Hornchurch/Romford groundshare

[Eastside Urchin]

I kid you not,our friends at Romford still won't let go of this ludicrous idea of coming to groundshare with us again

 

 

 

ALAN FENN

 

 

I may well be wrong, but I can only see five options left to our club if we are ever to return home.

 

Option one is we wait until a money man comes along and gives us the money to build Westlands in its current form.Quite ridiculous in my opinion but I would love to be proved wrong.

 

Option two is to hope we get the £350,000 funding and the council will allow us to build something completely different to the original plans, a bit of a long shot but at least worth a try.

 

Option three is to approach West Ham to see if there's any possibility of using Rush Green again.

 

Option four is to approach the council to see if they could revisit the possibility of ground sharing Hornchuch Stadium. As other clubs ground share and accommodate athletics its definitely not against Ryman League rules and as it would increase revenue to the LBH they may find it impossible to refuse as I believe they have a legal obligation to maximise revenue from their assets. Not ideal but I would think the option that offers us the greatest hope.

 

Option five is to apply to join the Essex Olympic League and hire a pitch from the council.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2010 by Eastside Urchin

[Eastside Urchin]

Next post

 

 

ALAN FENN

 

 

Hornchurch Stadium was a ground that we could have called our own, even if it was shared, as we had all the security of tenure that we could possibly wish for, and with hindsight it was probably a terrible decision to leave.

 

It could be argued that Collier Row was ours as it was owned by our previous much loved owners but when he left that was us looking for a new home again. It was a dump and it never felt like home to me.

 

Rush Green always did feel like home to me, but it never really was and it just wasn't to be.

 

Apart from the odd wag, and parents of players, who understandably leave us when the player departs for pastures new, I don't think we have attracted one regular new supporter in the past three years, although we have lost quite a few, so with a rapidly ageing supporter base I don't think we can survive for anything like 18 years unless we return to Havering PDQ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this post cracks me up as it appears ALAN FENN has almost given up on the idea of Westlands

 

 

BRIAN HILL

 

 

 

Alan, I tend to agree with your conclusion that in order to be viable long term we must return to a ground of our own within the borough of Havering, by which I don't mean a ground share at Hornchurch. But the tenor of your posts is depressing me as I thought you were in charge of sorting out grants and the like on behalf of the club.

 

I fear we really are looking at another Oldchurch Park type outcome and I have yet to see anything to the contrary.

[Eastside Urchin]

One more from these jokers

 

 

 

 

ALAN FENN

 

 

 

I actually agree with Brian and Rob, it is all rather depressing, but if the necessary funding is never going to be achievable, which in my honest opinion it wont be, we surely need a Plan B if we are ever going to return home to Havering.

 

If anyone has any ideas on how we can raise the the capitol needed, which is a sum much larger than all the grants that are available to us, lets talk about it, but lets not get involved in a slanging match because we all want the same outcome and we will only have a chance to succeed if we all pull in the same direction.

 

Please believe me when I say I have spent countless hours trawling the Internet, had many meetings with the LBH outside funding team and also wrote letters to prominent businesses in the Havering area, and I just cannot see any way we can raise much more than £350,000, and even that figure is in the lap of the gods, and that's why I honestly believe that trying to negotiate a return to Hornchurch stadium where we would have a secure future at an affordable price offers us our best chance, or failing that, hope we get the £350,000 and try and get planning consent for a stadium totally different to the original plans.

 

It might make depressing reading but as far as I know, no one else has come up with anything else that has any chance of bringing our club home, and I think its time we called a properly convened meeting to discuss what future direction the club intends to take.

 

Please though, don't shoot the messenger as I want the same as everyone else, and all I am trying to do is add some realism to the debate.

 

 

.

 

 

 

[Hasbeen]

I kid you not,our friends at Romford still won't let go of this ludicrous idea of coming to groundshare with us again

 

 

 

ALAN FENN

 

 

I may well be wrong, but I can only see five options left to our club if we are ever to return home.

 

Option one is we wait until a money man comes along and gives us the money to build Westlands in its current form.Quite ridiculous in my opinion but I would love to be proved wrong.

 

Option two is to hope we get the £350,000 funding and the council will allow us to build something completely different to the original plans, a bit of a long shot but at least worth a try.

 

Option three is to approach West Ham to see if there's any possibility of using Rush Green again.

 

Option four is to approach the council to see if they could revisit the possibility of ground sharing Hornchuch Stadium. As other clubs ground share and accommodate athletics its definitely not against Ryman League rules and as it would increase revenue to the LBH they may find it impossible to refuse as I believe they have a legal obligation to maximise revenue from their assets. Not ideal but I would think the option that offers us the greatest hope.

Option five is to apply to join the Essex Olympic League and hire a pitch from the council.

 

 

 

If we are forced to share I think they should guarantee us £500 per match bar takings in the clubhouse. Now where did I get that idea? . In truth I do hope they get some sort of ground organised although can't see it with all the government cutbacks proposed affecting local council spending

[paokman]

Can I put in a bid for the fence panels it appears they will no longer need?

[coupwotcoup]

Option one is we wait until a money man comes along and gives us the money to build Westlands in its current form.Quite ridiculous in my opinion but I would love to be proved wrong. - As stated unless somebody wins the lottery, the chances are minimal.

