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lake district canary

Holiday Inn for sale

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Can''t we just stick rows of scaffolding with a forward-facing gangway between the top of one window and the bottom of the next one?  Fans can get onto the scaffolding through each floor''s fire exit, or they can put a new door in the wall especially.  Nobody would see the scaffolding from their hotel room, and we could probably get about a thousand or so seats there with the top seats cheapest as part of a risk/reward scenario.

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[quote user="tom cavendish"]The long-term solution will be a new stadium.[/quote]Oh christ.Here we go.

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Can''t we, just for a change, play a match at Eaton Park?

It''s far more spacious, easier to park, there''s a cafe for a pre-match ice cream, and the half time entertainment can be a go on the jungle gym

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[quote user="tom cavendish"]The long-term solution will be a new stadium.
[/quote]

And as sure as night follows day up pops our resident Premier League scout, football ground construction consultant and finance wiz kid.

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[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="Aggy"]How would we add seats there short of knocking the hotel down? I imagine it would be quite a lot of money just to add an extra couple of hundred here or there - I''d probably put this on the backburner until we''ve got the money to buy it, knock it down and build a whole new stand. Buying it and making smaller temporary changes just seems like wasting money for little return.[/quote]


What will be there is space for at least 600 seats in front of the existing building.   It would not take a huge rebuilding to add another 400 seats going up, rather than back, in the mould of theatre type boxes -  say four floors of four boxes on each level, each holding up to 20 people - thus retaining the infrastructure of the hotel - and the ability to create income. That is a thousand seats extra per match, say conservatively,  £35 per seat,  20 home matches a season, that is 35 x20 x 1000 = £700,000 per season.   Over five seasons that is £3.5 million.   Plus the income from the hotel which would still be substantial.  In the picture below, you can see the terracing would go up to the top of the black  section of the hotel, the commercial style boxes would go above that, without great alteration to the existing structure. 


This isn''t rocket science, I know,  but where there is a will there is a way.    This could happen if enough people want it to happen and would not cost a fortune, would add to the matchday experience for everyone, generate   £700,000 minimum per season, probably a lot more, in income, plus the hotel could still be a hotel.   If the powers that be really care about the club they will make something like this happen.   1,000 seats may not seem much, but it is about quality, not quantity.  Cost would be minimal, the ground would look better, retain the noise levels better, generate income, so really its a no-brainer. 


[/quote]

 

The hotel would still be a hotel?  Only if people didn''t mind paying top dollar for rooms with no view (a very close view of the back of a stand) and virtually no daylight.

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How many of the pitch side rooms actually get a decent full view of the game or is it a bit of a white elephant in that respect?

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[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"][quote user="lake district canary"]What will be there is space for at least 600 seats in front of the existing building.   It would not take a huge rebuilding to add another 400 seats going up, rather than back, in the mould of theatre type boxes -  say four floors of four boxes on each level, each holding up to 20 people - thus retaining the infrastructure of the hotel - and the ability to create income. That is a thousand seats extra per match, say conservatively,  £35 per seat,  20 home matches a season, that is 35 x20 x 1000 = £700,000 per season.   Over five seasons that is £3.5 million.   Plus the income from the hotel which would still be substantial.  In the picture below, you can see the terracing would go up to the top of the black  section of the hotel, the commercial style boxes would go above that, without great alteration to the existing structure. 

This isn''t rocket science, I know,  but where there is a will there is a way.    This could happen if enough people want it to happen and would not cost a fortune, would add to the matchday experience for everyone, generate   £700,000 minimum per season, probably a lot more, in income, plus the hotel could still be a hotel.   If the powers that be really care about the club they will make something like this happen.   1,000 seats may not seem much, but it is about quality, not quantity.  Cost would be minimal, the ground would look better, retain the noise levels better, generate income, so really its a no-brainer. 

[/quote]

 

The hotel would still be a hotel?  Only if people didn''t mind paying top dollar for rooms with no view (a very close view of the back of a stand) and virtually no daylight.

