In the Go Cougars Barrow match programme the Cougar Chairman announced plans are underway leading to a new ground for Keighley Cougars. Anybody know if it will be an improved Cougar Park on the existing site or a completely new ground? It's hard to see that there would be enough parking at the current site unless the cricket ground was again made part of Cougar Park with the cricket club being relocated. If an atmospheric rugby ground with 10,000 capacity/2,000 seats is achieved, the current board might after all achieve super league status for Keighley so long as they can put out a team that wins virtually all matches for a two or three seasons and the matchday experience is improved.

Never happen will be more lies

Lets hope this is going to happen. I personally wouldnt care if it was a new ground or Cougar park done up.

Just so long as there is standing, I hate sitting down at grounds.

We can hope ..... As long as it isn't just hot air.

Can we have some more details please Mr Fawcett ?

If this does go ahead maybe the Board should be thinking of linking up
with all the smaller towns around KEIGHLEY . I.e. Bingley Ilkley Haworth
etc then maybe over into Lancashire With Colne etc ...... All fertile places to exploit the Cougar
brand.

One thing i do know. Is if there isnt no talk about it happening then it never will happen.

Glad to see we have a chairman that is trying to get the ball rolling.

It's one thing to talk about a new ground, another thing all together to get the bricks and mortar on the ground.

It's one thing to have a shiny new ground, it's another to have it packed full of fans. Look at Leigh and Darlington's football team as classic cases in point.

If it is a new stadium, where will it be built? Due to the topography of Keighley there are very few viable places. Utley near the union club has the space, but is vulnerable to flooding and a long way out of town for walk up fans. There's similar land around Marley, a little less vulnerable to flood but still a decent distance out of town and not served by public transport. The only decent sport I could think of would be the now demolished Airedale Spinners site behind the fire station.

I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.

I didn't see a programme to buy yesterday but this sounds like early April Fools !!!.

I really hope this true it will be great but I think it is probably fantasy island. Please Mr Fawcett can you give us some facts so we all can get behind you. Cougar Park is a brilliant ground but we need a modern stadium to move forward I just hope you are telling us the truth.

Several years ago, the Aire valley was designated as an area of high technology and as such was going to recieve funding for regeneration, part of this infrastructure was a large sports stadium for Keighley. I think there may even have been rudimentary plans. It would be interesting to find out what happened to this.

Personally I would like any new stadium to be on the current site but is this realistic? It would certainly mean having to obtain some of the land that surrounds the ground.

Then there is the big "F" word - Funding. I would have thought this would be difficult to come by in these hard times.

I suppose we can live in hope.

I can't recall ever having a response from Gary on here. Maybe if you have questions to ask there is more chance of an answer by asking him directly?

Does he have a direct email addy or is it just the club one that will be on the
website ?
**wanders off to investigate.

I've tended to e-mail the club and got his e-mail response from there.

I thought I had seen some plans and have just dug this out:

[urlhttp://www.airedalepartnership.org/pdf/Airedale_Corridors_3.3.pdf[/url
Scroll down to the last page: it appears we are part of the "Airedale Stadium"

[urlhttp://www.airedalepartnership.org/pdf/Airedale_Corridors_4.0.pdf[/url
Scroll down to "long term interventions"

I don't know if the slush fund is still around, I think a lot of it ended when the Conservatives put the knife into Yorkshire Forward.

Quote ="Stealth Comic" I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.'" Something along these lines? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ben_H ... tadium.jpg

Quote ="Stealth Comic" I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.'" Something along these lines? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ben_H ... tadium.jpg

I think he means more like this



[urlhttp://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/San-Siro-Stadium-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/san-siro-stadium.html&h=194&w=259&sz=1&tbnid=iYORG02Lym2efM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsan%2Bsiro%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=san+siro&usg=__-VQ_G7eePpHbljENbX0OZSgc-LY=&docid=ZWjls7uD4tHYiM&itg=1&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mU9YUfG5EcjRObLHgNAC&ved=0CLEBEPwdMA4[/url

Apparently there's a steering committee set up to progress the new ground but it's not said who's on it.

In actual fact, i've been looking at that area behind the fire station and off dalton lane mentioned by stealth comic. That could really be a goer. Not an enormous space so the new stands/terracing would have to be as close to the pitch and as steep as possible. Most of the money would have to go into one side as a main stand with all the facilities and bars needed. The other three sides would need to be just pure terracing used for matchdays. There would need to be a park and ride say at Marley for matchdays but there would be a good chance to have activities - stalls, kids rides, entertainment at Victoria Park so long as a foot bridge over bradford road to the new ground was provided.

As regards funding i reckon nothing could happen without bradford council. If bradford council could offer the Co-op vacant possession of the cougar park site i.e. if cougars agreed to move, and with planning consent for out of town retail development it should be worth them paying quite a few million £. If Bradford council could organise matching funding it would pay for the new stadium to be built. The council could then lease the ground to cougars for a reasonable sum a bit like its deal with bfd bls at odsal.

If as part of the development the club acquired the land where De Cafe and the Janitorial services place are sited opposite Burgess Ford it'd be spot on. Parking wise, could cut a deal with the College to use their Car Park although a chunk of it is pay and display for the train station.

