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Article : Stadium Plans Revealed

Peter Storrie had a word for it: perfection. We've have another one: beautiful. As far away from getting soaked on boilermakers' hump or crushed in a Frogmore Road queue - and I've done both - as you could imagine, but as a vision for a 21st Century football club in a 21st Century city, Pompey's new plans should be welcomed with open arms by anyone who has PFC or the city at heart.

Those - friend and foe - who scoffed at the commode concept of The Hard, can have no such reservations about Herzog and De Mauron's vision for Horsea Island.

This new plan is simply gorgeous. If (when) it comes off, Portsmouth will have the best ground in the country.

Not the biggest, but one which will set the standard by which football stadia are judged in the mid 21st century. A delicate convex in concrete and, what's that? water? steel cable? Whatever. It looks fantastic.

Now the real challenges begin, but even there Pompey seem to already have their glass two thirds full. The City Council are clearly on board in principle and the Navy - clearly sensing a chance to hitch its star to a football club in clear ascendancy - are signed up to making this project happen.

The only issue - as a Portsmouth resident as much as a Pompey fan - is the transport question.

How will Pompey get 36,000 people - potentially more as this venue is a dead cert for the World Cup should England's bid be successful - on to inaccessible land tucked behind a tip?

The answer is simple. They will get there with vision. The vision of the planning department at Portsmouth City Council and Portsmouth Football Club.

This project has to be made to work. Rip up the route map and think far beyond the confines of Portsea Island. Do that and anything is possible.

Throw in a 10,000 capacity indoor arena and suddenly Portsmouth is looking no longer a provincial conurbation, who happened to get lucky one season with Sacha Gaydamak's money and win the FA Cup to put them on the map.

Instead, Portsmouth could become a national and regional centre, capable of dominating the local economy and sporting topography for the foreseeable future.

And the 36,000 who were 'at' the Stockport game in 1998 should welcome that...

Colin Farmery (www.pompey-fans.com)

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Article : Stadium Plans latest

(Image courtesy of www.portsmouthfc.co.uk)

Pompey have been forced to move the location of their new stadium after concerns were raised by the Royal Navy.

A 36,000-seater stadium will now be built at Horsea Island rather than at the Hard after the Navy brought up "operational and security" objections.

The Navy plans to base two new super aircraft carriers near the Hard.

"The new site will also enable us to be in the new stadium by 2011 as originally planned," said Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie.

New location of Portsmouth's football stadium

"One big advantage of this site compared with the Hard is that there is no dredging and reclaiming of land from the sea and all the problems that go with that," added Storrie.

The stadium development at Horsea Island - like the Hard a waterfront location - will also involve the construction of 1,500 new homes.

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, leader of Portsmouth City Council, added: "We'll do what we can to facilitate this scheme.

"This scheme seems much more achievable than the one for The Hard."

If the city council approves the new location near Port Solent, the stadium's planning application could be submitted during 2008.

Herzog & de Meuron are the architects for the new stadium.

(www.bbc.co.uk)

Article : Stadium Plans June '07

Those of you who picked up the local newspaper today might have had a feel of dread as The News [article] revealed that Pompey's plans for the new stadium could be finished before they have even begun.

The land that the club want to buy or lease is owned by four parties: The Ministry of Defence, The Crown Estate, Portsmouth City Council and the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. Should one of these parties refuse to lease or sell up, then the plans for the new stadium had just as well be binned.

On top of that, "The Snooze" is reporting that that Warrior Preservation Trust is also opposing the new stadium plans, their spokesman said "it's unacceptable for us to be rammed in a small space - we are here forever."

There are also quotes in the article from John Slater, head of the planning at the city council, where he says "I would be very surprised if the planning application comes to us this autumn, I have always considered it an incredibly ambitious timescale."

In reply, the club released a statement on the official site today refuting these claims in the report by The News, saying that they are still on track for the building of the new stadium to be finished by 2011.

To summarise the statement, the club said that they are in regular discussion with all relative parties regarding the site and that they will submit the plans when they are ready, but most importantly this will not delay the building of the new complex. The club have given this information to The News yet they still proceeded with the writing of their front page story.

There's then a swipe at the writers of The News as they say "It is quite clear from this article that The News are not supporters of the club or this stadium project."

So basically, the club haven't denied that they will not be able to submit the stadium plans to the council in autumn, but reassure fans that this issue will not affect the timescale of the overall building of the facility.

It seems that relations between the club and The News are currently strained but the bottom line is that there is a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, and the local rag has revealed possible reasons why the plans won't go ahead and subsequently have been accused by Pompey of not supporting the club.

I want this stadium to happen as much as the next forward thinking football fan and I do hope that these hitches can be worked around and hope that there aren't more problems that we don't know about.

However, this just looks to be the first twist in what looks be a very twisty tale.

(scottishfitba.net)

Article : Stadium Plans April '07

Pompey have put down the clearest marker yet they intend to be a major player in the the Premiership in the next few years with the announcement of the location of their new stadium...

Location. Location. Location. The estate agent's mantra has been well and truly received and understood by Pompey with surely one of the most breathtaking proposals to build a new stadium for a football club Britain has ever seen. With land at a premium in the second most densely populated part of the United Kingdom, the decision to reclaim land from the sea in the heart of the historic and cultural heart of the city looks simply inspired. Throw in a transport interchange on its doorstep most clubs would die for, getting to the new ground by public transport from Portsmouth and beyond could not be simpler: a sustainable stadium for a sustainable football club.

And then there's the coup de theatre: the stadium itself. Wow! And wow again. Not for us the off-the-shelf, identikit stadiums of Saints, Leicester and Derby. Even Bolton and Huddersfield's innovative designs are left looking very 20th century. It may not have the scale of Old Trafford or the Emirates, but even with a capacity of around 40,000, this stadium will be up there among the most iconic arenas the game has to offer. By day it looks spectacular. By night, it will be stunning.

If Gaydamak can pull off this audacious, soaring, angular, yet rounded and proportioned product of a prestigious architect's imagination Portsmouth Football Club are looking to put themselves well and truly in the elite league of European football. No more, no less. This is more than a stadium. It is a landmark. Another chapter in the economic re-generation of a proud city and a statement of intent Pompey are in the Premiership for the long haul.

What could go wrong? Plenty of course, but this seems more like the real deal than any other plan laid before fans in the past. To get to this stage alone will have cost a small fortune: bespoke designs like this don't come cheap.

But now is simply a time to marvel at what our club could be in just four years' time.

(www.pompeyfans.com)