the start of the next season

[Headers]

It looks like the start of next will be played away due the new stand not being finished can anyone conferm this please

[TTRITH]

Do you have any facts Headers?
We're told everything is on schedual, and we've got a match against Munster to gain the H&S certificate.

[Tigerbeat]

The stand is due for completion on 21st August 2009 and according to the reports, everything is on schedule.

[me2]

Well not quite.


We've got a match against Munster. Nobody has said if it is for the H&S certaificate yet. My expectation is that the new stand will remain unopened for the Munster game.


I also expect that the first 1 or 2 games of the new season will be scheduled s away games just in case there are any last minute delays to the build programme. It is currently on schedule but if you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail!

It is always better to be safe than sorry so I can't see us being at home on the opening weekend.



The shell of the new stand will be ready by the 21st but that's not the deadline for the guts of the stand to be ready, simply for the build to be done. Fit out still has to happen after that date and will take more than a couple of days!

[TTRITH]

To use a stand, all you need are Toilets and seats. Everything else can wait.

[me2]

Not quite. You also need stewards, turnstile operators, clear walkways & emergency exits etc...not to mention a (limited) safety certificate in advance.


If the club don't expect the Munster game to sell out (which, let's face it, it won't) then there is no point in clearing the stand up of all the decorating/fitting work just for the sake of one game when it doesn't need to.


I've said it before and I'll say it again: I do not expect that the new stand will be opened up for the Munster friendly.

[Tigerbeat]

21st August is the scheduled handover of the completed stand

[me2]

That's the day it gets handed back to the club by the builders.


I very much doubt that the builders will be doing the fitting/decorating.




If you expect the stand to be open for the Munster game then I love your optimism, but don't say I didn't warn you when it's not.

[Suz]

Why wouldn't the builders be doing the fitting out? Or there could be sectional handovers of areas for fitting out that we are not told about (and don't need to know about) before the 21st
We have been told the 21 August for Hand over of the completed stand and Im not sure the club announce that date if its not final handover/ready for opening.

[Tigerbeat]

Reply from Charles Rayner:

"The club will have sectional completion of the new Caterpillar Stand on the 21st August which are principally the public areas. All the conference and hospitality areas are due to be completed in early September. All areas will however be ready for our first home Guinness Premiership game of the 09/10 season."

[kevf]

If you expect the stand to be open for the Munster game then I love your optimism, but don't say I didn't warn you when it's not.

optimism will be stamped on at the first oppurtunity have you not read the forum FAQ

[me2]

So there you go: Our first home Guinness Premiership game of the 09/10 season.

Not the Munster pre-season friendly in late August.

[Cliffeclimber]

Speaking to one of the workmen while renewing my season ticket last week, he said that we'd be playing at the Walkers at the start of the season - but whether that's for the friendly or for the first GP game, I don't know.

Maybe he was just trying to worry me, as I said how much I was looking forward to coming home after our sojourn in the wilderness of the Crisp bowl.

[Tigerbeat]

So there you go: Our first home Guinness Premiership game of the 09/10 season.

Not the Munster pre-season friendly in late August.

The pre-season game could possibly go ahead but without the use of the Corporate hospitality suites.

The public areas will be complete by 21st August according to comments from Charles Rayner.

[me2]

We'll see.


I have a sneaky suspicion that, come August 28th, the only people sitting in the new stand will be wearing high-vis jackets & hard hats...and not because it's our new home kit either!