New Stadium Approved

[The Boofon]

59 minutes ago, CityCentre said:

There's a story on the EE today but I can't see it, can some one copy and paste it in here from the EE site?

Council bosses are in talks with Aberdeen FC in a bid to make them abandon plans for a new stadium at Kingsford and instead relocate to the site of a former city hotel at the beach, the Evening Express can reveal.

Planning permission for the new ground was granted by Aberdeen City Council in 2018, along with a training complex which opened the following year.

However, the Evening Express can now reveal council leaders have launched a bid to convince the Dons to reconsider the move as part of a revised city centre masterplan.

Initial talks have taken place between local authority chiefs and the club over the possibility of the Reds building a new stadium close to Pittodrie as part of a wider scheme to regenerate the area around Aberdeen Beach.

 

A council source told the Evening Express the site of the former Hilton DoubleTree hotel on Beach Boulevard, which closed last year, is thought to be the best site.

Further discussions are planned, in which city leaders will attempt to convince the club to remain close to its spiritual home.

City centre masterplan lead Marie Boulton said: “Aberdeen Football Club is one of our city’s major assets. My preference would always have been for the council to work with the club to allow it to remain in the city centre.

“As a city, we want to retain as much vibrancy as possible and the club is a key contributor to that.

 

“People come into town and spend their money in local businesses. Matchday is a lifeline for many of the pubs and restaurants in the city.

“It is really important that we do not lose sight of how crucial that is to the city.”

Ms Boulton added: “The area around Pittodrie is the club’s natural and spiritual home. We are used to seeing generations of the same families walking through the city centre to get to the game and we don’t want those to become mere memories.

“We really hope there can be a way forward with this because the club remaining in town would help save the city centre.

“It is early days but there is a real willingness on our part to work with Aberdeen Football Club to find a way that works for everyone.”

 

It is understood council chiefs would look to relocate businesses in the area, such as extreme sports facility Transition, to other sites if talks are successful.

Local authority officials began exploring the possibility of building a new stadium in the area as early as August last year.

Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden said: “It would be great for Aberdeen if the club was able to remain in the city. A lot of businesses were concerned about the impact of a move out of town.

“The likes of the golf clubs and Pittodrie Bar would have been heavily impacted, as would a lot of places in the city centre.

“It would be a good thing for the city centre as a whole if the stadium was to remain in the beach area.”

Last year Dons chairman Dave Cormack admitted the construction of the new stadium could be set back “years” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He estimated the financial impact of the virus and the absence of fans since March would cost the club around £8 million – and warned it would have to stop “haemorrhaging cash”.

Mr Cormack said: “Is it delayed by one, two or three years?

“If you could tell me when crowds are back at Pittodrie, I could give a better estimate.

“But the reality is that project is on the back burner because all of our efforts are on getting through this, but with also being able to invest significantly in the football operation and fan engagement programme.”

A Dons spokeswoman said: “With Pittodrie earmarked for housing, we are a key stakeholder at the beach. During initial conversations, the possibility of the club being involved in the sports and leisure element was discussed. It’s far too early to make any comment on whether or not this would be progressed by either the club or the council.

“We remain committed to a new stadium, sports and community facilities at Kingsford, albeit our plans to progress to the next stage have stalled due to the financial challenges we are facing as a result of the pandemic.”

[CityCentre]

Interesting development.

[Simply Red]

ACC years too slow as usual. Fucking useless cunts. Good if it comes off but what an amount of time and money wasted by AFC in the meantime.

[The Gee Man]

Free council and business rates for life then if we are sooooo important!!

[Andy_123]

AFC should be telling them to GTF unless the get compensated for all the money they’ve spent over the years to get to Kingsford stage while the council were being as unhelpful as possible.

Not convinced we’ll see anything change. Even with the delays due to Covid, we’ll probably still be in a position to build the stadium long before the council ever get ready for anything.

[NEM]

1 hour ago, Ernie McCracken said:

What a fucking shambles. Council are a fucking joke. They've had 20 years to help AFC get a site, but what do they do? Wait until AFC have secured a site and planning permission and then pipe up and say "what about building here instead" 

I would suspect AFC will tell them to poke it due to the stage were at coupled with the annual costs of running 2 sites. 

