It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. It's rubbish playing at a 32K capacity stadium and getting under 10K but that's where we're at. A move to a smaller stadium in the city centre would be attractive now but what happens if we do well? Do we pack in at the new stadium and move back to the Ricoh, develop it up to a similar capacity?
It's where, tbh, we're stuck between hatred of owners and other possibilities.
There is and always has been the danger our ground can be too big for us. It's running costs and the like that can hit hard, Darlington are the prime example... If we ever went pop and a new team was formed, it'd be crazy to start them off at the Ricoh for that very reason.
A smaller, city centre ground that can be developed can show ambition... if done properly. As ever, it depends what you gain and lose by doing so. Hindsight says leaving HR for the Ricoh was a shockingly bad move - potentialy drawing the club closer to the city itself could have the effect of re-connecting it with its fanbase... if done properly.
Unfortunately the final couple of words are key. Given we can't even sell tickets for our own games properly, it doesn't bode well for us coming up with a coherent strategy to make such a move work. Then again, it doesn't bode well for us making *any* strategy work.
But we're in very real danger of the Ricoh swallowing us up. Chicken and egg I know, as you say about grounds, but our crowds aren't justifying the Ricoh atm. Sure, blame SISU for that completely if you like, but the point still holds true and it is what it is. It's all very well saying potential, but maybe the radical approach is the longer term plan that deals with the pain and the wrenching now, and at least starts the process of building us on firmer foundations. Maybe closing a stand or two ain't such a bad idea in the interim...
And when it comes to somewhere like the Butts, maybe it needs people with vision not to even try and link a young football team to us, but to just set one up and see how far they can grow it, to see if there's any possibility of a new approach and if there's the appetite for such a thing.
I dunno, if I had the answer I'd be doing it rather than talking about it, I suppose!