and that goes not just for my own team but also our two closest rivals.

 

[chairboyexile]

FGR - Gloucester is not a derby

 

[Greenacres]

FGR - Gloucester is not a derby

Definition of derby:

Rivalries stem from various sources. Simple geographic proximity as well as frequent meetings in important games can lead to rivalries. Games between two rivals of close geographical proximity are usually called a local derby, or simply just derby (UK: /ˈdɑrbi/; DAR-bee or AUS/US: /ˈdɜrbi/; DER-bee); a sporting fixture between two teams from the same town, city or region, particularly in association football.

I think FGR versus Gloucester qualifies on the geographical proximity, same region and in the past frequent meetings.

 

[chairboyexile]

Gloucester-Cheltnaham & Shortwood and FGR

 

[DarkSithLord]

Gloucester-Cheltnaham & Shortwood and FGR

Thats not true. Its like saying Nottingham Forest rivals are Notts County because their across the river. When in fact its clearly Derby County

 

[chairboyexile]

Thats not true. Its like saying Nottingham Forest rivals are Notts County because their across the river. When in fact its clearly Derby County

Then are you going to tell me that United and Wednesday are not rivals either fk off you skanky northen gibbon

 

[DarkSithLord]

Then are you going to tell me that United and Wednesday are not rivals either fk off you skanky northen gibbon

Of Course. Buts what if affect you are saying when you say FGR- Gloucester are not rivals. Of course they are.

Less of the insults too please.

 

[Si Robin]

FGR are not classed as a derby in the strictest sense by Cheltenham or City fans (well none I know), but by your logic chairboy our derby would be Bishops Cleeve.

Despite what some Cheltenham fans try and say, our only real derby will forever be Gloucester City. FGR will be a local rivalry next season (and for however many seasons we are both in the same division) but there will never be the animosity between the supporters, the cultural rivalry that the the two towns have against each other. It sounds patronising, and silly considering their likely budget compared to ours, but FGR will always be seen by Cheltenham fans as the little club on the hill, the team on the other side of the County that we don't mind visiting if the Robins aren't playing (something I used to do regularly, I even own an old FGR shirt).

Put simply, other than wanting to keep our status as the County's top club, Cheltenham fans don't care about FGR and City fans are only jealous of them. FGR are in a similar position to us when we were in the Football League, trying to form rivalries with Swindon and Oxford, or even Bristol Rovers. They didn't care either.

 

[chairboyexile]

Thats our opening fixture away at bishops cleeve whats the best way to get there from Chelt Spa? Si Robin

 

[Si Robin]

Taxi probably. You could get the D Bus (in the station car park) to Bishops Cleeve, but their ground is so hidden away the nearest bus-stop is still a bit of a trek away.

That being said, if you get off the bus at Bishops Drive just before it turns right on to Two Hedges Road, then you only need to turn left onto Two Hedges Road, followed by an immediate right onto Crown Drive. Follow Crown Drive right to the end before turning right onto Kayte Lane. After a bit of a dodgy walk (no pavement) the ground is on the right.

 

[chairboyexile]

Thanks Ive never been to Bishops cleeve it's on my list to visit

 

[Si Robin]

It's not too bad, not great, but not bad. I used to live around the corner from the ground. Was there a couple of weeks ago when my son was playing in a 5-a-side tournament.

Fantastic burgers, and the clubhouse isn't bad at all.