Naming the six training pitches

[Elgindon]

I would have liked to see one named for Bobby Clark or Ally Shewan.

I guess the demographic of voters is significantly younger than I

 

with you on the Bobby Clark vote.Ally Shewans an unusual name to be on the list.Long service aye,but in a mostly poor Dons era

[Ten Caat]

I've always said that once the stadium is built, the  4 stands would be named thus....Mainer (The Gothenburg Greats)…...opposite side (Sir Alex Stand.....of which he will be pwoud, vewy pwoud)…...home end (Willie Miller Stand) and away end (Donald Stand although wouldn't surprise me if it was the Wiggy Stand alternatively)

 

When Miller gets his stand I think his pitch would go to another deserving case. Clark has got the youth academy named after him.....there's probably a few deserving cases and Id have no problem if Shewan got the pitch

[LA-Don]

with you on the Bobby Clark vote.Ally Shewans an unusual name to be on the list.Long service aye,but in a mostly poor Dons era

 

 

I though Clark wouldn't get a pitch since he got the academy named after him. Would be weird to have your name on multiple things.

[TheDeeDon]

That's not my opinion. He played with some of the very best AFC footballers. The best central defence without question in Miller and McLeish. The best left back in Davie Robertson. The mercurial Hans Gilhaus was equally sublime. He and Eoin used to bang in goals for fun. Without looking back at his regular teammates, I don't remember many duds. Charlie Nicholas was supreme, Jim Bett was arguably the best footballer we ever had and for me the 1990/91 season was the best footballing side Pittodrie has ever seen.

 

Edit: just looked back at the records. You're right. He played with some shit in his last few years but when he broke through as a teenager, he was playing with some of the best.

 

I amended my post as I should have said the later part of his Dons career as we well know he had some cracking players around him when he broke through.

[DantheDon]

I know a lot of you saying that Jess is a surprise but as a younger (ish) supporter him and Leighton are the only two on this list I actually remember playing for Aberdeen. Maybe that's why Jess is on there because it makes it more relevant to my generation.

[Ten Caat]

Any player that was part of a side to win us a trophy in my opinion automatically gains club legendary status. Some may "taint" their reputations later on (mainly by joining one of the arse cheeks in whatever capacity/becoming an utter cock in character) but their legendary status should never be removed.

 

Guys like me lucky enough to remember the golden era stretching from Ally MacLeod's reign through to the end of the Smith/Scott era were spoilt. Virtually any player in that era had a reasonable call to have a pitch named after him but obviously the Gothenburg team will be revered as the ultimate side in all our history. If you were born later I can understand why guys more relevant to your era would gain your support. Jess, therefore should not really be a surprise to anyone. He was without doubt the best home grown player in the time he was with us. There is no doubt that had he been 10 years older he would have been in the Gothenburg squad ahead of Hewitt....maybe Black too but that would be a bit more up for debate.

 

Bottom line is.....every player who has received the honour of a pitch being named after him fully deserves the accolade

[TheDeeDon]

Looking at the photos it is clear the weather will be shit out at Westhill in the Winter months and have been surprised we didn't build an indoor training pitch at the site. I dont think a breeze block structure around one of the pitches would have cost that much and appears to be short sited.

 

Milnes speach was awful. Bad enough him being Chairman, but does he really have to speak. He clearly hates us fans.

 

For the record the training facility should have been named Teddy Scott Park in my opinion as our greatest ever club servant.

[Garlogie_Granite]

Looking at the photos it is clear the weather will be shit out at Westhill in the Winter months

[Ten Caat]

Looking at the photos it is clear the weather will be shit out at Westhill in the Winter months and have been surprised we didn't build an indoor training pitch at the site. I dont think a breeze block structure around one of the pitches would have cost that much and appears to be short sited.

 

 

I'm sure I read that they do intend to do so as phase 3....after the stadium is built. IIRC they just wanted to get the training ground up and running as quick as possible without running into further planning application difficulties. As I said on another thread.....there are height restrictions imposed on the whole site. I agree another million on top of the final cost of phase 1 would have enabled us to do it but it might have given the W.A.N.K.S more ammo in their quest to have had the whole project abandoned

[TheDeeDon]

I'm sure I read that they do intend to do so as phase 3....after the stadium is built. IIRC they just wanted to get the training ground up and running as quick as possible without running into further planning application difficulties. As I said on another thread.....there are height restrictions imposed on the whole site. I agree another million on top of the final cost of phase 1 would have enabled us to do it but it might have given the W.A.N.K.S more ammo in their quest to have had the whole project abandoned

 

I suspect it was all down to doing things on the cheap, I doubt it would have taken a million to do it, I would imagine around £300k, I think the objection is to the stadium and I cannot blame them as a stupid place to have it, but I'm happy we have the training facility, but just seems another lack of vision from Milne, you either do these things properly or you don't bother.

