Kop needs urgent redevelopment

[Tom Bott]

I want us to have a long term plan for what we are going to do about our aging, outdated stadium.

Like the plans drawn and approved under Kevin McCabe for example ?

https://footballgroundguide.com/news/sheffield-united-seek-to-expand-south-stand.html

He couldn't fund it even with HRH as joint owner.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

Never said I want to jump into a spending spree. I want us to have a long term plan for what we are going to do about our aging, outdated stadium.

What's the long term plan for which league we will be in?
I'd suggest you are putting the cart 100 yards in front of the carthorse.

 

[Working Class Hero]

Are there any QS‘s on here? The kop steps were poured on top of the old ones which is on a mountain of rubble, a grab lorry can take approx 18 tonnes or 10 cubic metres, excavating plus digging down to create car park and services would cost millions and take months. Can any one calculate it?

In the long term worth it for the extra revenue and options it would bring but I think it’d take more than a year and where do the fans on the kop go?

It would need extensive surveys, ground investigation and a detailed design before you could even start to price it properly. You're already in the millions at that point probably. Overall in the 10s of millions without a doubt.

 

[YES Blade]

What's the long term plan for which league we will be in?
I'd suggest you are putting the cart 100 yards in front of the carthorse.

A club like Luton are planning on building a £100m new stadium, Brentford spent £71m on their stadium.

Why can’t we have a plan in place for a new stadium? Or can’t we ever dream of competing with those type clubs? FFS Luton we’re non league not too long ago

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

A club like Luton are planning on building a £100m new stadium, Brentford spent £71m on their stadium.

Why can’t we have a plan in place for a new stadium? Or can’t we ever dream of competing with those type clubs? FFS Luton we’re non league not too long ago

I'd prefer beating them on the pitch to having a £100m burger vending emporium that they can't fill.
Each to their own (if they personally fund it)

 

[blade too long]

We've gone from this in 1993

To what we have now in 30 years ..and to get promoted several times since ..

Hasn't crippled us before ... progress on and off the field should go hand in hand

 

[YES Blade]

I'd prefer beating them on the pitch to having a £100m burger vending emporium that they can't fill.
Each to their own (if they personally fund it)

Why can’t we have both? Spending money on the stadium doesn’t automatically mean the team suffers. In the same way that spending nothing on the stadium doesn’t mean the team will be successful.

 

[blade_ben]

Before the mop gets done the south stand needs doing first. For adding capacity while the Kop is gone, and like mentioned for more,better hospitality

 

[Jon Bon II]

A club like Luton are planning on building a £100m new stadium, Brentford spent £71m on their stadium.

Why can’t we have a plan in place for a new stadium? Or can’t we ever dream of competing with those type clubs? FFS Luton we’re non league not too long ago

I'm all for expanding the Lane but I certainly wouldn't want an identikit bowl stadium. What next, free cardboard clappers given away at the turnstiles? Our ground is one of the most popular amongst travelling supporters, mainly because it's NOT an aforementioned soulless bowl. Get thee behind me satan!

 

[Keen Blade]

Could we please drop this unrealistic thread and come back to it when the club has been able to :
A) pay off its existing mortgage for its purchase of the McCabe “assets” including the ground , the Enterprise Centre , Shirecliffe , Crookes & the feckin Hotel White Elephant ;
B) Finance doing something useful with the Hotel White Elephant ;
C) Buy the nauseating bits of land which the nauseating McCabe managed to retain behind the kop ;
D) Decide upon & finance a training ground and/or academy ;

May I respectfully suggest a 10 year moratorium upon suggestions of doing anything structural with the kop , unless it is closed down by our friendly city council

 

[S64 Blade]

Are there any QS‘s on here? The kop steps were poured on top of the old ones which is on a mountain of rubble, a grab lorry can take approx 18 tonnes or 10 cubic metres, excavating plus digging down to create car park and services would cost millions and take months. Can any one calculate it?

In the long term worth it for the extra revenue and options it would bring but I think it’d take more than a year and where do the fans on the kop go?

Could potentially just build over the top of the current Kop as it’s shallow enough. That would still mean limited concourse under the stand. Most of it would have to be back-ended over where the car park is, so I think it’d be tricky.

