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Post by scoop76 on Jun 8, 2015 17:29:57 GMT
Who knows what qualifying at CCS might do to people's opinions? If there's a unforgettable night versus Belgium, Israel or Andorra it may be that there is a campaign for us to stay put. I see the point you make, but, seriously, a campaign to keep the status quo? Campaigning for the blindingly obvious? The onus should be on the FAW and those who want a reloction to justify it. If it ain't broke.... It's blindingly obvious to many of us, but many people outside the Wales fanbase are talking like a return is a given. Personally, I know how bloody hard everyone has worked to build up an atmosphere at Cardiff City Stadium, it hasn't just happened because we've been playing well (note the great atmosphere from start to finish against Bosnia despite the poor performance out in Andorra). But I'm not sure the wider Welsh public see or realise that. So, yes, if a campaign to keep the status quo is required, then so be it. |
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Post by underwood on Jun 8, 2015 17:37:05 GMT
We should be talking about further developing the CCS, not pouring money into the coffers of the WRU of all people.
The foundations are in place to easily put top tiers on both Canton & Grange End as per the Ninian Upper, so let's do that instead. The capacity could be increased gradually, relatively cheaply & quickly (the Ninian Upper was completed in less than six months), giving us 38,000 seats initially, rising to 43,000 in total - should the demand still be there.
Anybody who thinks we need a ground bigger than 43,000 on a regular basis is dreaming.
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Post by abwales on Jun 8, 2015 18:02:38 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc.
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Post by yanto on Jun 8, 2015 18:39:51 GMT
Radio wales have just quoted ford as saying that if we qualify then some friendlies could be played at the ms. Very different to a permanent move back me thinks/hope?
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Post by dlwilliams on Jun 8, 2015 20:18:31 GMT
We should be talking about further developing the CCS, not pouring money into the coffers of the WRU of all people. The foundations are in place to easily put top tiers on both Canton & Grange End as per the Ninian Upper, so let's do that instead. The capacity could be increased gradually, relatively cheaply & quickly (the Ninian Upper was completed in less than six months), giving us 38,000 seats initially, rising to 43,000 in total - should the demand still be there. Anybody who thinks we need a ground bigger than 43,000 on a regular basis is dreaming. But increasing the capacity is a matter for Cardiff City, not the FAW. Not sure they'll be too keen on expansion at the moment, given that attendances have declined sharply since relegation from the Premier League! |
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Post by phillygaz on Jun 8, 2015 21:57:18 GMT
Radio wales have just quoted ford as saying that if we qualify then some friendlies could be played at the ms. Very different to a permanent move back me thinks/hope? I don't support a return to the Millennium but, IF we qualify, a pre tournament event friendly might be good prep for France. |
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Post by walesaway on Jun 8, 2015 22:27:25 GMT
I was particularly interested in Mr. Ford's thoughts on Fridays match. Jason Mohammad asked him what he thought the score would be; he said he'd be happy with 1 point, if we got 3 then he'd run around the pitch with his pants on his head!
I think he feels the same as most fans; beat Israel, Cyprus & Andorra, and anything from Belgium and Bosnia away is a bonus.
