Ted MacDougall stand is vital for AFCB

It is surprising how quickly five years have passed by since the Temporary South stand was first seen at Dean Court. The three-sided ground was always a little nervy for players to run out in front of and although AFCB's players got used to it, the wind would rip through the ground and the atmosphere is much better these days at the ground with the South stand.

Bournemouth's Ted MacDougall (south stand).

So when the club announced yesterday that the temporary stand was coming up for renewal with Bournemouth Borough Council I am hoping that there is plenty of understanding about how important the stand is for the club and of course the supporters who sit there for games in the Premier League. As long as the renewal is just a formality I guess there is nothing to worry about, but to imagine AFCB without that stand again would be quite a shock and I can't believe the Premier League would not be too impressed.

Of course, what we all really want is news on the plans for the construction of a new AFCB stadium. While there has been an indication from Neill Blake about where it is hoped it will be in Kings Park, we have not seen anything in terms of design and I'm hoping that some input can be given by the fans and that there is a bit of time for correspondence with the club so that the best solution is chosen in the end.

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It si difficult to have too many voices, but we have seen how bad things can go when fans are not consulted over matters like Leeds Utd's new crest. At least we know that the South stand is a facility that AFCB want to keep and it has served the club very well as a temporary stand. It's not perfect and it's a shame that the corners could not be filled in and the ground extended, but hopefully the new stadium will be spectacular and will come well before any new contract for the temporary stand runs out.

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Proposed ground expansion plan to raise AFCB capacity to 14,529

  Club video of fans at the exhibition and proposed new south stand and two filled in corners.

These are the main details of the new South stand and expansion plans being unveiled at the exhibition. 

New South Stand details

• The ground at the moment, with the current South stand, has a capacity of 11,464

• The new ground capacity at Dean Court will be 14, 529 - a 27 per cent increase

• The new South stand will hold 4559 

• The southeast and southwest corners will each hold 428 making 852 seats

• Wheelchair viewing at ground level with 30 additional wheelchair and PA positions within the raised viewing platform

• Disabled toilets on ground floor with changing rooms on first floor

• Bars for refreshment on the ground and first floor

• Male and female toilets on the ground and second floor - making a total of 61 female WCs, 24 male WCs, and 95 urinals. 

AFCB half season ticket sell out is no surprise

The pick up in half season ticket holders this year has been great to see. To think that I wondered how well the half season tickets would do when AFCB were finding it difficult to get a run going before the Capital One match against Cardiff. But things change quickly and the good run has seen all the half season season tickets quickly snapped up, even though they don't include a ticket for the fifth round of the Capital One Cup against Liverpool.

The need for a seat for the second half of the season 
has proved too tempting for many fans who usually by on the day.

At first I was surprised at the amount of interest in the half season tickets and then Michael Dunne of the All Departments' podcast pointed out to me that it would guarantee those supporters the chance of being offered a season ticket for next season, if they wanted to retain their seat. Of course that just might mean Premier League football - I know we might be getting ahead of ourselves here. Still that thought will have boosted ticket sales for the second half of this season and with a full house most weeks that should give a little more impetuous to the players to do even better if that is possible.

Thoughts about what the club is going to do over the summer regarding the stadium and crowd numbers is going to become a hot topic in the coming months, because another good cup run in the FA Cup holds the likelihood of another big tie at some point and very few seats to accommodate everyone. Whether the club can attract more home fans just with staying in the Championship is what may be giving the management a headache at the moment, as there is no knowing what clubs will go up yet. 

I think the South stand has been a tremendous success and has made the ground really special for us supporters who have endured the three stand ground for so many years. Building a permanent stand there though as a copy of the North stand is a likely outcome if it is decided that more seats are needed, but depending on where the club is next season they need several scenarios ready to go. Listen to the current All Departments' podcast to hear what some of those solutions could be.

