A rare oversight from our Tone to miss such insight.
Totally agree. I now live in Berkshire and I have seen Reading go from 5-6K to averaging more than us due to a new stadium. (although 80% of their fans are plastic and support other clubs).
The problem is you don't say you are going to build a 40K stadium and then a few months later say it will now be 30K especially after you bragging of filling it with cheaper tickets and aiming for the future.
Now I will agree that we won't fill a 40K stadium, not even a 35K at the present time. Even 30K would be a huge task. Actually, with the football on display at present, we would struggle to hit 20K.
However...
If Tone wants us to be a long-term Premiership club then he needs to aim a bit higher or we will just keep going up for 1-2 seasons every 16 years.
Football is getting bigger and we keep getting left behind, time and time again.
If we are going to make a move which will be the last one we see in our lifetimes we need to get it right. We are a London club and a decent stadium in the Premiership will bring fans. Example if we play any of the big London boys you could give them 8-10K tickets. With 3-5K tourists. We would only need to get 20-25K Rangers to sell out a 35K stadium.
The reason we can't sell out a 19K ground at the moment is because our ground is s22t. Don't get me wrong I love HQ and spent all my life going to QPR at Loftus Rd but I am not stupid and understand what a modern fan wants.
I used to come with my son My mate and his 2 kids and occasionally our Mrs would get dragged to the ground. That was 5 regular fans (season ticket holders) and 2/3 extra guests.
It's now just me. Why? Because they hated coming to the ground, queuing for a toilet, getting crushed in a seat and experiencing the worst catering.
But to top it off, they couldn't believe the price of a ticket!
If Tony has any sense he will be forward thinking and build a stadium between 30-40K and not mess about with building on at a later date because it won't happen.
The other reason Tony may want a small size stadium is because it will be cheaper and he can rake in more dosh from Loftus Rd and sail into the sunset.