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Post by cymroircarn on Jun 9, 2015 6:06:09 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc. Which are valid reasons are they not? Priority should be qualification not financial gain. What happens if we fill the Millenium. Move it to Wembley...?! |
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Post by yanto on Jun 9, 2015 6:41:39 GMT
I was particularly interested in Mr. Ford's thoughts on Fridays match. Jason Mohammad asked him what he thought the score would be; he said he'd be happy with 1 point, if we got 3 then he'd run around the pitch with his pants on his head! I think he feels the same as most fans; beat Israel, Cyprus & Andorra, and anything from Belgium and Bosnia away is a bonus. Not sure if this makes 3 points more attractive or not?  given the likely terror moments he had better have a skid less pair fresh nd ready? |
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Post by jbt95 on Jun 9, 2015 8:03:32 GMT
I was particularly interested in Mr. Ford's thoughts on Fridays match. Jason Mohammad asked him what he thought the score would be; he said he'd be happy with 1 point, if we got 3 then he'd run around the pitch with his pants on his head! I think he feels the same as most fans; beat Israel, Cyprus & Andorra, and anything from Belgium and Bosnia away is a bonus. Do most fans feel like that? I don't know. We should be looking at winning all of those games. We have the BAR (Bale, Allen, Ramsey) trio for this game and that's all we know for now. |
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Post by underwood on Jun 9, 2015 8:15:19 GMT
We should be talking about further developing the CCS, not pouring money into the coffers of the WRU of all people. The foundations are in place to easily put top tiers on both Canton & Grange End as per the Ninian Upper, so let's do that instead. The capacity could be increased gradually, relatively cheaply & quickly (the Ninian Upper was completed in less than six months), giving us 38,000 seats initially, rising to 43,000 in total - should the demand still be there. Anybody who thinks we need a ground bigger than 43,000 on a regular basis is dreaming. But increasing the capacity is a matter for Cardiff City, not the FAW. Â Not sure they'll be too keen on expansion at the moment, given that attendances have declined sharply since relegation from the Premier League! But if the FAW commit to playing at the CCS then they could find the redevelopment. At least that way the money stays in football & the FAW have a stake in something that is theirs. I repeat the point, if we play at the Millennium Stadium, how much do we pay the WRU for the privilege? Whatever it is it is too much as it's money that is going away from Welsh Football & unbelievably into Welsh Rugby instead . Surely you can see that's not right? |
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Post by toshfan on Jun 9, 2015 10:18:37 GMT
I listened to the interview last night on my iPad. Mr Ford was excellent. He is clearly very intelligent and articulate and appears to have a strong handle on the various facets at the FAW. He did not appear to act as strong an advocate of a move back as I had feared, indeed, as scoop76 indicated, he made the point about other things happen at the Millennium in the future that have made the debate a moot one as far as the current campaign is concerned. The points he made about Blatter were informative. He was clear that he had to be held accountable for many of the failings of FIFA but said that it was fair to acknowledge some of the good stuff that had been done during his time. I found what he had to say about the FAW commitment to equalities and the Welsh Language very convincing. The move back to the Millennium - as much as it matters to many of us - was only a small element of the interview. I think we are lucky to have him. That said, I remain #noreturntomillennium  |
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Post by abwales on Jun 9, 2015 11:48:40 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc. Which are valid reasons are they not? Priority should be qualification not financial gain. What happens if we fill the Millenium. Move it to Wembley...?! |
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Post by bringbackelmo on Jun 9, 2015 12:24:41 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc. What proof do you want? Surely the only proof of 'sporting advantage' is the results? Well at the moment we're in a position to qualify for a major tournament, something we have never achieved while playing at the MS. Obviously we've only played twice in this campaign at home and got two decent results but would you be happy once we have qualified (assuming we do)? Even disregarding the results, lets think of the pros and cons: ProsPlayers prefer it Atmosphere is better Pitch is better ConsSome fans miss out on tickets for high profile matches FAW potentially miss out on revenue (assuming big crowds at MS) I know which of the above factors I would apply more weight to. |
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Post by dayoo87 on Jun 9, 2015 12:33:10 GMT
Which are valid reasons are they not? Priority should be qualification not financial gain. What happens if we fill the Millenium. Move it to Wembley...?! Isn't the big issue with moving to the Millennium Stadium (apart from that there's every chance we won't be able to use it for every home game anyway due to rugby and other commitments) that it would only take a couple of poor results and we'd be back to rattling round with 20,000 max fans? I don't know what the arrangement would be for the FAW to start hiring the Millennium from the WRU again, but if attendances dipped below a certain number then couldn't it result in the FAW losing money? Assuming that they pay a minimum rent and a % of ticket sales, we'd have to sell a decent % of tickets just to break even. The FAW may also have to hire it for a set period of time, regardless of how well the team are doing. I'm happy with (God willing) a few pre-Euro 2016 friendlies being there as we could more or less guarantee a good crowd, but I think we need another good qualifying campaign at the CCS for the 2018 World Cup before the Millennium is considered as an option for competitive fixtures. |
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Post by underwood on Jun 9, 2015 12:33:28 GMT
There are still 2000 tickets left for the Israel game. So those who are FAW Members & by definition the most loyal of fans out there, have not snapped all of the tickets for what will be just as an important a match as the one on Friday.
