Swapping DE to BPE and vice versa.

[JackPP]

No. Not a good idea.

The away fans are fine where they are until we can afford some stadium redevelopment and then their location can be considered again.

The fact players enter and exit near them shouldn’t really be an issue.

 

[RoryGreen]

We could always rebuild the zoo and keep them there.

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

Those 140 steps!! Poor old Oddball, I can still see him now.

There is a lift. It’s a bit hidden. You just have to know where 😁

 

[Railway sleeper]

Listening to how loud the boos were near the tunnel only proves the theory that the away fans have the definite advantage.

Add this to the fact that the Far Post Club will be right in the corner next season, it just makes even more sense for PAFC to do the swap next season.

If we stay up, anything like bad news will be gobbled up in the euphoria of staying up, if we get relegated everyone will be on a downer in any case.

Plus of course, the away fans (more important if we do stay up, as Everton and Man City will bring 1000s) can get away far easier and safer being right theire for the away coaches.

Fanciful of me I think but I have always envisaged a ground extension ( apart from the two corners idea) being us building the BPE upwards, into a mini Holte end - to be the new popular end

I think my love of the Hollte end came from the cup semi final

That would leave the Devenport end as the away end - maybe accessed via the car park, and an underpass from the far side of the park under passing the ground concourse.That would also allow the away fans a clear through route back to the station.

I've always thought the club was maybe missing a trick in not ' upselling' the match ticket into a weekend in plymouth x 2 or 3 000 fans = quite a lot of dosh

Big practicality issues with that idea though. Games need to be at weekends and not midweek , and also works best with good weather- which we dont seem to get too much of 🙁

Maybe there is a possibility of hotel accommodation- brickfields ? For that idea.

Not really sure whether that is a practical idea- or more of a pipe dream ?

Anyway - back to the original idea, it would need some reconfiguration in the ground, but subject to that, it's a 👍 from me

 

[Moleman]

We in the 60s and 70s frequented the real DE, when Dan gave us the fun size version in the 80s, we all took to the Lyndy. It only really came back in 2002 when the horseshoe came into play,so it's not so enshrined in our history as some make out.

I do get it though, but our way of operating is to push corporate offerings and the better we can make it work, the more money we'll make for the club to spend on the team.

It wasn’t Dan that gave us the fun sized version, it was Stuart Dawe. He used some of the money from the 84 cup run and paid a company of builders to erect a farm shed, what company? Oh yeah it was Stuart Dawe builders!
As for the switching ends idea, no, not a chance. As others have said apart from tradition, the BPE is subject to low sun and the prevailing wind (and rain!) You say the Devonport only became reclaimed after the horseshoe was built but there was always a hardcore that stuck it out in there, also that horseshoe was 2002 that’s a not inconsiderable 22 years so an awful lot of fans have ONLY known that as the home end and long may it continue.

 

[John Cooper]

Listening to how loud the boos were near the tunnel only proves the theory that the away fans have the definite advantage.

Add this to the fact that the Far Post Club will be right in the corner next season, it just makes even more sense for PAFC to do the swap next season.

If we stay up, anything like bad news will be gobbled up in the euphoria of staying up, if we get relegated everyone will be on a downer in any case.

Plus of course, the away fans (more important if we do stay up, as Everton and Man City will bring 1000s) can get away far easier and safer being right theire for the away coaches.

No thanks

Listening to how loud the boos were near the tunnel only proves the theory that the away fans have the definite advantage.

Add this to the fact that the Far Post Club will be right in the corner next season, it just makes even more sense for PAFC to do the swap next season.

If we stay up, anything like bad news will be gobbled up in the euphoria of staying up, if we get relegated everyone will be on a downer in any case.

Plus of course, the away fans (more important if we do stay up, as Everton and Man City will bring 1000s) can get away far easier and safer being right theire for the away coaches.

DEFINITELY NO THANKS
I’ve sat in the same seat since stadium was redeveloped and really don't want to move.

 

[GU7Green]

Nope, no, terrible idea!

TBH, I do understand some of the argument you lay out, however I feel it is always better for a home side to have both areas behind the goals filled with their own fans. Away fans should be put in a corner, either under the video screen in the zoo corner or between the Lyndhurst and Demport. It would also mean Argyle fans on either side of them too. Personally the zoo corner would be the better option as there are fewer long-term season ticket holders in that area to move.

This is exactly what Stoke are doing next season. Away fans in the corner.

Their ground is of course bigger than ours but the layout is the same with the horseshoe and then one solo/standalone stand. The tunnel appears to the in the same place too, on the corner like ours.

