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Casey Fields - City's new home


jw1739
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35 minutes ago, icantthinkofacoolname said:

I wonder if there are any plans to build a small grandstand along one of the pitches to host W-League, NPL, pre-season games etc.

Yes, it looks like it. And I recall that was the intention when it was announced. I imagine something similar to the facility in Ballarat where we've played pre-season.

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4 hours ago, Mr MO said:

Confirmed on Twitter.

49F2766C-C706-4DB5-AD76-CFAF1F26A0AF.jpeg

Obviously City will have done the business case for the move, otherwise they would not be doing it. Whether it's suitable as a spectator venue....? Over 40k from Flinders Street and then maybe 15 minute walk, or you have to drive. IMO you'd have to be pretty dedicated to do it for any of W-League, NPL/NYL and pre-season matches unless you were a local to the area.

Edited by jw1739
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17 minutes ago, mjake1234 said:

Distance is the only downside. Not just from central Melbourne (46km) but also from the nearest train station (Berwick) which is 12km away. Wonder what the rationale of it is. And are they maintaining any relationship with Latrobe Uni?

Cranbourne is the closest station. It's about 10-15 minutes depending on your pace (although I haven't tried walking it). There's always talk of extending the line (reopening it) a bit to Clyde, but there's talk about a lot of things...

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17 hours ago, InMyHeart said:

I don't agree with this move to Casey Fields 

I think there are probably quite a few people who have a lot of questions about it. One can only assume that they have done their homework on it.

16 minutes ago, Centrehalf said:

Just read an article saying they were lobbying for funds for a stadium?

Has this been announced?

I've not heard that. Do you have a URL we could look at? Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone would even listen to City Football Group asking for money for anything.

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18 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I think there are probably quite a few people who have a lot of questions about it. One can only assume that they have done their homework on it.

I've not heard that. Do you have a URL we could look at? Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone would even listen to City Football Group asking for money for anything.

Sorry, i cant locate one online.

It was in the cranbourne star today

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I think there are probably quite a few people who have a lot of questions about it. One can only assume that they have done their homework on it.

I've not heard that. Do you have a URL we could look at? Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone would even listen to City Football Group asking for money for anything.

Here’s the article was on Team City page 

B1755294-48F9-4A37-9AA6-B15C8ED87922.jpeg

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17 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Tks. It's the Dandenong council lobbying for funds, not the club. That's the same location Team11 had earmarked for its stadium, between Cheltenham Road and Dandenong station

Would that assume a 50/50 split between club and council potentially?

Surprising there hasn't been any announcement on something like that if the council is already lobbying for funds.

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38 minutes ago, Centrehalf said:

Would that assume a 50/50 split between club and council potentially?

Surprising there hasn't been any announcement on something like that if the council is already lobbying for funds.

TBH I can't see why the Dandenong council can now expect anyone to fund a stadium. Team11 was different. It didn't have the backing of an organization such as CFG, and it was for a third club in Melbourne, to represent the south-east, and not one of the two existing clubs. Now that City are moving to Casey Fields, another club in the area is out of the question, and, as I've said before and don't resile from repeating it, to ask any level of government to contribute to a CFG project is laughable really. In 2019 the group was valued at US$4.9bn when the 10% minority stake was sold to Silver Lake.

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35 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

TBH I can't see why the Dandenong council can now expect anyone to fund a stadium. Team11 was different. It didn't have the backing of an organization such as CFG, and it was for a third club in Melbourne, to represent the south-east, and not one of the two existing clubs. Now that City are moving to Casey Fields, another club in the area is out of the question, and, as I've said before and don't resile from repeating it, to ask any level of government to contribute to a CFG project is laughable really. In 2019 the group was valued at US$4.9bn when the 10% minority stake was sold to Silver Lake.

Because the stadium will be used for other events as well, concerts and rugby matches. It will serve the community, so if they want part of the revenues the council or state unfortunately have to contribute. CFG isn’t going to fork out the money with expectation to become an entertainment company. It’s completely justified for CFG to lobby for extra funding IMO. 
 

Edited by Mr MO
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23 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Because the stadium will be used for other events as well, concerts and rugby matches. It will serve the community, so if they want part of the revenues the council or state unfortunately have to contribute. CFG isn’t going to fork out the money with expectation to become an entertainment company. It’s completely justified for CFG to lobby for extra funding IMO. 