Why does anybody think that there are thousands upon thousands of latent Welsh Football fans desperate for tickets? The fact that these people haven't bothered paying £11 to buy a Membership tells you everything you need to know.
The CCS is perfect for our needs & has been integral to the whole Together Stronger campaign.
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Post by georgetm1 on Jun 9, 2015 13:07:24 GMT
I think a move to the Millenium stadium for the big friendlies against the big footballing nations would be beneficial to our players. A lot of the squad do not have any experience in playing in large stadiums with their clubs and it is important that they know how to handle it if we qualify for a major tournament.
That said, it should only be friendlies and not qualifiers as the Cardiff City stadium is a cauldron, benefits our support for the team and could turn into a fortress.
This is what Poland did a few years ago. They could have packed out their 60 thousand capacity stadium easily, but they decided to play in the 15,000 ones even against the large team because the atmosphere was better, it benefitted their players more and as a result they got the wins they needed and qualified for a major tournament for the first time in 16 years. The money is useful but the MS is too much of a gamble if we want the results.
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Post by abwales on Jun 9, 2015 17:29:26 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc. What proof do you want? Surely the only proof of 'sporting advantage' is the results? Well at the moment we're in a position to qualify for a major tournament, something we have never achieved while playing at the MS. Obviously we've only played twice in this campaign at home and got two decent results but would you be happy once we have qualified (assuming we do)? Even disregarding the results, lets think of the pros and cons: ProsPlayers prefer it Atmosphere is better Pitch is better ConsSome fans miss out on tickets for high profile matches FAW potentially miss out on revenue (assuming big crowds at MS) I know which of the above factors I would apply more weight to. All your pros once again tail back to the UNPROVEN sporting advantage. We haven't played at the Millennium since a better pitch was put in place, the atmosphere that can be generated at the Millennium with a good team hasn't been tested, and the player preference is basically down to the pitch and the atmosphere. People like to go on about the Bosnia & Cyprus games, but in reality the 0-0 in hindsight was only an OK result and we struggled against Cyprus in an OK atmosphere. I think moving to the Millennium should be a process and with all things going well us moving back there for next campaign. |
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Post by bringbackelmo on Jun 10, 2015 8:54:33 GMT
What proof do you want? Surely the only proof of 'sporting advantage' is the results? Well at the moment we're in a position to qualify for a major tournament, something we have never achieved while playing at the MS. Obviously we've only played twice in this campaign at home and got two decent results but would you be happy once we have qualified (assuming we do)? Even disregarding the results, lets think of the pros and cons: ProsPlayers prefer it Atmosphere is better Pitch is better ConsSome fans miss out on tickets for high profile matches FAW potentially miss out on revenue (assuming big crowds at MS) I know which of the above factors I would apply more weight to. All your pros once again tail back to the UNPROVEN sporting advantage. We haven't played at the Millennium since a better pitch was put in place, the atmosphere that can be generated at the Millennium with a good team hasn't been tested, and the player preference is basically down to the pitch and the atmosphere. People like to go on about the Bosnia & Cyprus games, but in reality the 0-0 in hindsight was only an OK result and we struggled against Cyprus in an OK atmosphere. I think moving to the Millennium should be a process and with all things going well us moving back there for next campaign. Obviously the only way you can prove it is by trying it out but if we move there and it goes badly we've lost another chance of WC qualification for four years. I just don't see why, given that we're so close to qualifying for the Euros, you'd want to change this. The only positive for the Millennium really is increased revenue and that'll only be the case if we maintain our form. We didn't even sell out the two home games at the CCS so far. |
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Post by liamburke on Jun 10, 2015 10:26:22 GMT
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of having 50,000 at the millenium as people keep pointing out... Who would want to look at all those empty seats, the atmosphere would be terrible....