 

[donsdaft]

They can train where they bloody like, an indoor pitch is an obvious necessity.

 

When Aberdeen Football Club play matches though, they play at Pittodrie.

[rocket_scientist]

According to Cormack on the radio today "we have a strategy, a vision and a plan". If he said it once he said it a hunner times.

 

Newsflash. Corporate management consultancy type spik doesn't work. It has to be based on passion, focus and belief. It's all bollocks and it won't change the direction of the ship, which has been heading to Port Bollocks for many years.

[Slim]

Naming one of the pitches after Willie Miller to me looks like they’re not expecting to have to think about naming stands at the stadium for a very long time.

 

If they had to squeeze all their funding avenues just to get the training facilities done, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the stadium being quietly pushed to the background.

[Garlogie_Granite]

If they had to squeeze all their funding avenues just to get the training facilities done, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the stadium being quietly pushed to the background.

Already back to 2023, I fear this may be starting to happen already

[Garlogie_Granite]

I doubt it would have taken a million to do it, I would imagine around £300k

go on then, show us yer workings?

[TheDeeDon]

go on then, show us yer workings?

 

Do you say that to all the boys?  I just had another look at my post and not anything suggested I had workings, but because it is my job, a rough calulation for me would be roughly £300k for a basic breezeblock construction done whilst the groundworks was being done at the site, maybe more depending on the type of roof that was put on, but not anything like £1million.

[RicoS321]

Do you say that to all the boys?  I just had another look at my post and not anything suggested I had workings, but because it is my job, a rough calulation for me would be roughly £300k for a basic breezeblock construction done whilst the groundworks was being done at the site, maybe more depending on the type of roof that was put on, but not anything like £1million.

 

Sounds about right for a basic shed in the Sports Village indoor pitch style. It's not like yer adding more changing facilities or the like. Fairmers put up sheds like that a' the time, and they're always skint.

[tom_widdows]

Building control wont allow a basic breezeblock construction and hopefully neither would the club. Its not a case of just building a garage around a pitch.

 

Full size modern articifial pitch completely enclosed in modern energy efficient structure with the required M&E/ lighting/fire alarm systems etc, Changing facilities & equipment store (no point players getting changed in one building then getting soaked walking across to the indoor pitch).

 

£300k might get you a 5-a side one but I doubt you will get anything close to an 11-aside one for less than £3million. Ideally the indoor pitch should have been part of the current indoor facilities.

 

Toryglen centre in Glasgow (1 indoor & 3 outdoor 11-aside astroturf, plus 2 smaller training pitches, and 3no 7 a side grass) apparenlty cost circa £17million back in 2006 although that does include a 700 capacity stand for supporters.

 

 

 

[RicoS321]

So what's the sports village pitch then? Breeze block with a steel frame on top isn't it? It's fucking freezing in the winter, so I reckon it's energy efficient in that it doesn't have heating or insulation. Given it's the dons' training centre, I'm assuming that getting changed in one building before heading to the indoor pitch would be absolutely fine. Part of the warm up. Would seem more energy inefficient to have twa shiters.

[tom_widdows]

I've only been in tory glen but the Aberdeen Sports village supposedly cost circa £28million.

 

Toryglen certainly isnt freezing in the winter.

 

Anyway estimated sizes based on 105m x 68m pitch

 

370m x 3m of blockwork (with steel windposts)

Steel portal frame with pitched or barrel roof shape at a height which allows for an actual match to be played (15m?)

370m x up to 15m External cladding. This will need to have some form of insulation properties to maintain frost protection and prevent the building turning into a greenhouse in summer. Also need to be tough enough to withstand footballs being kicked against it, vandalisms, the salt content in the air, bird shite etc.

110m x 80m roof  (composite cladding panels?) with deep flow surface water drainage.

74m x 110m reinforced concrete floor slab with suitable gas membrane protection (given what they dug out of that size).

Cross flow ventilation system (passive or mechanical) to prevent condensation build up and over heating.

Indoor flood lighting system

Surrounding infrastructure for servicing/ maintenance.

