What exactly happened in regards to your John Street stand in the mid to late 90's? I remember being taken to the lane by my uncle and it only had three sides to it, think John St had been demolished. Bloody freezing, I remember. There was some trouble over it was there not?
Randomly just thought of it and just wondering if any blades could just give me a heads up to what happened?

Trouble?

When it was knocked down I think there was a delay as the initial plans were considered to be too small, I think it was McDonald that beefed them up a bid.

Trouble?

When it was knocked down I think there was a delay as the initial plans were considered to be too small, I think it was McDonald that beefed them up a bid.

I may just have got the wrong end of the stick. But I remember my Dad and Uncle at the time mentioning some trouble with the chairman or director over the redevelopment of John St. May have just interpreted it wrong though, don't know why I've just remembered it now.

McDonald was the new chairman that wasn’t happy with the original plans,well that’s how I remember it anyway.

I thought we had funding problems with it?

John St was knocked down when Reg Brearly / Paul Woolhouse were battling over who was going to be the next chairmen, Woolhouse ended up on the run (and still is to this day) and Brearly had serious cash problems and was wanted in India (for slave labour or something along those lines). Brearly ended up getting bought out by Mike McDonald but this wasn't until John St had been demolised for the best part of 18 months.

I think the original plans (despite one or two comments going against this) were too extravagent, with another tier on top of where the executive boxes. It was scaled down to be more cost effective and hats off to Mike McDonald soon after he took over the builders were bought in and the stand finally started to get built.

We get all this tripe from Wednesday fans about how hard done by they've been in the last 5yrs but believe me it was a total shambles down at the Lane at board level for a long, long time while Wednesday were shelling out millions on England internationals we were scrapping around Norway and Australia for a potential gem.

Any Wednesday fan who thinks we're gloating is bloody right, i see Wednesday in termoil, the ground flooded, gates down to 15k, no money for new players, an over sized and ageing ground is a reminder to them week after week what they could have been and tried so hard to be its almost ruined them.

I laugh to myself thinking of those Wednesday fans who were all so high and mighty back in the day and now you see them and get the same line "I don't go much anymore, i can't afford it" - so much for the loyal fans eh, i continue to chuckle to myself at false takeovers and an ex Chairman who hate the 'morons' and seems happy to hold onto his stake in the club just to watch the 'morons' suffer even more - we salute you Sir Dave Allen!!

Well put stockers a very fair assesment. Don't agree Dave Allen was their downfall though, he could have been a savior for the club if it wasn't for the MORONS.

I remember watching a game on Sky when you were playing Man Utd some time in the 90s (I think they had that horrible green and yellow away kit on), it was a windy night but with the stand missing it was like the game was being played in a hurricane, the ball and loads of plastic bags, litter etc were swirling all over the pitch.

Well put stockers a very fair assesment. Don't agree Dave Allen was their downfall though, he could have been a savior for the club if it wasn't for the MORONS.

Tripe. The man had zero PR skills and every penny he put in he expected to get back with interest. How many other chairmen have taken their clubs forward with that attitude?

Under his "leadership" the debt doubled and the gates went down, what kind of "saviour" is that?

Dave Richards, Trevor Francis, Danny Wilson and David Pleat ruined Wednesday.

Dave Richards for allowing all of the above to waste money hand over fist, Trevor Francis for dismantaling a good team Fat Ron had put together, Danny Wilson was just not good enough but as an ex favourite the fans wanted him to do well and gave him too much time and David Pleat for just been a prat and wasting huge amounts of money on talentless players.

Dave Allen thought a few million quid invested would be enough to get the club back into the PL, then he could sell up at a huge profit. I don't think he understood the troubles were running a lot deeper than the first team by the time he took over as Chairman.

Tripe. The man had zero PR skills and every penny he put in he expected to get back with interest. How many other chairmen have taken their clubs forward with that attitude?

Under his "leadership" the debt doubled and the gates went down, what kind of "saviour" is that?

he left you in a better position than when he came to you.
the debt was already there when he came .
as for PR , well you have that now , see how many points it puts on the league table or how many players it buys .

