Wouldn't meet Super League standards. I always thought Leyton Orient would be worth a go for you in terms of transport links and capacity, though I could be completely wide of the mark there.

Underhill is a dump but Barnet itself is a lovely area, nice pubs nice high st, a tube station and it's really easy to get to just off the A1 and M25 plus i live there



I'd love it for convenience but having recently seen the stadium, it's an absolute hole compared to the Stoop. In terms of location if you were to build a new stadium i'd be looking in the Acton, Park Royal, Chiswick, Ealing, Greenford, Wembley, Harrow areas in terms of ease of access by car, coach, train, bus.

The stoops a great ground, though a little far from the pitch, it's just in the wrong area for us, it's not central enough for a casual "Londoner" to get too, anywhere more in central London would be better for this and would encourage more people to come to Friday night games after work, and even at weekends it would make the commute simpler for everyone outside of London.

QPR is a decent shout too and they have hosted RL before, any further away from London especially Milton Keynes would be like giving up on London all together in my view. Give MK their own team to work their way up and see how popular they are before completely alienating this franchise from many supporters.

QPR is probably the only half decent suggestion I have seen. But I'd still favour our current setup, personally.

Being in central London isn't great for those who want to drive to the match.

Just say purely for example IF QPR did sell their ground to move somewhere bigger, would the chairman be interested? What would be the cost roughly?
Would a joint venture with Sarries(both clubs to have seperate identity) 50/50 ownership be worth a go?
Plenty of spare land around Park Royal to have a P&R scheme for the travellers.
Anyway reality time, unless Quins RU kick them out non of this will happen and they'll always be Quins RL.

I despair.

So basically

You're foooked

It's not working for you at the Stoop , if you move , you're going to upset some of the few fans you have left , and none of you can agree where would be best

Time to wrap it up boys and get down to the Skolars

According to the last set of accounts Loftus Road was valued at about 24million. I know Dave Hughes is rich, but he ain't got that kind of money, and neither do the RFL.

There's a 30-odd acre site just over the road from QPR (behind White City tube station) that I'm hoping the club will purchase and develop. A nice 25,000 seater and lots of room alongside for residential units to pay for it. If that were to happen you can bet Loftus Rd would be redeveloped for housing as well.

As for the RL club, there's the old Fisher Athletic ground in Rotherhithe. Enough room for a basic 8,000 capacity and some flats to pay for it. The RFL would probably let us get away with that if we were to play 3-4 big games down the road at Millwall each season (ie WIgan, Leeds, Catalan on St George's Day, that kind of thing).

The old Fisher ground is unlikely to be honest. Developers / Fisher had planning permission to build a new ground / flats on the site however with the current property market the number of flats now won't fund the job so they had to go back and ask for more flats. Not too sure what is going on now as I have moved from the area but if they are struggling to build a stadium there it is difficult to see us succeeding as I'm guessing the proposed stadium is a bit cheaper than we'd need to meet Superleague criteria. Even if it is plausible you won't get a cheap deal on a site with planning permission that close to central London.

Like i said a joint venture with Saracens (another nomadic club) 12 mill for a 50% share

Probably not a bad idea if it wasn't for the location. In my experience, Saracens supporters are a different breed of RU supporter to Harlequins supporters (putting it nicely).

How so? Do you think they might show a bit of interest in us?

I think their attitude towards us might be a bit different.

So if Union fans are put off watching us, because of the Quins tie-up, why would they not be put off with a Saracens tie-up?

It seems clear that people seem reasonably happy with the setup of the Stoop, just not the location.

The real question is where we want to be; North, South, East, West, or even just outside London. I wouldn't want to go to a larger stadium with our current crowds, but we need to have a stadium with a minimum 10,000 capacity to comply with RFL rules. We also need to have a pitch which is the correct size as anyone who remembers any rugby league or Wasps playing at Loftus Road you will end up with alot of players flying into the advertising boards.

We are looking for a ground to take a game on the road this year with Milton Keynes and Oxford mooted, perhaps a potential ground in London for our future should be looked at as us testing the water with free or good rate tickets for a match to test the local take up.

