Once planning permission is granted we will have to move out to allow building work to take place. This will involve finding a suitable ground per grading for our league. I think the board will have difficulties locally. Dulwich are moving out to re do there place. Dartford have other teams playing there. Bromley have Cray Wanderers unless the Cray stadium is finished. Not sure what work needs to be done at Gravesend. Doubt Charlton, Millwall or Gillinghsm would want another team on their turf. All other clubs in the area would not be upto the correct ground grading. The nearest options I can see would be Tonbridge, Aveley or Wombledon. Unless someone on here has a few million to build a temporary stadium in Danson Park for a year.
As an after thought Chatham were looking for promotion so not sure how their ground grading fits but they have another team with a similar name to ours playing there.
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That other team you speak of is Welling Town, quite successful over the last few years really In terms of what they've managed to achieve. And they will be playing at Phoenix Sports from now on not Chatham, so Chatham have a space.
My son lives in Tonbridge, so I know the logistics of getting there. It isn't great. I wonder, would it be worth putting development things on hold until we can get a groundshare at a local ground? Cray Wanderers new ground is in Sidcup, easy enough to get to compared to Tonbridge or other awkward places to get to, maybe wait developments until that is available as a temporary groundshare, as there is no immediate hurry to develop the ground?
I know there are big development plans, but no details have been shared publicly, is there any time scale of when the plans are going to be shared with the fans and public?
Sutton possibly? Believe it when it actually happens because this isn't the first rodeo. Whatever the move it must mean and would require serious investment because I would assume any move would be significantly impacting on the clubs revenue for that season. Rent, less match day income etc
The priority should be to stay as local as possible. Im sure someone like Cray Valley would be open to some kind of proposal if it improved their ground. Have we been in discussions with the league to discuss getting any exemptions for a season or two with regards to ground gradings? Its just another example of this lot not giving a damn about the fans. This development is about money not the future of the club. I think two seasons away from PVR should be unacceptable to fans.
Getting to Tonbridge by public transport for me means a 51 bus to Orpington, then a train to Tonbridge, and frequent weekend engineering works bus replacement services make the journey not great, so if necessary I hope a more local ground can be found.
Muzza's mention of Cray Valley is a good call, my favourite suggestion so far, it is local, close to travel services, and being compact would have a really good match atmosphere, so fan friendly and not too disruptive as a temporary home ground. I've seen us play there a couple of times and like the ground, and the pitch is well looked after. Beckenham Town's ground has similar attractions, also worth consideration. But the priority of wherever is chosen is that it needs to be somewhere close enough for fans to get to easily, as fans won't travel far, low attendances mean income would then drop, and three out of the bottom four average attendances were relegated last season, so maintaining decent crowds is essential for success.
I would love to go to Cray Valley. Apart from Long Lane JFC where our academy train and play it is the nearest ground to home. The ground as it is could not cope with a club our size even if the league sanctioned it. There would need to be massive investment in building improved facilities. Then there is the problem of getting planning permission from Royal Greenwich. Knowing both present and past council members involved with planning I can assure fans it would not be an easy task.
Believe it or not Dulwich have been handed a gift by being relegated as they no longer have to find a new home graded for our level. With most of their fans only going for social activity such as face painting, real ale and political meetings they dont have our problem. Not a solution I want to see at Welling.
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Thanks Square, this is one of those issues where me and nearly all the fans are not well sighted on the practical issues behind any decision, so it is so helpful to have the practicalities of the options spelt out like this by you, so we too can see how sensible options like Cray Valley may have hidden problems.
A really big problem I have with the manager is his aimless and uninspiring approach, "play games, see where it gets us". The same could be said of the club too, as it has no obvious clear aims or targets. But I had a talk a while back about the development, and was really pleasantly surprised and impressed with what I heard, as it would move us so far forward. I saw Welling in roughly 2000, then next came back in 2022, and was struck by how little had changed. But the suggested development would be "wow" and give the fans much more optimism for the future, and understand better the benefits of the temporary move during rebuilding.
So the public sharing of the development plans would be really helpful all round, showing the owners in a better light, showing the fans what is happening instead of as usual keeping them in the dark (Who is the current chairman? Who is the manager? What is the team? Fans don't know!) and show we are not standing still while others progress, and we have ambitions to match the likes of Ebbsfleet. So I do hope the plans are shared soon, so the benefits are clear for all to see.
If we don't stay local, if and when the redevelopment happens, then we would lose hundreds of fans each week. Doubt I would have gone to Tonbridge every game, perhaps we might have got 250 there.
If we lose 400 fans per home match playing far away that's 100k+ over a season in lost gate money, plus bar, catering facilities also lose out.
Wonder what the costs would be to get a local ground up to standard with temporary turnstiles, portaloos, seating and the like. And we can take our Marquee on the road!!
If we don't stay local, if and when the redevelopment happens, then we would lose hundreds of fans each week. Doubt I would have gone to Tonbridge every game, perhaps we might have got 250 there.
If we lose 400 fans per home match playing far away that's 100k+ over a season in lost gate money, plus bar, catering facilities also lose out.
Wonder what the costs would be to get a local ground up to standard with temporary turnstiles, portaloos, seating and the like. And we can take our Marquee on the road!!
Right no disrespect to anyone but where do we go locally that would accept us and have correct ground grading. If people insist on staying local then the answer is VCD, Cray Valley etc so people are advocating we get relegated or ask to be put in the Dog and Duck league division 5.
As many know I am not standing for re election as WUSA secretary this time round but I would hope WUSA or the club would, if we go miles away, run a fleet of coaches to our games at a subsidised rate.
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I'm obviously not advocating us being relegated, although Feeney might manage that anyway. My point is, can't we partner with a local club and work together to meet the ground requirements. It's in both of our interests. Has the club even approached the league to see if any dispensations can be made for a season or two or done a cost analysis of what any works would cost? I don't fancy travelling to an 'away' game every week and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that. I realise there's no easy answer but packing us off somewhere miles away because there is 'no other option' is lazy and short sighted. I realise PVR needs upgrading but we should do the development when it suits us as a club not because the owners are impatient for their 'return on investment'. If this means we have to delay until a more viable option arises then so be it. No action is better than the wrong action.
You would hope the club has looked at all different options. As ever, we're left guessing on a forum because of the lack of transparency.
Agreed Graham. However, what's best for the club/fans is probably not in the best interests of the owners as they will want this done asap and at any cost to extract their profit. Therefore, I doubt we'll be shown any facts or figures on this. Will be their usual like it or lump it approach rather than trying to engage fans.
If Feeney hasn't agreed to stay yet and does end up staying is he going to blame poor recruitment again (which has begun without him once more in theory) if it all goes wrong!