[/quote]

Errr.....I think you will find there are windows on the other side for the remaining rooms.   Rooms by the pitch side, floors 3 - 7,  would become the new viewing boxes and the lower two levels would become concourse behind the new seats.   Like I said originally, it doesn''t have top mean huge alterations to the hotel, just changing the emphasis back to it being a football stadium first and a hotel second. 

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I often stay there-haven''t watched a game (because I go!) from a pitchside room, but the views on the 2nd and 3rd floors are excellent, especially if you are mid-way along, 4th floor is OK, 5th floor not so good as you are looking out over the top of the roofs on the Barclay and South Stand.

 

That Hotel makes an absolute bomb when there is a match on. They know they''re onto a good thing and won''t be selling up to anyone in a hurry. There are 5 floors, 26 rooms on each of them. For every home match every room that is pitch facing sells out, it did so last season-certainly on the Saturdays. Holiday Inn have to charge a premium on any room booking that is for a pitchside view when there is a match on-its usually £30-£40 on top of the standard tariff. The Hotel rules state that anyone in the room for the duration of the match is subject to the same rules as anyone who actually attendd-so, in effect, those rooms are regarded as "seats" and I imagine the club gets a cut of each amount paid for them-hence the premium charged.

 

13 rooms with a pitch view on each floor, 5 floors, average for a room when a match is on around £135-£145 I would guess. Simple maths but 65x 145 = nearly £9500. Obviously there are discounts and other schemes for booking but, on the whole, you pay through the proverbial for a pitchside room on a matchday. You can''t drink in them for around 45 mins prior to and after the game, neither can you have guests-only the maximum of two people who have booked the room can be in it. And they check, believe me! No banners or colours at the window either. Its a bit of a bastard if you book a room and don''t go to the game but they are, as I said, more or less at capacity for every game. Plus the income from the bar before and afterwards. That site is one of Holiday Inn''s most profitable in the UK and the Hotel is one of its most successful-purely because of the football club. Can''t see them ever selling and they''d object so much- blocking of light for one thing - if the club wanted to build anything in front of it that the planning and respective appeals would take years. Its there for the duration, like it or not. The club do have an interest in it-not ownership, part or otherwise, but the two are ''partners'' of a kind as each benefits the other.

 

We were desperate at the time and, quite feasibly, never dreamt that the success and subsequent demand of recent years would suddenly make the Hotel a hot topic. Except that it isn''t as far as the club will be concerned. Whatever happens at Carrow Road over the next decade or so, that view will remain. We need to look to a new SGW stand as the next step whenever that happens.

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]

I often stay there-haven''t watched a game (because I go!) from a pitchside room, but the views on the 2nd and 3rd floors are excellent, especially if you are mid-way along, 4th floor is OK, 5th floor not so good as you are looking out over the top of the roofs on the Barclay and South Stand.

 

That Hotel makes an absolute bomb when there is a match on. They know they''re onto a good thing and won''t be selling up to anyone in a hurry. There are 5 floors, 26 rooms on each of them. For every home match every room that is pitch facing sells out, it did so last season-certainly on the Saturdays. Holiday Inn have to charge a premium on any room booking that is for a pitchside view when there is a match on-its usually £30-£40 on top of the standard tariff. The Hotel rules state that anyone in the room for the duration of the match is subject to the same rules as anyone who actually attendd-so, in effect, those rooms are regarded as "seats" and I imagine the club gets a cut of each amount paid for them-hence the premium charged.

 

13 rooms with a pitch view on each floor, 5 floors, average for a room when a match is on around £135-£145 I would guess. Simple maths but 65x 145 = nearly £9500. Obviously there are discounts and other schemes for booking but, on the whole, you pay through the proverbial for a pitchside room on a matchday. You can''t drink in them for around 45 mins prior to and after the game, neither can you have guests-only the maximum of two people who have booked the room can be in it. And they check, believe me! No banners or colours at the window either. Its a bit of a bastard if you book a room and don''t go to the game but they are, as I said, more or less at capacity for every game. Plus the income from the bar before and afterwards. That site is one of Holiday Inn''s most profitable in the UK and the Hotel is one of its most successful-purely because of the football club. Can''t see them ever selling and they''d object so much- blocking of light for one thing - if the club wanted to build anything in front of it that the planning and respective appeals would take years. Its there for the duration, like it or not. The club do have an interest in it-not ownership, part or otherwise, but the two are ''partners'' of a kind as each benefits the other.

