BEES UNITED have received some questions supporter Niolas Raue, on the subject of an alternative stadium site.
With Nicolas' permission, we are publishing his original question and the subsequent answer. If you have a question that you would like to see answered please email us.
If the council and the SRA (the Strategic Rail Authority) collectively extractum digitatum and allow Brentford FC to develop the Lionel Road site how will Brentford FC achieve this?
Would my assumption that some or almost all the finance would come from the sale of Griffin Park to a developer, eg Altonwood be right?
If this is the case would Brentford FC stay at Griffin Park while the new site was developed?
If not, would Brentford ground share with Kingstonians or would there be another team we could do that with?
If this is not possible then has the possibility of ground sharing at NEC Harlequins been considered?
The Stoop has at current a capacity of approximately 9500. This is more than enough for the current attendances at Griffin Park. However, the one of the potential benefits of playing at The Stoop is that you introduce the people of Whitton, Twickenham and Richmond to the joys and glories of watching football without having to re-mortgage the house every time you want to see a match. Obviously we would have to get an agreement from the board at Quins, but this could well be a better prospect than going to Kingstonians. The best part of this move would be that Brentford would still be near their "home" borough. And the transport links are probably better at Harlequins than they are at Kingstonians.
ANSWER FROM BEES UNITED-NOMINATED CLUB DIRECTOR, JOHN McGLASHAN
Some of the value for developing Lionel Road would come from the sale of Griffin Park, and the ideal situation would be that Brentford would stay at Griffin Park until a new stadium was ready.
A groundshare at Kingsmeadow is unlikely now because AFC Wimbledon play there as well as Kingstonian. Also, the stadium does not meet Football League standards, and a substantial amount of money would have to be spent on improvements – which would effectively reduce the amount Brentford could invest in a new stadium! This was also the case at Woking as well.
The Stoop ground at Twickenham would be an ideal site, but it requires approval from Richmond Council for association football to be played there. Also, Premier League rugby clubs have to upgrade their stadiums to a minimum 10,000 all seater capacity soon, and Harlequins are in the process of pushing through a planning application to meet this requirement right now. Their view is that the council will not approve both a change of use for football and the proposed improvements, so although they do not reject the possibility of a short term groundshare with Brentford, they are not prepared to discuss it at the present time.
The only club that is willing to consider a groundsharing arrangement with Brentford at the moment are QPR, but we haven't progressed matters with them, because until we are either forced out of Griffin Park because of our financial difficulties, or are obliged to move as part of the plans to develop a new stadium, the Club is not inclined to go anywhere.
I have only outlined the current situation – it is quite conceivable that within the next few months the circumstances at all these clubs may change, and I would agree that sharing The Stoop is most certainly a better option than sharing the Fans Stadium at Kingston.