Saints new Training base to now be at Seaford!!!!!!

[BelfastSaint]

I know the area very well and I believe it will be a great location.
Its not far from Eastlink and the Frankston freeway and will be very easy to get to.
It is currently a very quiet area with not much traffic and I cant wait to see the transformation over the next few years.

[saintlee]

I am very happy that we can finally get started on the damn thing! I am sick of waiting for a decision.

The area will look very different once the facilities are built, I think alot of the whiners on here will change their minds once we see a fantastic new facility up and running.....the location is not that bad IMO....

[BelfastSaint]

And as for where Belvedere Park actually is ...
Its not in Frankston ...
I would say a more accurate description of the locale would be - on the boundary of Seaford and Carrum Downs..

[GrumpyOne]

I dont give a damn where is is...

* As long as its in Melbourne.
* As long as we have an elite training facility.
* Full stop.

OK Red.

I don't give a damn where it is either, as long as it is in Melbourne.

An elite training facility is only elite if its kept up to date. Where will the money come from to do that in the future? Do we have to keep shelling out our hard-earned on someone else's property?

We turned down Moorabbin on the basis of 8 pokies. We would have got freehold there.

We turned down Casey Fields because Frankston offered us freehold.

We now end up at Seaford with no freehold.

We have been dudded big time. No coincidence this was announced during the euphoria of our finals campaign. The club was hoping no one would notice.

This smells like sh1t; looks like sh1t; and we are up to our necks in it, waiting to be told to do handstands.

[GrumpyOne]

I am very happy that we can finally get started on the damn thing! I am sick of waiting for a decision.

The area will look very different once the facilities are built, I think alot of the whiners on here will change their minds once we see a fantastic new facility up and running.....the location is not that bad IMO....

FFS wake up and smell the sewerage farm!

This has nothing to do with location; we were promised freehold, we did not get it.

[JeffDunne]

If we get access to an elite training facility that meets our needs for $1.4M then I'm all for it.

The "plus all additional costs" part concerns me but if it can be done for less than $2M then it's a good option for us.

[Legendary]

And what about when potential players are taken to see our facilities and realise our state of the art, modern centre of excellence is actually in a backwater, dirty part of the world?

No offence to the Frankstonites... I would have settled for Frankston Oval, but Belvedere Park? Gimme a break.

Talk about settling for second best.

This is why we as a club are tainted with the 'settling for mediocrity' tag. This is why we as a club are known for bending over and taking whatever comes our way.

This is why we as a club are thought of as a joke.

Not happy at all.

Moorabbin was a backwater when we moved there.

In 20 years, Melbourne will have another million people living here ... an area like Seaford near the bay and only 45mins from the CBD will become a more highly-regarded part of Melbourne.

In 20 years, Seaford will seem like a great decision IMO.


It's not like the facility is going to be a white elephant. It will be state of the art.

Good move. I'm with bigred:

I dont give a damn where is is...

* As long as its in Melbourne.
* As long as we have an elite training facility.
* Full stop.

[GrumpyOne]

In 20 years, Seaford will seem like a great decision IMO.


It's not like the facility is going to be a white elephant. It will be state of the art.

Moorabbin was state of the art when it was built. All sorts of grand plans were made for the site. Just look at it now.

Seaford will be the same. Councils/Governments will not keep tipping in $$$ to keep it that way. If so, we would not have to move from Moorabbin now.

In 20 years, we will be looking for somewhere else to relocate to, because the site will be in disrepair.

No asset.... NO DEAL.

[zebraman]

if you think that Belvedere Park is a backwater, wonder how Richmond fans will describe Craigieburn?? Casey Fields is not greatest location. And North Melbourne's Arden Street is hardly a place of sartorial elegance. The Lexus Centre hasn't made Collingwood into a premiership winning juggernaut. I guess the freehold issue is the sticking point. But if you get an $11 million facility for an outlay of just over 10% of that cost then I reckon that is a reasonable deal

[Legendary]

Is it confirmed that we don't gain an asset of any sort out of this deal?

[saintbrat]

Is it confirmed that we don't gain an asset of any sort out of this deal?

nothing stated
but the ' block' of land first offered by Frankston Council asa been converted to $1 million and added to the Councils $2 mill to become $3 million.

[evertonfc]

At first thought, yes, the Harvey link is lovely. But that's the only positive.

