Filbert Street & nostalgia

[davieG]

9 hours ago, Jace said:

I might be remembering this wrong I was only a kid and not from Leicester but wasn't there some objection about relocating to the outskirts of the City? Wasn't there discussions about around the Fosse Park area?

I don't remember there being any objection from fans regarding the Bede Island plans that were proposed that would have seen a new stadium built opposite the Freemans wharf site on the other side of the river. I'm not sure why those plans did not go through wherever or not it was due to planning or lack of resources.

The Walkers Stadium planning went through very quick without many people knowing much about it, around 12 weeks in total I think

There was talk of a stadium at J21, Beaumont Leys and Glenfield near the A46/M1 junction, there were plenty of fans opposed to them as well as local residents but the internet was not as well established then as it is today to carry protests.

 

Bede Island Areas Stadium  proposal 

 

As for the Bede Island Area that was rejected by the Council supported  by  local group campaigning - Offsiide for those living on Western Road which runs along the back of Bede Island even though there's the old Central Railway walk in between, These were backed by a City Councillor who also led the campaign against developing Filbert St on behalf of those living in Burnmoor St.

 

We were really lucky to get the present site as Morrisons were also interested otherwise we'd be stuck in one of those out of town places.

 

Anyway that's my memory of it all.

[Footballwipe]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

There was talk of a stadium at J21, Beaumont Leys and Glenfield near the A46/M1 junction, there were plenty of fans opposed to them as well as local residents but the internet was not as well established then as it is today to carry protests.

 

Bede Island Areas Stadium  proposal 

 

As for the Bede Island Area that was rejected by the Council supported  by  local group campaigning - Offsiide for those living on Western Road which runs along the back of Bede Island even though there's the old Central Railway walk in between, These were backed by a City Councillor who also led the campaign against developing Filbert St on behalf of those living in Burnmoor St.

 

We were really lucky to get the present site as Morrisons were also interested otherwise we'd be stuck in one of those out of town places.

 

Anyway that's my memory of it all.

Like a broken record on other threads I've been reading old FOX fanzines, and from reading the issues the only thing to add to this is that the City Council really didn't want the Morrisons in the old Powergen site because of the Safeway that was only built a few years before so close by, so they were very keen for us to get where we are now.

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Like a broken record on other threads I've been reading old FOX fanzines, and from reading the issues the only thing to add to this is that the City Council really didn't want the Morrisons in the old Powergen site because of the Safeway that was only built a few years before so close by, so they were very keen for us to get where we are now.

I think it worked out ok for us and Morrisons who are in a more appropriate place. 

 

Where's is/was the Safeway?

[boots60]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

I think it worked out ok for us and Morrisons who are in a more appropriate place. 

 

Where's is/was the Safeway?

Safeway was where Morrison's is now

[Footballwipe]

Just now, davieG said:

I think it worked out ok for us and Morrisons who are in a more appropriate place. 

 

Where's is/was the Safeway?

That's what Morrisons was originally when it was first built. No idea of the year it changed over but Morros got where they wanted eventually.

 

You can see the signage towards the end (30 mins onwards(ish)) of this old video showing the transformation of the Freemans area around 96/97.

 

 

[Mint23]

Didn’t Morrison’s but out Safeway so it worked out well for them too as they’d own two sites within a few hundred meters of each other. 

[whetstonefox]

Wasn’t there also a plan to relocate to Beaumont Leys in the mid 1970s, all seater stadium. Probably around the same time as the monorail around Leicester! 

[davieG]

1 minute ago, Footballwipe said:

That's what Morrisons was originally when it was first built. No idea of the year it changed over but Morros got where they wanted eventually.

 

You can see the signage towards the end (30 mins onwards(ish)) of this old video showing the transformation of the Freemans area around 96/97.

 

 

Aah Ok I'd forgotten all about that.

[davieG]

Just now, whetstonefox said:

Wasn’t there also a plan to relocate to Beaumont Leys in the mid 1970s, all seater stadium. Probably around the same time as the monorail around Leicester! 

There was always talk but not sure if it was just made rumours or had some substance behind it. I'm sure they considered relocation before they built the new Main Stand.

[SemperEadem]

The Fox lead a pretty strong campaign against the ground being called a 'bowl'.

[davieG]

4 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

The Fox lead a pretty strong campaign against the ground being called a 'bowl'.

Problem was so much attention was paid just to the 'bowl' so we still ended up with a sponsored stadium which many people were against. There was even talk of the whole 'bowl' thing being a planned distraction in order to get the sponsored name through without any fuss.

[Footballwipe]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Problem was so much attention was paid just to the 'bowl' so we still ended up with a sponsored stadium which many people were against. There was even talk of the whole 'bowl' thing being a planned distraction in order to get the sponsored name through without any fuss.

Yeah but there was no way it was going to be anything different, really. We needed the cash (reading through 01/02 it's stark at how little money we had by November 2001) and Walkers had already seen what happens to stadiums with Riverside, St Mary's around them, the sponsor just gets left off.

 

Walkers Stadium was inevitable, the only issue I could contend with was the £1.5m for ten years, they had us by the balls.

[davieG]

18 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Yeah but there was no way it was going to be anything different, really. We needed the cash (reading through 01/02 it's stark at how little money we had by November 2001) and Walkers had already seen what happens to stadiums with Riverside, St Mary's around them, the sponsor just gets left off.

 

Walkers Stadium was inevitable, the only issue I could contend with was the £1.5m for ten years, they had us by the balls.

All true.

[Spudulike]

50 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Yeah but there was no way it was going to be anything different, really. We needed the cash (reading through 01/02 it's stark at how little money we had by November 2001) and Walkers had already seen what happens to stadiums with Riverside, St Mary's around them, the sponsor just gets left off.

