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North Stand extension

number one is gary rowell

number one is gary rowell

Winger
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
 

number one is gary rowell said:
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
Click to expand...
No we should have bought a goal scoring midfielder at that point and the extension later.
 
number one is gary rowell said:
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
Click to expand...

Yes we were selling out and it pretty much paid for itself over the following years.

People will go on about it meaning we couldn't sign players or some other nonsense, but it was tied to a long term loan (as the stadium was) and Reid was never denied funds.
Brian Griffin said:
No we should have bought a goal scoring midfielder at that point and the extension later.
Click to expand...

We bought one - Hutchinson in 2000, funnily enough the same year the extension opened.
 
number one is gary rowell said:
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
Click to expand...
We sold out regularly in 99-00 and extended for 00-01 which was always full

01-02 there was a minor dip and then 02-03 were getting under 40k for most games
 
number one is gary rowell said:
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
Click to expand...
Yes stadium was open a few years and around 2000 the north stand was increased due to demand. If we'd known we were going to be one of the worst ran clubs in the country, record breaking relegations and then go a decade after that to have the darkest period in the clubs history then they wouldn't have extended it. It was beyond the worst case scenario. But if we'd been reasonably well ran nobody would have questioned it and it would have been the correct decision.

I agree with the post above though that the team should have been prioritised first though. Got to look after the short term in this game but I'd never be too critical of an owner investing in infrastructure
 
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Easy to be wise after the event but extending after only 3 seasons was too quickly. It was only several years earlier that we couldn't even sell out Roker Park

Better to have a longer period of demand outstripping supply and prove that we had the fanbase to sustain the extra capacity. Especially to judge the crowds when we're struggling.
 
In hindsight.....only joking, after the last months goings on I bet Bob Murray wished he had done the South Stand Extension First with it being much bigger than the North Stand Extension and they could have fit all the Mags in the top and left the bottom 5 rows empty and still got there 6,000 tickets ;)
 
number one is gary rowell said:
Just been watching premier pressures and they are talking about extending the north stand to what it is now.

I can't remember at the time (was too young to be bothered about it at the time) but were we selling out regularly? Did this extension make sense because in the fullness of time the ground would probably be the right size without it.
Click to expand...
Yes selling out regularly and planning for the futuew.
 
Brian Griffin said:
No we should have bought a goal scoring midfielder at that point and the extension later.
Click to expand...
This ^^^

If we’d invested in the squad in the January. We’d of got Europe. As in for only the second time in our history. Ridiculous division in hindsight, a poor one at the time.
 
Peace said:
49k is too big for sunderland.

40,000 to 42,000 is about right.

Can't remember sunderland ever selling out even in the prem. 49k too large.
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Agree, 49k is too big for a badly ran Sunderland. If we were a mid table premier league club it would be fine. That isn't an unrealistic aspiration now and even less so at the turn of the millennium when it was extended.

Sunderland got more in league one than Leeds and city.
 
There has never been 49,000 seats. When it was extended in 2000 Capacity was 48,300. Of that over the next 2 seasons 24 of the 38 home games were home sells outs. Only away clubs not filling there 3,300 allocation meant crowds were were not 48k+ Complete Sell Outs.
 
Perryqhill said:
Yes we were selling out and it pretty much paid for itself over the following years.

People will go on about it meaning we couldn't sign players or some other nonsense, but it was tied to a long term loan (as the stadium was) and Reid was never denied funds.


We bought one - Hutchinson in 2000, funnily enough the same year the extension opened.
Click to expand...
And reidy wasted absolutely millions on complete dross in his final couple of years. Hats off to Bob for putting the money into something of legacy 👏

Approx figures wasted:
Leslandres 5m
Nunez 2.5m (the wrong player?)
Chocolate fireguard aka Carsten fredguard 2.5m
Tore Andre flo 8m
Medina 2m
Burnt hass 2.5m
...and plenty more. Could have extended the south stand too with all that cash.

These lot mentioned above either didn't play, or were absolutely miles off the pace, or flo's case simply couldn't be bothered
 
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