 

We were desperate at the time and, quite feasibly, never dreamt that the success and subsequent demand of recent years would suddenly make the Hotel a hot topic. Except that it isn''t as far as the club will be concerned. Whatever happens at Carrow Road over the next decade or so, that view will remain. We need to look to a new SGW stand as the next step whenever that happens.

[/quote]

 

I remember you posting authoritatively on this before. Presumably the success of the hotel is why McNally got nowhere with the idea of some seats in front of it for this season just gone. We could do nothing without the agreement of our partner and that wasn''t forthcoming.

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[quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"][quote user="splutcho"]Just in response to people saying "there isn''t demand for tickets" and "they are readily available before matches", I would say, try getting two tickets together as a casual fan. Nigh on impossible.[/quote]This!I attended 12 home games this year, some popular (Man U, Arsenal), some not so (Fulham, Southampton).Only 3 times was I able to get a ticket to take a friend or family member with me. Once sitting behind a pole in the corner, and then other we were not next to each other, but I was able to get 2 seats, one behind the other.The only time it is different is when away tickets get returned from the away team, and so they have a whole extra bay in the Jarrold to sell. You need to monitor this though, as they go on with no warning, and can sell out fast when they do go on sale.I managed to get a seat in the "top of the terrace" restaurant area for the West Brom game, which I assume were unsold catering packages. Again. I just had to monitor online to pick that up. It was strange though. It''s like listening to the atmosphere through the glass you see at the counter of a bank of post office.Anyway, to get back to the point. The demand is there for more seats, and not just for the big games.[/quote]
As a regular casual ticket purchaser (as a super member) I can only say that is not totally my experience.
To me it all depends on whether the away team take their full allocation - basically this means block H in the Jarrold and this is a known at the time tickets go on sale. If Block H is available to home support then I have had no difficulty getting tickets including two together. If the away team take block H then I agree extremely difficult to get two together and tickets generally much scarcer.
Yes occasionally the away team return a block of tickets - but I think only Wigan and Reading did that last season. Yes they sold out but you need to consider the reasons why - Wigan was a pre Xmas gift at very low prices, Reading was a key game.
There were also games where we struggled to sell out last season. Stoke well not everybody''s cup of tea plus Spurs and Newcastle which sold out but only with quite a number of away fans in block H.
So to me a key factor on demand for tickets is whether the away team take block H. Only if they do, do we get unfulfilled home demand and I would suggest of around 1000 seats. So if we did a corner infill I would agree that there is, just about, the additional demand to fill it but possibly not for every game (unless seat prices are reduced which rather defeats the point). Is it worth doing financially - I would think not.

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I think the success of the Holiday Inn has taken people by surprise Purple-not least the Holiday Inn themselves! The Carrow Road site is now virtually a template for how their operations in the UK should successfully be ran, not because there is a football club next door but because of all the measures they brought into maximise income and ''encourage'' the one-off hotel guest to go there. The Holiday Inn at the Airport is now getting a once over with new management and will, no doubt, soom lose its somewhat tired and dated image because of it.

