Re: Discussion re ground development.

[Mog]

Shame about the result.
Was a good day and shows how out ground cricket CAN still work.


Being at the ground no one sitting with me could understand why the field was bought in at the last over.
 Even the Leicestershire supporters said it was going to gift a boundary

Have you noticed how the majority of counties have played at out grounds for the 50 over Cup, some more than one. Even Hampshire are taking a game to the IOW this coming week.
Personally, as someone who grew up watching Essex at a minimum of three home festival venues, I find the Club's inability to even have a conversation about how an outground may work and be integrated into this competition, really disappointing. But utterly unsurprising.
The aforementioned Hants excused themselves by concentrating all their efforts on the Rose Bowl, fair enough. Meanwhile our uninspiring and devoid of any imagination lot stick exclusively to 80s relic, Chelmsford - the poorest and most outmoded county HQ on the circuit, for the fifteenth year on the spin.

[Andy]

Shame about the result.
Was a good day and shows how out ground cricket CAN still work.


Being at the ground no one sitting with me could understand why the field was bought in at the last over.
 Even the Leicestershire supporters said it was going to gift a boundary

Have you noticed how the majority of counties have played at out grounds for the 50 over Cup, some more than one. Even Hampshire are taking a game to the IOW this coming week.
Personally, as someone who grew up watching Essex at a minimum of three home festival venues, I find the Club's inability to even have a conversation about how an outground may work and be integrated into this competition, really disappointing. But utterly unsurprising.
The aforementioned Hants excused themselves by concentrating all their efforts on the Rose Bowl, fair enough. Meanwhile our uninspiring and devoid of any imagination lot stick exclusively to 80s relic, Chelmsford - the poorest and most outmoded county HQ on the circuit, for the fifteenth year on the spin.

You got a wealthy backer who can bankroll a new ground?

It’s old ground, but we should have either sold and moved on in the early 90s or at least bought the old hospital so we expanded out onto new writtle street and/or made a killing by building new office blocks. Instead we waited until the football ground was available which is really not the right time or side of the ground. Hence we are still shoehorned into a position bounded by river, bypass and private housing, akin to Kenilworth Road.

[stewyww]

Shame about the result.
Was a good day and shows how out ground cricket CAN still work.


Being at the ground no one sitting with me could understand why the field was bought in at the last over.
 Even the Leicestershire supporters said it was going to gift a boundary

Have you noticed how the majority of counties have played at out grounds for the 50 over Cup, some more than one. Even Hampshire are taking a game to the IOW this coming week.
Personally, as someone who grew up watching Essex at a minimum of three home festival venues, I find the Club's inability to even have a conversation about how an outground may work and be integrated into this competition, really disappointing. But utterly unsurprising.
The aforementioned Hants excused themselves by concentrating all their efforts on the Rose Bowl, fair enough. Meanwhile our uninspiring and devoid of any imagination lot stick exclusively to 80s relic, Chelmsford - the poorest and most outmoded county HQ on the circuit, for the fifteenth year on the spin.

Well said. Agree with every word.
Chelmsford has become an embarrassment. I am struggling to think of a county ground which is scruffier. I would ask anyone who disputes this to go and sit in the front row of the Tom Pearce Upper stand and admire the peeling paint on the railings. And we are pushing for one day internationals at the ground?
As for the main scoreboard, words fail me. Not only does it not show the information people want to see, ie how the last wicket fell, number of extras etc, it is constantly freezing and often just shuts down completely.
I feel so grateful that I was able to see Essex play at a number of outgrounds over the years. Nothing nowadays comes close to the enjoyment of a festival week at Castle Park, Southchurch Park or even Valentines Park.
And yes, we had considerably less hitches with the old mobile scoreboard than the current internet reliant piece of junk.

[Oldhasbeen]

Chelmsford has become an embarrassment. I am struggling to think of a county ground which is scruffier.
I feel so grateful that I was able to see Essex play at a number of outgrounds over the years. Nothing nowadays comes close to the enjoyment of a festival week at Castle Park, Southchurch Park or even Valentines Park.

Stewwy, you are a man after my own heart.
Without festival weeks at Leyton and Valentine's Park I doubt if I would have ever got into county cricket at all. I'm even nostalgic about Harlow, remembering some exciting low-scoring JPL games there in the early 70s.

[vim]

The decrepitude does not confine itself to the popular areas. I have been informed that the broken toilet seat in the ladies in the Premier suite has not been fixed for 2 or 3 seasons.

[Perov]

What does the Ground Manager do in the winter?  The players steps from the Pavillion are filthy  need a good clean up. A  bit of paint here and there would just spruce things up a bit.

[essexfan548]

Last Season Somerset used a scruffy old sheet full of holes as a sightsceen - their scoreboard was broken and had missing pixels.

At Northampton the roof leaks in the main Members area  there is nowhere to shelter safely if you do not want to sit indoors.

At Canterbury the Frank Woolley was condemned and had buddleia growing out of it - they had to appeal to members for money to refurbish it.

