We hadnt extended our ground. Now im not saying that its never come in handy as we have packed the place out in th past. However our average attendance for the last 3 seasons has been about 40k about what our capacity was before the extension. Now if the ground is full to the rafters every week it is a much more intimidating place for the opposition. I cringe when i watch match of the day and see loads of empty seats in the lower tier of the north stand as it just looks crap. Without the extension these seats would now be full and the atmosphere would also be a lot better. Not to mention the piss taking the geordies do as full credit to them 9 times out of 10 they fill to capacity with maybe 2000 empty seats as oppose to our 9000/10000 empty seats.