Depends whose project it is. The way I read it it's a Council project, and not a City one. I'm not sure it's such a good idea for City to play home matches in Dandenong anyway. Melbourne has a radial rail system, which suits a central location for spectator events.

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1 minute ago, jw1739 said:

Depends whose project it is. The way I read it it's a Council project, and not a City one. I'm not sure it's such a good idea for City to play home matches in Dandenong anyway. Melbourne has a radial rail system, which suits a central location for spectator events.

I’ve read somewhere that SE is craving for a sporting/entertainment venue so if the council can get a contribution from the CFG they wouldn’t hesitate of course. 

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10 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I’ve read somewhere that SE is craving for a sporting/entertainment venue so if the council can get a contribution from the CFG they wouldn’t hesitate of course. 

Of course. They'd be foolish not to.  My doubt on the wisdom of playing home matches in Dandenong remains though. 

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23 minutes ago, HughJass said:

Stadium looks to be gaining traction, when I was told of city's move to casey fields a new stadium was part of the plans with CFG chipping in money for it 

I read people saying “the club lied to me” and we would not move our home games. As far as I remember the club has stated that for the “immediate future we won’t be leaving AAMI”. Building a stadium can take years.

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31 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I read people saying “the club lied to me” and we would not move our home games. As far as I remember the club has stated that for the “immediate future we won’t be leaving AAMI”. Building a stadium can take years.

Depends what the real level of traction is and the degree of sophistication the stadium will have. But even fast tracked I'd say 4 years minimum. Especially with the pandemic - everyone is looking for money.

I'm going to guess that CFG's fingers are in this pie and they're staking out their territory.

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28 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Depends what the real level of traction is and the degree of sophistication the stadium will have. But even fast tracked I'd say 4 years minimum. Especially with the pandemic - everyone is looking for money.

I'm going to guess that CFG's fingers are in this pie and they're staking out their territory.

So far money has been allocated for a feasibility study, we aren’t playing there anytime soon.

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1 hour ago, HughJass said:

Stadium looks to be gaining traction, when I was told of city's move to casey fields a new stadium was part of the plans with CFG chipping in money for it 

Lol.
Name change to Dandenong City then. Would be the end of the road for me if they did that I’d say. 

 

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30 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Lol.
Name change to Dandenong City then. Would be the end of the road for me if they did that I’d say. 

 

As in a fan or not being able to attend?

I live in the west and it will certainly affect my attendance and membership but I will keep supporting the club.

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7 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

As in a fan or not being able to attend?

I live in the west and it will certainly affect my attendance and membership but I will keep supporting the club.

Membership I’d say. Not much point if you don’t go to matches.  Interest likely to eventually fade though without that anchor.

Frankly it would be a weird move and even though they’ve done some silly things I can’t imagine they (CFG) are quite that silly. Perhaps a small stadium for youth games and similar and that’s it.

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6 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Membership I’d say. Not much point if you don’t go to matches.  Interest likely to eventually fade though without that anchor.

Frankly it would be a weird move and even though they’ve done some silly things I can’t imagine they (CFG) are quite that silly. Perhaps a small stadium for youth games and similar and that’s it.

It sucks but I get a feeling that the CFG values the potential of the SE corridor a lot more than a couple rusted fans from other suburbs. We know now that SE is home to the biggest amount of football clubs in Melbourne metro region and most registered players. No other ball code is setup there and no professional teams plays there. They would see a big opportunity to claim a region and identity the coming years.

Edited by Mr MO
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28 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

It sucks but I get a feeling that the CFG values the potential of the SE corridor a lot more than a couple rusted fans from other suburbs. We know now that SE is home to the biggest amount of football clubs in Melbourne metro region and most registered players. No other ball code is setup there and no professional teams plays there. They would see a big opportunity to claim a region and identity the coming years.

Easy to say, harder to do. They haven’t really managed to make “the north their own” so I wonder why this will be an different.

A different angle on the story of rebadging the club and expecting the new people “who flock to our banner” will outnumber the diehards we piss off. I’ll believe it when it happens.

Edited by Shahanga
On another note it was really disappointing Talking City didn’t give this an honest (non SE person) assessment when it was floated.
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25 minutes ago, HughJass said:

Think it's being built at Casey fields headquarters in the next stage 4000 seats or something 

That is supposed to be the case. I thought that it was seating for 500 and capacity 4,000, but who knows. My view is that that would be over-ambitious.