This is a bad outcome. A white elephant for sure - and where's our freehold?

All things considered, the original Moorabbin deal now looks a hell of a lot better.

And why is it that when Collingwood build an elite, inner-city venue - that perfectly connects with the MCG (post-game money spinner) and nearby suburbs - we put our facility in the middle of nowhere?

Not happy.

OK Red.

I don't give a damn where it is either, as long as it is in Melbourne.

An elite training facility is only elite if its kept up to date. Where will the money come from to do that in the future? Do we have to keep shelling out our hard-earned on someone else's property?

We turned down Moorabbin on the basis of 8 pokies. We would have got freehold there.

We turned down Casey Fields because Frankston offered us freehold.

We now end up at Seaford with no freehold.

We have been dudded big time. No coincidence this was announced during the euphoria of our finals campaign. The club was hoping no one would notice.

This smells like sh1t; looks like sh1t; and we are up to our necks in it, waiting to be told to do handstands.

Can I urge everyone to read the above post.

[Otiman]

What happened to "Focusing on the finals" Archie?

Typical deflection tactic which he used numerous times when asked frankston questions in the "Ask Archie" forum, not impressed.

[st48]

apparently it is something like the saints get 50 year lease at $1 a year and the also sole rights to say who uses the ground besides us.

robert Harvey oval would be very fitting. does this mean we can sell off the naming rights to the whole complex? Like Collingwood have done to Lexus.I beleive we couldnt do this at Frankston Par and we didnt have a say as to who used it and when.

[RedWhiteBlack]

What happened to "Focusing on the finals" Archie?

Typical deflection tactic which he used numerous times when asked frankston questions in the "Ask Archie" forum, not impressed.

Well what the f*ck do you expect him to say when they are on the verge of a deal?

[Legendary]

evertonfc ... why is it a white elephant?

Why is a training facility that, when built, will be the equal of anything in the AFL, a white elephant?

Our players will have a state of the art facility in the St Kilda heartland.

Ok, so financially it's not going to benefit the club as much as there is no asset.

But I'm sure the board and CEO will now be looking at investing elsewhere in order to gain an asset, whatever that may be.


We are a football club. Football is the first focus of this board, and they have committed to a training facility that will help us play the best football we can.

It's not like we've just signed off on the club's death.

[evertonfc]

What happened to "Focusing on the finals" Archie?

Typical deflection tactic which he used numerous times when asked frankston questions in the "Ask Archie" forum, not impressed.

Well what the f*ck do you expect him to say when they are on the verge of a deal?

Why do you get so upset whenever someone questions the club or Archie Fraser?

Is there something you want to share with the rest of us?

[saintspremiers]

And what about when potential players are taken to see our facilities and realise our state of the art, modern centre of excellence is actually in a backwater, dirty part of the world?

No offence to the Frankstonites... I would have settled for Frankston Oval, but Belvedere Park? Gimme a break.

Talk about settling for second best.

This is why we as a club are tainted with the 'settling for mediocrity' tag. This is why we as a club are known for bending over and taking whatever comes our way.

This is why we as a club are thought of as a joke.

Not happy at all.

don't worry nick, it's not like any sod of dirt has been turned yet.

I can't imagine Archie getting any deal done.

Time to pack your bags Archie, not good enough!

Why should us members believe any spin you spout nowadays?

May as well just train at Fitness First or another local gym somewhere and use a local school pool!

[evertonfc]

evertonfc ... why is it a white elephant?

Why is a training facility that, when built, will be the equal of anything in the AFL, a white elephant?

Our players will have a state of the art facility in the St Kilda heartland.

Ok, so financially it's not going to benefit the club as much as there is no asset.

You sound like a late 1960s brochure for Waverley Park.

It's not like we've just signed off on the club's death.

Of course not.

But you're making out like we should be happy to be alive.

I want to know why we're not chasing down Collingwood. Which - in defence of the early years of Rod Butterss - seemed to be what this club was all about.

I liked the ambition. Where did it go?

[kaos theory]

Can I urge everyone to read the above post

FFS

This obession with freehold is over the top. Yes, its good to have it. If we don't have freehold, then I'm sure it will be something long-term and legally binding & benefical to the saints.

The REAL point is this:

- We NEED an elite training facility and we need it ASAP!

- If we go into further discussions with other potenital sites (especially some of the wishful thinking expressed here...), then we face MORE uncertainty, MORE cost and MORE time (probably more years) without an elite level training facility.