At Cheltenham there is nowhere at all to shelter if it rains. Ditto many outgrounds e.g Radlett

I know Chelmsford is tired but some of you clearly have not observed the problems elsewhere - above I give a few examples

[Oldhasbeen]

Last Season Somerset used a scruffy old sheet full of holes as a sightsceen - their scoreboard was broken and had missing pixels.

At Northampton the roof leaks in the main Members area  there is nowhere to shelter safely if you do not want to sit indoors.

At Canterbury the Frank Woolley was condemned and had buddleia growing out of it - they had to appeal to members for money to refurbish it.

At Cheltenham there is nowhere at all to shelter if it rains. Ditto many outgrounds e.g Radlett

I know Chelmsford is tired but some of you clearly have not observed the problems elsewhere - above I give a few examples

Fair points, 548. You are obviously a better-travelled man than me these days.

[Mog]

Shame about the result.
Was a good day and shows how out ground cricket CAN still work.


Being at the ground no one sitting with me could understand why the field was bought in at the last over.
 Even the Leicestershire supporters said it was going to gift a boundary

Have you noticed how the majority of counties have played at out grounds for the 50 over Cup, some more than one. Even Hampshire are taking a game to the IOW this coming week.
Personally, as someone who grew up watching Essex at a minimum of three home festival venues, I find the Club's inability to even have a conversation about how an outground may work and be integrated into this competition, really disappointing. But utterly unsurprising.
The aforementioned Hants excused themselves by concentrating all their efforts on the Rose Bowl, fair enough. Meanwhile our uninspiring and devoid of any imagination lot stick exclusively to 80s relic, Chelmsford - the poorest and most outmoded county HQ on the circuit, for the fifteenth year on the spin.

You got a wealthy backer who can bankroll a new ground?

It’s old ground, but we should have either sold and moved on in the early 90s or at least bought the old hospital so we expanded out onto new writtle street and/or made a killing by building new office blocks. Instead we waited until the football ground was available which is really not the right time or side of the ground. Hence we are still shoehorned into a position bounded by river, bypass and private housing, akin to Kenilworth Road.

Andy, Think we've been here before, several times!
We may have had a redeveloped Chelmsford County Ground - unfortunately, the genius project team tasked with delivering, consisted of ex-players and their equally incompetent mates.
Some fifteen years after the drawings were unveiled, well, some of it was, (the parts they didn't want us to see were redacted), to general apathy. Not a single aspect of the spectator facilities promised have ever materialised.
As you know I was a big advocate of the purchase of the hospital site (late '80s-early '90s) when ECCC were a thrusting Club with competent financial management (P.Edwards, M.Field)  - and a deep investment fund.
With some imagination, the Chelmsford City ground and training field would have enabled an expanded site, to have completely rebuilt and enlarged the dimensions/facilities of County Ground and have provided an adjacent Colts ground.
The regime that followed, PE and MF wasted most of that inheritance, not to mention goodwill by signing the likes of Alex Tudor, and other half-fit mates of our former captain on big fat salaries to spend most of each season either injured or 'delivering' half-hearted performances.

I digress, however. The point I was fundamentally making is why are Essex CCC unable to provide a single out-ground, even if it is only for a 50 over Cup venue? There really is no excuse!

[Andy]

I don’t disagree with your analysis of the situation regarding the club's lost opportunity over the ground or the possibility of using an out ground.

[nat]

I don’t disagree with your analysis of the situation regarding the club's lost opportunity over the ground or the possibility of using an out ground.

Of course there is an excuse for not using outgrounds. They lose money!

[mawallace]

The thing I find puzzling is if they lose money why have some many counties managed to do this?


I was at the Leicestershire game and it did not seem to be much cost involved! We brought our own chairs. Mobile caterers. Etc etc

[Suffolk Richard]

Just a question to anybody in the know regarding out grounds. Even if Essex were willing and can afford it would the county need permission from local councils to play professional sport?  If the local councils say no; Essex couldn't do anything about it?

[vim]

In the accounts, there was a breakdown of what the three outgrounds made.

Ilford made a loss and Southend made a profit. Colchester made a small profit, one year it was £50 for one weeks work.

Regarding the ground development and the old Football ground. Not that much blame can be attached to Peter Edwards as at the time he was in poor health and not fully aware of everything that was going on. The club wanted to use the Football ground site for car parking and wished to obtain funding from the Lottery fund. However that does not pay for parking places so the club said it would be used for nets for Juniors cricket. As proved by the saying that you cannot con an honest man, an approach was made to the then club accountant from a man who no one ever met. He said that he would out bid the club for the site unless the club paid him a £100k consultation fee to work with him. The fee was paid and he was never heard of again by any means.

By the time questions were asked. The accountant had left the club and Peter Edwards had died, so there was no chance of an answer.

[Andy]

Thanks Vim, not sure its impossible to con an honest person...but certainly the club's mismanagement of both finances, and increasingly it would appear in the dressing room, has effected the club ever since - despite having had a run in the past 8 years to rival the glory days of the 1980s.  I wonder who was that masked mystery bidder?