Quote ="Dreamer"I think he means more like this [urlhttp://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/San-Siro-Stadium-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/san-siro-stadium.html&h=194&w=259&sz=1&tbnid=iYORG02Lym2efM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsan%2Bsiro%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=san+siro&usg=__-VQ_G7eePpHbljENbX0OZSgc-LY=&docid=ZWjls7uD4tHYiM&itg=1&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mU9YUfG5EcjRObLHgNAC&ved=0CLEBEPwdMA4[/url'" A couple of terraces like the südtribüne aka the yellow wall at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund behind the sticks would be nice. m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8259521788 Although realistically something similar to this at Headingley wouldn't go amiss for an east stand at Cougar Park. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hea ... rnegie.jpg

Quote ="Dreamer"I think he means more like this [urlhttp://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/San-Siro-Stadium-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sgsbo.com/san-siro-stadium.html&h=194&w=259&sz=1&tbnid=iYORG02Lym2efM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsan%2Bsiro%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=san+siro&usg=__-VQ_G7eePpHbljENbX0OZSgc-LY=&docid=ZWjls7uD4tHYiM&itg=1&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mU9YUfG5EcjRObLHgNAC&ved=0CLEBEPwdMA4[/url'" A couple of terraces like the südtribüne aka the yellow wall at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund behind the sticks would be nice. m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8259521788 Although realistically something similar to this at Headingley wouldn't go amiss for an east stand at Cougar Park. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hea ... rnegie.jpg

Quote ="Stealth Comic" Although realistically something similar to this at Headingley wouldn't go amiss for an east stand at Cougar Park. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hea ... rnegie.jpg'" I've been to "Shedingly" a few times and must admit it would look good in place of our wooden stand. Oddly, it looks out of place at Headingly (although I do like the atmosphere at the ground.)

Quote ="Stealth Comic" Although realistically something similar to this at Headingley wouldn't go amiss for an east stand at Cougar Park. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hea ... rnegie.jpg'" I've been to "Shedingly" a few times and must admit it would look good in place of our wooden stand. Oddly, it looks out of place at Headingly (although I do like the atmosphere at the ground.)

Wasnt the club trying to buy a stand that Fev got?

Maybe that was part of it.

Then it's a pretty surefire bet that nothing will happen. Bradford Council's priorities are ten miles up the road - in Bradford. Always have been.

I emailed Gary Fawcett about a couple of things , this is he reply
about the new stadium. I didn't manage to get to see the articke
in the programme so there maybe some repeats .

This is a direct copy paste from the email. 3 - 2 - 1 discuss.

Regarding the new stadium development it looks like the best bet is for it to be at Cougar Park with an integrated development with the cricket club 
(a mini Headingley style development, if you wish). We've the backing of Bradford Council, Keighley Town Council, the Co-op (who own the ground), 
the RFL, the ECB, Leeds City College and various architects/building firms. We've some very early plans on the table for a 5,000 capacity main stand 
(with retail underneath) and a stadium capacity of over 10,000. 

We estimate the cost of the development will be £7m to £10m and we are gearing up to put a £5m bid into the Iconic Facilities fund as a first step in 
July this year.  We'll research and bid for other funds along with the partners above to bridge the gap as well as looking for private sector support on 
aspects of the build, e.g. Kone could provide the lifts free of charge. We'd look to deliver the new stadium within a 3 to 5 year time frame. 

I hope this helps. As I said in the programme - it's early days - but our journey has taken it's first few steps. 

We need to make sure we perform on the pitch though!  Including against Hunslet today. 

Many thanks

Gary
------Original Message------

Finally got round to signing up on the site after years of just visiting! Might as well start with a post about this. i have no baggage to bring, and GF's response seems sensible, and probably the most realistic and achievable option. Nothing wrong with some ambition, and if your dont ask you don't get.

A few thoughts before the initial plans are drawn up.

1. I'd like to see a full size pitch 100 metres long plus the two in-goals 10 metres wide, pitch width the max 68 metres and with 5 metres between the touch/deadball lines and perimeter of the stands/terracing. So the perimeter needs to be 130 metres long and 78 metres wide.

2. The stand and terracing to rise at as steep a rake as possible from the perimeter. Not sure what the maximum legal steepness is but i'd like to see 45 degrees.

3. Make sure the seats are wider than average and with more legroom than average. Quality will be more important than quantity for this stadium so people can sit in comfort for concerts etc as well as matches & encourage people to get in early for pre-match entertainment.

4. Given required dimensions, the cricket field would need to be moved as far out to the Royd Way western boundary as possible - so the rugby part of the stadium could pinch a slice of the current cricket field.

5. Need to get the bowling club brought within the scheme. Hopefully the Co-op could be persuaded to relocate its vehicle repair unit so the bowling club could be moved across there so the rugby field could be maximum length, taking over the current bowling club.

6. With a main stand and three sides of terracing, i'd like the corners to be infilled with terracing as well so there is a bowl effect. In fact Aire Valley Cougarbowl (the AVC) has a nice ring to it.

So long as there is terracing that is me sorted , don't reckon much to having to sit down
At a match, At 6'4" with mobility issues I have to move about from time to time.....reckoned
nothing to being told to "sit down it's an all seat no standing venue " by an over zelous
Steward at Mondays Hunslet match !!!
Oh , and good coffee...... Can't have a pint o' ale so good coffee at a reasonable
price in a decent sized cup