 

Option two is to hope we get the £350,000 funding and the council will allow us to build something completely different to the original plans, a bit of a long shot but at least worth a try. - Not sure how this works, but if we managed to get said figure, then surely that can be doubled with grants from the Football Trust etc, but as I mentioned, have little knowledge of its workings.

 

Option three is to approach West Ham to see if there's any possibility of using Rush Green again. - This is my favoured option. A crying shame that it has been left to go to seed (unless the Spammers have sent in a few eastern european types to clean the place up of late).

 

Option four is to approach the council to see if they could revisit the possibility of ground sharing Hornchuch Stadium. As other clubs ground share and accommodate athletics its definitely not against Ryman League rules and as it would increase revenue to the LBH they may find it impossible to refuse as I believe they have a legal obligation to maximise revenue from their assets. Not ideal but I would think the option that offers us the greatest hope. - No, no and thrice no, end of.

 

Option five is to apply to join the Essex Olympic League and hire a pitch from the council. - Even more ridiculous. This idea was nearly passed about ten years ago until it was pointed out that once you give up your senior status, it will be hard ask to get it back again. If we ever decided to go down this road then you might as well throw in the towel now. It is true that we haven't had much increase in our fan base over the past few years, playing in a park with a roped off fence will hardly help the cause.

[Eastside Urchin]

While i hope for some of their fans they get their ground,and because i want them nowhere near the bridge as i can't see any benefits for us whatsoever unless the council decide to turn it into a proper football ground with new stands behind the goals etc

I do feel that their attitude of waiting for a rich benefactor to suddenly ride into town waiving a cheque for half a million pound or so a tad dreamy.

[Eastside Urchin]

coupy,unfortunatly for you,the person who seems to be the happy medium liasing with council etc is well up for the bridge avenue option

My problem being is that eventually i can see the council possibly forcing this upon us.

[Serious Sid]

It seems incredible that the people who worked so hard in submitting a successful planning application didn't give any thought as to where the funding for the build would come from. Beware of 'money men'. Very few benefactors invest in a football club out of the goodness of their own heart (that's if they have one!)

 

Hope RFC get a home of their own.

[Hasbeen]

coupy,unfortunatly for you,the person who seems to be the happy medium liasing with council etc is well up for the bridge avenue option

My problem being is that eventually i can see the council possibly forcing this upon us.

 

 

 

In fairness this would prove beneficial to us more that Romford. The council currently do little for the upkeep of the stadium to the point where we have to arrange our own maintenance. Any ground share would mean these costs being halved. Also as we know we would take all revenue from the bar should they choose to patronise it. If they didn't we would still get to share the maintenance costs. No lose situation for us in my view

[Eastside Urchin]

not so sure,i believe the council do more now around the ground than say a year ago.If we shared the ground then they would play on sundays which would mean our under 18's would then play their games elsewhere

[Crusher]

What about Redbridge the old Ford Utd ground

 

Is that still there?

[and1inthetree]

ALAN FENN

Please believe me when I say I have spent countless hours trawling the Internet,

 

I fail to see how spending your retirement masturbating furiously to websites such as lemonparty will help romford's current plight.

 

i suppose for "i'm just being a realist" you can read "i've given up". i'm guessing mr fenn will have more time on his hands to spam the romford recorder silly now..

[Hasbeen]

not so sure,i believe the council do more now around the ground than say a year ago.If we shared the ground then they would play on sundays which would mean our under 18's would then play their games elsewhere

 

 

 

 

Make them play their 'home' games Thursday nights about 3:00 am ko. Wouldn't make any difference as their ageing supporters are up early as they sleep all day

[Eastside Urchin]

tree,does spam mean "masturbate furiously to" ??

[blackballed]

tree,does spam mean "masturbate furiously to" ??

 

Can you please post quicker as I'm nearly there and the old eyes are turning Japanese ..........

[cup of tea]

Groundshare - I thought that it was the Ryman League who blocked it. If so then how have things changed?

Westlands - always going to be difficult to raise the money.

Rush Green - probably the best option if West Ham allow it

Essex Olympic league - suicide

Council paying - With what money? Times are hard.

 

There could be a merger between Romford and Hornchurch but that's never going to happen. Who would run the club and what would the name be for starters and

fans from both clubs would leave

 

I don't want to see Romford disappear and if they can get their own ground or go back to Rush Green then that would be the way forward.

[obis]

I think groundshare is a very strong possibility for next season at the very least. And unless the Urchins can get above 200+ gates they will not get far on their own long term. Strangly I believe that the groundshare will actually benefit the Urchins.

[obis]

Non league football has always seen numerous mergers between local clubs of which not many have been really beneficial, but I can see a few more during these difficult times. Realistically in order to survive probably two or three locally will have to think about a merger before long. Fans won't like it but it is the way forward or else it's the Essex Olympian league. What's happening to Romford, grays etc can happen to us so let's help a fellow club.

[Eastside Urchin]

Seriously,i would not want to help a club that would not return the compliment.

As far as i am concerned a groundshare would only be beneficial if the council provided a brand spanking new pitch and a groundsman as well and outed the athletics club and track and put up four brand spanking new stands around the pitch.

Will al respects i can't see them doing either and our pitch will not hold up to 60-70 games a season plus reserve fixtures