- If some of you haven't worked it out yet, its going to get MUCH harder to win a flag with more teams entering the comp & draft picks tied up with the new clubs.

- We need to do everything we can to control the things we can control to continue to be a top team. And an elite training facility is VITAL thing we can control.

- Generating cash flow is FAR more important than some freehold asset on the books. IF we can't generate positive cash flow & profit, year in year out, then everything elese is irrelevent.

- Therefore, we need to perform, win games, and play in finals, yr in yr out. And the training facility is a vital part of achieving that....NOT whether we can stroll down a hip & trendy street and buy a cafe latte after a training session.

I couldn't give a stuff where the bloody facility is. Some here don't seem to understand reality, and are stuck in a dream world....

[osama milne laden]

The Robert Elphinstone Arena

[st48]

Well said Kaos.

This decision is for the next 100 years of our club. No one goes to training anymore and you cant get in when you do so why all the cr@p about staying at Moorabbin. If some of you have to drive a bit further to jump on the bandwagon when we reach the finals then bad luck.
We are officially the last club to have an elite facility. So what if it is 20 minutes down the road. So waht if we dont own it, how many other clubs own theirs? The fact is because we are paying such a small amount, and according to the AFL we have got the best deal of any club, we can now look at other investments. And for all you Collingwood lovers who want us to chase them (WTF?) I doubt if we will invest in the Beach Hotel and others which cost them multi millions. Eddie even said it was dumb and he will work his arse off to get that money back. This way we get a facility that cost bugger all and the ability to earn money elsewhere. If we had built at Frankston Park and borrowed even 3 mil extra to do it then we would have no money left at all. We Just got out of debt, why go back in unnecessarily?
A completely new site allows us to extend whenever the need arises. Why build at a smaller site at FP when we cant even build as big a compex as we want in the first place. Belvedere is a blank canvass which we can do what we want with for little money. We put in 1.4 out of 11mil for gods sake!! How good a deal is that?
Get off your freehold high horses and stop being so bloody pessimistic.
New Facility, preseason cup, atleast a prelim!!! Some of you would bloody complain about winning tattslotto.

[GrumpyOne]

Can I urge everyone to read the above post

FFS

This obession with freehold is over the top. Yes, its good to have it. If we don't have freehold, then I'm sure it will be something long-term and legally binding & benefical to the saints.

The REAL point is this:

- We NEED an elite training facility and we need it ASAP!

- If we go into further discussions with other potenital sites (especially some of the wishful thinking expressed here...), then we face MORE uncertainty, MORE cost and MORE time (probably more years) without an elite level training facility.

- If some of you haven't worked it out yet, its going to get MUCH harder to win a flag with more teams entering the comp & draft picks tied up with the new clubs.

- We need to do everything we can to control the things we can control to continue to be a top team. And an elite training facility is VITAL thing we can control.

- Generating cash flow is FAR more important than some freehold asset on the books. IF we can't generate positive cash flow & profit, year in year out, then everything elese is irrelevent.

- Therefore, we need to perform, win games, and play in finals, yr in yr out. And the training facility is a vital part of achieving that....NOT whether we can stroll down a hip & trendy street and buy a cafe latte after a training session.

I couldn't give a stuff where the bloody facility is. Some here don't seem to understand reality, and are stuck in a dream world....

You just don't get it, do you Kaos.

History exists for us to learn from.

When we went to Moorabbin, we won our only premiership in pretty quick time. If we go to Seaford, we quite probably will win our second pretty quickly too.

But it was all downhill from the 70s. We only kept afloat by not paying our players; getting them to accept piffling cents in the dollar settlements, and getting our legend to donate a car he won to be raffled for the clubs benefit.

A part of our history we should all be ashamed of and remains unrectified to this day.

We will not survive in Melbourne without substantial asset backing, and that must be in the form of freehold property. We cannot continue to gamble our existance on being finalists for the next 20 or so years.

What use is all the premierships won by Fitzroy now?

Short term gain, long term pain.

[st48]

Yep. it was bloody Moorabbins fault. We had crap players and coaches and a membership that couldnt get over 10k All because of the cursed Moorabbin ground. I should think you would be glad we are leaving sucha place.

[The Craw]

Who out of all the existing Vic based teams own the freehold for there training facilities ?

Your argument is null and void.

move on!