Stadium or squad.

[tenerifeblade]

The main point of the exercise isnt only the improvements to the ground, though, however admirable that is. It is the building of Offices/residential premises in order to create an income stream for the medium to long term. Other Clubs, in particular the shower across the City, are stating that "off the field investment" is of paramount importance to them. They would give their high teeth for an opportunity like we have at The Lane. And their fans wouldnt be moaning and groaning about it, either, but gloating if they were in our position.

 

[Charles]

If Sheffield United is promoted this year then money will have to be spent on the squad because if not then it’s back down for the following season.
Its great having a good stadium but you need this in the top division. What’s the point of having a great ground and being in a lower league?
The club must have sorted out its finances before any West Ham Cash so that would make any money from them a surplus however what is spent on player could be how much this total is. None of us know, and it might not be the sums the papers have been talking about.

 

[Linz]

If Sheffield United is promoted this year then money will have to be spent on the squad because if not then it’s back down for the following season.
Its great having a good stadium but you need this in the top division. What’s the point of having a great ground and being in a lower league?

Yeah, and I think the consensus is that most people think it isn't going to be one or the other, but both in varying degrees Even the club acknowledge that they cannot be tackled in isolation:

Even the KPIs of all the group take into account the success on the pitch:

* Average Crowd
* League Position
* Player wages as a percentage of turnover
* Non-match day leisure revenue
* Rental yields
* Development yields

"The League position of the Football Club defines the success or failure of the Club on the pitch and has an indirect impact on the income the Club receives from its football related businesses."

If the plan is to get up and stay there by investing X amount in the squad, then a knock-on effect of that is that attendances will increase.

To take advantage of these attendances to bring further money in, we're going to have to add some more seats and the best place to do this is the Kop (the poles have apparently been bending for quite some time so it's inevitable that something is going to have to be done eventually.)

To ensure that as few people as possible are affected, it'd make sense to do this before we get the big crowds.

It's nice to see that home attendances have stayed pretty solid throughout the year despite all this economy rubbish so if there continues to be a good pricing policy, we could assume that at least some of the extra seats would be used and bringing money in.

Even the annual report says that this is all linked to success on the field too:

"The proposals are intended to provide the club with the capacity to accomodate anticipated supporter growth and increased demand associated with sustained Premier League status."

And it isn't just for the benefit of "new" fans. The facilities are going to be improved for existing fans too.

Then there's the offices and flats and whatever. Despite a bit of a shaky start, it seems the BEC has managed to attract a respectable amount of tenants.

"The Blades Enterprise Centre turnover for the year ending 2008 was £0.96 million with profits of £0.4 million."

"Occupancy of the Centre continues to be excellent, running in excess of 95% for most of the year."

What hasn't been mentioned on here is the club's involvement with the National Skills Academy for Sport which is going to be up at Shirecliffe. We're trying to get involved with the NSA at work and there's an absolute killing to be made from all the funding from the Government

Like I said, what the club is actually saying is all there if people want to read it. Whether they want to believe it or not is another matter.

 

[matth]

IF we get up to the Premiership and there are more fans who want to attend games, there are about 5,000 empty seats available. Even when we were in the Prem last season, it wasn't massively difficultto get tickets - I didn't have a season ticket then and still managed to get to a lot of games.

At the risk of sounding negative, I don't think we're a big enough club to justify a 40,000 seat stadium - and I'm not sure we ever will be.

 

[tenerifeblade]

Yes, you do sound negative. When were in the Premiership we were rubbish, remember. If we could get a good team together we ARE big enough for a 40,000 seater.

 

[silverfox]

Yes, you do sound negative. When were in the Premiership we were rubbish, remember. If we could get a good team together we ARE big enough for a 40,000 seater.

Agreed.

We are getting 25,000 to 30,000 now......even being so crap.....if you listen to the people sat near us.

I'd go for both myself.....better squad and better ground.

Easy isn't it!

 

[Linz]

Easy isn't it!

Aye... piece of piss spending other people's money

 

[matth]

Yes, you do sound negative. When were in the Premiership we were rubbish, remember. If we could get a good team together we ARE big enough for a 40,000 seater.

You say negative, I say realistic. I'd love to think that we could get crowds of 40,000 week in week out, but I doubt very much that I'll ever see it. We're just not a fashionable club.

 

[Linz]

You say negative, I say realistic. I'd love to think that we could get crowds of 40,000 week in week out, but I doubt very much that I'll ever see it. We're just not a fashionable club.

I think it's the lack of prawn sandwiches sold in the kiosks that makes the difference

 

[silverfox]

You say negative, I say realistic. I'd love to think that we could get crowds of 40,000 week in week out, but I doubt very much that I'll ever see it. We're just not a fashionable club.