 

How HI @ CR fares over the Summer will be interesting-I''ll be there next month and I would guess that breakfast won''t be heaving quite so much on the weekend mornings as it is when there is a match on. Most Saturday mornings at around 8am I''ve seen away fans checking in so they are obviously going against the tradition of booking into a Hotel at, or after, 2pm and letting rooms be occupied early in the mornings if it means a guest-that also means the guest can stay for just one night rather than two as most hotels would mean them booking in on the Friday. I spoke to some Newcastle fans checking in on the morning of that game at about that time and they were delighted to be able to arrive, dump their bags and get breakfast straight away upon arriving at a hotel ("we set oot at 4am canny lad") as it wasn''t something they were usually able to do on their travels

 

I can''t see how the club can''t have some sort of tie-in with the Hotel-people come in their droves because of the product that the club offer so it would be folly of the hotel not to appreciate that. In addition, a lot of the TV and media people stay there as well whilst quite a few of the players meet friends and family in there afterwards who might have travelled down-suspect they stay there as well. Alex Tettey was there for two, if not three nights before he signed as well-so not everyone goes to Dunston Hall! So yes, its a bit like having a burger stand in the middle of Stonehenge when you look at the overall vista of the ground but, if its making an income of sorts for the club then thats something.

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Thoroughly enjoyed your posts on this topic Old Shuck. It would appear that the Holiday Inn are generating significant income as a result of NCFC activities, I assume that this aspect of the business was taken fully into account when the original negotiations took place, circumstance have of course changed with the success of the club, I wonder if there is an option as a result for some renegotiation!

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Some interesting insights, Shuck, I can see there would be problems, especially if  Holiday Inn are cashing in - and the club may have some agreement where they cash in too,  but there are other solutions.   Chops idea wasn''t so crazy - simple balconies would change the facade so that at least people can be seen.   The main issue for me is that it just looks like a block of flats stuck in the corner of a football ground.   It just looks stupid.    To me its an issue that has to be sorted sooner or later.   Now would be a good time.

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That''s just it LDC. It looks like it should be on the edge ofa beach in Ibiza or similar. Its long term presence there is almost certain, so it would make sense to make more use of it in whatever way possible to get more people watching and to, somehow, blend in.

 

*Typo in previous post-6 floors, not 5. So 78 pitch facing rooms. As the photo shows, the stands get in the way of the 6th and 5th although there is still a view, of sorts. Where the angle in the facade is on the 2/3/4 floors is an excellent view, virtually the whole pitch.

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Just a few sticks of Semtex should this eyesore out![I]

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]

That''s just it LDC. It looks like it should be on the edge ofa beach in Ibiza or similar. Its long term presence there is almost certain, so it would make sense to make more use of it in whatever way possible to get more people watching and to, somehow, blend in.

[/quote]

Blending it in is the key.   McNally is supposed to have wanted to get some temporary seats put in but presumably couldn''t get agreement from all parties,  so if a temporary solution isn''t possible,  a more permanent one needs to be found.   For simple terracing up to the top of the black painted section,  the hotel would need to find a different use for those rooms affected on the bottom two floors.  Offices, Gymnasium, even retail shops or catering could be incorporated - with an outlet into the concourse behind where the terracing would be.    The physical problems of converting are not that great, but any project would come up organisational obstacles that would need someone strong and determined to see it through.   Someone like...................David McNally................

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[quote user="lake district canary"],  the hotel would need to find a different use for those rooms affected on the bottom two floors.  Offices, Gymnasium, even retail shops or catering could be incorporated



[/quote]

Have you any idea how many offices and retail units there are standing empty in Norwich LDC. There are also 2 gyms I can immediately think of within spitting distance of Carrow Road as well. As for catering what a novel idea...never heard of Riverside ?  By the way if news has not reached you yet there is a recession on which shows no real signs of relenting just yet but hey ho you just carry on with your pie in the sky dreams.

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There is access to the pitch near ticket office. The solution to everything would be to build a new hotel for Holiday Inn on NCFC land ie car park behind Jarrold. The actual building costs would be approx 2million then we could do what we want with corner.

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Problem with that Simmo is that the Holiday Inn wouldn''t be interested. The fact that the rooms have pitchside views in abundance is what sells it out, at those premium prices, for every match. Rebuilding it on the land behind the Jarrold would reduce its value, to them, as a site considerably even though it would be as convenient as it currently is. When I started using ity regularly it was about its convenience and general location in terms of work and meetings etc-people know it and can get there easily, its a 10 min walk from the station, a 15 minute walk to the City etc-as I go to the games anyway. A lot of people will stay there and book one of those rooms purely because they can watch a match from them. Move it and that option has gone.