I've put Brisbane Road forward in the past, problems that it has only 9,271 seats and would require the RFL to okay it as a permanent home. It would give Leyton Orient a year round income, and give us access to the Olympic buzz. The cons would be another move to an unproven area. North London is bad for some and good for others. Only four or five miles from the Valley where there were apparently great strides made, but five miles in London is fifty miles anywhere else in the country.

Someone has elsewhere suggested a fixture at Brighton's new stadium and if the club had been clued up they could have arranged a SL match this summer against a big northern name like Bradford and used the fixture as one of the testing matches that they have for health and safety before they ramp it up to full capacity. I know Brighton might want this for themselves but a 10,000 plus crowd and free tickets for Brighton sth's and Sky Sports showing London having fans and we'd be showcasing the game throughout the South of England.

But aren't QRL tennents though rather than a 50/50 partnership with QRU?

If they went in to a 50/50 and bought Loftus road they could be Saracens RU and London (insert name) RL. Both clubs retaining their own identity.

I think both clubs would benefit with a home in Central London not only that but in Shep Bush near 2 tube stations, 10 mins from the west end, countless pubs and an Antipodean community on the doorstep to help bump up the numbers. Regards the advertising, they could remove the first couple of rows and not really worry as it's not as if they will fill an 18k stadium for a while.

[url=http://qprreport.blogspot.com/2010/12/qpr-report-sunday-qpr-contemplating-new.htmlIf/when QPR do move stadiums[/url then it should be a serious consideration and a joint venture of You guys and Sarries with a possible little help from both the RFU and RFL. This would put both clubs in as strong a position as is realistically possible.

I was under the impression that Loftus Road was up for commercial development is sold.
There is a very nice floodlit pitch with one fully built stand standing idle in the now decommissioned Uxbridge RAF base. The RAF used to play most of their RL and RU games there.
I ahve personally watched many inter service RL games there, which were regularily officiated by the likes of Bentham & Co.
A little investment and a couple of stands similar to the ones North and South of the Stoop, hey presto. Good travel links and plenty of parking.
The site is up for redevelopment, housing and extention to the existing shopping precinct, i'm pretty sure the plans allowed for a certain amount of sports playing surfaces as well.
Bear in mind its right on top of Brunels Universities main campus.

Brentford.

We were close to 4k average by the time we left. of 14 games there in 2005 only 3 had sub 3k gates.

As I said before Loftus Rd is valued at about 24million, so it's a complete non-starter. It's surrounded by housing so will likely end up with flats on it - if the club do decide to move at some point.

Loftus road is a non-starter....horrible area and for the umpteenth time.....aussies/kiwis are a small area of the target market.....


If it where up to me.....Fulham! Started there......and if it's going to "fail" then why not back there!

Fulham would be awesome but while they are in the premier league withstand current owner they have no need for us.

Though I would have never predicted they build a statue of Michael Jackson outside the cottage either l, so stranger things have happened!

Reading the League Express letters this morning seems someone else had the idea of moving to Millwall. I think Millwall was thought about years ago when they moved into the New Den and wanted to have concerts and such like on.

It's a 'horrible area' with the best transport links of any stadium in London. Central Line, Hammersmith and City Line, London Overground, dozens of bus routes all within 5-10minutes walk, and Piccadilly Line a touch further. TV Centre, Westfield, some of the best pubs and restaurants in town. And god-knows how many businesses based within a five mile radius. Yes, Loftus Road is the last place in London you would want to base a team.

Fulham on the other hand has little public transport, is nearly impossible to park nearby, and is surrounded by rich people who'd fight against the club playing evening matches, or any matches at all come to that. In fact, I think Fulham themselves have had trouble with them in the past.

Anyway, I shouldn't rant because neither option will ever come about. Neither club needs the money (what's a couple of hundred grand to them?) or, frankly, the bother of dealing with a team playing in front of 2,000 fans.

Fwiw, I'm v pro Stoop, and don't think it's half the millstone it's made out to be on here. However, the talk seems to be of a move and I was surprised the Den was never suggested despite the drawbacks that others have pointed out.