I remember watching a game on Sky when you were playing Man Utd some time in the 90s (I think they had that horrible green and yellow away kit on), it was a windy night but with the stand missing it was like the game was being played in a hurricane, the ball and loads of plastic bags, litter etc were swirling all over the pitch.

yes we have moved on , improved beyond recognition in the last few years.

Dave Richards, Trevor Francis, Danny Wilson and David Pleat ruined Wednesday.

Dave Richards for allowing all of the above to waste money hand over fist, Trevor Francis for dismantaling a good team Fat Ron had put together, Danny Wilson was just not good enough but as an ex favourite the fans wanted him to do well and gave him too much time and David Pleat for just been a prat and wasting huge amounts of money on talentless players.

Dave Allen thought a few million quid invested would be enough to get the club back into the PL, then he could sell up at a huge profit. I don't think he understood the troubles were running a lot deeper than the first team by the time he took over as Chairman.

I'm not saying that Dave Allen is the reason why the club has been in such a mess for the last decade. Personally I blame Danny Wilson more than anyone, and his ridiculous spending on bad players and then getting us relegated.

The likes of Francis and Pleat didn't do much good for us, at least after 1993 when that good team was broken up too quickly and mostly replaced with lesser players, but Wilson really dropped us in it. Agree Richards was also to blame for agreeing the stupid contracts for the likes of Donnelly, Jonk, De Bilde etc.

Wilson sank the ship, but Dave Allen did everything possible to keep it below the water.

I'm not saying that Dave Allen is the reason why the club has been in such a mess for the last decade. Personally I blame Danny Wilson more than anyone, and his ridiculous spending on bad players and then getting us relegated.

The likes of Francis and Pleat didn't do much good for us, at least after 1993 when that good team was broken up too quickly and mostly replaced with lesser players, but Wilson really dropped us in it. Agree Richards was also to blame for agreeing the stupid contracts for the likes of Donnelly, Jonk, De Bilde etc.

Wilson sank the ship, but Dave Allen did everything possible to keep it below the water.

Didn't you have 2 cup finals under Francis and two of the top eight finishes you are so proud of ??

he left you in a better position than when he came to you.
the debt was already there when he came .
as for PR , well you have that now , see how many points it puts on the league table or how many players it buys .

How do you explain him leaving us in a better position? He left us in a similar league position, but with a debt that had more than doubled and an average support that was several thousand less, having singlehandedly obstructed numerous investment bids.

PR doesn't put points on the table, but bad PR like Allen's turned the fans away, and the income they'd have brought in. Strafford is by no means a glorious saviour, but he's at least trying to bring back the missing supporters.

This has gone off topic again hasn't it...

How do you explain him leaving us in a better position? He left us in a similar league position, but with a debt that had more than doubled and an average support that was several thousand less, having singlehandedly obstructed numerous investment bids.

PR doesn't put points on the table, but bad PR like Allen's turned the fans away, and the income they'd have brought in. Strafford is by no means a glorious saviour, but he's at least trying to bring back the missing supporters.

This has gone off topic again hasn't it...

so you didn't get promotion with Dave Allen ?:confused::confused::confused:

Didn't you have 2 cup finals under Francis and two of the top eight finishes you are so proud of ??

Did you not read the words "at least after 1993"? We had two top 7 finishes after that under Francis and Pleat, but as I said overall they didn't do much good. Wilson got us relegated and into the debt mire.

so you didn't get promotion with Dave Allen ?:confused::confused::confused:

We went down, then got back to the same position that we were in when he came. Hardly massive progress.

To be honest i was always under the impression that francis was a good manager at wednesday and also was well liked by the fans?

as usual AP the keyboard warrior steps in to a thread about ground improvements an turns it into a battle of words .
I think Francis did well for wednesday , if you don't like it tough.

Tell me, who first mentioned Dave Allen, and had a snipe at the Wednesday "morons"? You. Who's made the most "on topic" posts in this thread? Me.

I'd define a keyboard warrior as someone who just makes random snipes about the opposition, rather than being constructive or making well reasoned argument, then just descends to insults - that'd be you again.

I've just tried to reasonably debate the situation - you're the one getting stroppy. Bless.

I think threads have to be left to run their natural course.

