Stadium expansion

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Mouth of the South said:
The priority given the reduction in turnover due to Covid-19 is ensuring CW is given sufficient budget to improve the areas in the squad he feels are necessary. Stadium development, whilst eventually leading to increased revenue should come second. With it currently unclear when supporters will be able to attend games, a further year with the current stadium will not have a major impact.

There'll be no point having a 38k capacity stadium if the worst happens next season due to the squad being too weak and the club find themselves relegated.
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but when does that stance end....we could say it every year...get it built now.
 
JayGreen17 said:
but when does that stance end....we could say it every year...get it built now.
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Quite simple - it gets built once tv monies return to normal.

I've no issue with committing monies for future years at this stage but not so it impacts recruitment for next season for which the budget has already been reduced.
 
bladesmanluke said:
With McCabe still owning the land behind the kop you would imagine it makes any kop extension impossible. Best we can probably hope for is a new roof
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Cant we all club together a few quid and have someone take him out? 😁😁
 
VwBlade said:
Cant we all club together a few quid and have someone take him out? 😁😁
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That wouldn’t solve anything. He has reserved a patch of land at the back of the kop for his burial space. It will be a huge structure, with a massive tombstone of crossed blades in granite, inscribed beneath with..

“HEY! I told you there was no bigger Blade than me!”
 
Shirty Blade said:
and to conclude the epitaph .....

"Tragically passed away from incurable flu caught from James Beattie!"
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The final resting place of Kevin McCabe, a football business genius who had the foresight to sell the one time most expensive British defender for a pack of Jack Fultons pork scratchings and a bottle of pepsi
 
Mouth of the South said:
The priority given the reduction in turnover due to Covid-19 is ensuring CW is given sufficient budget to improve the areas in the squad he feels are necessary. Stadium development, whilst eventually leading to increased revenue should come second. With it currently unclear when supporters will be able to attend games, a further year with the current stadium will not have a major impact.

There'll be no point having a 38k capacity stadium if the worst happens next season due to the squad being too weak and the club find themselves relegated.
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On the other hand, it could be argued that during a time when spectators are not allowed in stadiums then it would be a perfect time to undertake building works.

As a premier league team even in such trying times I would like to think we can do both strengthen the squad and improve facilities
 
mancunianblade said:
On the other hand, it could be argued that during a time when spectators are not allowed in stadiums then it would be a perfect time to undertake building works.

As a premier league team even in such trying times I would like to think we can do both strengthen the squad and improve facilities
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Hopefully so but it may well depend on where the funds to buy the assets are coming from. I'm not for a minute saying only invest in the playing squad and forget about the infrastructure but some obvious gaps and weaknesses obviously remain in the squad and with a reduced income and therefore budget, I would say filling the gaps over summer would take priority over stadium developments.
 
Mouth of the South said:
The priority given the reduction in turnover due to Covid-19 is ensuring CW is given sufficient budget to improve the areas in the squad he feels are necessary. Stadium development, whilst eventually leading to increased revenue should come second. With it currently unclear when supporters will be able to attend games, a further year with the current stadium will not have a major impact.

There'll be no point having a 38k capacity stadium if the worst happens next season due to the squad being too weak and the club find themselves relegated.
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It also means that if we do not under take any work while there are no fans in the ground, then you're looking at least 2 more seasons with a significantly reduced capacity and subsequent revenues.
 
Flatulent_Bob said:
It also means that if we do not under take any work while there are no fans in the ground, then you're looking at least 2 more seasons with a significantly reduced capacity and subsequent revenues.
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Yep, a fair point. Bettis and the Board will need to decide the optimum time to make the developments based on their forecasts.
 

S11Blade said:
It's pretty simple, training ground first then BL will have big upgrades.
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That was the original plan & one that I completely agreed with.
But with crowds expelled from Stadiums for the foreseeable, now may be the opportune moment to do both together.

It would require borrowing, but with interest rates particularly low at the moment this may not be a bad time for that either.

I'm not sure if the parcels of land that McCabe owns would hinder our plans to expand the South Stand, I'm pretty sure the Kop works can't be done without them..
 
Soapbox time...
I really hope we buy all the land, and come up with a design... not these individual bolt-on options that will then conflict with any future upgrades.
Look to what Wolves have / are doing. Keeps a traditional design but they are developing it in stages... to said plan.!
Develop stages as finances permit, as part of a greater strategic plan.
I get we need stuff now, but we should be more forward thinking.
 