 

For building warrants a rough guide has the cheapest price per m2 for non-domestic buildings is £185 for general agricultrural buildings.

The building ive described above is 8140m2 so if it was classed as a farm shed etc it would cost £1,505,900.00.

The next cheapest price in the guide is £609 per m2 for warehouses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RicoS321]

Well that's ruined my plans for a pitch in my back gairden.

 

Good work min, good to know. Surely next time we play the Arabs in the cup, we can get a couple of their caravan-dwellers to do it for £300K cash? Or give them Gleeson? Plus £400K cash.

[TheDeeDon]

JUst drove past it on my way to work and it is miserable outside weather wise, really poor they didn't build a cattle shed with an indoor pitch but to fuck with spending £3 million on a facility to produce the next generation Darren Mackie.

 

Maybe we could get DIY SOS to come around and build us something with the help of local dandies in the building trade. Write them a letter telling them we need them to get Gleeson fit again, one look of him in his current shape and we may well just get away with it on the sympathy vote.

[Ten Caat]

Just been reading elsewhere that the height restriction for the whole site is 21m. Which isna very high at all. It was why the club have been saying that steep sides on the stadium are pretty much a no no. Id imagine Joe kicking from hand (or any keeper) using his normal technique, the ball would reach higher than that at the top of its arc. As would many clearances by defenders just aiming to get the ball out of play. No problem in a roofless stadium. Big problem on a covered training pitch which might well get utilised for some youth team matches. Last thing you want is bits of lighting raining down on you

[Panda]

Just been reading elsewhere that the height restriction for the whole site is 21m. Which isna very high at all. It was why the club have been saying that steep sides on the stadium are pretty much a no no. Id imagine Joe kicking from hand (or any keeper) using his normal technique, the ball would reach higher than that at the top of its arc. As would many clearances by defenders just aiming to get the ball out of play. No problem in a roofless stadium. Big problem on a covered training pitch which might well get utilised for some youth team matches. Last thing you want is bits of lighting raining down on you

 

I don't know how these things are measured - another one for Tom to answer perhaps. But on the planning application for Hearts new main stand, it said the roof would be 21.4 metres from ground level.

 

But it also says the truss is 27.6m high, so maybe what they mean re-Kingsford is 21m is the highest point of the roof?

 

Loirston I think was to be 24 metres high.

 

As for steepness, again I'm no expert on these things, but I was at the Groupama Arena in Budapest for the Scotland game a few years ago and it's really steep (did the stadium tour the next day, impressive place) yet the height of the stadium appears to be 22 metres according to a quick google search. The pitch is below ground level though, but on the other hand much of the stadium's height is from a huge roof.

 

My concern with the stadium height is more that George Yule told me a few years ago that the plan was 20,000 now, then to expand in future if demand dictated it. A height restriction would make that difficult, and the talk last week from Cormack is that the club are actually considering 17,000-18,000 capacity.

 

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[tom_widdows]

In my experience when you have height restrictions (be it for planning or building warrant purposes) the height is measured from the lowest external ground level in relation to the building ie if your site is on a small hill you wont get away with taking the measurement from the elevation which faces uphill. Whether or not restriction is just to the roof surface or includes cantilevered trusses etc I don't know as I have yet to work on an actual stadium (although my current employers have done one in the past)

 

A trick to get around this could be to sink the pitch below ground level like Hampden partly is, however to do that on all 4 sides to the extent hampden is would push up the costs significantly and probably not feasible for club stadiums under a 40000 capacity.

 

As for the gradient as I understand it the steepest you can have under Scottish Building regulations would be 34degrees (Tynecastle Wheatfield stand closest example). Once you go over that your stairs are too steep to be permitted for the general public (Stairs in private houses can go to 42degrees).

 

If the pitch was built exactly at finished ground level at 34degrees it should be possible to get 30 rows of seating but that would be based on the roof surface being the level the height restriction applied to and not any cantilevered trusses. I have a rough cad section of a 34degree stand and one the length of the South or Main should get about 6000 seats with a goal end getting around 4000 which would of course = 20,000.

 

I personally feel future permanant expansion is something that should be forgotten about. Any chance of a major sports tournament being hosted in Scotland is dead under the current FIFA/ UEFA capitalist wet dream but if by some miracle it did become a reality the best chance I reckon would be for temporary additional tiers to be added. That is something that is potentially sellable to planners as the benefits to the local area would outweigh the temporary disruption to the landscape.