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Post by jdl on Jan 23, 2017 23:28:31 GMT
Seem to faintly remember Elvis and the photo in the link Do you recall his age approx. and why was he called Elvis ? He always wore an old denim jacket (biker style), with 'Elvis' written on the back. I never spoke to him, but he was a regular in the ''shed' for years at London Road. Had loads of badges, scarves tied round his wrists, etc. Very sad that he never saw us come home.
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Post by tim on Jan 23, 2017 23:34:03 GMT
His real name was David Ridgley although I knew him for 30 years plus and only found out at his funeral I think he was mid 50's when he died, I should also mention our previous Chairman PBB who used to drive his wife Brenda to see him in London Hospital on a regular basis, which only proves he was a better man than some people paint! He was nicknamed Elvis because? Well, obvious really;-)
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Post by jdl on Jan 23, 2017 23:36:29 GMT
There must have been many others who never lived to see us come home (and, as Fred describes in Exodus, there were many older fans who were 'disenfranchised' even earlier, because they couldn't make the journey to Dartford when we sold the ground).
At London road, I was still a relative 'youngster, being only in my 20s and 30s (MUFC didn't quite make it to my 40th) and so I was very nearly 60 by the time the Stones came home. There must have been many fans 20 years or more older than me who simply didn't make it.
Perhaps the new stand should indeed be called the Elvis Stand as a tribute to all those who lost their club and never saw it come back?
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Post by gromley on Jan 23, 2017 23:41:34 GMT
Well if 'we' stump up another £25,231 it will be called 'the fans stand' - although I guess then the fans could rename it Elvis. {Noob alert} - no idea where 'Elvis' came from. (The answer sought is not Memphis)
Elvis was long standing supporter from years and years back. He was well known amongst us all and ardent Maidstone United. Sadly he became ill with cancer and the last game he went to attend was Swindon Supermarine away where he was unfortunately too ill to leave the coach. He died shortly afterwards. His ashes were scattered at The Gallagher. Here is a link Elvis Thanks nws, I always wondered but assumed it was a far more frivolous reference. Obviously I didn't know him, but for him to have been remembered in an (unofficial?) stand naming that speaks volumes. Seem's unlikely that the fans will actually raise enough to earn naming rights for the stand, but if he was really that special to the club, perhaps the new sponsors could be persuaded to include Elvis in the stand title? Would be a nice gesture and earn them kudos from those that knew him, or those that belatedly respect his support.
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Post by jdl on Jan 23, 2017 23:45:42 GMT
His real name was David Ridgley although I knew him for 30 years plus and only found out at his funeral I think he was mid 50's when he died, I should also mention our previous Chairman PBB who used to drive his wife Brenda to see him in London Hospital on a regular basis, which only proves he was a better man than some people paint! He was nicknamed Elvis because? Well, obvious really;-) I often wondered how old he was - no disrespect, but he looked 50ish even back in the old days. All credit to PBB for that. Even after much discussion on here and having lived through the Thompson years and read about both PBB and JT in Fred's book, I'm still not sure what to think about either of them - they both tried (and mostly succeeded) to do the best for MUFC in their own ways, but both also had flaws which were to ultimately prove their undoing. But I can't imagine JT taking a fan's wife to visit him in hospital - unless he got some publicity out of it! Also, although JT's financial arrangements were too obscure for anyone to ever understand exactly how much was paid to whom, for what, by whom, my impression is that he mostly use other people's money to fund the club, whereas PBB sunk as much as a million of his own money into keeping the club going.
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Post by gomeradave on Jan 24, 2017 6:08:40 GMT
My son and I both remember Elvis from the FL days and now I often enjoy a Sunday lunchtime drink with his brother, Martin in the aptly named 'Sir Alf Ramsey' close to where we both live in Tunbridge Wells. Also featured in Matt Eastley's wonderful book '66 on 66', a feat we are all unlikely to see repeated in our lifetimes!
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Post by southwick1 on Jan 24, 2017 6:52:09 GMT
You always knew you were on the right track when you spotted Elvis when tracking down some obscure village football club in the county league days.He was always asking me how Brighton were getting on when we spoke which i found a bit odd.Found out at his funeral he was born in a brighton and always kept his affiliation.
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Post by Loftus Road Stone. on Jan 24, 2017 17:25:16 GMT
The Maidstone Kop !
