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SOL expansion

Northumberland Rocks said:
I would say the club is uniquely placed in this country with the relative ease for expansion and the land (whatever your views on him, thanks Sir Bob).

If other clubs were in our favourable position would they be looking at expanding? There are many clubs who would love to be in our position do I would say yes.

With all the developments taking place in Sheepfolds expansion would future proof the SOL and allow us to be even more creative with ticketing, particularly around kids and help us build tomorrow’s support and season ticket holders. Getting top concerts will also generate the funds for the work.

I can, to a degree, see why those who think we shouldn’t expand, but I think the club needs to be bold given our rivals in the area. We have to get kids through the door to build our support imho.
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“ Thanks Sir Bob” When it first got mentioned about SAFC moving from Roker Park I was all for it . Fell out with quite a few who wanted to remain there . However when I heard about the club wanting to move to the A19 site I was totally against it . Once again fell out with lot of people . Had a few letters published in Echo , Football Echo stating why I thought it would be White Elephant , how could you get over 40,000 to a ground off one main road with no rail link .
Sir Bob was obsessed with A19 site , turned out he hadn’t consulted with his new proposed Neighbours Nissan . Even when their made it clear that their were against it . Sir Bob thought his Connections would be able to get his way .
Shortly after a letter was in Echo giving the reasons why SAFC should move to Wearmouth Colliery ,easy access and load of pubs walking distance . The pit was still open but the writing was on the wall .
When it closed a government Quango Tyne & Wear Development Corporation cleared up the site and we got a new ground on the cheap . Only Middlesbrough got a better deal then we did .
 

Hendonbeach said:
“ Thanks Sir Bob” When it first got mentioned about SAFC moving from Roker Park I was all for it . Fell out with quite a few who wanted to remain there . However when I heard about the club wanting to move to the A19 site I was totally against it . Once again fell out with lot of people . Had a few letters published in Echo , Football Echo stating why I thought it would be White Elephant , how could you get over 40,000 to a ground off one main road with no rail link .
Sir Bob was obsessed with A19 site , turned out he hadn’t consulted with his new proposed Neighbours Nissan . Even when their made it clear that their were against it . Sir Bob thought his Connections would be able to get his way .
Shortly after a letter was in Echo giving the reasons why SAFC should move to Wearmouth Colliery ,easy access and load of pubs walking distance . The pit was still open but the writing was on the wall .
When it closed a government Quango Tyne & Wear Development Corporation cleared up the site and we got a new ground on the cheap . Only Middlesbrough got a better deal then we did .
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One of the better decisions we have made.
The A19 site wound have been a soulless place, probably would become a retail park too, and as you say it would never get metro or train station.
For all the faults people point out about the SoL, can imagine if we’d built on the A19?
 
Hendonbeach said:
“ Thanks Sir Bob” When it first got mentioned about SAFC moving from Roker Park I was all for it . Fell out with quite a few who wanted to remain there . However when I heard about the club wanting to move to the A19 site I was totally against it . Once again fell out with lot of people . Had a few letters published in Echo , Football Echo stating why I thought it would be White Elephant , how could you get over 40,000 to a ground off one main road with no rail link .
Sir Bob was obsessed with A19 site , turned out he hadn’t consulted with his new proposed Neighbours Nissan . Even when their made it clear that their were against it . Sir Bob thought his Connections would be able to get his way .
Shortly after a letter was in Echo giving the reasons why SAFC should move to Wearmouth Colliery ,easy access and load of pubs walking distance . The pit was still open but the writing was on the wall .
When it closed a government Quango Tyne & Wear Development Corporation cleared up the site and we got a new ground on the cheap . Only Middlesbrough got a better deal then we did .
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Aye fair assessment. All I would add is alls well that ends well. I think if the pit site was available in the very early 90s that would have been the preferred site but out of town sites were popular at the time.

As I say alls well that ends well
CaptainRed said:
It cost Liverpool £200m to add 14k seats and costs are spiralling all the time. Villa, who have far more cash than we do have had to shelve plans to add 10k seats because of cost so I'm not sure what chance we have! They need an increase as well as they are sold out every week.

There's 1000s of unsold tickets again for tonight. Stadium capacity is stopping literally nobody from attending tonight's fixture.
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You or I don’t know what it will cost because comparing Liverpools stadium to ours is chalk and cheese.

A Tuesday night in the championship on the back of a loss is not a great example to give. As I have said better people than me have said getting into the SOL is difficult. From my experience I have two mates who never missed but are not tech savvy and now do not now attend. This is not the thread go poor ticketing arrangements though - if you want to harp on go and find that thread eh?
 
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Northumberland Rocks said:
Aye fair assessment. All I would add is alls well that ends well. I think if the pit site was available in the very early 90s that would have been the preferred site but out of town sites were popular at the time.

As I say alls well that ends well

You or I don’t know what it will cost because comparing Liverpools stadium to ours is chalk and cheese.

