No to the corner stands

Corners and an extension to the grandstand to run the full length of the pitch would send out a massive signal of intent to the fanbase.

Either that, or, as I've said before - buy MK Dons ground off them ( they won't be needing it very soon) and plonk it at Brickfields. A 30k stadium with sea views and dozens of pubs in the vicinity. Winner winner!

Neither is ever going to happen is it - -ever! Very disappointed with Mr Hallet's view on this.


As someone said earlier. we've never reached for the sky, or even attempted to. Well, maybe pointed at the sky and wondered what that big yellow thing is, but that's it.

I remember earlier threads (years ago) when I got annoyed reading comments about the club just happy to be a yo-yo club between the Championship and League 1. I scoffed, but now It's somewhat clearer to me. What isn't surprising however, is the number of green tints fawning over and rimming each other and agreeing with Hallets views. I don't get it - where did our ambition for the big time go?

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Survival battles it is then. He's probably right about the lack of need for increased capacity in that case.

Fully understand about sustainability and laying foundations etc for the future, but those corners are a Bleddy eyesore, fed up looking at that Scutum advert always reminds me of a Scrotum.
It’s a bit hard to believe that the cost to build is prohibitive.

The noises coming from Hallett are really beginning to annoy now.  We need to be taken over ASAP.

Graiser wrote:

Fully understand about sustainability and laying foundations etc for the future, but those corners are a Bleddy eyesore, fed up looking at that Scutum advert always reminds me of a Scrotum.
It’s a bit hard to believe that the cost to build is prohibitive.

i'd take them clearing that area out and putting in some pot plants, grow bags of fruit n veg, some little trees and a patio set just to make it look nicer over the state it looks like now if the board have no intention of building in that corner.

The more I read about other Championship clubs and their owners/backers/investors, the more I’m puzzled as to how sustainability will be achieved with our current model. Even 1000+ seats extra in Bobbys garden corner won’t scratch the surface of the multiple millions extra that we will need to generate if we are to get close to a competitive budget, even with sellouts every week.

The higher up the Pyramid you go, the percentage of gate money to overall revenue, is quite drastically decreased. But the Championship is so full of clubs with benefactors like (for instance) Preston - a similar sized club to us whose major shareholder family put £12m a year in on top of all revenues - just to keep them treading water.

Argyle thankfully have a fair few million in the bank, thanks to us not blowing stupid money on players that weren’t worth it, so next season a good chunk of that will no doubt be needed. But after that, shorely additional investment will be needed if we are to firstly stay up, and then secondly, do anything more than just stagnate.

Hallett has been extremely shrewd so far financially. To get us to a point whereby we are promoted to the Championship with no debt and millions in the bank, is nothing short of sensational when you analyse it. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he is having conversations with our Yankee Green friends about another restructuring of shareholdings.

The thing is without extra capacity then fans, like me, will drift away, it's getting too difficult to support.

Greenskin wrote:

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Survival battles it is then. He's probably right about the lack of need for increased capacity in that case.

I can't help thinking he is misinterpreting the data here,
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Simon Hallett: Plymouth Argyle can be a sustainable Championship club
The chairman and majority owner has spoken of his 'great sense of satisfaction' over the Pilgrims' promotion from League One

Argyle chairman and majority owner Simon Hallett before the League One game against Burton Albion at Home Park on Saturday, April 29, 2023 - Photo: Dave Rowntree/PPAUK
Argyle chairman and majority owner Simon Hallett before the League One game against Burton Albion at Home Park on Saturday, April 29, 2023 - Photo: Dave Rowntree/PPAUK

Simon Hallett believes it is possible for newly-promoted Plymouth Argyle to be a sustainable Championship club despite the 'eye-watering' losses made by clubs at that level.

Hallett wants to see the Pilgrims become a fixture in the Championship by continuing to spend their money more wisely than their competitors.

It is a tactic which has worked well as Argyle have gone from League Two in 2019 to the Championship for next season.

Read More: Simon Hallett addresses Argyle capacity issues at Home Park

Hallett told Plymouth Live: "I'm proud, wildly overjoyed and I think the one that slightly surprised me is that I just feel a great sense of satisfaction.

"We have done this the right way. We haven't gone out and spent large amounts of money. We have achieved this promotion while investing in the ground, investing in our fans, making the whole experience of being associated with Argyle a better one.


"I think we should feel not just pride and so on but satisfaction this has been a job well done, and I kind of like that.

"If you remember going back four-and-a-half years we wanted to become a values driven club, and we wrote down what our vision was.

"Our vision was to be a successful football club supported or respected by everyone in the south west, and many beyond.

"We have come a long way towards that. We are getting national recognition for our community work (Argyle are the League One Community Club of the Season), for our stadium, for our manager, for some of our players.

"So I think we are increasingly recognised beyond the south west as a well run club that support us or not you have got to respect us for how we are run, and now for what we have achieved.

"So a lot of that vision has come closer to being realised than I expected it to be, but we also said our five-year mission was to be a sustainable Championship club.

"We are now a Championship club, we will know this time next year whether it's sustainable. That sustainability is the thing that's going to be the last piece of the jigsaw I think."