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Post by Benny on Jan 24, 2017 19:12:20 GMT
Does each step have its own crush barrier? That's pretty unusual; looks like the levels are wide enough to add seats one day. But that means tall ones will need to stand behind shorties and kids in a self-selecting kind of way. Designed to be easily convertible to seats. There will be barriers every two rows. The artist impression seems to show ten rows of barriers, which roughly corresponds with the number of steps. Shame the front rows of the visitor section are not seats because of the tiny amount we usually allocate from the Main Stand. Anyone know what the multicoloured sections are on the latest photo? Last time I looked it was a uniform grey. Last question of the day; have any other clubs gone for a similar steel design? Or are we pioneers again, as with the pitch?
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Post by daveu on Jan 24, 2017 19:26:48 GMT
Designed to be easily convertible to seats. There will be barriers every two rows. The artist impression seems to show ten rows of barriers, which roughly corresponds with the number of steps. Shame the front rows of the visitor section are not seats because of the tiny amount we usually allocate from the Main Stand. Anyone know what the multicoloured sections are on the latest photo? Last time I looked it was a uniform grey. Last question of the day; have any other clubs gone for a similar steel design? Or are we pioneers again, as with the pitch? If I remember correctly there are 11 double rows of steps each pair with its own barrier. Not sure about the different colours but may be something to do with weathering. On Saturday the first four sections were noticeably less bright than the fifth section presumably because they were exposed to the elements for longer.
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Post by moley on Jan 24, 2017 20:01:07 GMT
Like it. Although modern it has the feel of a traditional football ground.
Unless it is a really big ground (e.g. Emirates, Wembley, Stadium of Light)I am not a fan of the wrap around type stadium. I am not a fan of Prices Park, but at least that one has a certain uniqueness which makes it interesting (and after all that happened to them I/m sure the Darts won't be nitpicking at it's design).
The new Ebbsfleet stadium plans make Stonebridge Road look a lot of generic yuk, the old ground was at the end of it's life but they could have done worse than build something that looked roughly the same but with modern embellishments.
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Post by Loftus Road Stone. on Jan 24, 2017 20:32:54 GMT
Designed to be easily convertible to seats. There will be barriers every two rows. The artist impression seems to show ten rows of barriers, which roughly corresponds with the number of steps. Shame the front rows of the visitor section are not seats because of the tiny amount we usually allocate from the Main Stand. Anyone know what the multicoloured sections are on the latest photo? Last time I looked it was a uniform grey. Last question of the day; have any other clubs gone for a similar steel design? Or are we pioneers again, as with the pitch? Looking very carefully at the latest photos it does appear that metal square covers and being added does anyone know what purpose these serve ?
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Post by toonarmy on Jan 24, 2017 20:46:09 GMT
Designed to be easily convertible to seats. There will be barriers every two rows. The artist impression seems to show ten rows of barriers, which roughly corresponds with the number of steps. Shame the front rows of the visitor section are not seats because of the tiny amount we usually allocate from the Main Stand. Anyone know what the multicoloured sections are on the latest photo? Last time I looked it was a uniform grey. Last question of the day; have any other clubs gone for a similar steel design? Or are we pioneers again, as with the pitch? I'm led to believe there will be rail seats in the new stand to provide seating for the away supporters, so that they can all be together
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Post by Benny on Jan 24, 2017 21:46:43 GMT
The artist impression seems to show ten rows of barriers, which roughly corresponds with the number of steps. Shame the front rows of the visitor section are not seats because of the tiny amount we usually allocate from the Main Stand. Anyone know what the multicoloured sections are on the latest photo? Last time I looked it was a uniform grey. Last question of the day; have any other clubs gone for a similar steel design? Or are we pioneers again, as with the pitch? Looking very carefully at the latest photos it does appear that metal square covers and being added does anyone know what purpose these serve ? Maybe an extra layer of steel provides structural strength and/or a layer of grip?
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Post by jdl on Jan 24, 2017 23:45:51 GMT
I was at a game in the summer (abroad) where they had one section of the stadium with fold-down seats sort of set into the crush barriers (when they were in the up position), so you could sit if you wanted or your could stand as if it was a normal terrace (only with a lot more crush barriers). I thought it was quite a clever solution to the 'authorities want seats, fans want to stand' problem - perhaps this is what's planned for the Elvis Stand?
As it happened, that part of the stadium was being used as a no-man's-land between two sets of supporters, so was empty, so I never saw the terrace/seats in use, but it did look awfully cramped.
Incidentally, they also had nets hanging down from the roof at various points which could be raised or lowered, depending on where the segregation gap was - presumably to stop fans throwing things at each other.
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