AFC better wise the fuck up then 

[NEM]

13 minutes ago, Andy_123 said:

AFC should be telling them to GTF unless the get compensated for all the money they’ve spent over the years to get to Kingsford stage while the council were being as unhelpful as possible.

Not convinced we’ll see anything change. Even with the delays due to Covid, we’ll probably still be in a position to build the stadium long before the council ever get ready for anything.

Aye cutting off our noses to spite our face would be a great idea.

Shambles from the council but at the end of the day who cares - fuck the Westhill white elephant.  Not as if that clown Milne hasn't already wasted millions on various studies etc

[eddiec]

Not even sure that area would be big enough and the traffic chaos it would cause on the boulie its bad enough now with the retail park its a non starter and just the twats on the council coming up with another hair brained scheme to make themselves important ... remember this is the same wifie Boulton who said we should forget the bypass and build a tunnel along the seafront to take traffic through the city.

[King Street Loon]

Building in Westhill far more convenient for me, but if we can build in town, then I'm all for that. 

ACC are a bunch if cunts though. How many years have the club been on at them to work together to get a site. Now we've Kingsford secured they offer this. 

[King Street Loon]

3 minutes ago, eddiec said:

Not even sure that area would be big enough and the traffic chaos it would cause on the boulie its bad enough now with the retail park its a non starter and just the twats on the council coming up with another hair brained scheme to make themselves important ... remember this is the same wifie Boulton who said we should forget the bypass and build a tunnel along the seafront to take traffic through the city.

Thon wifie Boulton is a serpent 

[StandFree1982]

There's no chance we're building a new stadium anytime soon. We were struggling to find all the funds we needed before Covid came along, now we're going to end up having to pay off debts and loans we've acrued due to a lack of cashflow, so there's no chance it's happening in the next 5, maybe even 10. 

[aberdeen1970]

Interesting development. 

I'm all for it in principle.   Would be great to keep the club in the heart of the city. Is that space big enough though? Looks like it would be quite tight 

[Proud Dandy]

Clearly favourable to most fans if we can stay in the City. Council should be coughing up for feasibility studies and planning costs though if the Dons are so important, we’ve got a valid planning permission elsewhere so are in a decent position.

[NEM]

26 minutes ago, eddiec said:

Not even sure that area would be big enough and the traffic chaos it would cause on the boulie its bad enough now with the retail park its a non starter and just the twats on the council coming up with another hair brained scheme to make themselves important ... remember this is the same wifie Boulton who said we should forget the bypass and build a tunnel along the seafront to take traffic through the city.

lol

Half a dozen buses shuttling up and down the Bouley from Castlegate.  Problem solved

[Poodler]

Of course the dons should bide in the city but I want it built at Kingsford now just to get it right up the wanks lot. 
 

maybe they've bought Boulton to lead this turn around 

[muttonhumper]

40 minutes ago, NEM said:

AFC better wise the fuck up then 

Correct.

Stadium there would be magnificent.

 

24 minutes ago, aberdeen1970 said:

Interesting development. 

I'm all for it in principle.   Would be great to keep the club in the heart of the city. Is that space big enough though? Looks like it would be quite tight 

Plenty room there.

 

6 minutes ago, NEM said:

lol

Half a dozen buses shuttling up and down the Bouley from Castlegate.  Problem solved

10 min walk to Castlegate.

Fantastic.

[Andy_123]

1 hour ago, NEM said:

Aye cutting off our noses to spite our face would be a great idea.

Shambles from the council but at the end of the day who cares - fuck the Westhill white elephant.  Not as if that clown Milne hasn't already wasted millions on various studies etc

How exactly is it cutting off our noses to spite our face?

We have planning permission and have already undertaken work for the stadium at another site. Moving elsewhere at this stage is going to cost the club more money. 

[NEM]

41 minutes ago, Poodler said:

Of course the dons should bide in the city but I want it built at Kingsford now just to get it right up the wanks lot. 
 

maybe they've bought Boulton to lead this turn around 

Nah fuck that - build a slaughterhoose or shit factory like the one at Nigg out at Kingsford.  That'd really teach the cunts ?

[muttonhumper]

1 minute ago, Andy_123 said:

Moving elsewhere at this stage is going to cost the club more money. 

Not if you are moving form the middle of fucking naewie, into a smashing site in the toon.

Moving to that white elephant in the sticks would cost a fortune in lost income from attendances in comparison to a stadium at the beach.

