Pitch developments

It is boiling down here in Windsor - but hoping that the good weather recently will have allowed the pitch groundworks teams to make good progress. Has anyone been down to the CNG/Bernabeu in the last few days?

It is starting to take shape now. I think the pitch will look amazing for next season, and the amount of work they are carrying out is unbelieveable. Hopefully, the fans will enjoy watching a better standard of football next season as a result of the improvements.

I wonder if there are plans in the pipeline to bring the capacity up, and see if the ground can become graded at BSP level?

There's take of a new wetherby road stand in 2013 I think?

Would that bring the ground to BSP Standard though?

No idea, I'm not up on that sort of thing. Theres a document on the web about it somewhere...

I went on the Real Madrid stadium tour a few weeks back as part of a project I am doing with the Leeds Rhinos .... what about a CNG stadium tour!!!

Haha! Not much to see though is there!

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We must:

Own the rights to the ground
Have a capacity >4000
Be able to segregate fans
Have a boundary wall >183cm
Have a clubhouse
Have a flat grass pitch
Emergency lighting for all spectator areas
4 Marked parking spaces for dirctors, and unmarked ones for officials
500 seats and "There must be an unobstructed view from the lowest level of the seated area" - do we have that?
Directors box with : Home - minimum number of seats 24
Away - minimum number of seats 16


Its all in that document.

It'd be nice if we could utilise the hospital end of the ground, looks a wee bit shabby with no shelters or anything at all, I'd love to at least see a roof go all the way round the pitch, but oh well, all in due time. Also, new photos of pitch development have been added to the website [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

developments planned for summer 2013 I think

more work on the ground this summer than in the previous 15-20 years

On a slightly flippant note, I drove past the ground yesterday.

I hope the new drainage works. Otherwise we're going to have a water polo team.........

A question for someone at the club to answer;

What happens, hyperthetically speaking, if we finished the end of the 2012/13 season in the promotion places? With the ground currently not being up to BSP Standard (from what I have read), will they increase the capacity in the close season prior to the 2013/14 season? in order for the ground to meet BSP standards? or will we have to just stay in the BSN and let a team from the BSP be saved from relegation?

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You need a 4,000 capacity ground including segregation to enter the Conference Premier!
You will also need plans in place to increase this capacity to 5,000 to stay in Conference Premier!!!
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Wetherby Road’s capacity used to be 3,800 but was reduced to 3,290!
The local authority issue your capacity levels worked out by using the “Green Guide”
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The largest crowd I have seen here over the years was the 2001/02 pre-season match v Leeds United! This was officially 3,500 but unofficially reached the 3,800 mark!
A 4,000 capacity might be possible if Wetherby Road was developed properly!
But even this would be difficult to achieve because of having entrances & exits on only one side of the ground!
A 5,000 capacity is impossible!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Harrogate Rugby club are looking to move out of Claro road proper, there were plans for us to relocate there before. There's a lot of open space for a large capacity ground too! If we ever (and that's a big 'if') found ourselves in a potential area for promotion, maybe a new ground altogether on Claro Road could be an option? You can really see the size difference in free space compared to the CNG on google maps [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] probably me just being a dreamer, but oh well, I quite fancy the idea of it as a long term investment.

The club should definitely look into purchasing Claro Road if the rugby club were to move out. However, all the pitch levelling and drainage would turn into wasted money if we were to move.

Also I would definitely say that Claro road is at least 3x bigger than the CNG

Easily. Could fit a 10,000 seater in no problem! Issue is the piddly fanbase, no way you could offset the cost! Why couldn't the current ground take 5k? Is it due to the low number of entrances?

ChrisM wrote:Easily. Could fit a 10,000 seater in no problem! Issue is the piddly fanbase, no way you could offset the cost! Why couldn't the current ground take 5k? Is it due to the low number of entrances?

I dont think its a case of buying the Carlo Road ground. My understanding is that that area is set aside for new houses. Harrogate rugby club sold the ground then rented it back.

Is that official though? If so it's quite dissappointing news, I think it's the perfect place to target a new ground, and if we want to obtain BSP standards, I don't believe Wetherby road is an option. Then again that's 'if' we ever reach BSP level

After going through the rugby club website I have realised housing is set to be there. I guess we won't be thinking of relocating any year soon

Between 22nd April & 6th May 2001 Harrogate Town hosted a couple of games in UEFA’s under-16 Championship.
The majority of matches were played at league grounds in the area including Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough & Hull.
In the souvenir programme issued for the tournament were details of all the grounds used including the size of their pitches!
Measuring in at 105m x 80m Harrogate Town’s pitch was one of the largest in the tournament!
Since then the length of the pitch has been reduced & last season the width was reduced!
The playing area this season will be moved closer to the main stand which will increase the area available for the new stand down the Wetherby Road side of the ground!
When built next pre-season this stand should help increase the capacity down that side of the ground!
The next obvious thing to boost the capacity would be to build a terrace behind the top goal on the Lancaster Park Road side of the ground!
An old wooden stand used to be there years ago but gaining planning permission could be an issue here!
If permission was granted then development there could possibly boost the capacity up to the 4,000 mark!
4,280 squeezed into Wetherby Road on a Wednesday evening on the 3rd of May 1950!
The main stand side of the ground would likely have to be an all seated side if you don’t want areas of restricted view!
There is a small area behind the main stand which could possibly allow the stand to be increased at the back!
Extending each side of the main stand to run the full length of the pitch would help increase the capacity!
After that the only other way of increasing the capacity would be to rebuild the changing room section of the ground!
There is some space behind part of the changing rooms so if they were rebuilt further back the area in front of them could be increased to allow for a larger terraced area!
The area in front of the clubhouse would have to remain the same for access reasons!
It could be possible to squeeze in another 2 turnstiles down the Wetherby Road side to bring them up to the 8 required for a grade A ground!
Separate entrance, exit, toilets & food outlet for segregated fans would have to be included in all of this!!!!!!

If you can do all this & have a capacity of 5,000 then you can stay in Blue Square Premier!!!!

I posted a link somewhere but here it is again BSP requirements

So if I read it correctly, not only has the ground got to be up to BSP standards, it needs to be able to be upgraded to Football League standards. Additionally there need to be 8 (yes EIGHT) spectator entrances! And a perimeter fence of 1.83 metres all around which can't be easily climbed.

As an aside, I seem to recall that when I posted this before, there was a question about the number of SPECTATOR parking spaces. However I can't see any reference to that on this document.

All in all, I don't think we're actually THAT far off.

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A 5,000 capacity which eventually must include 2,000 seats as part of it!
With a lot of other important bits & bobs that also must be adhered too!
Accrington Stanley have managed it with this ground though
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I can see the big problem been the number of exits and entrances
Long term cant see past a move which leads to the next big question where in Harrogate could they move to?

They would have to move out towards Hornbeam Park I would have thought, or even a groundshare with Railway?

I'd prefer us to move out to Hornbeam Park, don't particularly fancy us playing in Starbeck

True, there is lots of room over there, and it could be close to the trainstation, to improve transport links..