 

Could they offer live feeds of the games to all rooms as an alternative, the footballing ''perk'' of staying there? Maybe but wouldn''t broadcasting rules and restrictions come into place then? Its a difficult one. The land must have been sold and the Hotel built as it is with the condition from the buyer being that half the rooms overlooked the pitch-where''s their incentive to build a hotel there otherwise? That was the deal maker. The land belongs to the Holiday Inn, land the club would need to access to build any sort of seating or stand in front of it-are they going to say no, of course not, thats not even an issue-the club would be acting in very probable breach of the terms of the land sale in the first place (ie) we get to have rooms that overlook your pitch and your product is available-at a price so you get some sort of %tage-to our customers.

 

Its a self perpetuating issue. One argument would be that, the longer the club stays in the Prem, the more likely it will be they are able to buy the Holiday Inn out. Not so. The longet the clubs stays in the Prem and the more valuable the "brand" of NCFC comes, the more Holiday Inn are goign to want to hold onto that site and the benefits it brings. The success of the club benefits the HI. I really can''t see the current situation changing at all for the immediate future and, if anything, the first real steps that the club will take will be a new SGW stand-a mammoth prioject as it would probably mean ''moving'' Carrow Road itself as the rear of a new stand would come out and towards the edge of the car parking space adjacent to the road on the otherside.

 

We can''t just plonk a new stand in there even as we did the Jarrold-its a far, far bigger project than that and one that would generate enornous expense, no wonder the club has turned back from it. With that in mind you can see the logic in the minds of persons like our Mr Cavendish in advocating a new ground if we need the bigger capacity and can guarantee more or less filling it, simply because the ramifications of simply rebuiilding the SGW stand are so enormous, logistically, planning-wise, and, most of all, financially. The Holiday Inn, when all is said and done, becomes a bit of a side issue in all of this.

 

Interesting times. When SGW was originally rebuilt in 85/86 I wonder how long a shelf life they gave it?

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[quote user="TIL 1010"]

[quote user="lake district canary"],  the hotel would need to find a different use for those rooms affected on the bottom two floors.  Offices, Gymnasium, even retail shops or catering could be incorporated

[/quote]

Have you any idea how many offices and retail units there are standing empty in Norwich LDC. There are also 2 gyms I can immediately think of within spitting distance of Carrow Road as well. As for catering what a novel idea...never heard of Riverside ?  By the way if news has not reached you yet there is a recession on which shows no real signs of relenting just yet but hey ho you just carry on with your pie in the sky dreams.

[/quote]

You can mock if you like.   My ideas may be pie in the sky,  but there are always solutions to problems and the fact that there is something that looks like a block of flats stuck in the corner of a football ground is an ongoing issue that imo should be sorted.    The situation has changed since it was built and now we are in the premiership that premises is even more valuable to the wretched hotel chain.     In this thread I merely asked the question, why can''t the club buy out the hotel, restructure it to allow another thousand or so fans in - and retain a hotel, albeit a smaller one behind it.   The solution is out there.   It just needs someone with the balls to make it happen.     

You can scoff, but that doesn''t solve anything.

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There seems to be no solution to the problem and we seem to be stuck with it forevermore. A pity we needed it in the first place.

 

I suppose the only way we could get a few extra spaces into the corner would be if a fewsafe standing terracing was to be allowed and to be constructed in a way so as to limit restricting hotel views to a minimum. There is a growing undercurrent in favour of this in the top two leagues following it''s success in Germany. McNally could obtain special compensation for this from the powers that be on the basis that it could be seem as a two-year trial period. It might also lead to better things in this direction if it succeeds.

 

It might create other problems though and it might only amount to a few hundred more spectators, or less, but it is an innotive move in the right direction and would. bring back a football ground feel to that area rather than that of a Benidorm apartment block which it apes.

