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English Premier League threads [Merged]
- Thread starter TigerForce
- Start date
Forest just made it through to the promotion playoff to be played against Huddersfield at Wembley. Beat Sheffield Utd in a penalty shootout.
Fair result. Forest and Huddersfield clearly the next best two outside the automatic qualifiers. In fact, both came within a whisker of actually overtaking Bournemouth in the latter weeks, both coming home with a brilliant run of red, hot form over the last month and a half.
Fair result. Forest and Huddersfield clearly the next best two outside the automatic qualifiers. In fact, both came within a whisker of actually overtaking Bournemouth in the latter weeks, both coming home with a brilliant run of red, hot form over the last month and a half.
It's close between Aberdeen and Hearts for success levels, although I'd argue Aberdeen have a slight advantage with 19 titles v Hearts with 16. This includes Aberdeen winning two European titles when Hearts have never got near it in Europe. Aberdeen have also given Hearts a 30 year head start too.....
Hibs aren't in the equation when looking at titles. 10.
Hearts and Hibs usually have 2k-3k more in average attendance per home game than Aberdeen, highly attributable to the fact Pittodrie is an absolute decrepit dump that sits nowhere on some parkland right on the North Sea making it a miserable experience sometimes - especially in Winter. They are looking to build a new stadium just south of the city.
Another element, I think I read somewhere that average player payments are pretty close between Hearts and Aberdeen too when seeing the rankings on this. So would all be consistent with our observations that they are relatively similarly sized clubs. Clearly Celtic and Rangers are in a whole different weight class on this. Hearts and Aberdeen the next pair close together, then Hibs and Dundee Utd the next pairing. Although Dundee Utd seem to be progressively catching up to the pair above them. So might have come across a bit of money of late. And seem to be doing better.
You'll have seen my reply to Posh relating to stadiums. I reckon both Edinburgh sides have really nice boutique stadiums. Really good design and comfortable for that kind of 20k size. Plus, close to the hustle and bustle of the city. And then of course in a different weight class, Celtic and Rangers have first class stadiums that would be considered perfectly adequate in any major top class league in the world. A couple of smaller clubs have reasonable facilities, albeit on a smaller scale (Kilmarnock & St.Johnstone come to mind). But outside of these, gee there are some decrepit shitholes in the SPL. Particularly when you think that the weather conditions people would be watching Scottish football wouldn't always be that comfortable. Dundee Utd - another reasonably sized club in the context of Scotland - have a similarly aged and decrepit stadium as Aberdeen (albeit in a better location relative to the rest of the city). The other Dundee side, Dundee FC an even bigger shithole that wouldn't be out of place in the most down trodden parts of the Eastern bloc in the 1950s.
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Pittodrie is just horrendous. A run down, freezing cold, exposed piece of rubbish that sits nowhere near any decent city activity i.e. pubs etc.
Aberdeen FC is a bit of a neglected entity by the city. The city has any amount of massive multi national companies based there that have been feeding off the treasures of the North Sea for decades eg. BP, Shell, Mobil, Dowell Schlumberger etc. And there's a lot of wealthy individuals and old money there too. Yet not much of that profit and wealth seems to get invested back in the town's only serious sporting club. By all rights it should be a really strong club financially but isn't. Really sh*ts me.
My dad lives just north of Aberdeen so I've been to Pittodrie a few times and its exactly as you describe haha. Its had very little investment over the last 25 years.
They initially looked at an out of town stadium to the south, then they looked to the West (Kingsford - where they training ground is) but they are now looking at alternative land in the city on the beach. The Abderdeen promenade is a big part of the city, but Pittodrie is at the far North end, as you say surrounded by nothing but a council estate. With the degradation of the city of Aberdeen (Union Street is a shadow of its former self), though they are now almost converting it to an entertainment venue, having a new stadium as part of the regeneration of the city is a great idea.
The biggest issues with Pittodrie are the lack of investment and how open it is. It gets super cold as the wind just whips in off the North Sea. The beach area of the city is beautiful when the sun is shining, but can get very cold.
This is the latest on the new stadium. http://stadiumdb.com/news/2022/05/scotland_aberdeen_fans_like_the_beach_stadium_idea
Spot on. I was born there (parents went back there on holiday when my mum was pregnant ....only 3 months old when I came back to Oz) but I know the place pretty well having gone back there numerous times and having lived there for a while too. Your description is very good. Where does your dad live ?
Why on earth would they look at beach land on the North Sea again ? That's one of the issues they have right now with insanely cold weather and winds blowing in off one of the most treacherous pieces of water in the world. Pittodrie suffers from salt/sand spray and rust. The Promenade is only an attraction during Summer, otherwise its a place to avoid during Winter.
Kingsford is a nice enough area, but practically semi-rural and a mile out of the city. Again, little to no supporting activity or anything to attract people. Loirston was the southern option they were considering a few years ago - again way out of the city and not much if anything around it.
Kingsford and Loirston would be like the AFL building the Docklands stadium in Upper Beaconsfield.
Of the three options I suppose the beach is best, especially if they can enclose the stadium like in those pictures and create a bit of a precinct around it. But gee, not great options any way they go.
When taking into account the scale of Scottish football. Something like Dunedin's (New Zealand's Dunedin) rugby stadium might be a great model to follow for Aberdeen. Similar kind of climatic conditions in Dunedin made the old ground, Carisbrook, a horrible windy, cold, wet place to watch sport. Hence Forsyth Barr Stadium was built enclosed right on the foreshore. Not sure if there are any rules that prevent the SPL being played under cover like this?
Forsyth Barr Stadium (NZ) (Dunedin Stadium) | Austadiums
Information about Forsyth Barr Stadium (NZ) (Dunedin Stadium) in Dunedin including venue layout, history, records, events, map, tickets, directions and accommodation.
www.austadiums.com
My dad lives in a village called Foveran just south of Ellon. My brother a bit further away in Fyvie.
I think the beach idea depends where abouts on the beachfront it is and the design of the stadium. The full enclosed stadium is a good idea. If they build it towards the south of the beachfront area down towards the retail park to the south where the cinema is. There is a big Asda there and an entertainment venue there already. It would need to be near Beach Street, which runs into Union Street as this would connect the stadium with the city as opposed to be isolated at the Northern end of the promenade surrounded by a golf course. They have been upgrading the southern promenade area already and having the stadium there should hopefully promote more interest in that area which has lost several restaurants over the Covid years. I think its the right investment to bring the stadium down to that area, connect the stadium to the city, the harbour, even the Torry battery which is great (we saw dolphins swimming off there when we went).
And the Council estate around it - typical of Scottish Council estates - looks like a *smile* shithole. Something about the Scottish estates even more so than England, that they seem to do such a fine job of grimly imitating the worst looking Soviet public housing you might see in the arctic north.
Nice. I used to go up to Cruden Bay a bit and play golf there. Not far away.
Agree with all that. Queens Links is a better area than Kings Links. Might also be able to re-generate the port area as well (which is nearer) and where there's a few pubs etc.
will interesting to see if Kloppers rests a bunch more players for the CL final
True, epic comeback. They are stuck with Frank Lampard now.
Shoutout to Patrick Viera as manager of Crystal Palace, done amazing.
