Can we make it bigger?

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Sheffsteel said:
I think the reason why us and Wednesday could get 50K when playing Man Utd in the 70’s was because it was so easy for floaters to just turn up,and stand together. Man United could bring 10,000 away fans abs they’d all get in, about 7,000 on the away end and 3,000 in the John Street and South stand. Although I do think football is more popular now than the 70’s and 80’s with many more women and kids attending. 40,000 averages might seem like dreamland but South Yorkshire is a big place, loads of potential to average 40K.

Also regards the stadium expansion I’m sure I read a quote from McCabe saying work would begin the Summer immediately after we’ve retained our place in the PL, so potentially work would start Summer 2020. He also said ideally he’d prefer to do both the Kop and the South stand at the same and during building works the design would only mean a slight reduction in current capacity.
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As has already been said, he said when established.

In any event, HRH doesn't appear to want to buy BL so he's unlikely to be considering spending millions on increasing the capacity.

My understanding is that the latest revised plans are purely for future owners to consider, not the current two.
 

If we were to go up I'd rather us spend minimal on the greedy b***ard players that don't give a f*** about the club (that's not aimed at the current squad, I'm on about all the mercenaries that would be eyeing up a move to the latest member of the diving and cheating league) and instead spend most of it on turning the Lane in to the best and biggest ground in Yorkshire. The plans are there for a 44k stadium (i would revisit the plans for the Kop and do a total rebuild).

It's one of my bugbears driving down East Bank Road and seeing that cheap and nasty Kop on the town centre horizon, rebuild it with something that is iconic and takes the breath away from any visitor to the Lane. With Prem money and the extra capacity we could reduce prices significantly and fill the f***er.
 
I'm not sure. It holds just over 32000, and there are usually 6000 plus empty seats. Compared to many grounds it gets quite full, but pride comes before a fall, and the idea of a 40000 capacity ground, a fall from grace (it does happen a lot, as we know), and 20000 or more empty seats would be grim. As a kop person, I think any redevelopment should start there. The kop should be the soul of the club, and although there's been recent threads about it being quiet, when "on song" it's still great. However, fans on the kop are rewarded with facilities which are positively Victorian, from the low rake to the "outside facilities", which when you go to other grounds, or even other stands at BDTBL, brings home how crap it is. It's redeeming feature is that it's cheap, but I'd be willing to pay a bit more for a better view and not getting pissed and snowed on when I go to the bog. I'm rarely a pie eater and don't drink at the ground because there's not a lot of fun drinking not very good beer outside in the cold and wet! I spent quite a lot at the Northampton beam back because to my amazement even the beer is better in the John Street! I don't want prawn sandwiches, and don't want to lose the atmosphere (yes, there is one), but just want the kop's facilities to be a bit more like the other stands.
 
SUFC Handsworth said:
The plans are there for a 44k stadium (i would revisit the plans for the Kop and do a total rebuild). It's one of my bugbears driving down East Bank Road and seeing that cheap and nasty Kop on the town centre horizon, rebuild it with something that is iconic and takes the breath away from any visitor to the Lane. With Prem money and the extra capacity we could reduce prices significantly and fill the f***er.
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The new plans are not a total rebuild but they would still make our Kop iconic.
One of the 2nd biggest single tier Kop in England, bigger than Liverpools Kop but smaller than the new Spurs Kop.

The pillars would all be removed, freeing up loads of restricted view seats.
The concourse areas would all be spacious, under cover and very modern.
The 3,200 seats at the back of the Kop wouid all have a steeper rake and presumably more room.
and the exterior of the stand would look impressive from the outside on Shoreham Road.
 
Tom Bott said:
Last year average 26,854.

This year so far 25,620.

Maybe because our top players have left :rolleyes:.
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That is actually baffling that the attendance is lower honestly I don’t understand
 
Lmaobob said:
We can barely even sell out our stadium so what's the point in making it bigger?
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Make the kop bigger and better taking it to 35.

Then just give away fans 4/5k

Don’t think we will ever need a bigger one than that and the plans for another tier look daft anyway.

In 20/30 years we’ll be one of the only teams with old fashioned stadiums while teams like derby/stoke/hull/ and more play in character less bowls no thanks
 
The only reason to expand capacity is if it comes in the form of a kop improvement. Let's be clear that we absolutely don't need additional capacity at all. The only reason we'd do it is if we were in the PL then we might need additional capacity so that the whole BL end can be given to away fans. Personally I'd leave the away allocation as it is though and then we'll sell the odd game out.
 
They have plans. At a meeting I was at last season Andy Birks the then CEO said the there are plans for the kop and the south stand once we have had a couple of seasons up in the prem. Whilst the Kop changes are more desirable the extra tier on the SS is probably the one they would go with first as a lot of it can be done without closing it and losing revenue. The kop would have to be closed for a season to develop it.
 
With sustained success we could certainly fill a bigger stadium but I think the demand has to be there in terms of sustained Premier League football (as McCabe says). I also wouldn’t want to see BL become so big that we can’t realistically fill it in a regular basis.

See MK Dons and Sunderland as examples. Both will only fill their home ground when playing one of the top six in the advanced stage of a competition or in Sunderland’s case, in the league.
 