Asked whether Argyle could be a sustainable Championship club, given the huge amounts of money lost by others at that level in pursuit of the Premier League promised land, Hallett replied: "Yeah it's possible, of course it's possible.

"There will be more money coming in and all that money will go out, but we have proven over the last couple of years we can make decisions better than our competitors.

"That is a huge source of competitive advantage I think, but all the figures in the Championship are eye-watering when the average club loses nearly half-a-million a week.

"Bournemouth, Fulham and Nottingham Forest, if you allow for the parachute payments, spent a quarter-of-a-billion in getting up to the Premier League.

"Our goal is not to go for the Premier League. Our goal is to make ourselves a fixture in the Championship and I think we can do that by spending what's available more smartly than most people, as we have done the last couple of years."

Hallett added: "It's almost like there are two divisions now in the Championship. There are those who are trying to get back or into the Premier League and there are those who are trying to survive.

"Certainly over the next couple of years we are going to be trying to survive. Having said that, I think it's pretty clear the probability of staying there and being sustainable has gone down, we have got to be realistic about it.

Argyle chairman Simon Hallett before the League One game against MK Dons at Home Park on Saturday, April 30, 2022 - Photo: Phil Mingo/PPAUK
Argyle chairman Simon Hallett before the League One game against MK Dons at Home Park on Saturday, April 30, 2022 - Photo: Phil Mingo/PPAUK (Image: Phil Mingo/PPAUK)
"There is a risk that we come back down next year but we are not going to try to spend ourselves away from that risk. We are going to try to balance the books."

Argyle's average attendance at Home Park this season was the second highest in 60 years at 15,579, which Hallett called 'incredible' but there are other measurables too which indicate the continuing development of the club, on and off the pitch.

Hallett said: "It's not just the crowds, that's obviously fantastic, but we can see it in our social media engagement, we can see it in the shop.

"Our revenues in the shop are through the roof this season. We have sold three times the amounts of shirts we normally sell. Three times!

"We have had support from our fans in an extraordinary way, and what I absolutely love about the fans' support is they were coming in higher numbers before we were top of the league.

"If you go back five years when we finished seventh after a failed play-off push, just as we finished last year, and yet in August before people knew it was going to be such a successful season crowds were up 30 per cent.

"Holding our league position steady, and having the crowds come back in droves, is a sign that the so-called football wisdom that it's only worth spending your money on the pitch is just wrong.

"We have treated our fans with respect, we have been very transparent, we have tried to improve everything we do for them. Our first value, as written down, is fan focus.

"The fans have rewarded us by coming more often to games, spending more in the shop, supporting us in many more ways, so it's not just about what happens on the pitch it's about the way you treat your fans and the relationship you have with them."

The fans are buying into Argyle now because of what we are doing on the pitch, past season was a good one bar the sudden drop off at the end of the season and this season fans could see that with Mumba, MW, Azaz, Hardie and Ennis we were going to do well. If we were mid table by Christmas no way we would be selling out at the end of the season.
I think that the amount of money that most CCC clubs lose is irrelevant on the whole most of these clubs have premiership aspirations and budgets that go with that. If we spend the extra money earned by our promotion on the squad I see no reason why we cant survive next year and gradually kick on after that. If cash is diverted to Brickfields and we try CCC football on a lge 1 budget as others have said capacity will not be an issue.

Sold 3 times as many shirts? Yipee that must be worth 10 points/season.

No ambition to get to the premier League- what a sad attitude.

You need to aim for the Stars to reach the Moon

Grovehill wrote:

Sold 3 times as many shirts? Yipee that must be worth 10 points/season.

No ambition to get to the premier League- what a  sad attitude.

You need to aim for the Stars to reach the Moon

Something else to bear in mind is that it will probably be easier to stay in the CCC than to get promoted out of league 1 following a relegation.

An owner setting the bar at the correct height and making the correct noises the fans love to hear. This is what I wanted to hear from SH. Alas.....................no!

ITFC Boss on increasing capacity

Dog Bone Malone wrote:

An owner setting the bar at the correct height and making the correct noises the fans love to hear. This is what I wanted to hear from SH. Alas.....................no!

ITFC Boss on increasing capacity

Rather have Hallet, than the ipswich owner piling up the debt.

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Dog Bone Malone wrote:

An owner setting the bar at the correct height and making the correct noises the fans love to hear. This is what I wanted to hear from SH. Alas.....................no!

ITFC Boss on increasing capacity

Rather have Hallet, than the ipswich owner piling up the debt.

I'd rather have corners and a visionary chairman.

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Dog Bone Malone wrote:

An owner setting the bar at the correct height and making the correct noises the fans love to hear. This is what I wanted to hear from SH. Alas.....................no!

ITFC Boss on increasing capacity

Rather have Hallet, than the ipswich owner piling up the debt.

The old we can't grow because of debt argument being rolled out despite us having £12m going into Brickfields and another few million into goals. We have money. I like Hallett but that doesn't mean I am not going to question everything he does or says, chairmen are temporary, Argyle is permanent and we need more capacity.