 

 

 

[NEM]

5 minutes ago, Andy_123 said:

How exactly is it cutting off our noses to spite our face?

We have planning permission and have already undertaken work for the stadium at another site. Moving elsewhere at this stage is going to cost the club more money. 

Because moving to Westhill will be a fucking disaster

[Guest milne_afc]

Glad to see the Dons will be staying in the city where they belong.

Get it built.

[The Boofon]

3 minutes ago, milne_afc said:

Glad to see the Dons will be staying in the city where they belong.

Get it built.

Good opportunity to infiltrate the latest Protest group that will no doubt be formed by residents down the Boulevard. 

 

Unlikely to fall foul of the Mouse's ear brigade down there.

[sooth_stander]

This is all political posturing, nothing else.

Don't forget, we were well down the road of building the new stadium, with a shared training centre with Cove Huns, at the site where Lochside Academy now resides. Barr Construction were appointed, a start date agreed, then Cllr Willie Young pulled the plug as he wanted the new south of Aberdeen school to be built there instead, to replace Kincorth and Torry Academies.

So with Council elections coming up, any agreement to build the new stadium at this new site (which would be a monumental traffic nightmare) could get pulled by the new ruling party.

A load of Council shite. Bunch of cunts, the lot of them.

[Tord31]

I'd support this proposed location for the stadium.

Responding to a lot of the comments about wasting money on westhill. It's not all wasted. Lot's of the time and effort would still be very relevant.

We'll be at pittodrie for a long time yet - I would guess 10 years so there is no real excitement.

 

[NEM]

11 minutes ago, sooth_stander said:

This is all political posturing, nothing else.

Don't forget, we were well down the road of building the new stadium, with a shared training centre with Cove Huns, at the site where Lochside Academy now resides. Barr Construction were appointed, a start date agreed, then Cllr Willie Young pulled the plug as he wanted the new south of Aberdeen school got built there instead, to replace Kincorth and Torry Academies. Yeah, I'm sure no brown envelopes changed hand there.

So with Council elections coming up, any agreement to build the new stadium at this new site (which would be a monumental traffic nightmare) could get pulled by the new ruling party.

A load of Council shite. Bunch of cunts, the lot of them.

How do you work that out?  Be no different to where it is now.  Far better than Westhill traffic wise 

[daytripping]

Cracking site, would be all for it. Westhill was always a bad idea, would have seen crowds plummet. 

[Joe pike]

At last,ACC are using some common sense.

This should have been incorporated in with the Sports Centre years ago.

Fans of other clubs,including a lot of the foreign clubs think it's great being next to the beach,but also 10 mins away from the city centre.

Just get on with it and make it happen.

[sooth_stander]

31 minutes ago, NEM said:

How do you work that out?  Be no different to where it is now.  Far better than Westhill traffic wise 

You never heard of the AWPR? If not, it doesn’t  go near the city centre, unfortunately.

For those getting all excited, stand down. 

[The Cockney Don]

I'm all for this proposal, stay local.

[Andy_123]

1 hour ago, muttonhumper said:

Not if you are moving form the middle of fucking naewie, into a smashing site in the toon.

Moving to that white elephant in the sticks would cost a fortune in lost income from attendances in comparison to a stadium at the beach.

It's hardly the middle of naewie. I live in town, and the Kingsford site is exactly the same distance from me than Pittodrie currently is.

The club board didn't think moving there was a bad idea, and i'm pretty sure they'll be more qualified to judge that than some random folks on AFC Chat.

 

1 hour ago, NEM said:

Because moving to Westhill will be a fucking disaster

See above

 

22 minutes ago, Tord31 said:

I'd support this proposed location for the stadium.

Responding to a lot of the comments about wasting money on westhill. It's not all wasted. Lot's of the time and effort would still be very relevant.

We'll be at pittodrie for a long time yet - I would guess 10 years so there is no real excitement.

 

I'm sure everyone would prefer the stadium to stay in town, but at this stage there's no doubt it will cost a small fortune to up plans from Kingsford. The stadium design itself wouldn't change I'd guess, but just about every other thing associated with the plan would. External works, drainage, traffic management plans etc etc. 

I've no faith in the council presenting anything overly helpful to AFC to persuade them to change their minds now anyway. They are hopeless and have been a constant thorn in the clubs side every time previously they have looked at moving in the past.