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's high fence protection

I bet a lot of you had a good look at the new protection nets behind the goals at the Steve Fletcher end and in front of the Ted MacDougall stand during the player warm ups last Saturday. In fact, I wonder how much of a view some fans had of the players warming up? Still it should mean that there are less balls flying at supporters with the players lining up their shots. I still saw one sorry young chap though on the end of a Harry Arter misfiring blast that climbed over the nets, cannoned off the top of the stadium and as if subliminally controlled hit the unsuspecting child full on the head!

New high fence netting addition to Dean Court.

Having seen Millwall visit the Goldsands stadium the nets could have been better employed in front of their supporters I suppose considering what happened later that afternoon. I don't know if anyone's enjoyment was spoilt by the huge nets but if you wanted to take a photo without seeing black squares in the lens you were probably out of luck unless you moved to either side of the catch nets.

They must have been taken down pretty sharply before the game started because I was watching the players coming in from their warm up and by the time I got back to my seat I couldn't see any nets anymore. If they stop one person from being on the end of an arm breaking Renaldo like strike I guess they are worth putting up, but what do you think? I would hope our strikers are good enough not to hit too many shots wide of the mark but then again, they can be a bit wild at times. There are lots of people that are not able to move out the way quickly, be they a bit older than some of us or confined to a wheel chair. When you consider this you wonder why the nets haven't been put in a long time ago.

One person next to me said perhaps the club was worried about being sued from the balls hitting spectators. However, I would say there most be a bit of risk at any time during a game that you could be hit by a flying ball. I just hope the ground staff are doubly careful when those large nets are dismantled - all we need is for someone to get hit by one of the large poles to really cause a bad injury!

For some more thoughts today on how the atmosphere is around other grounds in the Championship do drop in on our Rival Lines section which looks at what bloggers are writing about their teams lying in positions 12 to 7 in the table. Yes, that does include AFCB!

Subtle changes at Goldsands stadium

New crest sitting proudly at the stadium.

Have you been looking around the ground of late? Someone has been sprucing up the place a little more every time I put my head around  the corner. I don't mean the casual sweeping in front of the main reception, although thank you for whoever ensures my Cherry Chimes brick looks sparkling every time I set foot near the ground, I mean the new crest is ever present now. More than that, the new South stand has been adorned with some very prominent writing - 'Ted MacDougall stand' - writ large, right across the back of the stand. 

It is a good job Ted has a long name to run right along the enormous stand.

Those who wonder a little further around the Goldsands stadium will find that the Wall of Fame has been steadily growing. Now there are a few more AFCB sides covering the red bricks and it is really something to see the 2009/10 promotion winning team, in joyous colour, joining some of the older teams. My favourite has to be the 1982 team, as that was only the second season that I followed AFCB, even though I was well aware of Ted McDougall's exploits in the early 1970s.

Promotion from League Two to League One 2009-10

Promotion from League One to the Championship 2012/13

I do worry though if the club knows what to improve next. You would think that there is not much more they can do to smarten up the place but the ideas keep flooding in and it is great to see. I have to put my request in to Mr Demin for that swimming pool in the South stand when the club further rebuild for the Premiership.  

Has four sides made a difference?

I was very keen to pay close attention to the sound of the home support this last weekend to work out whether our new four-sided ground really was having much of an impact to the atmosphere and the game. Is the sound more hemmed in? Do we get a louder reaction from fans and most importantly – is it less drafty?

Well, I'm not sure about the last question, but there is certainly a new feel about the Goldsands stadium and that's not just because Steve Fletcher's head has gone walkabouts to the club shop. There was obviously a great buzz about the place when Real Madrid came and played here and also for the first Championship match against Charlton. The Ted MacDougall stand has made a huge difference to the atmosphere. The away fans must feel really packed into that small corner of the ground now. But for the Charlton game there was quite a lot of empty seats in the South stand.

Are you enjoying the atmosphere at Dean Court
more now with the fourth stand in place?

So it was of interest for me to see how things matched up when Wigan came to play us in a regular Championship game. While they are a big northern club I was not sure how many would make the trip all the way down to the South coast, but I think many of their fans will have enjoyed the experience and the prices compared to visiting some of those Premier League stadiums last season. For sure, their supporter coaches were reasonably busy as they were calling for fans to book quickly for the last few seats that were available last Thursday.

Far from being quite, I thought the home crowd was just as noisy as when the season kicked off against Charlton. We perhaps needed the loud vocal support considering the task ahead. If we don't win our home games AFCB will be up against it. But the noise was quite incredible and I did not hear a great deal of away supporter songs although they had their moments.

With two home wins out of two perhaps the Ted MacDougall stand is helping to give the team that little bit extra something that is proving very valuable.