Ryan Sparks On How The Cost Of Living Crisis Is Impacting On Bradford City

Yes went to those. Didn’t something similar happen during the miners strike?

 

Change it to January for me

 

Or indoors where the few that go to watch can be accommodated ..

 

Hope I get a refund then dont finish work till 2.00 PM on a sat. Wont be happy.

 

Kevin1954, if the numbers are your date of birth then surely you remember the 3 day week in the 1970's. All cup matches, both domestic and European were switched to midweek afternoon kick-off's as no floodlights could be used.

 

And I thought it was his PIN number...!!

 

Yes I do I was an engineering apprentice at Crofts in my last year (?) at the time. We still had cram 48 hours in the 3 days!! Funnily enough I mentioned it earlier.

 

Sshhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

Remember slamming school for a midweek game, I think it was Hartlepool

 

Back on topic; Ryan does raise some pertinent questions that won't go away in the short to medium term.
Like the OPEC crises in the early 70's, this one will drive solutions. Back then it was to cut reliance on middle eastern oil and develop the gas and oil fields in the North Sea (formerly called the German Sea before WW1)
In the 21st century we need to look at green alternatives to reduce running costs.
Solar power would be one. We have a tremendous amount of roof space that could be used to generate energy. It might not totally solve the problem but it would go a massive way to slashing the bill.
Using the rainwater from the stand roofs to flush toilets and water the pitch is another option to reduce costs.
Moving kick offs forward by an hour on a weekend in the darker months of the season could also help reduce energy consumption.
Sometimes it takes a crises to drive forward change.

 

Good suggestion RE solar panels. We wouldnt even see the eyesore too with the slanty rooves.

I’ve no idea how much these things cost. How many years, following the installation, do you start to make them worth it?

If we owned the ground we might be more willing to invest if the upfront cost is too high.

 

We're not going to do anything because we don't own the stadium or training ground. We have created our own problems.

 

Solar panel systems are extremely expensive nowadays…The old story , band, wagon, jump, price increase.
I have quite a bit of South and West facing roof space, so any system would be installed as good as it gets in terms of efficiency. My last calculation with a battery storage system as opposed to giving it back to the grid at 4-5p per kW/h ( peanuts) and would cost in the region of £15k. The payback time would be around 8 years , however this factor would reduce as prices increase.
I could say we are similar to City. We plan to downsize in 4 years and City won’t know they will be at VP in 4 years?

For both parties it would be an utter waste of money up front.

New stadia or stadiums owned by the club or indeed new build properties with no plans to move it would be a no brainer.

 

Disagree re the whole lease issue. We could simply move them from VP to another stadium if that pipe dream ever became a reality.
I suspect that we'd also take the new scoreboard. As we bought and installed this post Gibb, so it doesn't' form part of the existing infrastructure under the lease.
Whatever long term solutions we look for to reduce overheads, there will have to be some initial outlay. Or could we do it through sponsorship, like we've done with the seats in the lower tier of the Bradford end?

 

The labour costs to remove solar and replace elsewhere would be extremely expensive. The scaffolding costs are something like 20% of a new install from memory.
We had scaffolding on a repair job at one of my old sites, much much smaller than anything than VP could throw up, let’s say the length of Midland Rd stand perhaps, they were in position 8 weeks. Cost £144,000! I kid you not.

 

If we're moving to new stadium you're talking several millions to build. I'd guess over £10m
So £144k is a drop in ocean.
A new stadium is a pipe dream at the moment. Energy prices aren't so the club need to focus on that now and worry about possible dismantling and moving costs as and when that situation arises (if it ever does).

 

It won’t you are right we have nowhere to go, it’s as simple as that unless we are bought out by an oil rich state.

 

Rubbish. Oldham have brought their ground. Think Scunny have recently also.

Stop talking wet.

 

Kin el, you are a wag sometimes!