LONDON_BLADE said:
Soapbox time...
I really hope we buy all the land, and come up with a design... not these individual bolt-on options that will then conflict with any future upgrades.
Look to what Wolves have / are doing. Keeps a traditional design but they are developing it in stages... to said plan.!
Develop stages as finances permit, as part of a greater strategic plan.
I get we need stuff now, but we should be more forward thinking.
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Completely agree, look at Old Trafford as an example of how not to do it, uncoordinated bolt ons here there and every where and now they have a stadium that's ridiculously expensive to maintain and in a poor state of repair. I wouldn't be surprised to see them build elsewhere in the future, I think they've taken it too far and won't be able to keep it maintained and safe
 
LONDON_BLADE said:
Soapbox time...
I really hope we buy all the land, and come up with a design... not these individual bolt-on options that will then conflict with any future upgrades.
Look to what Wolves have / are doing. Keeps a traditional design but they are developing it in stages... to said plan.!
Develop stages as finances permit, as part of a greater strategic plan.
I get we need stuff now, but we should be more forward thinking.
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I agree totally but that idea went out of the window when we made the kop all seater and built the John Street Stand.

The time to do what you suggest has long since gone and every bit of the ground improvements (if you can actually call them that) have been done on a piece meal basis with no thought what so ever put into having new stands actually look part of what it is next to - even down to the fact that John Street is longer than South Stand - It starts in the same place on the kop end, but at the Bramall Lane end it is a few seats longer. This is only apparent when you are in H block.

We didn't even build the Copthorne with the South Stand 2nd tier in mind - any 2nd tier will be shorter at the Copthorne end than what will then be the SS lower tier. This is quite clear from the original video that came out of this upgrade a number of years ago. Building a hotel without taking into consideration a stadium upgrade is just plain stupid, especially when extra floors could probably have been added on top of the Copthorne at design stage.

The whole upgrade(s) to the stadium at what ever stage since I started watching us when it was a 3 sided ground has been nothing short of pathetic from a design perspective. Admittedly costs along the way may have had some input but at the end of the day there is zero excuse for not designing expansion and connectivity in. If ever a piecemeal development is evident - it's evident at BDTBL.

UTB
 
CaptainMorgans said:
That was the original plan & one that I completely agreed with.
But with crowds expelled from Stadiums for the foreseeable, now may be the opportune moment to do both together.

It would require borrowing, but with interest rates particularly low at the moment this may not be a bad time for that either.

I'm not sure if the parcels of land that McCabe owns would hinder our plans to expand the South Stand, I'm pretty sure the Kop works can't be done without them..
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Sorry to ask, but i thought the Prince had just recently acquired the land behind the Kop so we could now extend if desired? Or is that still to be sorted?
 
Fulwood Blade said:
I agree totally but that idea went out of the window when we made the kop all seater and built the John Street Stand.

The time to do what you suggest has long since gone and every bit of the ground improvements (if you can actually call them that) have been done on a piece meal basis with no thought what so ever put into having new stands actually look part of what it is next to - even down to the fact that John Street is longer than South Stand - It starts in the same place on the kop end, but at the Bramall Lane end it is a few seats longer. This is only apparent when you are in H block.

We didn't even build the Copthorne with the South Stand 2nd tier in mind - any 2nd tier will be shorter at the Copthorne end than what will then be the SS lower tier. This is quite clear from the original video that came out of this upgrade a number of years ago. Building a hotel without taking into consideration a stadium upgrade is just plain stupid, especially when extra floors could probably have been added on top of the Copthorne at design stage.

The whole upgrade(s) to the stadium at what ever stage since I started watching us when it was a 3 sided ground has been nothing short of pathetic from a design perspective. Admittedly costs along the way may have had some input but at the end of the day there is zero excuse for not designing expansion and connectivity in. If ever a piecemeal development is evident - it's evident at BDTBL.

UTB
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I don't think the opportunity has completely gone, but (and it's a huge but), it will be more expensive than the cheap options which we currently have planning permission for. Anything is possible if you've got the money, like Spurs new stadium for example.

Personally I'd love to see us draw a line in the sand and say the days of cheap options and accepting the bare minimum are over at Sheffield United. Even if it takes 10 years to build a stadium we can all be proud of, then we should wait. If we build these extension, that's it, we've got them for the next 30 years minimum and the only option then will be to move, which I can never see happening.
 
YES Blade said:
I don't think the opportunity has completely gone, but (and it's a huge but), it will be more expensive than the cheap options which we currently have planning permission for. Anything is possible if you've got the money, like Spurs new stadium for example.

Personally I'd love to see us draw a line in the sand and say the days of cheap options and accepting the bare minimum are over at Sheffield United. Even if it takes 10 years to build a stadium we can all be proud of, then we should wait. If we build these extension, that's it, we've got them for the next 30 years minimum and the only option then will be to move, which I can never see happening.
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Yep - agree with the line in the sand. Poor design is just poor design no matter how you look at it.

Grounds such as Old Trafford and St James Park have always had a "big" picture and both have been developed piece meal with with a final picture in place. We might call H'boro the rust bucket but at least they've always had better implementation of what they've done..............SIGH !

