Stadium news

[Bispham Seasider]

In the past week there has been growing speculation that the club are about to announce the start of work on the South Stand.

The club have planning permission for an extension to the GK stand (the East Stand - the away end) increasing it up to 2,937. They also have planning permission to erect a temporary South Stand holding about 650ish.

Not too long ago Karl Oyston reckoned that "doing nothing is no longer an option" and that the club had various options open to them including

1. Building the entire South Stand including the SW corner which would add about another 3,000(ish) seats but which will take about 40 weeks to complete. Although in theory the seats could be in place ready to be used a lot earlier while the structure was completed (the office space, the hotel etc) If and when the South Stand is built it will apparently contain office space as the Kop and the West Stand, but also a bar/restaurant as well as a small "luxury" hotel which will have rooms that have balconies with views over the pitch which can be hired out on match days (though whther that works out or not I really don't know) One other aspect of the South Stand is that it will be a four floor stand, unlike the Kop and the West which have three floors.

2. Building the SW corner, which would be about another 650(ish) seats plus a temporary South Stand. That would then only add about another 1,300 to capacity though and would then mean us having two temporary stands.

I would prefer the club to just go ahead and build the whole lot and not add another temporary stand. Though having said all this, it is still just pure speculation and rumour, something that happened this time last year when season tickets were on sale........

[Bispham Seasider]

The speculation was correct.

The club have just announced that work will start on constructing the SW corner and the South Stand immediately. The announcement was made in a statement from club chairman Valeri Belekon from his hq in Riga, Latvia saying,

"It gives me great pride and pleasure to announce that the new South Stand and South-West Corner will go ahead immediately. I am investing substantially in this new development in a full partnership with the Oyston family."

Belekon goes on to express his delight in how the club has progressed since he came on board and added that "the proposed increase in seat capacity in the East Stand and the new 3,500 seats soon to be built in the South and South-West corner will give, I believe, a clear signal to the football industry and potential new players for Blackpool Football Club that we are serious contenders to advance further."

He ends his statement with "The future is tangerine." :D

The away fans GK Stand which will increase capacity by 972 seats up to 2,937 giving a current capacity of 10,760. Once complete the new South stand will then increase capacity to 14,260. Karl Oyston has expanded on the statement saying that it will take about 40 weeks to build the stand, but that some seats should become available before that time, maybe even before the end of 2008.

The stand will be named after club legend Jimmy Armfield who was a one club man and who still lives in Blackpool. Born in Manchester, but raised in Blackpool, he played over 600 games for the 'Pool between 1954 and 1971. He also played 43 times for England and had the honour of being England captain 15 times. For three consecutive years from 1962 to 1964 he was voted the best right back in Europe, and at the 1962 World Cup in Chile he was acclaimed as the best right back in the world. He was included (along with fellow Blackpool player Alan Ball) in the 1966 England World Cup squad but missed the tournament through injury. His last game for the club came on 1 May 1971 at home to Manchester United in what was also the clubs last game in the top flight of English football. He went on to mamage Leeds United and Bolton Wanderers and is still a radio pundit for BBC Radio Five Live as well as being a consultant with the English FA. In 2007 he received chemotherapy treatment for for Non-Hodgkin lymphonia. After finally starting to recover, he was guest of honour at a 'Pool match against Colchester United on 22 September 2007, where at half time he received a standing ovation that went on so long that the second half was slightly delayed. In March 2008 he received the Outstanding Contribution Honour at the English FA's annual award ceremony in London.

Great news that the stand will finally be built (and let's just hope it is!) but also because Sir Jimmy, as many Blackpool fans affectionately call him fully deserves it too.

[Bispham Seasider]

Given that Belokon stated work would be starting immediately, hopefully we will have some pictures soon of work starting and can keep up to date with progress on the stand.

When the stand is complete though with it supposedly to contain a small "exclusive" hotel with some rooms overlooking the pitch, that will be available to be used on match days, we will then have both the Travelodge across the road and (hopefully) a club hotel. The plans also include a bar/restaurant in the stand, and it will be four floors not three as with the West and the Kop.

Hopefully there will be pictures soon! And maybe the club could be persuaded to install a webcam!

[Dynamogal]

A webcam!!! That would be fantastic. Start lobbying for that right now.