 

Living near Royal St. Georges golf course, I''ve been to a few Opens there and am amazed by the temporary stands they now use. Amazed by the great numbers these pack in (with individual seats) and amazed at just how quickly and safely they are erected and then disbanded.

 

This type of structure is improving by the season but I cannot see a practical problem to our dilemma here yet.

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[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="TIL 1010"]

[quote user="lake district canary"],  the hotel would need to find a different use for those rooms affected on the bottom two floors.  Offices, Gymnasium, even retail shops or catering could be incorporated

[/quote]

Have you any idea how many offices and retail units there are standing empty in Norwich LDC. There are also 2 gyms I can immediately think of within spitting distance of Carrow Road as well. As for catering what a novel idea...never heard of Riverside ?  By the way if news has not reached you yet there is a recession on which shows no real signs of relenting just yet but hey ho you just carry on with your pie in the sky dreams.

[/quote]

You can mock if you like.   My ideas may be pie in the sky,  but there are always solutions to problems and the fact that there is something that looks like a block of flats stuck in the corner of a football ground is an ongoing issue that imo should be sorted.    The situation has changed since it was built and now we are in the premiership that premises is even more valuable to the wretched hotel chain.     In this thread I merely asked the question, why can''t the club buy out the hotel, restructure it to allow another thousand or so fans in - and retain a hotel, albeit a smaller one behind it.   The solution is out there.   It just needs someone with the balls to make it happen.     

You can scoff, but that doesn''t solve anything.

[/quote]

 

In a child''s universe, perhaps, but not always in the real world. Or at least not affordable solutions. From all that Old Shuck has posted it is clear that Holiday Inn don''t want to sell the hotel, and without their agreement nothing can happen. I imagine if we offered a stupidly high price they might be tempted but we could never justify doing that for not many extra seats.If there is to be ground expansion it will have to be either another (expensive) tier on the Jarrold, giving the ground a very weird look, or a logistically difficult and even more expensive project on the other side. If we are ever going to be able to afford either it will be because we didn''t waste money on that hotel infill.

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="lake district canary"]

You can mock if you like.   My ideas may be pie in the sky,  but there are always solutions to problems and the fact that there is something that looks like a block of flats stuck in the corner of a football ground is an ongoing issue that imo should be sorted.    The situation has changed since it was built and now we are in the premiership that premises is even more valuable to the wretched hotel chain.     In this thread I merely asked the question, why can''t the club buy out the hotel, restructure it to allow another thousand or so fans in - and retain a hotel, albeit a smaller one behind it.   The solution is out there.   It just needs someone with the balls to make it happen.      You can scoff, but that doesn''t solve anything.[/quote]

 

In a child''s universe, perhaps, but not always in the real world. Or at least not affordable solutions. From all that Old Shuck has posted it is clear that Holiday Inn don''t want to sell the hotel, and without their agreement nothing can happen. I imagine if we offered a stupidly high price they might be tempted but we could never justify doing that for not many extra seats. If there is to be ground expansion it will have to be either another (expensive) tier on the Jarrold, giving the ground a very weird look, or a logistically difficult and even more expensive project on the other side. If we are ever going to be able to afford either it will be because we didn''t waste money on that hotel infill.

[/quote]The solutions are usually there if you want to find them, Purple.   The trouble is a lot of people would prefer to just to sit on their hands and say nothing can be done and not bother to try and find a solution.  

"Wasting money on that hotel infill" as you describe it would make a vast improvement in the look of the ground, improve the atmosphere generated by the enclosing of the corner and improvement in acoustics - something that is often neglected.   Anyway, the sums do add up.   The income from even just one thousand  extra seats over ten years  would be sufficient  to justify an outlay of   £7 million.  (1000 x c.£35 x 20 home matches = c. £700,000 equalling in region of £7 million over ten years).     Most of us are fed up with the look of it.   It spoils the stadium - so something should - and could - be done.    Its too glib to say "oh, just leave it there, because nothing can be done".       It can and should be done.   The cost is acceptable  in the scheme of things because as a premiership club our stadium should look like a premiership stadium.   Joining up the stands is necessary to complete it.    Either renegotiate with the hotel about possible development of the area in front up to two floors high so that lower tier of seats can be put in, and  discuss the possible addition of balconies on to the rooms higher up which could be bought on match days as boxes which could hold up to twenty people each.      The potential extra income for the hotel is there too if something like this was achieved, so it can work both ways for the club and the hotel.  

