yeah i saw that fire on a tape at school, something like a few minutes and the full stand was up, i was staggard by how fast it went up and the intensity,bloody tragic. thanks for the info guys. but getting back to the new development one of those types of meccano type statiums ala dewsbury rams surely wouldnt dent the purse to much perhaps, always like that little stadium and the grass verge for nice summer rugby

The stupidity of the club was evident even then, as the "wooden" stand was actually an iron construction, clad in wood, and did not need to be removed.

That said, it wouldn't really be fitting of a modern stadium (though Cas seem to like theirs).

Now that time has moved on, it is in fact a beautiful looking stand, a real piece of history.

That's the BV I was born into.

TBH I'd totally forgotten about it. I'm really wrecking my brain to remember what that end looked like before the hospitality boxes were built.

If someone could post a picture that would be ace!

The roofs can go up in no time, it's digging the terrace out that will take more than a month IMO, easily doable during the off-season though.

I think the problem is that we had already borrowed to the hilt and, without the stadium being given the go-ahead, or our SL future secured, no-one would lend the club any more money and Ted had no more to provide either (if ever he did). The mortgage Ted obtained to buy the ground was granted in a different economic climate than we are in now.

Business men and banks are not easily fooled (most of the time) and the same reasons resulted in Parking getting cold feet. As those conditions (no ground yet and no SL guarantee), I could not understand why people suddenly thought that Parkin would have had a change of heart. Now if we get a licence..... who knows?

On a side note:

I know it's none of our chosen fortes but does anyone have any general knowledge of the ground requirements to enter the Blue Square Premier League in football?

Would these temporary improvements to BV meet them?

Fair enough. It doesn't alter the Plan B scenario, because we still gambled everything on Newmarket. The expenditure over two years might have been do-able, unless of course the finances were so bad that selling players was the only way to stay viable. Wasn't helped by bad business decisions, like shoving the gate price up to twenty quid and being pretty unimaginative on ticket deals. I'm sure the will was there, but maybe not the salesman's brain.

Probably quite right there, but right up until the announcement that Mr Pickles had called the plans in (and several well qualified people were telling us that wouldn't happen - even without the changes in governement policy) the gamble would have paid off. That one decision, whilst far from being the reason we were in such a precarious position, was the nail in the coffin. The events which followed were inevitable after that!

The gate price increase was a huge own-goal. I argued it at the time and got no-where. I would hope these issues would be taken up by the ST in future situations.

My biggest regret is not having a ST 3 years ago - as I firmly believe we, the supporters, could have helped keep this club afloat.

I think there are too many Legal/planning issues regarding the West Terrace to be resolved before that gets a makeover. I.A. could probably give you chapter and verse.

In any case, as it's mostly inhabited by the rougher elements within the travelling Rugby League community, the medical advice is, it's best all round not to have them coughing/wheezing/belching etc within a confined space....

The banks would have been far more lenient on us if we had a new ground being built. They would have seen that the business was moving forward and that SL status was assured. That's not really a difficult concept.

As for the ST - he would have had to listen if we had been able to secure the level of shares we had hoped for!