Why did we move from Filbert Street

[Haydos]

It is symmetrical but I just think it's a nice understated design.

The floodlight pylons in the corners with the swooping cables across the roof combined with the four separate stands just make it look very sharp in my opinion.

The gradient of the stands adds to it as well. Is this a common feature in German stadia?

[Ozwin]

Do your own damn homework!

[Corky]

We left because we couldn't expand the North and East Stands.

The Carling Stand was new and absolutely fine, the Double Decker certainly adequate, but we were doing well when we first considered moving (to a 40k stadium to move into in 2000) so there was no hint that we'd collapse so spectacularly on the field.

We did need to move. Now we can attract 10k extra fans for games if required, and also have the space to increase further (though I doubt we'll need to).

[Jace]

Doing a geography essay on stadium relocation, and as I'm not old enough nor local enough to remember why we moved, can someone help me out?

I need to know:

a) Reasons – Include thorough details about why the change in location took place. Push and Pull factors – what made the club want to leave their old stadium and what were the attractions of the new site? Include quotes if you can.

b) Impacts - How might different groups of people feel about the move?

E.g. locals, business people, the police, long-term season ticket holders

And perhaps the same for the renaming of the stadium.

Cheers

Dunno if you can get hold of a copy quick enough but you may find this book useful http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~216967,00.html

[Les-TA-Jon]

Doing a geography essay on stadium relocation, and as I'm not old enough nor local enough to remember why we moved, can someone help me out?

I need to know:

a) Reasons – Include thorough details about why the change in location took place. Push and Pull factors – what made the club want to leave their old stadium and what were the attractions of the new site? Include quotes if you can.

b) Impacts - How might different groups of people feel about the move?

E.g. locals, business people, the police, long-term season ticket holders

And perhaps the same for the renaming of the stadium.

Cheers

a) this has by and large been covered by the other posts

b) I think you'll have a very hard time getting any sort of information on this without doing at least some quick and simple primary research. Maybe talk to the staff at the Spar shop, the residents of Filbert and Jarrom Street, Start a questionnaire on here asking LCFC fans of their opinions of the previous stadium and the current one now, differences between them.

Are you looking for the economic, environmental or social impact of the stadium move? The impact on the club itself? or the local area? The impact on the history and culture of the club? or the impact/differences to the match day experience of fans?

These are all questions you need to think about.

[stourbridgefox]

Some clubs have seen a marked improvement after building these kinds of grounds. Just look at Hull City. They have spent the majority of their history in the lower leagues and their recent top flight stint is the first in their history. Building a large, new ground can have an impact on how a club does on the pitch and how it is viewed off it. I don't think anyone would take Hull seriously if they were still in Boothferry Park.

If only it had had the same impact on Leicester.

[Displaced Sky]

One big upside to Leicester's relocation is that the ground stayed in more or less the same place. People can still walk to it from the railway station and the city, a good proportion of city dwellers can walk from their homes, or take one bus ride, using local shops, pubs and takeaways on the way. Compared to Coventry City's move from Highfield Road on the edge of Coventry City centre to a brownfield site by the M6, closer to Nuneaton, and requiring private transport for most, the impact on fans and to some degree businesses has not been as large.

[_Fatboyslow_]

From a fat old git, as best as I can remember

1) the power station at the back of the double decker was always an issue as it could not be relocated

2) when the carling stand was built it was as a replacement for the old wooden main stand and the shrewder pundits said at the time that the pitch should turned 90 degrees and used as a kop, built on what was then club the car park.

At that time I my understanding All the surrounding land that needed to be used for further development could be obtained.

3) it was not untill the MON era and the PL that capacity became an issue. However the club could not or would not move untill the carling stand had been paid for.

4) with the tragedies that occurred at Hillsbourgh and Bradford (? I think ) and new business models using in built staduim features to generate income for the club new stadium became the order of the day.

5) when the club decide that the ground needed more capacity some of then options had expired, planning consent has a time limit and also the issue with Burnmoor St became confusing. Planning rules or their application, and may be the political climate had changed, so the options

for improvement at Filbert St appeared very limited and the building

of the carling as the main stand was considered a mistake. The rest is history.