On other points
1. I would think that another change of name for the club would be a disaster from a support point of view. Enough damage was done last time around, and surely CFG couldn't be that dumb?
2. I think that support for the stadium project would most likely come in the form of a commitment to a long-term lease (as in East Manchester where the lease is 50 years(?)) and naming rights (Etihad). Dandenong Council could jump at such an arrangement and the guaranteed income stream and be far easier to deal with than MOTP.
3. Other than the Met and V-line train services there are over 20 bus routes servicing the station alongside the proposed stadium.
4. Rather unsure about car parking however. Some of the vacant land in the area seems to have been built on in recent years.

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3 hours ago, Shahanga said:

Membership I’d say. Not much point if you don’t go to matches.  Interest likely to eventually fade though without that anchor.

Frankly it would be a weird move and even though they’ve done some silly things I can’t imagine they (CFG) are quite that silly. Perhaps a small stadium for youth games and similar and that’s it.

I suspect the stadium would solely be for youth and W-League.

If they moved the mens home games there too, I think that might be it for me completely for the club as a whole (and the A-League, as no point following a league if don't have a team imo). I consider myself fairly rusted on supporter, a complete move would preclude me from going to home games at all and would be too far over the line towards being a farm for Man City. I understand that we are a farm for Man City already, but it feels like that the competing purposes of the club, being a farm v being an A-league team, is finely balanced at the moment and a move would just tip it over the edge imo.

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2 minutes ago, malloy said:

I suspect the stadium would solely be for youth and W-League.

If they moved the mens home games there too, I think that might be it for me completely for the club as a whole (and the A-League, as no point following a league if don't have a team imo). I consider myself fairly rusted on supporter, a complete move would preclude me from going to home games at all and would be too far over the line towards being a farm for Man City. I understand that we are a farm for Man City already, but it feels like that the competing purposes of the club, being a farm v being an A-league team, is finely balanced at the moment and a move would just tip it over the edge imo.

I'm no fan of moving East either but I understand that a small youth and womens stadium will be at Casey Fields up to 4k capacity with 800 seats and IF it goes ahead the mens will be playing out of  the new 15k ground in some years down the track.

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2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

That is supposed to be the case. I thought that it was seating for 500 and capacity 4,000, but who knows. My view is that that would be over-ambitious.

On other points
1. I would think that another change of name for the club would be a disaster from a support point of view. Enough damage was done last time around, and surely CFG couldn't be that dumb?
2. I think that support for the stadium project would most likely come in the form of a commitment to a long-term lease (as in East Manchester where the lease is 50 years(?)) and naming rights (Etihad). Dandenong Council could jump at such an arrangement and the guaranteed income stream and be far easier to deal with than MOTP.
3. Other than the Met and V-line train services there are over 20 bus routes servicing the station alongside the proposed stadium.
4. Rather unsure about car parking however. Some of the vacant land in the area seems to have been built on in recent years.

Some of their most committed and engaged fans are in the West and as far round as the Bellarine. They do need to be careful who they risk excluding or putting offside. I can attend regularly because I work in the city, and can easily make midweek and Friday night games from there. Weekends there is usually a decent service into the city along the Geelong line. If I'm trying to get to Dandenong it makes those evening midweek games damn near impossible, as well as weekend matches finishing late. Getting home in either case would be two long train journeys. A long drive might be possible at the weekends but Dandenong doesn't have the best reputation as a place to leave your car... And the mates I sit with who come from the Bellarine are basically excluded. I hope they have learned that they have to plan to take their existing loyal fan base with them....

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22 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

Some of their most committed and engaged fans are in the West and as far round as the Bellarine. They do need to be careful who they risk excluding or putting offside. I can attend regularly because I work in the city, and can easily make midweek and Friday night games from there. Weekends there is usually a decent service into the city along the Geelong line. If I'm trying to get to Dandenong it makes those evening midweek games damn near impossible, as well as weekend matches finishing late. Getting home in either case would be two long train journeys. A long drive might be possible at the weekends but Dandenong doesn't have the best reputation as a place to leave your car... And the mates I sit with who come from the Bellarine are basically excluded. I hope they have learned that they have to plan to take their existing loyal fan base with them....

This sounds harsh but knowing this club by now, there is no chance they are going adjust the long term plans for a 1000 odd rusted fans from the West (including myself). 