 

[GreenEden]

We in the 60s and 70s frequented the real DE, when Dan gave us the fun size version in the 80s, we all took to the Lyndy. It only really came back in 2002 when the horseshoe came into play,so it's not so enshrined in our history as some make out.

I do get it though, but our way of operating is to push corporate offerings and the better we can make it work, the more money we'll make for the club to spend on the team.

Think that was before Dan Ian, I started going 82 / 83 and I cannot remember the DE being any different other than a roof being added which again was before Dan took over.
Agreed as I grew up the Lyndhurst was the place to be at the time

 

[Mickey262]

Got to say I disagree totally with the OP. If it's not broken don't fix it. All my life the Devonport End has been OUR end. Barn Park would not feel the same. It's where the away fans go, and will always feel like that.

I've only ever watched 1 game from Barn Park, and did not like it at all.

What we really need to be a sustainable championship club is a bigger stadium, should be at least 20k. Totally seoerate debate though.

 

[GreenEden]

Added to that is the Sun in eyes in BP end
I've sat in all areas of the ground and in my opinion if it had a roof the Lower Mayflower is the best from a view point of view
I used to be Lyndhurst only but I find that cramped now busy and I've never been a particular fan of the DE mainly because I am an exile and mainly go away where I'm normally behind a goal so when I go home I prefer to be n the side of pitch

 

[Larry David]

I’ve always wanted us to populate both ends and give the away team a corner. It can’t be impossible to achieve.

 

[up the line]

No. Silly idea.
1. The Devonport IS considered our home end by most and moving away fans there would fragment the atmosphere
2. The BPE feels separated from the rest of the ground, partly due to the grandstand not reaching as far in that direction.
3. As stated the BPE gets the prevailing wind and rain, worsened by the aforementioned gap between the grandstand and the end itself.
4. Most of the club facilities such as the shop/ ticket office etc are at the Devonport End.. By moving the away fans to that end of the ground you'd have thousands of, say, Leeds or West Brom fans congregated around that area making it less likely for Argyle fans to pop in the shop etc.
There's literally nothing behind the BPE.. just some scrub and a gravelly path.. Why give Argyle fans the inarguably worse end of the ground?

All round its just a really naff idea if its literally just for the sake of getting away fans on their busses quicker (bearing in mind that probably a maximum 20% of away fans arrive by coach anyway). To my knowledge there have been no major flashpoints with away fans getting their coaches this season and the away end has been as full as it would be next season, regardless of who is relegated (if we stay up).

 

[Lobster]

They could do a Newcastle. Rebuild the Devonport end and put the away fans up on the seventh floor.

This is tongue in cheek I assume, but is what I would be looking to do in the long term. From what I understand, the easiest way to expand capacity is to add on top of the horseshoe. When the time comes, whack another tier on the Devonport and stick them up there. Until then, leave it.

 

[F in Argyle]

How about build new changing rooms at the Devonport End and the players come out of Bobbys garden?

This.

When the corners eventually get filled (I'm sure it'll happen one day), move the changing rooms to Bobby's garden. Make the current changing room corner the away corner.

My daydream with limitless money would be to increase capacity by adding a tier onto the Lyndhurst, then revamp the Mayflower and corners to complete the ground.

 

[demportdave]

Under the present ownership and their policy of fan engagement, I would be amazed if there is not discussion with the supporters if ever there was consideration given to something so controversial and devisive as surrendering the Devonport End to Away fans just because they might be 50 yards closer to the 3 or 4 Coaches they have brought.

As for the location of the tunnel, there are fans from both teams on opposite sides of the tunnel for the 5 seconds it takes for the players to emerge before they all walk along and then stand in front of the Home fans in the Mayflower; what's the issue with that?

Clubs that have tried to relocate fans wholesale have always experienced a lot of resistance and created a lot of bad feeling between the fans and the club.

Taking 3000 fans out of their beloved DE and surplanting them in the BP End with the sun and the wind and rain in their faces won't be well received.

To turn up at the main entrance with the iconic Ballard facade on a match day to see it devoid of Argyle fans but swarming with Away fans is something that I believe most Argyle fans would find unacceptable.

We have had sell-out Away followings for most of the season but I am not aware of any serious problems with crowd unrest, inside or outside of the Ground.

What is the problem?

We have a number of issues to be resolved such as sorting out the Grandstand, but let's not "mend" something that's not broken, especially if it would cause a lot of bad feeling with the fan base.