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We had a very bad start and were coming off the back of the 15 point season. It took a little while to get the ball rolling. We were averaging high 30s by the end. 44,448 there for the Burnley game.

Not sure I agree with the football being more popular argument. It was incredibly popular towards the back end of the 90s and the early 00s.

I agree you might as well be talking about a different club, but it's a different angle.

Coming back into the Championship from years in the League 1 wilderness was pretty much unprecedented for us. '80s crowds at Roker aren't worth talking about (they were crap by the way). Whenever we've hit the Championship in the past, it's been from the other direction. Relegation. The club on a downturn. This time it's been an upward trajectory and people are on board.

Yet still, how many times over the past three years have we baulked at the official attendance announcement, when it's clear to a blind man on a galloping hoss that a good amount of people simply haven't bothered to turn up?

We've had some good crowds - tremendous for the second tier - but it wouldn't have lasted an awful lot longer if promotion kept eluding us. We've probably come up in the nick of time.

And people will get bored. I've seen it so many times. The novelty wears off. We're a strange bunch for that. Expectations shift. The mood shifts. The fair weathers are the worst for it, and we've got loads of 'em.
Don’t forget though that all games can be viewed at home. Back in the nineties and early naughties they couldn’t.
 
Imagine the paper cuts after that……
Lots of talk about affordability of extending but could someone tell us what a say £50 million extension would cost per annum over whatever period would be funded over?

Would it be foregoing a £20 million purchase per year also taking into account say a weekly wage of £50000?

The above scenario would cost the fee plus £12.5m over a five year contract, forgetting about resale value.

We should also take into account the extra income from the new extension but I was more interested in the possible on pitch impact.

I would love to know what the implications for our future squad would be if we did spend £50m now.
 
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Imagine the paper cuts after that……
Lots of talk about affordability of extending but could someone tell us what a say £50 million extension would cost per annum over whatever period would be funded over?

Would it be foregoing a £20 million purchase per year also taking into account say a weekly wage of £50000?

The above scenario would cost the fee plus £12.5m over a five year contract, forgetting about resale value.

We should also take into account the extra income from the new extension but I was more interested in the possible on pitch impact.

I would love to know what the implications for our future squad would be if we did spend £50m now.

I don’t think it’d impact it to that great of an extent. I’d imagine they’d source finance on the never never and as far as PSR is concerned, it wouldn’t be impacting our accounts. If anything, it’d help.
 
If we fall foul of the plans to build housing right up to the road of the south stand. The only option would be to extend the East Stand and have a three sided upper level with boxes.
 
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If we fall foul of the plans to build housing right up to the road of the south stand. The only option would be to extend the East Stand and have a three sided upper level with boxes.

In terms of extending, I don’t see (and neither do the council executives see) any issue in still extending the south stand. The club plans for that plaza would indeed be compromised but that’s not strictly part of the extension.
 
Imo mate, if we stay up and demand remains strong, the club will push ahead with the plans and will aim to have the extension open for 27/28.

I also believe they will use a sizeable chunk of the extension (the corner from the PC to perhaps the 18 yard box) as a family enclosure with favourable pricing for kids.

The main bit behind the goal with be safe standing to make the south stand more impressive.
Yeah and that will solve the displacement issue at the back of the south stand.
 
We need to build it for corporate facilities. It'll pay for itself.
Whether we like it or not is irrelevant. A successful SAFC will fill 55K, a not successful SAFC will fill 35K but that is the same for all clubs.
I couldnt agree more ! !.... but many fans want us to only create more corporate without extra seats be because of the irrational fear of empty seats and the piss taking from other fans about it ..its a very english thing not seen anywhere else in the footy world and personally think its the small minded syndrome our fans need freeing from asap!
 
I don’t think it’d impact it to that great of an extent. I’d imagine they’d source finance on the never never and as far as PSR is concerned, it wouldn’t be impacting our accounts. If anything, it’d help.
In that case it seems that an extension would be an almost risk free option (I know it won’t be as simple as that in reality).

They should get it built imo.
 
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Imagine the paper cuts after that……
Lots of talk about affordability of extending but could someone tell us what a say £50 million extension would cost per annum over whatever period would be funded over?

Would it be foregoing a £20 million purchase per year also taking into account say a weekly wage of £50000?

The above scenario would cost the fee plus £12.5m over a five year contract, forgetting about resale value.

We should also take into account the extra income from the new extension but I was more interested in the possible on pitch impact.

I would love to know what the implications for our future squad would be if we did spend £50m now.
Not an expert at all but if you borrowed £50m from a bank to fund a extension over 10 years at 4% interest rate you'd be paying roughly £7m a season over the 10 years (I think)
 

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Last time we were in the premier league we were consistently 15-20 percent under capacity. It’s great we aren’t this year but once that novelty wears off for the fair weather fans it will dip again. There’s a core of around 35,000 fans who will be there almost no matter what but the rest of our fans rely on novelty to go, whether it’s a derby, a playoff final or our first season back for a while. They won’t hang around when things get tough and they’ve proven that for decades
That was 10 year ago. A lot could be said for similar teams. They’re all expanding. The club aren’t run now that will mean things get tough.
 
In the submitted plans, the club have made reference to creating a large public square plaza type area outside of the south stand.
I think it would be a real shame and a little short sighted to lose the plaza. It would really create a welcome from Keel Bridge as you approach the new South Stand. As the club have already outlined it would allow for spill out from the stadium and surrounding buildings offering an area for supporters to meet and socialise.
 
Imagine the paper cuts after that……
Lots of talk about affordability of extending but could someone tell us what a say £50 million extension would cost per annum over whatever period would be funded over?

Would it be foregoing a £20 million purchase per year also taking into account say a weekly wage of £50000?

The above scenario would cost the fee plus £12.5m over a five year contract, forgetting about resale value.

We should also take into account the extra income from the new extension but I was more interested in the possible on pitch impact.

I would love to know what the implications for our future squad would be if we did spend £50m now.

The impact on player recruitment will depend on the aspirations of our owners and how much they're willing to inject into the club.

Infrastructure spend isn't included for PSR purposes so any generated income from an extension would be a positive for PSR, rather than a negative.

If, for example, the owners spend right up to the PSR limits, them investing in the stadium would have no impact on player recruitment. However, if the owners have a set budget within PSR and choose to spend it on infrastructure instead, then this could impact squad investment.
 
He will do it, he’s not aiming to be in the relegation places. He is aiming for the European places and this is the first time in my life that a chairman has shown real ambition. Let’s see where it takes us but to realise that ambition we are going to need a stadium fit for purpose.
He’s had these thoughts and plans for a while now. This isn’t knee jerk or just starting now.
 
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