40,000 in the OLD Filbfet St scares me now, great memory's but not a great stadium. I would suggest you research the Leicester Mercury and the like and see if you can find a helpful old git at the city planning department.

[okie fox]

We left because we couldn't expand the North and East Stands.

The Carling Stand was new and absolutely fine, the Double Decker certainly adequate

As someone once said, it (Filbert St.) was two stands and a bicycle shed.

[Jace]

Martin O' Neill once even said that when bringing potential new players to the club he would make sure they were driven to Filbert St via the west route so it wouldn't give as bad first impressions

[Webbo]

This won't be popular with a lot on here but I thought Stadium MK was a great new stadium. I liked the 2 tiers and the fact you could see the pitch while queueing for a burger.

[davieG]

This won't be popular with a lot on here but I thought Stadium MK was a great new stadium. I liked the 2 tiers and the fact you could see the pitch while queueing for a burger.

likewise and if we're going to be forced to sit it may as well be on a padded seat especially for my aged arse!

[accessory]

Some clubs have seen a marked improvement after building these kinds of grounds. Just look at Hull City. They have spent the majority of their history in the lower leagues and their recent top flight stint is the first in their history. Building a large, new ground can have an impact on how a club does on the pitch and how it is viewed off it. I don't think anyone would take Hull seriously if they were still in Boothferry Park.

If only it had had the same impact on Leicester.

It did - 10000 extra fans, England and Brazil internationals, European Cup semi-finals (sadly rugby rather than football..)

[Leicfox]

It did - 10000 extra fans, England and Brazil internationals, European Cup semi-finals (sadly rugby rather than football..)

But no concerts? Missed out on a trick there big time.

[onecapwonder]

Impact wise the shops on Burnmoor Street where it comes out onto Walnut Street must have seen a large drop in takings. Based on my experience of the queue size in there, not the most accurate of measures (I'm sure you could go ask them for some figures), when we were at Filbert Street there were always long queues round the shop, on match days now you can just walk straight up to the check out and grab your Yorkie. I would imagine a lot of the small shops around the area took a hit because the Walkers/KP is 200m from Morrison's so all the trade from half time snacks e.t.c and also whatever cut of programme sales they got (if any) has probably dried up. Some people still walk to the KP down Burnmoor St. so its not totally gone but footfall in those two shops is down significantly from the the Filbert St. days.

There is also the emergence of the Half Time Orange pub/bar next door to the stadium and its subsequent rebranding and the possible losses to pubs further away. There were two opposite Nelson Mandella park on the Welford Rd that have long since vanished (buildings are still there, looking very sad) but I don't know if that was due to the Filbert St. move they are right next door to the Tigers so they still would have had plenty of fans from there to keep going but both branded themselves as pubs for fans. Also there are pubs on the Freemans Common site which have become "fan pubs" now.

[onecapwonder]

But no concerts? Missed out on a trick there big time.

I though it had hosted some concerts? Maybe not for a while but I think there were some at the start. It may have been the time when we were really awful, I'm sure jokes were made about the fact we woulnd't have to worry about the concerts damaging the pitch as the ball was never on it.

[Webbo]

There is also the emergence of the Half Time Orange pub/bar next door to the stadium and its subsequent rebranding and the possible losses to pubs further away. There were two opposite Nelson Mandella park on the Welford Rd that have long since vanished (buildings are still there looking very sad) but I don't know if that was due to the Filbert St. move they are right next door to the Tigers so they still would have had plenty of fans from there to keep going but both branded themselves as pubs for fans. Also there are pubs on the Freemans Common site which have become "fan pubs" now.

That was there before the KP stadium. When I first started going with my dad it was the South Leicester WMC and it was always packed on match days.

[Danizen]

I didnt have a problem with the move I just wish a little thought had gone into the design.

Definitely. It doesn't even look finished from the outside.Those advertising sheet things that cover up the bare terraces make it look tacky and awful. It's like Sarah Jessica Parker in the way it only looks good from one angle.