A Tuesday night in the championship on the back of a loss is not a great example to give. As I have said better people than me have said getting into the SOL is difficult. From my experience I have two mates who never missed but are not tech savvy and now do not now attend. This is not the thread go poor ticketing arrangements though - if you want to harp on go and find that thread eh?
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OK forget tonight's game. It hasn't sold out all season. Only sold out once last season and that was cos it was against that lot. Sold out for fewer than 5% of games since it was extended to 48k. The last thing we need is to build more seats to sit there empty ffs :lol:

I'm telling you now, if these mates of yours can no longer attend it has nothing at all to do with capacity reasons.
 
CaptainRed said:
OK forget tonight's game. It hasn't sold out all season. Only sold out once last season and that was cos it was against that lot. Sold out for fewer than 5% of games since it was extended to 48k. The last thing we need is to build more seats to sit there empty ffs :lol:

I'm telling you now, if these mates of yours can no longer attend it has nothing at all to do with capacity reasons.
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Thankfully Sir Bib didn’t have your mentality when developing the SOL becuase if we use your logic we would still be at Roker Park with a small capacity.

My mates are not attending because of capacity, I never said that. They are not attending because of the club’s difficult ticketing procedures.
 
CaptainRed said:
The stadium is hardly ever full. It cost Liverpool £200m to redevelop Anfield and get an extra 15k seats. They needed it due to huge demand for season tickets, and they can also charge upwards of £50 a ticket and still sell out no problem. We can't do any of that. We'd be spending best part of £200m with no chance of getting anywhere near any sort of return on it. We'd be creating more empty seats and more areas to maintain, and the areas we've got don't get maintained as it is.

What we need to do is spend money modernising what we already have. Tidy the place up, restore it to its former glory. Then sort the team out. Get promoted.

Finally if we do all that and then managed to establish ourselves in the PL for a number of years then maybe the demand will be there for an increase although anyone with any business sense would just bring our ticket prices in line with other PL clubs in which case the current capacity would be ample, rather than spending all that money increasing capacity and not getting a return on it.
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We'd not need to spend anywhere near whar Liverpool or others have. £200million is far above what would be required. Our ground is half finished with expansion built into the design. The sort of improvements and increase in capacity people are suggesting will pay for themselves in long run and future proof the ground. Modernising the ground would be done hand in hand with this. Failure to act will see us fall further behind clubs we should be in front of.
 
Northumberland Rocks said:
From my experience I have two mates who never missed but are not tech savvy and now do not now attend.
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Seriously, you describe yourself as caring and inclusive, so why don’t you help your mates learn how, or get the tickets for them?
It’s an educational matter and cash turnstile is not the real answer.
 
Northumberland Rocks said:
Thankfully Sir Bib didn’t have your mentality when developing the SOL becuase if we use your logic we would still be at Roker Park with a small capacity.

My mates are not attending because of capacity, I never said that. They are not attending because of the club’s difficult ticketing procedures.
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No we wouldn't. Roker Park was great and holds memories I'll take to my grave but by the end it was past its prime and only held 22k so we needed to move.

What we don't need is to pay a fortune add extra seats to the stadium we have when it's never filled anyway. I mean of all the issues/problems the club may have right now stadium capacity certainly isn't one of them :lol:
Football Dinosaur said:
We'd not need to spend anywhere near whar Liverpool or others have. £200million is far above what would be required. Our ground is half finished with expansion built into the design. The sort of improvements and increase in capacity people are suggesting will pay for themselves in long run and future proof the ground. Modernising the ground would be done hand in hand with this. Failure to act will see us fall further behind clubs we should be in front of.
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Tbf none of us know what it would cost. I'm just using other clubs as a benchmark which is as close as we can go. Villa shelving plans to expand Villa Park cos of the cost, Everton new stadium costing far more than expected, Liverpool expansion costing £200m.

Why go to all that expense when money is tight as it is for seats that'll just stand there empty? Makes absolutely no financial sense whatsoever. If the money isn't there to modernise what we already have then it certainly isn't there for a needless extension.

If we do get promoted and being prices in line with other PL clubs our 48k capacity will be just fine.
 
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RedWhiteWizards said:
I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but I don't think we should have extended it when we did.
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It really was much better the way it was, younger people won’t realise just how ambitious a 42000 stadium was at the time (the mags used to go on and on about getting 36k screaming jawdies) especially when you consider how tight the budget was, even with a crowd of 35,000 (probably our average since we moved) the atmosphere was electric. the lower bowl filled up and with the premier concourse being tucked away up at the back it didn’t affect the atmosphere if it was sparse

It also felt complete whereas now it feels like we didn’t quite get round to finishing it (some people would say a reminder of our failure)

At it’s current capacity it helps keep the prices low we’d be close to if not sold out of season tickets at 42k so it’s probably just about right the way it is just build a massive stack outside if everyone wants buy pints before and after the game
 
BaconButty said:
It really was much better the way it was, younger people won’t realise just how ambitious a 42000 stadium was at the time (the mags used to go on and on about getting 36k screaming jawdies) especially when you consider how tight the budget was, even with a crowd of 35,000 (probably our average since we moved) the atmosphere was electric. the lower bowl filled up and with the premier concourse being tucked away up at the back it didn’t affect the atmosphere if it was sparse

It also felt complete whereas now it feels like we didn’t quite get round to finishing it (some people would say a reminder of our failure)

At it’s current capacity it helps keep the prices low we’d be close to if not sold out of season tickets at 42k so it’s probably just about right the way it is just build a massive stack outside if everyone wants buy pints before and after the game
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100%, the play off semi final against Sheffield Utd and the 2-2 draw against the mags when we came from 2-0 down, we haven't heard anything like those two games since the extension.
 
