SRC wrote:Whatever.

If you knock down 3 sides of the ground, rebuild them and then treble the size of the current Grandstand, I'd say that's pretty much a new stadium.

Anyway, who gives a t055 as long as it complies with SL standards.

SRC wrote:I think you'll find that's EXACTLY what Dave Sear (Barrow Vice-Chairman) was talking about ....

"There is the room for it to be developed, including a lot of space at the Walney Road end to enable the Willie Horne stand to be lengthened"

"The Duke St end and the Popular Side could be demolished. Extra crash barriers would vastly increase the potential ground capacity."

Dave Sear along with other members of the BOD post on the Barrow forum, but hey, I'll bow to your greater knowledge of what's going on in Barrow.

I would also like to add the following, which was posted by on the Barrow forum by Keith Nutter ....

I was recently co-opted onto the CP2 (Charitable Trust) committee which has been set up to support the parent club. I joined this group at the request of Des and the BoD and over the coming weeks I believe more members will be recruited to enhance the group.
I made it quite clear when I joined that I am predominately interested in only two aspects of the work being undertaken (and there are several initiatives which Jonty spoke about at the Sponsors evening and has posted about on here).
The two aspects I am interested are the club's heritage (which can yield pots of money in grants) and the development of Craven Park (again many grants available). This is because I want to focus on these issues and (hopefully) help to drive them forward.
When I talk about developing Craven Park, I don't mean patching up the attrocious toilets, putting in a tannoy system and replacing the floodlights - I am talking about setting our stall out to completely rebuild the stadium over the coming three or four years.
Preliminary work has established beyond any doubt that the Craven Park 'footprint' can comfortably be developed into a 'state of the art' stadium meeting all the criteria of Super League Europe.
However, these ideas need to be developed and the detail sorted.
In support of these ideas, much work has to be done getting the Council on board, sourcing grants and other funding and this work has begun. CP2 members Jonty, Dave Sear and Jim Tongue have done a lot of ground work already.
I would expect that by the end of this season we will have a clear plan in place to move the ground development forward. Just how long it will take to bring that plan to fruition is anybody's guess but I don't expect it to take too long (maybe three or four years).

For those supporters who believe we should sell Craven Park and build a brand new stadium I would simply say please tell me where the 15 to 20 million pounds needed for such a project would come from. We can achieve the same end product on our current site for a fraction of the cost and far less upheaval.

Whilst people on here do not always agree with my (sometimes barmy) ideas I hope that they know I will always tell the truth and say it as it is. I (and others involved with CP2) have several ideas on how we can take the ground situation forward but until they are finalised I would rather keep my silence. However, I think we should be in a position to formally advise roughly what is planned within two or three months.

Like all the supporters I fully understand we are playing in a tired old ground but I honestly don't believe that selling is an option. You describe the club as being asset rich/cash poor and I understand what you mean. However, every club that has released its assets in recent years (ie sold its ground) and become cash rich has had or is now having problems - Rochdale, Swinton, Oldham, Widnes, to name just four. Wigan too look to be more and more vulnerable in their rented 'home'.

Cash rich is fine until the cash disappears. Renting (for example) a council owned ground would (in my opinion) see the club die a slow (or maybe not so slow) death.

Hopefully, if the CP2 group works as I believe it can then the club will be both asset rich and cash rich within a few years.

As for the franchise bids in three years, that is for the BoD to decide but (and again this is my personal view) I don't think the club will be ready. In six years time I believe we will be in an excellent position to bid.

Back to the topic - it is early days yet for CP2 but I honestly think that this group can play a major part in helping the BoD take this great club forward and assuring its future for generations to come.

I should also make it clear that CP2 is about much more than ground developments. There are major initiatives ongoing (and planned) to promote the game throughout South Cumbria. Jonty and Dave Clark are doing an enormous amount in this area, the benefits of which are enormous.

Andy Greg wrote:I am going by Train