History of the Hawthorns

[soulman101]

https://www.wba.co.uk/club/history/history-hawthorns
The 1st photo of the ground is what it was like for my Ist match in 1961 , the view is from the open Brummie .
Our ground needs redeveloping , we have had a lot of sell outs the season but the capacity is now only 25,350 .
The segregation in the Smethwick costs us a loss of 1,500 seats . The small away allocation , is costing us a lot of money .
The ground when they built the new stands, should have been built further back on the East stand , which would have solved all the problems with rebuilding the Halfolds .
This is what wolves did when they built the Billy Wright , I know due to them going bump they ended up with just one stand miles from the pitch . But the layout ended up working for them .
One big cock up from Peace .

[mickd1961]

https://www.wba.co.uk/club/history/history-hawthorns
The 1st photo of the ground is what it was like for my Ist match in 1961 , the view is from the open Brummie .
Our ground needs redeveloping , we have had a lot of sell outs the season but the capacity is now only 25,350 .
The segregation in the Smethwick costs us a loss of 1,500 seats . The small away allocation , is costing us a lot of money .
The ground when they built the new stands, should have been built further back on the East stand , which would have solved all the problems with rebuilding the Halfolds .
This is what wolves did when they built the Billy Wright , I know due to them going bump they ended up with just one stand miles from the pitch . But the layout ended up working for them .
One big cock up from Peace .

Peace didn’t make mistakes Lloyd.

If he’d done what you suggest ( I agree with you ) then he’d have been forced to spend money on redeveloping Halfords Lane.

The other thing you’re missing is that the Brummie Rd and the Smethwick End had already been redeveloped and doing as you suggested would have meant rebuilding both of them because they would’ve been sat in the wrong place, in effect, the whole ground would have had to have been rebuilt.

I don’t entirely blame JP for this situation, The Taylor Report forced previous Albion hierarchy to create all seating at both ends which is why they got done first, this wasn’t Peace’s fault.

That said, he twitched like a Tourette’s sufferer when the cost of building over Halfords Lane was being mooted.

Considering what we already owned on the opposite side of the road we should’ve gone for that building option.

I think a 35,000 stadium is right for us, I don’t ever want to see us move in my lifetime.

[soulman101]

Hi , Mick before rebuildind the Brummie and Smethwick , they should of considered future use of the land to get the maximum out of it it .
We like most clubs also had a grant towards the cost of going all seater .

[mickd1961]

Hi , Mick before rebuildind the Brummie and Smethwick , they should of considered future use of the land to get the maximum out of it it .
We like most clubs also had a grant towards the cost of going all seater .

We were living hand to mouth in those days though, if you remember it was the sales of Kilbane and Maresca that kept us afloat Lloyd.

This was pre Peace, we didn’t have the money to knock the ground down and start again.

We still don’t!

[baggieal]

Personally I would curve the stands around - Smethwick to East Stand and East Stand to Brummie and then build another tier on the Halfords. That could increase the capacity to around 40,000 and make the ground look fantastic. I would then stick the away supporters in the newly created corner ( Smethwick/East Stand ).

[baggieal]

The players could park their posh range rovers/porches back on the academy as that players car park ( where pub was ) would become the new corner.

[mickd1961]

That isn’t as simple as it seems.

You couldn’t just build a second tier over the Halfords, it would need to be demolished to create the depth of footings needed AL.

Then the corners themselves are even more of an engineering feat, it costs as much to build a corner as it does to build a complete stand at either end.

No easy solutions other than knocking down Halfords I’m afraid.

[kettering_baggie]

Then, of course, is the small matter of filling the envisaged redeveloped stands. There have been very few games this season when we have sold all the tickets. The proposed stand over Halfords Lane would have looked wonderful but could we fill it every match?

[DaveP67 is back!]

That isn’t as simple as it seems.

You couldn’t just build a second tier over the Halfords, it would need to be demolished to create the depth of footings needed AL.

Then the corners themselves are even more of an engineering feat, it costs as much to build a corner as it does to build a complete stand at either end.

No easy solutions other than knocking down Halfords I’m afraid.

So I had heard that the Halfords lane stand was the same design as the 2 tier stand at the old white hart lane, and that it was built with the option of adding another tier if we wanted, might be BS but I heard this when I was a kid and the stand was new.

[mickd1961]

So I had heard that the Halfords lane stand was the same design as the 2 tier stand at the old white hart lane, and that it was built with the option of adding another tier if we wanted, might be BS but I heard this when I was a kid and the stand was new.

I remember that being said Dave but I reckon that with changes in building regs and standards that might not be the case now.

Like any build, it’s often cheaper to demolish and rebuild rather than add bits on years later.