[GianEmmo Zola]

Why didnt they take the carling stand down and build it back up in the new area where the kp is now. And built a ground around that. That would have been good

[Raw Dykes]

Why didnt they take the carling stand down and build it back up in the new area where the kp is now. And built a ground around that. That would have been good

It's a good question. It was a shame that the Carling stand had to be demolished when it was still very new. I guess the cost of moving the stand across the road might have been only slightly cheaper than selling the materials and building a new stand from scratch.

[Jace]

Why didnt they take the carling stand down and build it back up in the new area where the kp is now. And built a ground around that. That would have been good

Wouldn't of been cost effective as the blueprint for the steel structure of the stadium already existed (used for St Marys Southampton) I did hear the steel for the carling stand was used for another football teams new stand can anyone remember who it was again?

[davieG]

Impact wise the shops on Burnmoor Street where it comes out onto Walnut Street must have seen a large drop in takings. Based on my experience of the queue size in there, not the most accurate of measures (I'm sure you could go ask them for some figures), when we were at Filbert Street there were always long queues round the shop, on match days now you can just walk straight up to the check out and grab your Yorkie. I would imagine a lot of the small shops around the area took a hit because the Walkers/KP is 200m from Morrison's so all the trade from half time snacks e.t.c and also whatever cut of programme sales they got (if any) has probably dried up. Some people still walk to the KP down Burnmoor St. so its not totally gone but footfall in those two shops is down significantly from the the Filbert St. days.

There is also the emergence of the Half Time Orange pub/bar next door to the stadium and its subsequent rebranding and the possible losses to pubs further away. There were two opposite Nelson Mandella park on the Welford Rd that have long since vanished (buildings are still there, looking very sad) but I don't know if that was due to the Filbert St. move they are right next door to the Tigers so they still would have had plenty of fans from there to keep going but both branded themselves as pubs for fans. Also there are pubs on the Freemans Common site which have become "fan pubs" now.

As Webbo said the Halftime Orange existed with Filbert ST and I'd hazard a guess that Morrison's would have attracted similar numbers even if we'd stayed at Filbert St, besides the extra numbers we get at the KP would make up for some losses.

Why didnt they take the carling stand down and build it back up in the new area where the kp is now. And built a ground around that. That would have been good

There were talks had with another club, can't remember who for them to buy the Carling Stand but when costed out it would have cost more to de-construct it than it would to just go and pay for a new one so the deal never happened.

The old seats with LCFC on them ended up at Lancaster City FC.

[Cropwellfox]

Think it was Rotherham united who were interested in the carling stand - look what happened to their ground !!

[Cropwellfox]

Also, the first thoughts about a move away from Filbert Street was in the early eighties(?) when initial plans were drawn up for a stadium at Beaumont leys. I had a copy of these plans somewhere - hopefully still in the parents loft to be discovered one day!! The stadium would have been mid thirties capacity, an arena but with octagonal corners and come complete with a plastic pitch and an ice rink underneath the ground and shopping around it. Not sure why it didn't go any further but the Beaumont leys centre that sprang up lies where our ground might just possibly have been.

[Raw Dykes]

Also, the first thoughts about a move away from Filbert Street was in the early eighties(?) when initial plans were drawn up for a stadium at Beaumont leys. I had a copy of these plans somewhere - hopefully still in the parents loft to be discovered one day!! The stadium would have been mid thirties capacity, an arena but with octagonal corners and come complete with a plastic pitch and an ice rink underneath the ground and shopping around it. Not sure why it didn't go any further but the Beaumont leys centre that sprang up lies where our ground might just possibly have been.

Wow! I love the idea of an underground ice rink! I was really into ice hockey for a bit when I was a kid, and I had to go to Nottingham every week to try to learn to ice skate. Would've been great if Leicester had an ice rink at the time. Actually, I still think it would be great if we had an ice rink and a hockey team. Still, at least we got the Beaumont Leys centre out of those plans. That's a brilliant swimming pool when you're a kid with the flumes and the wave machine.

Btw, I still can't bloody skate.