Its difficult for a thread to grow on the same topic as other points are always going to come into the discussion.

BTW - it was me who quoted the 'morons' line made by Sir Dave Allen, i was only quoting, not sniping!!

We went down, then got back to the same position that we were in when he came. Hardly massive progress.

wrong again , Allen got you into a better position than you had been in for years.

he left you in a better position than when he came to you.
the debt was already there when he came .
as for PR , well you have that now , see how many points it puts on the league table or how many players it buys .

Now that is not bloody true

Now that is not bloody true

explain alty ,
you were in a better league position when he left than when he took the chairmanship.
he brought stability to the club ,the fans only turned on him when he sacked sturrock, they were shouting his praises for getting sturrock when he came .
this is all copied from a newspaper article and comments from someone called S8 OWL.

just to be clear , I am no fan of his , there are a lot more bad points about him agreed but thats not the point of what I was saying.

explain alty ,
you were in a better league position when he left than when he took the chairmanship.
he brought stability to the club ,the fans only turned on him when he sacked sturrock, they were shouting his praises for getting sturrock when he came .
this is all copied from a newspaper article and comments from someone called S8 OWL.

just to be clear , I am no fan of his , there are a lot more bad points about him agreed but thats not the point of what I was saying.

Wrong. Yet again. The fans turned on him long before he sacked Sturrock, it was actually within a year of him taking over as chairman when he took us to the second lowest league finish in the club's history. Sturrock didn't get the sack until more than 2 years afterwards.

Still, at least you've come up with another "definitive" source of information. A newspaper article and someone called S8 Owl - that well known spokesperson for every Wednesdayite :loopy:

Wrong. Yet again. The fans turned on him long before he sacked Sturrock, it was actually within a year of him taking over as chairman when he took us to the second lowest league finish in the club's history. Sturrock didn't get the sack until more than 2 years afterwards.

Still, at least you've come up with another "definitive" source of information. A newspaper article and someone called S8 Owl - that well known spokesperson for every Wednesdayite :loopy:

wrong agian read wednsdeay history , you need to. you were all over him when you went up and he set your timetable to the premier league.
you really don't know much about the club you claim to follow.

i remember being there freezing to it looked like it was made for old matchsticks

remember it like a previous poster described , carrier bags flying all over and freezing like in a wind tunnel.

although they lads in the shops on john street used to sit on the roofs of there offices with some tinnies and watch the match for free :D

ifact- there used to be a board on the half-way line between the adverstising hoardings that had a big blades sticker on it- one day my dad went down to the site as they were demolishing the old stand and asked the lads if he could have it- so its now in my garage :D

although they lads in the shops on john street used to sit on the roofs of there offices with some tinnies and watch the match for free :D

ifact- there used to be a board on the half-way line between the adverstising hoardings that had a big blades sticker on it- one day my dad went down to the site as they were demolishing the old stand and asked the lads if he could have it- so its now in my garage :D

every time my dad and myself sit down before a match we comment on how good the stadium looks now . it's a pleasurs to look at.

every time my dad and myself sit down before a match we comment on how good the stadium looks now . it's a pleasurs to look at.

yes agree. just that corner between kop and fam stand spoil it. but when the new tevez kop goes up. will be one of the best stadiums in the country.

yes agree. just that corner between kop and fam stand spoil it. but when the new tevez kop goes up. will be one of the best stadiums in the country.

the kop will be amazing , the biggest single tier kop. Lets hope we are good enough to fill it.

the kop will be amazing , the biggest single tier kop. Lets hope we are good enough to fill it.

no one in this league can fill a 40,000 stadium week in week out. in fact most of the premier teams cant. but at least if we do go up we can give visitors the whole away end when its finished. thats around 6,500 instead of 2,700. if that had been in place when we were in the premiership our average would have been around the 36-37,000 mark. not bad for a struggling team in relegation trouble throughout the season. if we could get a mid table team together then 40,000 could be achieved.

no one in this league can fill a 40,000 stadium week in week out. in fact most of the premier teams cant. but at least if we do go up we can give visitors the whole away end when its finished. thats around 6,500 instead of 2,700. if that had been in place when we were in the premiership our average would have been around the 36-37,000 mark. not bad for a struggling team in relegation trouble throughout the season. if we could get a mid table team together then 40,000 could be achieved.

