Worcester Chief Backs Blackpool East Decision

Worcester Warriors General Manager Charlie Little has backed Blackpool’s decision to build a Slick Systems East stand.

Little, talking exclusively to Vital, has overseen two stadium builds with the company whilst at Gloucester and Worcester. Both are rugby union teams in the Guiness Premiership.

He says that modular stands create a financially viable product and are a quick and easy way to boost capacity.

‘For Blackpool to choose the modular stadium is a wise decision. It creates a competitive structure in the stadium market and won’t look out of place in the Premier League,’ said Little.

‘Slick Systems are a fantastic company to deal with.

‘They’re good on tight timescales which they’ll have to be with just two-and-a-half months to go until the football season!

‘We requested to the Guiness Premiership that we were to play our first two games of the new season away from home so we could get the stand finished in time. I’d assume Blackpool will do something similar.

Pictures of the Sixways Stadium at Worcester circulated this morning seemed to suggest their East stand is a temporary structure. However, that’s not true.

‘We have a permanent/temporary stand at Worcester which was completed in September 2008. It was started in the May so took around four to five months to complete. This was an extension to the original stand we had built four years before with 4,000 seats up to 6,000,’ remarked Little.

Warriors had the same idea as the Seasiders currently do – to build on the original structure as and when they need it.

He continued: ‘This cost the club £5m but that was with the extension for a permanent structure as well as the original 4,000 seats. A temporary/permanent stand would cost much less, and we rented ours to begin with.’

Now, to get bogged down with the logistics.

‘Seats are placed on a scaffolding base which is easy. The first 15 rows of our east stand is scaffolding and the rest is more permanent,’ Little said.

‘The scaffolding is complemented with an aluminium floor decking which then appears solid underneath. It can be cladded outside and creates a permanent feel.

‘It does seem quite confusing at first, but the way in which it’s built is easy for the people who know about it to deal with!’

One other area which remains unclear is the plan of action for the concourse areas.

Little said: ‘With regards to the bars and concourse areas, we have the gangway down the middle of the stand but they’ve also been known to be placed on the right. There are three bars internally.

‘There’s certainly scope for lots going on in the concourse.

‘I’m just speculating but it could be that bars are situated at the end of the stand on each side.’

Something which will be music to Karl Oyston’s ears is that: There is no limit to how long you can keep a Slick Systems stand up – if it’s a temporary/permanent one.’