[Dynamogal]

I think it's just great that the team will honor Jimmy Armfield by naming the new stand for him. A fitting tribute for someone who has given so much to the Seasiders! :)

[Bispham Seasider]

The latest from the club secretary, Matt Williams on the Blackpool Vital website today -

"There will be regular photo updates and updates from the project manager on the official site once the construction work begins, as you are aware when we released the news we did say that we would move on with topographical surveys, and placing the orders for piling, steel etc.
I would imagine it will be another couple of weeks before things are clearly visible, but rest assured there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes."

[Bispham Seasider]

It has been confirmed that the Construction Project managers are Fletcher King Howard who have on their website under current projects -

Blackpool Football Club
£6million development of new South Stand to increase the ground capacity of this ambitious 1st Division football club.

There is an update on the BFC official site which is on the subscription only "Tangerine World", apparently though it says that they are currently in the design stage and are about 3 to 4 weeks away from starting construction of the stand.

[Bispham Seasider]

The latest taken from the official site in an interview with Brendan Flannagan from Fletcher King Howard -

Work should start on the site by about the end of August with the project still being at the design stage which takes about eight weeks (so presumably they are about 4 weeks into that). They (FKH) apparently have a design meeting every two weeks, the last one being on the Monday just gone.

Next up is a geotechnical survey next week, then they will tender for the piling and steelwork. The actual structure of the stand going up in November when the steel frame will go in.

They are looking at having the stand ready by May 2009, and are looking at hopefully having people sat in the stand by the last two home matches.

[Bispham Seasider]

Latest Update

Project Manager Brendan Flanagan of Fletcher King Howard Associates has given the latest news about what is happening with the South Stand development.

The site has now been cleared of debris and the geographical survey has been completed. They are about to appoint the piling contractor and work will start soon. The area at the South West corner which has been used as an overspill car park will be reclaimed. They will start piling from there and work toward the East Stand.

The steel frame is still programmed to begin in November. And in September the work will be - piling, as well as the sub-structure, which involves setting the bolt connections on the pile caps in preperation for the steel columns.

And most importantly for fans of course, it is still planned that fans will be sat in the new stand by the start of the 2009-10 season.

Also the Kop has seen work continuing behind it with the area that will be a Drop-In Centre for the Blackpool Primary Care Trust. There has been no official update but at least work is continuing with it. They already have their HQ and offices at the stadium.

So that will be in addition to the Safehands Green Start Nursery already situated in the back of the Kop which has an eco nursery programme.

http://www.sfehandsnursery.net/nursery-locations/blackpool

(Click on their website which has pictures from the nursery at Bloomfield Road including the outdoor play area at the side of the stadium)

[Bispham Seasider]

Latest update
With the news that finally piling work started this week on the South stand, Karl Oyston has gone on record saying that the stand should be open before the start of next season.

He said, "From the supporters point of view, it could be levelled at us that we maybe don't communicate enough. But we always take the view that we should say something only when there is something to say. The fact is that as far as work on the South Stand and south west construction goes, we've been extremely busy behind the scenes. We've been especially busy negotiating prices with the contractors, particularly the piling and groundwork, and the most major one – the structural steel frame and the pre-cast concrete terracing units. Negotiations have gone pretty well because the economic climate is falling into our hands very, very well. We are making substantial savings which we can then use elsewhere on the construction."

"In reality we are aiming to open it for the last home pre-season friendly next summer. I'm sure the police and the safety advisor would like to try out the stand with a less than full capacity before the season starts proper. Even though it's a very similar design to the other two stands we want to try it out and see how it works in terms of crowd movements and segregation and any other issues there maybe. It is a new building and there'll no doubt be one or two bits and pieces to iron out, so pre-season friendlies will be the minimum target to be open for."

[Bispham Seasider]

The Blackpool Gazette have a video interview with 'Pool legend Jimmy Armfield filmed in his Blackpool home and he spoke about the new South Stand.

With chairman Karl Oyston stating that the stand should be ready for the start of next season, the club will want to test the structure in a pre-season match and Jimmy has said that he would love to play Manchester United in a pre-season riendly to open the stand. It was the Reds who were the visitors to Bloomfield Road on the day Jimmy played his last ever game and also was the last game Blackpool played in the top flight in England.

Asked about how he feels to have the South Stand named after him, Armield said, "It is a great honour. When I think of all the really good players I played with then yes it is. I played 18 years for Blackpool, they were my only club. I'll probably feel it more when they have the opening day."

