Meanwhile In England

[gonzo]

16 minutes ago, Not in Crawley said:

Financial issues wasn't it? Low crowds, the club was in real trouble.

Oh aye get all that. But still, it's like the maddest and last thing anyone would think of.

We sold some carparks and the training ground last time, not half the north stand to herons foods 

 

Edited August 23, 2024 by gonzo

[kent_white]

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

 

I'd probably do Limmy in a wig! 🤣

[Dimron]

21 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Oh aye get all that. But still, it's like the maddest and last thing anyone would think of.

We sold some carparks and the training ground last time, not half the north stand to herons foods 

 

We dropped out of the big time and were going bankrupt... not dissimilar to the recent crash.

But I recall we were promised the Embankment redevelopment would help get us out of the mire along with Lifeline etc.etc.

I remember being handed a leaflet showing us escalators taking to our seats and then... when it was all done, on the first day of the season we were given a brick box we could score schoolboy rebounds from.

But the club survived again

[gonzo]

Sold Paul Fletcher as well didn't we? Or was that before?

[Zico]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

The whole Normid thing kind of goes undervalued as to how absolutely fucking bat shit crazy the deal was.

Who the hell dreamt it up and how the hell did ever come to pass?! 

Imagine a club now, as prestigious as us, selling half their end to build a supermarket on it.

Its fuckin nuts

I wouldn't have minded had it been Tesco or one of the big boys 

But normid? 

Them taking over half the embankment is the only reason I've ever heard of them 

I don't think I've honestly ever seen one anywhere else

And I never ever went in

 

[Zico]

According to wiki 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Co-operatives

The flagship Normid store was at Burnden Park, Bolton, home of Bolton Wanderers Football Club and Normid was shirt sponsor of Bolton Wanderers from 1986 until 1990. However United Co-operatives objected legally to any development or modernisation of the stadium ultimately forcing Bolton Wanderers to move away from the site. The store closed in 1997, shortly after Bolton's move to the Reebok Stadium.

[DirtySanchez]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Oh aye get all that. But still, it's like the maddest and last thing anyone would think of.

We sold some carparks and the training ground last time, not half the north stand to herons foods 

 

Hull sold part of their ground to build a Kwik Save 

[Dimron]

38 minutes ago, Zico said:

According to wiki 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Co-operatives

The flagship Normid store was at Burnden Park, Bolton, home of Bolton Wanderers Football Club and Normid was shirt sponsor of Bolton Wanderers from 1986 until 1990. However United Co-operatives objected legally to any development or modernisation of the stadium ultimately forcing Bolton Wanderers to move away from the site. The store closed in 1997, shortly after Bolton's move to the Reebok Stadium.

Orbit Developments (PE Jones Construction and Jones Homes) were behind the entire Middlebrook Development and needed the Sports Stadium to get through the then central government planning restrictions regarding out of town retail developments. As part of the wheeling and dealing Orbit ended up with the Burnden site and redeveloped that also.

I would suspect that the Co-Op (Normid) were sticking out for more money but had the rug pulled out from under them. 

[Casino]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Sold Paul Fletcher as well didn't we? Or was that before?

Fletcher was much earlier

He delivered the Reebok I think

[Casino]

Just a couple of things

Mosaic

And the value of the land at Burnden being massively reduced by Labours policy on out of town shooping

[Zico]

I just can't accept that we would've stayed and redeveloped burnden had it not been for legal intervention 

And if that was the case then thanks normid 

[athywhite1958]

40 minutes ago, Casino said:

Fletcher was much earlier

He delivered the Reebok I think

Didn't he design Huddersfield's before ours

[gonzo]

7 hours ago, athywhite1958 said:

Didn't he design Huddersfield's before ours

Aye and theirs is shit. Thank God he practised first.

[Not in Crawley]

10 hours ago, Zico said:

I wouldn't have minded had it been Tesco or one of the big boys 

But normid? 

Them taking over half the embankment is the only reason I've ever heard of them 

I don't think I've honestly ever seen one anywhere else

And I never ever went in

 

There was a few across the north - my folks loved shopping in there, every Wednesday we'd go for the, as I say, double dividend discounts 😁

[Sweep]

10 hours ago, Zico said:

I just can't accept that we would've stayed and redeveloped burnden had it not been for legal intervention 

And if that was the case then thanks normid 

Like you, I'm not sure we'd have done any redevelopment, we were always going to move, no matter what. There was too much money to be made by moving (allegedly) 

[tomski]

Wasn’t the Valley a considered site in AB too.

[tomski]

Normid were swallowed up by what is now Scot-Mid of Co-op franchises

[bolty58]

3 hours ago, gonzo said:

Aye and theirs is shit. Thank God he practised first.

I had years of fun down here with an Udders fan. "It only has three fucking sides". Was a bloody shame they added the fourth.

[royal white]

Even now some mentalists insist towns decline is because we had a new stadium built out of town. 

[gonzo]

They had a petition to sign in the king bill to stop us moving.

First 3 names were Brenda, Janet and Munich 58

[Dimron]

26 minutes ago, Sweep said:

Like you, I'm not sure we'd have done any redevelopment, we were always going to move, no matter what. There was too much money to be made by moving (allegedly) 

I always thought we could purchase the terraces behind the Lever End and move the pitch away from the embankment by half a length... Wolves did it at Mollineux.

In the end the costs were prohibitive and the financial inducements offered by Orbit to move to Red Moss were massive... BWFC were almost gifted a stadium and Gordo got his new hotel to replace the Georgian House.

[gonzo]

Plus some rather questionable tender opening

[Dimron]

The Club were quite radical in their approach. they didn't go for the cheapest bids but "partnered" key contractors and we all worked to cost plans... made for a very focused and productive site, that is how we delivered £25 million in 12 months... I say "we" as I was there and felt really part of it, I have worked on a lot of sports stadia but this was a highlight of my career

[gonzo]

Still blows my mind we went from relegation 87, then financial meltdown, selling half the ground to a supermarket to survive and back to the Premier league and the footings dug for a brand new stadium by 1995.

Incredible turnaround in such a short space of time.

 

[deeane Koontz]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr403r36kppo