Wearson said:
Seriously, you describe yourself as caring and inclusive, so why don’t you help your mates learn how, or get the tickets for them?
It’s an educational matter and cash turnstile is not the real answer.
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I help the best I can thank you but the fundamental issue is with the club.

I appreciate your alright Jack attitude but this can very easily and cheaply addressed by the club.

Can i suggest you take your thoughts to the appropriate thread.
 
BaconButty said:
It really was much better the way it was, younger people won’t realise just how ambitious a 42000 stadium was at the time (the mags used to go on and on about getting 36k screaming jawdies) especially when you consider how tight the budget was, even with a crowd of 35,000 (probably our average since we moved) the atmosphere was electric. the lower bowl filled up and with the premier concourse being tucked away up at the back it didn’t affect the atmosphere if it was sparse

It also felt complete whereas now it feels like we didn’t quite get round to finishing it (some people would say a reminder of our failure)

At it’s current capacity it helps keep the prices low we’d be close to if not sold out of season tickets at 42k so it’s probably just about right the way it is just build a massive stack outside if everyone wants buy pints before and after the game
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I wouldn't worry mate KLD wont spend much so it will be a half arsed affair shoving in boxes to the east stand (for the concerts as it makes no sens to use the north stand)reducing the matchday capacity .......it will look shyte imho!....strangely the rumours of expansion have surfaced twice on here over the last five years and usually during a bad patch for the club ...... bread and circuses and jam tomorrow comes to mind......it will only kick off when folk in the back of the east stand are forced out!..and just to counter your rocking ground at 42000 it did coincide with the team playing well and that's the true driver of any atmosphere!
 
Blyth said:
The club needs to increase hospitality offering. It’s sold out and a waiting list. The only way to do it is add a stand.

It just is. Please don’t reply and say we could expand hospitality without adding a tier. You can’t. It wouldn’t make sense.
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If you took enough seats out you probably could.
 
oddbod said:
I wouldn't worry mate KLD wont spend much so it will be a half arsed affair shoving in boxes to the east stand (for the concerts as it makes no sens to use the north stand)reducing the matchday capacity .......it will look shyte imho!....strangely the rumours of expansion have surfaced twice on here over the last five years and usually during a bad patch for the club ...... bread and circuses and jam tomorrow comes to mind......it will only kick off when folk in the back of the east stand are forced out!..and just to counter your rocking ground at 42000 it did coincide with the team playing well and that's the true driver of any atmosphere!
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My opinion mate and I stand by it, I’d be more than grateful for another team to play as well and prove me wrong though 😁
 
CaptainRed said:
No we wouldn't. Roker Park was great and holds memories I'll take to my grave but by the end it was past its prime and only held 22k so we needed to move.

What we don't need is to pay a fortune add extra seats to the stadium we have when it's never filled anyway. I mean of all the issues/problems the club may have right now stadium capacity certainly isn't one of them :lol:


Tbf none of us know what it would cost. I'm just using other clubs as a benchmark which is as close as we can go. Villa shelving plans to expand Villa Park cos of the cost, Everton new stadium costing far more than expected, Liverpool expansion costing £200m.

Why go to all that expense when money is tight as it is for seats that'll just stand there empty? Makes absolutely no financial sense whatsoever. If the money isn't there to modernise what we already have then it certainly isn't there for a needless extension.

If we do get promoted and being prices in line with other PL clubs our 48k capacity will be just fine.
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The principle is we doubled our support.

A successful team in the premiership with the associated marketing together with the growth of football means whose to say we couldn’t add 20,000 to our support in the next 10 years.

When you think how poor the team has been over 80 years our support is truly phenomenal. However, apart from two successful seasons under Reidy, which we regularly sold out by the way, we have never really seen how big this club could become by having a consistently successful team in the top tier.

Nobody is saying start building an extension tomorrow but as supporters let’s surely have some ambition?

We have to compete with Saudi up the road for our next generation of support. Let’s just make it even easier for kids to support and not turn them Away because they haven’t a bank card like it appears some of us want to do. These kids are our future support just let them in.
Football Dinosaur said:
We'd not need to spend anywhere near whar Liverpool or others have. £200million is far above what would be required. Our ground is half finished with expansion built into the design. The sort of improvements and increase in capacity people are suggesting will pay for themselves in long run and future proof the ground. Modernising the ground would be done hand in hand with this. Failure to act will see us fall further behind clubs we should be in front of.
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This.

SAFC is uniquely placed in English football to expand relitively easily and cheaply.

Liverpool had to buy houses and the like. It’s like comparing chalk to cheese.

With all the fantastic developments in Sunderland we need to be thinking of development soon to combat any nimbyism.

I would hope our owners have more ambition than some of our fans.
 
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