The Financial Fair Play rules for the Championship 2015-16 season allow for £2m losses if the owner invests up to £13m. I believe infrastructure spending is exempt from FFP, but the club will still have to find the funds from somewhere to pay for ground developments. If the club stays in the Championship some funds are likely to still go into ground development, but what that means in terms of numbers of seats or preparing for safe standing is very much up for discussion still. AFCB also need to raise other revenue streams though, especially if they are staying put in the Championship. Extra ticket sales are a help but the team will also need funding if it is to keep improving.

Good luck to Baily Cargill today, who is all set to hopefully make his England U20 debut at Dean Court against Canada in a friendly.

Half time could be a squeeze

It is great to see that the South end stand is just about complete now. It means that some 2000 extra tickets for the Real Madrid match will go on sale a midday today. The red seats look great and the stand seems well protected from the elements. The only thing I do wonder is who will sit in it and are you ready for a bit of a queue at half time when you need to get refreshments?

The South stand taking shape - 13 July 2013.

There are some 2500 new seats in total being installed in the temporary covered stand for the new season and I would imagine that those fans will either have access to the facilities in the East stand or the Main stand during the game and at half time. While Block 1 of the Main stand now has family season ticket holders occupying the area, I would expect it will only be home fans from the temporary stand that have access to the Main stand for refreshments.

The more I look at it, I can't see away fans being allowed in the new temporary stand. There was enough room for West Ham supporters to fit in the East stand Blocks 22-24 and if we are limiting away fans to 1500 next season it could be left up to home fans to try and fill the extra 2500 seats in the South end.

This would make it more of an advantage for AFCB with home support at both ends and perhaps a little more unusual for the away teams not seeing their supporters filling one end of the ground. There has been little problems with away fans being at one end of the East stand and I suppose we are all kind of used to them being there.

I like the idea of giving home fans who have not got season tickets the first chance to fill the South end, but if the club cannot attract a further 2500 home supporters for the games then the club will have been turning away money if it does not allow away fans who want to come from filling some of those empty seats. 

Will there be annoyance or acceptance from other visiting clubs in the Championship if AFCB limits the number of away tickets, because of the ground's capacity? There seems to be no rule of a minimum number of seats or percentage of the available seats that must be offered to away supporters unless I am mistaken.

No doubt all will become clear very soon. I am certainly looking forward to seeing fans on all four sides of the ground and what a curtain raiser for that - Real Madrid! 

Temporary covered stand - who should it be for?

I was suddenly faced with quite a few tweets as soon as the Championship fixtures came out from Charlton fans. They were very interested in coming to Dean Court for the first game of the season, but what they were most wanting to know is how many fans could get in the new temporary covered stand and would it all be for away fans?

All I could say is that no decision had yet been made on whether it was for Bournemouth fans, away fans or to be shared. While the stand will be covered, it will not have anything in the way of facilities so fans will have to visit the Main stand or the East stand for refreshments.
Charlton fans seemed surprised that it might not be for away fans and that they could still be squashed into part of the East stand, I began to think that it maybe that we will not see that many away fans at our ground next season simply because there will not be enough space for them.

We have been told the new South stand will hold 2350 people, increasing Dean Court's capacity to around 12,000. Rob Mitchell, AFCB's Commercial Director suggested at a recent AFC Business meeting that the capacity might only go up to 11,500.

If away teams ask for allocations of 2000 or more seats for fans I would expect that the South stand would be given up for away supporters alone. At least it would be easier to police than a split stand with both sets of supporters. I believe the east stand can hold around 1500 away supporters or so.

While our own AFCB season ticket sales continue to rise the need to find more home supporter space will put pressure on the club to restrict the amount of away supporters comming to the ground. We have some interesting decisions for the club to make on the temporary covered stand. What do you all feel about it? Does it give away teams an advantage if they have all of the temporary stand with their supporters all at one end? Are you happy with away fans being in the East stand?

New pictures of the Temporary stand preparations and the ground are now up on AFCB's facebook page today.