When asked who he would prefer to be the opponents for the opening day when he will be guest of honourt he said,

"Manchester United. They would be the ideal opponents to open it up. It would be a great attraction, and also from the holiday trade point of view. If I could choose anybody, then maybe Real Madrid or Barcelona. Blackpool have played Barcelona and Real Madrid in my time as a player, so we were once up there with them. We faced them in tournaments in Spain. But Manchester United would top the lot."

His thoughts on the building of the stand, "I think it's important for the club and for the town. Our gates at the moment are much less than anyone else in the Championship (becuase of having easily the smallest capacity) and that's lost revenue. They need to increase the capacity."

[Bispham Seasider]

Guess what? Nothing really to report. Apparently a new "quiet" piling rig has arrived. The club still reckon that the stand will be ready for next season though.

[Bispham Seasider]

Blackpool were featured on Sky Sports "Big League Weekend 1" programme on Friday and they showed film of workmen actually working at the south with the piling rig working away (it is supposedly a quiet rig but seemed very noisy) and comments that the Jimmy Armfield South Stand is due to be opened by next season.

[Bispham Seasider]

In a webchat this afternoon on the Blackpool Gazette website, club secretary Matt Williams said that -

The new stand is still on course to be open for next season.

The GK stand (the East) will then be used for big games only for overspill, meaning away fans will be housed in part of the Kop.

Club president Valeri Belokon wants a scoreboard/screen and the club are currently getting quotes as well as speaking to potential sponsors.

A webcam will be installed soon at the ground. The company who set it up have been down to look at what they need and the club hope to have it up and running in the New Year.

[Bispham Seasider]

Minor update on the South Stand

There are now two piling rigs working daily at Bloomfield Road with a number of concrete slabs arriving today.

When there is something to view other than piling rigs and workers on site (in other words once the structure of the stand actually appears) which should't be too long, I will post some pictures in this thread.

[Bispham Seasider]

And another minor update!

Looks like the piling work is coming to an end. There has been some mini excavation done in the South West corner, and apparently the webcam has bee installed today. Though if/when that is set up and working is anyone's guess.

This is all coming from a 'Pool fan who is currently working at the Primary Care Trust offices at Bloomfield Road. Some of their offices are at the back of the Kop on the 2nd floor which overlook the pitch. So he gets a very good view of the work at the South!

[Bispham Seasider]

Signage

Following the clubs annual Christmas raffle, which this time was to raise the money to pay for two club signs for the stadium, the club have announced that the money raised which was £5,561.40 is enough for two crests, each 4m (13ft) in diameter. They will go on the two outer exit shafts on the West Stand.

Subject to planning permission being received from Blackpool Council, work should start on the signs almost immediately and it is hoped that the signs will be fitted in the near future. The local company who will make the signs (Links, Signs & Graphics Ltd) also happen to be owned by a Blackpool fan.

[Bispham Seasider]

South Stand webcam installed
Blackpool have today announced that the South Stand webcam has been installed to bring exclusive views of the progress on the development.

It is a widescreen cam that refreshes every 5 minutes between 8am and 4pm (UK time) and will mean that fans can keep up to date with how work is progressing.

The webcam (which appears to be located in the far corner of the West Stand, at the back on a level with the Hospitality Balcony) can be viewed here -

http://www.blackpoolfcimages.co.uk/

Of course at the moment there is not much to see. The latest image shows the piling rigs and if you look really, really, really (really!) closely the piles are there (I think there are 16 of them) ready to be capped off. Not that I know what I'm talking about, juust what others have said.

At least though for saddos like me it is something to see!

Work update
The club have also confirmed that "a large majority of the piling work has been completed but there is still a long way to go!"

[Dynamogal]

Things are really starting to look up. I hope they do build the luxury hotel with the balconies overlooking the pitch. One of these years DynamoGuy and I plan to come across the pond to attend our first Seasiders game and we'd love to throw tangerines at the opposing players! :p

[Bispham Seasider]

That would be good! I'm not sure if the club still plan on having the hotel or not, just have to keep an eye out for any news!

Being sad I checked the webcam today and the two piling rigs have now gone, plus the nets are already up for tonights match! Though it doesn't seem to be updating "every five minutes", more like 30! Hopefully, just teething problems.