Realistically, the South Stand will be done first as it means a better return.

Short term, could the club just not put a canopy over some of the outdoor areas and rebuild some of the toilet blocks/concessions? It would be overly expensive to do that as a temporary measure.

 

[YES Blade]

I'm all for expanding the Lane but I certainly wouldn't want an identikit bowl stadium. What next, free cardboard clappers given away at the turnstiles? Our ground is one of the most popular amongst travelling supporters, mainly because it's NOT an aforementioned soulless bowl. Get thee behind me satan!

I think stadium design has come a long way since the 90s/00s stadiums were built at Derby, Leicester, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

I’d like to think we could up come with a design for a modern stadium, which also has features making it unique to United.

 

[PrestwichBlade]

I think stadium design has come a long way since the 90s/00s stadiums were built at Derby, Leicester, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

I’d like to think we could up come with a design for a modern stadium, which also has features making it unique to United.

#bespoke

 

[blade too long]

 

[Selly]

We've gone from this in 1993
View attachment 165359
To what we have now in 30 years ..and to get promoted several times since ..
View attachment 165360
Hasn't crippled us before ... progress on and off the field should go hand in hand

Not to be picky - but that photo is from before 1993 - thats the old Kop...

 

[Working Class Hero]

What possible reason could we have for a new stadium? We have pretty much a perfect location, steeped in more history than pretty much any other ground and we're not in a situation like Brighton (no ground to start with) or Luton (tiny with no room to expand).

Any capacity increase we'd ever need could also be done on the current site, as McCabe's plans show. There is also potential to expand the John Street stranded if we really needed to.

An expanded, improved Kop would do what we need it to for the foreseeable future.

 

[blade too long]

Not to be picky - but that photo is from before 1993 - thats the old Kop...

seats were installed in 91 not that it shows you where seats would be on the kop , but the structure hasnt changes much some new cladding and wider steps concreted in pinterest picture says 93 but not going to argue over 2 years

 

[blade too long]

we dont need a new stadium , bdtbl is all we need 45000 when fully developed should suffice our lifetime
I agree its not urgent but if we stay up it should be looked at

if we stay up 5 years for example we could potentially have 95 home prem games (19 x 5 ) with 15000 more bums on seats

which is 95 x 15000 at say 30 quid each expecting seat prices keep on rising is 42,750000 quid in revenue over 5 seasons

 

[stringjunior]

we dont need a new stadium , bdtbl is all we need 45000 when fully developed should suffice our lifetime
I agree its not urgent but if we stay up it should be looked at

if we stay up 5 years for example we could potentially have 95 home prem games (19 x 5 ) with 15000 more bums on seats

which is 95 x 15000 at say 30 quid each expecting seat prices keep on rising is 42,750000 quid in revenue over 5 seasons

2 things.

"If" is doing a lot of heavy lifting BTL

Revenue is not income.

Other than that though......

 

[Stevo71]

The design of the kop is dated, getting out after the game it does get rather crowded at the bottom of the kop exiting either the South Stand side or the John St side hence a complete rebuild with vomitories halfway up the kop allowing easier access & exiting. I would rather see the South Stand redeveloped first as a priority for corporate reasons etc. The kop & the John St corner should be totally demolished, i'd like to see the John St corner used as the media centre or something like Derby have then a new kop which goes round & join the South Stand. Cloud cuckoo land springs to mind but hey ..... it'd look a whole lot better than what we have now.

 

[Jon Bon II]

That would be mint. Planning permission already in place. Gerrit built!

 

[jt64]

but hey ..... it'd look a whole lot better than what we have now.

Pretty much anything outside of S6 looks better than the Kop

 

[Tom Bott]

Spending money

What money ??????????

I noticed that when I posted that the supporters could fund ground improvements by paying £ 1000 for season tickets and £ 60 match day tickets, no one responded.

So as much in life people want something.

So long as they don't have to pay for it.

 

[Nightsweats]

Why can’t we have both? Spending money on the stadium doesn’t automatically mean the team suffers. In the same way that spending nothing on the stadium doesn’t mean the team will be successful.