Agree with 100% of that post.

Dave Richards, Trevor Francis, Danny Wilson and David Pleat ruined Wednesday.

Dave Richards for allowing all of the above to waste money hand over fist, Trevor Francis for dismantaling a good team Fat Ron had put together, Danny Wilson was just not good enough but as an ex favourite the fans wanted him to do well and gave him too much time and David Pleat for just been a prat and wasting huge amounts of money on talentless players.

Dave Allen thought a few million quid invested would be enough to get the club back into the PL, then he could sell up at a huge profit. I don't think he understood the troubles were running a lot deeper than the first team by the time he took over as Chairman.

Where did Trevor Francis dismantle a good team? He let Turner go and replaced him with the England goalkeeper. Brought in Paul Warhurst for not a lot of money, converted him into a goal scoring sensation and then sold him for mega bucks. The signing of Nigel Jemson turned out to be a dud but he redeemed himself with part exchanging Paul Williams for Mark Bright. The Waddle signing was inspirational, Bart-Williams was a tidy player, although Forest saw the best of him, Des Walker comes to mind as being a good signing to.

He let Palmer go to Leeds for a lot more than he was worth, Worthington went to, but was far past his best. He was greatly critisized for the signing of Ingerson, but he managed many years of top flight football in Italy when he left us. Wayne Collins didn't really get a chance and left for Fulham when Keegan was manager. Trevor's worst signing IMHO was Andy Sinton, he should have stuck at his original £1.2 million bid, £2.6 million was silly.

So Stocks, please explain where the dismantling took place. :confused:

Where did Trevor Francis dismantle a good team? He let Turner go and replaced him with the England goalkeeper. Brought in Paul Warhurst for not a lot of money, converted him into a goal scoring sensation and then sold him for mega bucks. The signing of Nigel Jemson turned out to be a dud but he redeemed himself with part exchanging Paul Williams for Mark Bright. The Waddle signing was inspirational, Bart-Williams was a tidy player, although Forest saw the best of him, Des Walker comes to mind as being a good signing to.

He let Palmer go to Leeds for a lot more than he was worth, Worthington went to, but was far past his best. He was greatly critisized for the signing of Ingerson, but he managed many years of top flight football in Italy when he left us. Wayne Collins didn't really get a chance and left for Fulham when Keegan was manager. Trevor's worst signing IMHO was Andy Sinton, he should have stuck at his original £1.2 million bid, £2.6 million was silly.

So Stocks, please explain where the dismantling took place. :confused:


totally agree with you ,I tried to point out that Francis was ok yesterday and got shot down for it by mr partridge. his record for wednesday is on par with ron atkinson and francis managed wednesday for near enough double the games, atkinson also did the dirty on wednesday.
the jemson saga you mentioned was more personal than football , I knew jemson and francis at the time and francis treat him terrible , I even remember francis bringing jemson on as sub and then taking him back off, a thing I had never seen before.

Where did Trevor Francis dismantle a good team? He let Turner go and replaced him with the England goalkeeper. Brought in Paul Warhurst for not a lot of money, converted him into a goal scoring sensation and then sold him for mega bucks. The signing of Nigel Jemson turned out to be a dud but he redeemed himself with part exchanging Paul Williams for Mark Bright. The Waddle signing was inspirational, Bart-Williams was a tidy player, although Forest saw the best of him, Des Walker comes to mind as being a good signing to.

He let Palmer go to Leeds for a lot more than he was worth, Worthington went to, but was far past his best. He was greatly critisized for the signing of Ingerson, but he managed many years of top flight football in Italy when he left us. Wayne Collins didn't really get a chance and left for Fulham when Keegan was manager. Trevor's worst signing IMHO was Andy Sinton, he should have stuck at his original £1.2 million bid, £2.6 million was silly.

So Stocks, please explain where the dismantling took place. :confused:

God Wayne Collins. I liked him, didn't play many games, but he did chip in with a few goals.

God Wayne Collins. I liked him, didn't play many games, but he did chip in with a few goals.

agreed, i always felt he was very underated from what i remember