Over a ten period we have failed to get more fans onboard as we are fishing in the same pond as Victory and WU so let’s try something different they would think.

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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

This sounds harsh but knowing this club by now, there is no chance they are going adjust the long term plans for a 1000 odd rusted fans from the West (including myself). 

Over a ten period we have failed to get more fans onboard as we are fishing in the same pond as Victory and WU so let’s try something different they would think.

I'm afraid that I'm leaning to this view as well. The club has said several times recently that a good proportion of its members live in the south-eastern suburbs. I live in the south-east, and would still attend matches, but it would be nowhere near as convenient as the present set-up for me. 

IMO if the club does have any intention of moving from AAMI it better not leave saying so too long. There's nothing worse than uncertainty, and if they don't say one way or the other I can see fans starting to drift away pretty quickly. After all, if longer-term you're going to watch a different club then you might as well make the break sooner than later.

I can't believe that they have not considered all this in their plans. To build one facility, then abandon it and build another way the other side of town is a huge step. It still doesn't feel quite the right decision to me.

Edited by jw1739
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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I'm afraid that I'm leaning to this view as well. The club has said several times recently that a good proportion of its members live in the south-eastern suburbs. I live in the south-east, and would still attend matches, but it would be nowhere near as convenient as the present set-up for me. 

IMO if the club does have any intention of moving from AAMI it better not leave saying so too long. There's nothing worse than uncertainty, and if they don't say one way or the other I can see fans starting to drift away pretty quickly. After all, if longer-term you're going to watch a different club then you might as well make the break sooner than later.

I can't believe that they have not considered all this in their plans. To build one facility, then abandon it and build another way the other side of town is a huge step. It still doesn't feel quite the right decision to me.

I'm not trying to make excuses for the club but why upset people if it's in study mode only and we won't play there for the next 3 to 5 years. To some extent the intent to move should be shared, agree with that. 

Edited by Mr MO
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My real feelings about it all are that whilst I'm still coming down after the highs of the season, and after waiting so long for success, the club seems to be uprooting itself and changing everything that has been built so far, and I'm despondent about that and asking why, why why? 

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2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

My real feelings about it all are that whilst I'm still coming down after the highs of the season, and after waiting so long for success, the club seems to be uprooting itself and changing everything that has been built so far, and I'm despondent about that and asking why, why why? 

I can completely see and understand why if I put my feelings aside. Our crest and name are ironically linked to the City. The fun of having a drink and meal in the city before or after a game will be gone.

We’ve 100% grown out of our training facilities, the youth, reserves and women’s need more room to train and a permanent home to play games too. It will all be combined under one roof now.

We’ve failed over 10 years to significantly expand our fanbase (one can argue) due to missing a regional identity and cross over areas with other Melbourne teams. 

By moving East we close the door for another A league bid in that region. Then there is the potential talks; highest regional football participants and number of amateur clubs anywhere in the state and the lack of a professional sporting outfit.

I also think the blueprint from Team 11 is being used and there is big support from the local council in $$.
 

 

Edited by Mr MO
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2 hours ago, Mr MO said:

I can completely see and understand why if I put my feelings aside. Our crest and name are ironically linked to the City. The fun of having a drink and meal in the city before or after a game will be gone.

We’ve 100% grown out of our training facilities, the youth, reserves and women’s need more room to train and a permanent home to play games too. It will all be combined under one roof now.

We’ve failed over 10 years to significantly expand our fanbase (one can argue) due to missing a regional identity and cross over areas with other Melbourne teams. 

By moving East we close the door for another A league bid in that region. Then there is the potential talks; highest regional football participants and number of amateur clubs anywhere in the state and the lack of a professional sporting outfit.

I also think the blueprint from Team 11 is being used and there is big support from the local council in $$.

Love of football comes from the heart; our owners are pursuing a business model, and therein lies the conflict. IMO the club needs to engage with present members pretty damn quickly about plans that may affect how members feel about future directions. I think we've shown repeatedly that having a whole lot of youngsters playing "junior soccer" does not lead to interest in the A-League, and I think that if the club indeed does intend to play its matches in Dandenong at some point in the future then that decision will lead to a significant loss in support. Yes, moving to Casey does preclude another A-League club from that area, but IMO it opens the door to the rest of Melbourne for the other two clubs.

We shall see.

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