No ambition eh?

 

[matth]

I am appalled that someone as middle class as me - I drink port, for goodness sakes - has to endure people eating meat pies around me at the match. I find it despicable. I'm all for prawn sandwiches, as long as the commoners can eat them with their idiotic mouths shut.

I personally bring a hamper of foie gras, water biscuits and gooseberries to the match with me.

 

[matth]

no ambition eh?

hindle out!

 

[silverfox]

hindle out!

I've taken my shoes off!

 

[Linz]

I personally bring a hamper of foie gras, water biscuits and gooseberries to the match with me.

I do hope one brings one's own sherpas to carry one's hamper too

 

[Foxy]

You say negative, I say realistic. I'd love to think that we could get crowds of 40,000 week in week out, but I doubt very much that I'll ever see it. We're just not a fashionable club.

I think you are right, there are too many floating\fickle\glory seeking fans to reach it without drastically improving our standing in the game... That's not to say that isn't possible though.

I'd say were slowing becoming a more fashionable club, thanks to mainly being the top team in Sheffield in recent years and with the year in the Prem... That's not to say we wouldn't lose all that by bottling it on the pitch/not investing sensibly.

Question is, could we get that fashionable with both on and off the pitch progression? Things like securing World Cup games, having a bigger/shinier ground and on the pitch progress are the sorts of things that attract the floaters. That and sensible pricing.

I think its a figure to aim for, rather than expect. But without the adequate progression on and off the pitch, it won't happen.

 

[tenerifeblade]

We averaged over 30,000 the last time. I can see us, in the not too distant future being a very good side with a couple of Tony Currie types in the squad, pushing for honours on all fronts, and playing clubs like Man utd, Liverpool etc who will be wanting a ticket allocation of 10,000 at the Lane. If my dreams and maths add up, 40,000 seats wont be enough!

 

[matth]

We averaged over 30,000 the last time. I can see us, in the not too distant future being a very good side with a couple of Tony Currie types in the squad, pushing for honours on all fronts, and playing clubs like Man utd, Liverpool etc who will be wanting a ticket allocation of 10,000 at the Lane. If my dreams and maths add up, 40,000 seats wont be enough!

Let's hope you're right!

 

[bricktop]

Personally i would like to see money reinvested on the playing side and getting to and managing to stay in the premiership and staying there, rather than spending it all on building new stands, shiny new offices and doing bugger all on the pitch.

In the current climate we are well placed to get through this recession and with the money we have it makes complete sense to get to the premiership and establish ourselves there as the sky money will make a lot of difference and once we are an established premiership club selling out week after week and demand is outstripping demand then look at building new stands and shiny new business centres.

I think the McCabes are looking too closely at building the infrastructure of a top club off the pitch whilst not fully concentrating their efforts on the pitch and i think at times they need reminding they own a football club rather than a property company which will provide a nice little earner for them both

 

[metalblade]

A tricky question and after reading through the thread I am amazed that a fair amount of posters seem to believe improving the ground will be to the detriment of the team as it was in the 70s when the south stand was built. McCabe is a property man and at a time when the construction industry is on it's knees it surely makes sense to build now to keep that side of his empire ticking over, to me it would look like one part of the business investing in the other part for the improvement of the whole.
If we could we should have the bulldozers moving in as the fans leave on the final game of this season. If work cannot be completed in the summer we would start next season with a ground capacity of around 21,000 !!!!!! well we near as damn it have that many season ticket holders now in the CCC so redevelopment after we have become established in the premiership is a non starter.
To those of you who think we could not fill a 40k seater stadium let me tell you that the last time we had a good top flight team we averaged crowds of over 30,000 something the pigs couldn't do with all their star players in the early 90s, some of the attendances were over 35000 in a shithole with three sides, they even had to sell seats in the old cricket pavilion a quarter of a mile away from the pitch such was the demand. Bigger and better facilities will attract more fans does anyone seriously belive Donny Rovers would have doubled their attendances if they were still playing at Belle View.
The kop is the worse part of the ground at the moment the sooner it is bigger and with top facilities the better. Oh and when it is done it will be the largest kop in the country :thumbup: Gerrit built - we have other revenue streams now apart from football so i don't see where it would impact on the field, I would hate to see us in the Premiership and held back from competing in the top half due to us only being able to have 33,000 fans each week the other alternative is to make the 33,000 pay double what they pay at the moment a sure way to lose your fan base when times are bad.

 

[eckington_blade]

cracking post metal ... agree with you mate we must build the kop

 

[Sensiblade]

cracking post metal ... agree with you mate we must build the kop

Build it and they will come!