Lmaobob said:
We can barely even sell out our stadium so what's the point in making it bigger?
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Hardly any team in England can consistently sell out when doing well in the Championship, can only think of Norwich.
So using that logic no team would expand. Of course, expansion talk is all based on being in the PL.
In 2007 half our home games were virtually sell outs (apart from some restricted views) and that’s when giving away clubs only 2,990 tickets. Several clubs in the PL could easily bring 5,000 plus.

Regards the term “established`, it’s been explained that even if we go up no expansion will immediately start.
McCabe was quoted as saying, we’d need to go up and survive relegation, then from the 2nd season building works will start.

Doing the Kop is the bigger priority for the fans but starting the South stand is the bigger priority for the club.
The South stand is the face of the club for vip visitors, we would also massively upgrade and expand our money making corporate and conference facilities, we’d also improve the board room, media facilities and ticket office facilities.

Another point already mentioned is that with the ownership being in dispute maybe the situation has changed.
If the Prince wins control, then I believe he doesn’t have any interest in paying for stadium expansion. If McCabe wins control then maybe he plans to sell and the artist impressiins are to encourage/ impress new buyers regards what can happen.
 

If United could get promoted, actually stay in the PL for 10 years plus have massive investment in top quality players and win some cups of course we would build a massive fan base
Unfortunately I have supported United for 45 years and we have predominantly been crap in that period, lost every play off final and semi final going and get relegated when everything goes wrong for us and bad luck
If we were a successful side we could easily need a 40k seater stadium
 
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Tom Bott said:
Last year average 26,854.

This year so far 25,620.

Maybe because our top players have left :rolleyes:.
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FallowfieldBlade said:
That is actually baffling that the attendance is lower honestly I don’t understand
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This is quite simply down to the kick off time changes coupled with the amount of times we’ve been on TV this season which I’ve lost count of.

I still think this seasons will end up higher anyway by the seasons end, the Bristol City game will be a sellout for a start or not far off it.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Another point already mentioned is that with the ownership being in dispute maybe the situation has changed.
If the Prince wins control, then I believe he doesn’t have any interest in paying for stadium expansion. If McCabe wins control then maybe he plans to sell and the artist impressiins are to encourage/ impress new buyers regards what can happen.
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Which is exactly what I posted (#31) In a reply to you.
 
PeterNdlovu081 said:
We don't need a bigger ground and we probably never will.

Been discussed on here a million times over the years.
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If we dont need a bigger stadium,we certainly could do with a more comfortable stadium (ie Kop),redevelop it in its entirety not the quick fix that is in the pipeline.
 
ChipButtyBlade said:
If we dont need a bigger stadium,we certainly could do with a more comfortable stadium (ie Kop),redevelop it in its entirety not the quick fix that is in the pipeline.
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This has been discussed so many times. Although I would also prefer a total rebuild of the Kop, however doing your suggestion has so many negatives it’s untrue, any normal business man would never do it, it looks like it would cost many many millions and take several decades to approach anywhere near the return on the investment. Would seriously piss off some season ticket holders too, who would be refused the ability to watch home games for 2 years as overall capacity would be reduced to 20,000, which would be rediculously low if we were in the PL.
 
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Cerberus Blade said:
When, (not if), we go up to the Prem at the end of this season, can we get started please on making our ground bigger?

I want that two tier kop with standing in the lower section and I want the South Stand (where I sit) to be extended to be bigger than the main stand at Elland Road. Ground Capacity not less than 40,000.

I’m only mentioning it now because if we’re going to do it in summer we need to be getting brickies out for a quote now as all the good ones are booked up months in advance. I know this because I’ve recently tried to get a brickie out to put a cantilever roof and faux-Gothic turrets on our outside shithouse and you just can’t get the buggers to come out and quote even unless you give them plenty of notice.

So..gerronweit!
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Not guna happen, all required funds will be spent on legal fees, that's why everything's on hold regarding ownership, they're hoping for promotion so they now which lawyers they can afford.
 
It doesn't need to be much bigger but it needs smartening up, Kop and Cherry St especially. Can't do much about John St.
 
Akinbiyi said:
It doesn't need to be much bigger but it needs smartening up, Kop and Cherry St especially. Can't do much about John St.
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Needs a black glass facade to cover the shitty concrete, that makes it look so dated n old.
 
PaulHalfway said:
If United could get promoted, actually stay in the PL for 10 years plus have massive investment in top quality players and win some cups of course we would build a massive fan base
Unfortunately I have supported United for 45 years and we have predominantly been crap in that period, lost every play off final and semi final going and get relegated when everything goes wrong for us and bad luck
If we were a successful side we could easily need a 40k seater stadium
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You’d think so but Man City don’t always fill the Etihad. 40k sounds about right but if we couldn’t stay in the PL, like the majority of clubs can’t, it would seem very empty with only 25k in it.

I look at it like this. How much would an extra 10,000 per game bring in? If you took a high average of £20 per head it’s only £400k per game. Less than £8m a season. Before you factor in the cost of the work.

That’s not a huge proportion of our income if we were in the PL.

What most people seem to be suggesting appear to be vanity projects.
 

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