As I keep saying, it could be done if the will is there to do it.   McNally could do it.   He inherited this situation  and it must bug him as much as it does the rest of us.  

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["splutcho"]Just in response to people saying "there isn''t demand for tickets" and "they are readily available before matches", I would say, try getting two tickets together as a casual fan. Nigh on impossible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly!

 

Too many people with the we''re just "little ole Norwich" mindset installed in them think that if we have a handful of tickets left over for a game then it means we don''t need to expand the ground. In reality many people with young children don''t bother trying to get tickets if they can''t sit together, many others won''t risk the cost of traveling to the ground in the hope of getting hold of some of the last tickets available and last season nearly all home League games were home sell outs with only the away ends not selling out!

 

People forget that the main reason 90% of ST holders buy ST''s is cause it works out cheaper than buying the overpriced casual tickets even if you miss some games. I myself couldn''t afford to buy casual tickets every game and also run the risk of sitting in a seat with poor views. Hence if we increased the ground capacity to over 30,000, the club would also make more ST''s available which I suspect would result in continued limited numbers of casual tickets available!

 

As for the Hotel corner, unfortunately at the time it was a neccessity cause we couldn''t afford to put seats in there and I''ve been led to believe the sale of the land to the Hotel largely subsidised the infill the other end of the Jarold stand.

Had we been able to afford it which would be now if the corner would still be empty, that corner would of seen an extension of the Jarold stand continuing round to the emergency exit with a Hotel built on the back. This would have seen about 1600-2000 extra seats added to the capacity and what would have happened is the away end would have been move in there, with segregation moved accordingly which would have resulted in more seats in the Jarold stand for home supporters!

 

To do this now would cost at least £10M and all for just a max of 2000 seats extra. If a major expansion project takes place the club will 1st of all take the route of a Jarold stand upper tier or new City stand which would see at least 4000 extra seats. If after such a project increasing the capacity to at least 31,000 we still needed extra capacity and the club could afford it then purchasing the Hotel would become an option!

 

The Hotel doesn''t look right where it is but at the time it was built in 2006 it was a neccessity!  

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All may not be lost.  Another few seasons of Hughton-style football and the Holiday Inn will be charging a premium to install curtains and blinds for use while the match is on.

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[quote user="First Wizard"]Just a few sticks of Semtex should this eyesore out![I][/quote]Never let it be said you''re not self aware.Oh, you meant the hotel.

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I believe that the holiday inn was a joint venture and I also believe that the club still own the land. If that is the case then the club will be making much more money from the hotel than they ever would from seating in that corner (for all the reasons previously mentioned).

If it''s a blending in thing then just paint it yellow and green!

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You also have to factor in away fan segregation with the wannabe Danny Dire''s in the Lower Barclay.

Best left as it is otherwise you only have to build another entrance for the emergency services reducing seating and affecting infrastructure in another part of the ground.

Is there really a need for more seating right at this moment if ground redevelopment is going to take place at some point in the future anyway.

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I think I am going crazy, but why do I have ''20 years'' tumbling around in my head in relation to the hotel?

 

Was anything ever mentioned that the agreement was for 20 years or something?  Was it rumoured? or Have I just imagined it?[:^)]

 

It appears there is a legal contract in place between the club and the hotel (I can''t imagine it''s timeless though) which would limit what the club can do even with regards to Compulsory Purchase Orders (if one could ever be granted in the first place).

 

Obviously we don''t know what is in this contract, but I would also expect that it would also include the Club not relocating for X number of years also.....

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