UTB
 
The latest example of doing it properly is Bristol City.

They've taken down their old main stand and what I believe was originally the away standing end and rebuilt both with connection in mind. The old seating stand on the far side has been modernised with new seating at the front but incorporated into the two new stands with a really clever joining of the old and new roofs. It's obviously been thought about, designed and implemented with a master plan in mind.

The Chairman is a fella called Stephen Lansdowne (of Hargreaves Lansdowne, financial experts) who is the mastermind behind Bristol City/ Bristol Rugby Club and the developemnt of Ashton Gate. It's not quite worked out with Lee Johnson, but they appear to have a bit of a Brentford, moneyball outlook with players. He'll eventually get Bristol City into the Premier League.

UTB
 
Fulwood Blade said:
Yep - agree with the line in the sand. Poor design is just poor design no matter how you look at it.

Grounds such as Old Trafford and St James Park have always had a "big" picture and both have been developed piece meal with with a final picture in place. We might call H'boro the rust bucket but at least they've always had better implementation of what they've done..............SIGH !

UTB
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Not that I agree with the reasoning, but I can understand the thinking behind the current design e.g. we were bidding for the World Cup and obviously needed to increase capacity on a Championship budget. As that isn't a now a requirement, we can afford to take our time with any work on the Lane.

I love Bramall Lane but that's mainly down to the memories I have there, it's certainly not a stadium that fans of other clubs are envious of. We're very good at making it look nice on the surfice with some red and white cladding, but underneat that it's a very poor stadium by 2020 standards. I would be very disappointed if we continue with the current plans and do not learn from the numerous design mistakes we have made over the years.

The Prince clearly has a greater ambition than McCabe when it comes to investing in the team, hopefully he also has bigger ambitions when it comes to the Lane.
 
Booker4 said:
Sorry to ask, but i thought the Prince had just recently acquired the land behind the Kop so we could now extend if desired? Or is that still to be sorted?
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No, it's going to arbitration. McCabe changed his demands.

The Prince acquired the stadium, training ground & some other bits & pieces.

The parcel of land behind the Kop was not in the agreement.
 
CaptainMorgans said:
No, it's going to arbitration. McCabe changed his demands.

The Prince acquired the stadium, training ground & some other bits & pieces.

The parcel of land behind the Kop was not in the agreement.
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Is it still going to arbitration? I was under the impression the whole bramall lane footprint, training ground, everything else had gone to arbitration in June and the settlements were final. I haven't seen anything anywhere suggesting there's still a discussion to be had on the land behind the kop?
 
YES Blade said:
I don't think the opportunity has completely gone, but (and it's a huge but), it will be more expensive than the cheap options which we currently have planning permission for. Anything is possible if you've got the money, like Spurs new stadium for example.
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I loved what =they've done with their stadium and it's a brilliant ground. They built behind one end at first didn't they? We have the room to do that if we get the land behind the Kop. We could then shift the stadium so that we can build a bigger away end and sell more seats, preferably as a two tier unit
 
CaptainMorgans said:
No, it's going to arbitration. McCabe changed his demands.

The Prince acquired the stadium, training ground & some other bits & pieces.

The parcel of land behind the Kop was not in the agreement.
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So in essence, irrespective of any other factors such as Covid, we can't do any works to the Kop now anyway because of the situation in regards to the ownership and potential development of the land behind the Kop, or is that no longer an issue? I've clearly assumed wrongly that this was all sorted.
 

YES Blade said:
Not that I agree with the reasoning, but I can understand the thinking behind the current design e.g. we were bidding for the World Cup and obviously needed to increase capacity on a Championship budget. As that isn't a now a requirement, we can afford to take our time with any work on the Lane.

I love Bramall Lane but that's mainly down to the memories I have there, it's certainly not a stadium that fans of other clubs are envious of. We're very good at making it look nice on the surfice with some red and white cladding, but underneat that it's a very poor stadium by 2020 standards. I would be very disappointed if we continue with the current plans and do not learn from the numerous design mistakes we have made over the years.

The Prince clearly has a greater ambition than McCabe when it comes to investing in the team, hopefully he also has bigger ambitions when it comes to the Lane.
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indeed, we all love our grounds, but i agree, it is a poor design by 2020 standards. Spurs have set the new benchmark and we could never get anywhere near that, but we should at least try in future and do it better than before. Prem money will obviously help but apart from John Street, the other three sides need serious attention.

Expanding the kop when the front is just solid concrete built on top of a spoil heap is just a joke. The potential space underneath could be for kop fans pre match enjoyment instead of getting pissed wet through.

We were all suspicious of the prince, quite possibly fuelled by McCabe, but I think we've seen his true intentions and he should be given the opportunity over the next few years to see where he wants to take us.

time will tell as they say.

UTB
 
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