 

Walkers Stadium was inevitable, the only issue I could contend with was the £1.5m for ten years, they had us by the balls.

It was always referred to as Freeman's Wharf whilst it was going through the planning and build stages.

 

That's where it is, that's what it should be known as whatever label they put on it.

[Footballwipe]

12 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

It was always referred to as Freeman's Wharf whilst it was going through the planning and build stages.

 

That's where it is, that's what it should be known as whatever label they put on it.

Then call it that? I'm not disputing where it is, I'm just saying the club had no cash and Walkers weren't going to let it be called the Freeman's Wharf Walkers Stadium, because Walkers would've inevitably got lost based on other grounds.

 

I mean if you want to be pedantic it was obviously called FW through the planning and build stages because the sponsorship wasn't announced until they'd started bolting seats in place.

[Heathrow fox]

1 hour ago, Footballwipe said:

Yeah but there was no way it was going to be anything different, really. We needed the cash (reading through 01/02 it's stark at how little money we had by November 2001) and Walkers had already seen what happens to stadiums with Riverside, St Mary's around them, the sponsor just gets left off.

 

Walkers Stadium was inevitable, the only issue I could contend with was the £1.5m for ten years, they had us by the balls.

Bit of revenge went on there I seem to remember,as the club had skanked Walkers with the LG shirt deal.Getting relegated didn’t help either.

[Spudulike]

57 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Then call it that? I'm not disputing where it is, I'm just saying the club had no cash and Walkers weren't going to let it be called the Freeman's Wharf Walkers Stadium, because Walkers would've inevitably got lost based on other grounds.

 

I mean if you want to be pedantic it was obviously called FW through the planning and build stages because the sponsorship wasn't announced until they'd started bolting seats in place.

I understand that you're not disputing it. I'm not sure why you think that. We all know the location name doesn't generate money. 

 

Additionally, I don't think it pedantic to refer to it as Freeman's Wharf. 

[tylesta]

5 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

Like a broken record on other threads I've been reading old FOX fanzines, and from reading the issues the only thing to add to this is that the City Council really didn't want the Morrisons in the old Powergen site because of the Safeway that was only built a few years before so close by, so they were very keen for us to get where we are now.

Supermarkets are like corner shops these days everywhere 

[PAULCFC]

I still wonder what is under all those house's,where Vic Berry's was when i walk to the ground!

[urban fox]

37 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

I still wonder what is under all those house's,where Vic Berry's was when i walk to the ground!

An awful lot of seriously contaminated land i would imagine. not surprising they are all flats and stuff. certainly wouldn't want to be eating any vegetables grown in gardens there! 

When you consider some of the stuff that went into building railway carriages back in the day and that was their main source of scrap it is hardly surprising. I remember well when the place went up in flames (conveniently some would suggest), everyone within a couple of miles radius was told to close all their windows due to the risk from poisonous fumes and asbestos particles. With all the water that got poured on by the fire brigade most of that stuff would have ended up deep into the ground, where much of it probably still is despite the clean up and vast amounts of spoil taken away by the contractors as part of the redevelopment.

[urban fox]

22 hours ago, Spudulike said:

That Arsenal match was the biggest Filbo crowd that I was ever in. It was pre-pens in the Kop and remember having to get my place on the Main Stand enclosure wall over 2 hours before kick off. I think that was the first all ticket match I went to and had to cut out tokens from the programme and glue them on a collectors sheet of paper to be in with a chance of a ticket. It then involved a 6 o'clock trip down to Filbo on a non-match day and a queue of thousands to present the tokens (and cash) at the Kop turnstiles and entry into an empty stadium (and straight out) with ticket in hand. 

I was only young at the time and had absolutely no idea how my dad got hold of the tickets. He did, then got given one by a customer at work so he had a spare, all in the filbert street end. My best mate at the time, who often came with us as his dad didn't like football, couldn't come so my dad sold it outside to the ground to an disabled lad (i wont say what he would have been referred to back in those days but i think he had Cerebral Palsy or some such) from Arsenal who had come with his mates who had tickets. Despite his protestations my dad insisted that he took it for no more than face value, insisting he was not a tout, on the lads word that he would behave himself. After the game, we bumped into him leaving the ground and stood chatting with him while he waited for his mates who were in the away end. The young man still tried to insist that my dad took more money but the old man wouldn't have it. In the end his mates arrived and insisted that they at least took us to the pub and bought my dad a pint and i got a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps while we all talked footy.  Despite all the so called rivalry and behaviour of some morons who call themselves football fans, this memory reminds me that most fans, regardless of who they support, are simply there to watch a game of footy, and one good turn deserves another. I sometimes wonder what happened to those three young men from north London and if they ever recalled the fella from Leicester who made their day,rather than trying to rip them off

[Rain King]

1 hour ago, PAULCFC said:

I still wonder what is under all those house's,where Vic Berry's was when i walk to the ground!

Whereabouts is this? I work close to the ground but have no memory of the area really before.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

1 hour ago, PAULCFC said:

I still wonder what is under all those house's,where Vic Berry's was when i walk to the ground!

 

2 minutes ago, pds said:

Whereabouts is this? I work close to the ground but have no memory of the area really before.

There were 2 scrap yards along western boulevard, Vic Berry’s and another whose name I forget.

[Guest Markyblue]

16 minutes ago, Mark 'expert' Lawrenson said:

 

There were 2 scrap yards along western boulevard, Vic Berry’s and another whose name I forget.

Piggotts i think, might be wrong. 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

9 minutes ago, Markyblue said:

Piggotts i think, might be wrong. 

No you’re right, well done for dragging that bit of information from the memory bank!