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Post by jbt95 on Jun 10, 2015 11:23:38 GMT
We should definitely stay at the CCS for the WC2018 qualifying campaign even if we sell out the Millennium for 2 or 3 friendlies well in advance and win them comfortably, especially if we get given a tough group.
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Post by richierich333 on Jun 10, 2015 12:47:57 GMT
Will someone please put up an argument other than an unproven sporting advantage as a reason against a return to the Millennium? I feel like every argument against it tails back to this e.g. player preference, atmosphere & the pitch etc. Which are valid reasons are they not? Priority should be qualification not financial gain. What happens if we fill the Millenium. Move it to Wembley...?! No If we fill the millennium we stop right there at 72,500. I think we should do it after these qualifiers though. |
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Post by underwood on Jun 10, 2015 15:00:16 GMT
Armenia at home on a Monday night will pull in how many do you think?
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Post by bringbackelmo on Jun 10, 2015 15:04:13 GMT
Armenia at home on a Monday night will pull in how many do you think? Exactly. Even if we were topping our group that would be a hard sell. It'd be okay for games against the big nations but the majority of our games will be against lesser nations. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2015 15:11:38 GMT
Armenia at home on a Monday night will pull in how many do you think? Exactly. Even if we were topping our group that would be a hard sell. It'd be okay for games against the big nations but the majority of our games will be against lesser nations. Let's not get too above ourselves terming other countries as "lesser nations"
We have been a "lesser nation" for many years and have not enjoyed being thought of in those terms.
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Post by quetzal on Jun 30, 2015 16:39:43 GMT
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Post by quetzal on Jun 30, 2015 16:48:49 GMT
I won't ever trust him after the 'there are other ways to measure success' comment. Whilst I have a lot of time for Coleman and kept the faith when everyone wanted him out, I think Ford has got lucky with his appointment. He can't honestly have thought that Coleman would have us in the position we are in. I don't think he's out of the woods on the Coleman appointment yet anyway but I was thinking more on the image and the brand of the FAW. He's always trying to get UEFA tournaments at different levels male and female to Wales. He got the Super Cup to Wales. The #Together.Stronger motto really has taken off with everybody in Welsh football. His idea for the Welsh team to go out onto the pitch with Muslim children before the Bosnia game was a really nice touch. I see he's doing an integrity tour around the Welsh clubs to try to prevent Welsh part-time players being lured into the mafia world of matchfixing. All these superstars coming to Wales to do their coaching badge. I don't know but I remember that this guy had a background with marketing. I think the Gary Speed thing completely destroyed him and now he's finally found his feet. He´s also out of the woods!!!!! I´m very happy to admit i got that one wrong. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2015 16:50:21 GMT
That quote about qualification not being the measure of success will always hang like a millstone round his neck in my opinion. He is a marketing man and marketing and sport are very strange bedfellows. |
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Post by quetzal on Jun 30, 2015 16:52:27 GMT
Storm you´re a decent chap. Let it go!!! Holding a grudge is bad for your health
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2015 21:41:43 GMT
Storm you´re a decent chap. Let it go!!! Holding a grudge is bad for your health  Yeah Im learning that as I get older dont worry! Its not a grudge as such- I just dont trust that he is coming at things frommthe same angle as us supporters do, ie his remit is to put bums on seats, make money and raise the profile of the FAW, which is exactly what winning the CL final will do. His remit does not appear to be qualifying for a tournament which he has pretty much admitted and if the rumours about him wanting to appoint an FAW trust graduate like Marcel Desailly are true then that adds further fuel to the fire that any qualification success will not be because of him. |
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given the likely terror moments he had better have a skid less pair fresh nd ready?
