I prefer sports venues to have a uniqueness about them, be it aesthetics, atmosphere or whatever.

I've been to plenty of football and RL grounds that look like they've all come from the same mould. Places like the JJB, Keepmoat etc might have all of the facilities, but they look like they've been designed by an accountant using nothing more than an IKEA catalogue for inspiration. The JJB might be clean and comfortable but it's just, well, dull. (And in terms of accessibility, no better if not worse than Headingley).

There is no other ground in world like Headingley and to boot, there is plenty to do around it. I don't think that there is another RL ground with as many pubs, bars and places to eat within such close proximity.

the number of toilets available at the Galpharm is shocking

Can a roof not be put on it at least though?

IMO Leeds should get a completely new ground somewhere else, crowds would go up and RL stadia looks alot better. It could be done along with the RFL and a bigt sponser and Leeds council and could be shared with England RL

What a load of tosh!

The owner of the team owns the ground. Ask the pie eaters if that is important. He has a site that he is tied in to with the cricket side (and has invested massive amounts in) so he can't redevelop the site for other purposes.

Yes the ground needs to be updated and probably the SS is the place to start but that shouldn't be a problem. From memory, the carnegie stand cost £7M when building was still expensive so can't believe a new SS would cost any more - it really doesn't need to be anything more than it is now - just safe.

Headingley is where we are and we will be staying - personally I have no problems parking in Headingley, it usually takes about 10 minutes to get out. Again, ask the pie eaters how long it takes to get away from the out of town retail park.

Serious question,

If your team had considered developing Central Park with four new stands would you have been happy if they then changed their minds and moved to the JJB instead ?

Wheres the water table in Headingley ?

Could be fun when it rains.

We did.

We built the Whitbread / Boston Stand that went almost 100% over budget, due to the "unforseen" mine workings

Plans were drawn up to completely redevelop the other three sides.

Moving to the JJB was far more cost effective as I suspect it would be than redeveloping Headingley.

As for congestion, I don't have a problem at Wigan but I know where to park, just as most of you do at Headingley.

Wouldn't fancy sharing that little nugget with us would you??

No problem I'll pm you later or tomorrow.

What time do you normally get there and what route do you normally take to get there.

If it's a friday night usually around 7ish.

Would you be happy with giant supporting pillars overshadowing your back garden?

I do not claim any insider knowledge, but I cannot see how moving from HQ is feasible. The current facility is too heavily invested in and I struggle to see how we could dispose of it and recover that investment. The idea of selling it to Yorkshire Cricket doesn't seem likely at anything approaching full value for us. What would they do with the ground? A car park and the space to redevelop facilities in the North stand? The Carnegie Stand would be no use to them as far as I can see.

The other thing that I think has been glossed over by some on this thread is how difficult funding is to secure at the moment. The builder might be on their ar$es and willing to work at relatively low cost, but they still need to be paid, even if they are our "house" firm. Funding is hard to find for capital projects and interest rates are not that low either. I also suspect that the payback period that Mr H will look to is likely to be determined by the term of the financing he can secure.

TOMCAT - there's a blast from the past!

I view it the same way. There probably was a time where moving away would have been cheaper and in the long run probably better for everyone but the investment in recent years clearly shows its not on the agenda any more.

By the way you've got the old P-51/F-14 a bit muddled

maybe MR H will come up with the old leeds united scheme ,the one they did for the new stand at E R .Did'nt they have a 25 year bond, the bond holder,s paid x amount and held their place in the stand for that time at much reduced rates?
we know that leeds utd crashed financially,but i do think gary will go to the fans to stump up in some way

Completely the wrong point in the current economic cycle to start asking people to pay for things 25 years up front. Plus who is to say that in 25 years time the current occupiers of the South Stand aren't going to want to be somewhere else in the ground, maybe somewhere their kids can get a decent unobstructed view of the game for example.