Do you know something everyone else dosen't?
That we have 2 seperate piles of cash. One allocated on player aquisitions,loan fees,agents fees, signing on fees; and another pot of money with millions to upgrade the kop.
Please layout the figures to enable us all to jump aboard the unicorn express to money tree land.

 

[Charlieblade]

as I said theres up to six levels of space available under the kop a massive increase in square footage , could easily accomodate more corporate boxes on one level maybe 2 , its potential is enormous with the right architecture the south stand is 48 years old the kop is prehistoric

Fifty plus years ago, I stood on the old Kop terrace that curved around the site to the old cricket pavilion. Then the south stand was built. (only the ball boys on the cricket pitch were happy.

Oh! Wait, that means I’m prehistoric too! Probably in need of renovation as well.

Seriously though. I imagine such a project would be a construction nightmare, lasting 2 years minimum. Do you think the club, and particularly season ticket holders on the Kop would be happy with that?

Even if we manage to stay up this season, the Kop renovation would be another good excuse to give PH a very small player budget again, subjecting the side to minimal player progression in terms of new faces, even shopping in the development pool again for new players.

I reckon Kop redevelopment while needed, will probably go on the back burner for a few more years yet!.

By the way, did anyone else see the newbuild QPR Academy. A very impressive build for 20 million quid! The only way I can see that being possible is if the local council gifted the land?

 

[blade too long]

Fifty plus years ago, I stood on the old terrace that curved around the site to the old cricket pavilion.

Oh! Wait, that means I’m prehistoric too! Probably in need of renovation as well.

Seriously though. I imagine such a project would be a construction nightmare, lasting 2 years minimum. Do you think the club, and particularly season ticket holders on the Kop would be happy with that?

Even if we manage to stay up this season, the Kop renovation would be another good excuse to give PH a very small player budget again, subjecting the side to minimal player progression in terms of new faces, even shopping in the development pool again for new players.

I reckon Kop redevelopment while needed, will probably go on the back burner for a few more years yet!.

By the way, did anyone else see the newbuild QPR Academy. A very impressive build for 20 million quid! The only way I can see that being possible is if the local council gifted the land?

Aston villa did a similar rebuild on the holte end and completed in 13 months

 

[Charlieblade]

Aston villa did a similar rebuild on the holte end and completed in 13 months

They did a good job too. Did they have to dig out construction rubble and pay for it to be removed too? (I don’t know the answer to that btw).
I don’t expect SCC to be very helpful either. (probably awkward and obstructive more like).

 

[CaptainMorgans]

We've gone from this in 1993
View attachment 165359
To what we have now in 30 years ..and to get promoted several times since ..
View attachment 165360
Hasn't crippled us before ... progress on and off the field should go hand in hand

Never seen that photo before.
Shame we built that stupid enterprise centre and hotel into the stadium really.
Another corner stand on the Bramall Lane / Cherry St. would have been better there.

 

[Charlieblade]

Where did I say that . We have developed up till now without going into sdmin

Our development to infrastructure consist of a lock of paint to external surfaces, bog roofing and any routine maintenance such as replacing broken seating because it a safety issue.
The only other spend was on floodlighting and broadcast facilities, and that was compulsory due to EPL promotion. (We may have had some of that susidised by Sky or thefootball league). Not sure on that.
Much of the spend goes on keeping up appearances from an external viewpoint. I bet Wendy wish they could afford that

Anyone expecting a new owner to cough up tons of cash for no ROI, is dreaming.

 

[Dkc]

The year is 2023 and people are still thinking the club does the kop first before more lucrative options

Why not? Everyone agrees that the Kop is the part of the ground that needs renovating most. It's the part of the ground that houses our most passionate supporters, the lifeblood of the club.

Shame that so many people have the attitude that more corporate areas should take priority. If we decided to concentrate on building more facilities for rich people on the perfectly adequate South Stand, there's no guarantee that the additional income would be spend on kop improvements. It would be ten years at least before we saw any improvement to the Kop.

If I was the owner I'd get cracking on the kop as soon as I knew we were safe from relegation. Basic improvements would cost the same as a single player signing (Berge, McB or Brewster) and would increase matchday income for the forseeable future.