Good Morning. It's Thursday 20th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Elland Road needs to be 50,000 - 60,000 capacity to compete - Kinnear Leeds United Chief Executive Angus Kinnear has been discussing the plans to redevelop Elland Road on the latest Phil Hay podcast. The plans for expansion were first announced two years ago, but little has been done so far. Kinnear explains why! “Everybody has agreed that what we have isn’t going to take us to where we want to go, so it’s a matter of when rather than if,” “Yeah, so look at the stadiums we need to benchmark ourselves against. We need to be between 50 and 60 thousand to be financially competitive with other world-class stadiums in the Premier League “We know we have the demand for that, we know that from our season ticket waiting lists, our hospitality waiting lists and we know that Leeds as a city can sustain a club at 50 to 60 thousand. “The location of the ground isn’t being looked at. We’re in a fantastic location right near the centre and we have a horseshoe of land around the ground we can expand into, which isn’t a luxury that lots of clubs have. The only challenging side is the Elland Road side where we back right onto the road, so to move that way is more challenging and it would also impact the café where I get my lunch. “The project works on a year-by-year basis where you build on top of one stand while people are still sitting in it and then you move them into the upper tier and complete the stand below, so it’s a process where you don’t lose capacity. “The visions that we’re seeing are really impressive, it’s something everyone in the city will be proud of and we’re getting a lot of support from the city council, but we’re still at the early stages because our first priority is to sustain Premier League status and then we can build on that.” “Well, what we’ve been very conscious of is not promising things we’re not sure we can deliver on. Lots of clubs have brought out attractive virtual reality renders of their stadiums and then never delivered against them or delivered 10 or 20 years later. We want to come to the fanbase with a proper consultation with what they want, allow them to input into those designs and then deliver something with financing behind it. We’re not there yet, but the vision is there and the work is going on behind the scenes.” We are now told that the club are not looking to relocate from Elland Road! How can we compete with the Stadiums from Spurs and Arsenal? Leeds are in the fortunate position as being the only top flight club in Yorkshire now. Geographically that is massive for the club! It gives Leeds Utd a much bigger potential fan base than any other club in the Country? Will they knock down ER, and start again - Surely not, that would make us homeless! It's not as if we can share with Bradford City for a season! Is it possible to develop Elland Road into one of the finest stadiums in Europe? please log in to view this image Whites to receive unexpected 26m windfall Angus Kinnear also revealed that Leeds are set for a massive financial windfall from TV rights, on top of their guaranteed payments. It turns out that Leeds only budgeted for 16 main broadcast slots (minimum is 10). They have had 24, one less than Citeh, and two less than Liverpool. This will give the Whites an extra 20-26m that they were not expecting! “Because every game’s been on TV they split them between ones with a so-called facility fee and ones that are being broadcast because of Covid,” “Whenever we get put on TV the club secretary says ‘Does it come with a facility fee?’ because there’s a big difference. “We have had 24 games on TV, we budgeted for 16 on the basis that the least attractive clubs get 10 and we thought we’d be above that. “To get 24… the last time I looked Man City were on 25 and Liverpool on 26, that’s right at the top in terms of box office. “It’s great from an exposure perspective and great from a financial perspective. “It bodes well for next season too. We’ve put ourselves in the group of attractive matches. Leeds v Man United will get shown twice, Leeds v Arsenal will get shown twice, so it’s very helpful.” If you were given 20-26m, and had to spend it or lose it in 24 hours, how would you (personally) spend it? please log in to view this image Should he stay or should he go? In his first season at Elland Road, it would be fair to say that record signing Rodrigo has not lived up to his price tag. The 30 yo has been dogged by injury, and when he has played, he sometimes has to play out of position. In the last few games, we have seen some magical moments from the Spanish International, and although he hasn't fulfilled his 30m fee, the class that he has shown have many fans envisaging that Rodrigo can be a long term stay for the club Former crowd favourite (you know who you are) Noel Whelan was asked, following the Saints game whether Rodrigo is a better number nine or number 10. He replied:- “The big decision we have got to make because tonight we saw a pass that was from a number 10. Two goals at the weekend we saw from a number 9 player. “He himself says he is a number 10. I think he can play both. I think he is one of these players that is never going to stick up against a centre-half and play back to him, he is always going to come into that number 10 role.” please log in to view this image
The thing over stadium expansion that puzzles me is when the likes of Manure or Newcastle even Chelsea expanded there was no disruption from what I can remember, so how will it work? I do remember the old terracing being demolished and replaced with the Kop now, was major disruption. When it was finished the hardcore Leeds fans left the old scratching shed and moved to the Kop, only problem was the away fans still entered that end, result was scrapping every other week.
Morning all On Rodrigo I go back to an interview Bamford gave in the Summer and then what he said this week. When Rodrigo arrived Bamford said he was bricking it because hes Spains No9 and brilliant. I watched him in training and thought wow I want to be that good. Then Bielsa said he wanted to play Rodrigo as a No10 and I was buzzing....... this week when asked about strikers for next season Paddy said: you look at Rodrigo and what he can do as a 9 by seeing the 3 goals he scored in the last week, and then you look at when he plays as a 10 andnthe ball he sent to me against Southampton and you know hes a great player. He can play anywhere along the front 7,8,9,10 or 11. He has been so unlucky this season as he came to a new club and waited on the bench and then got Covid and then got injured twice, but he is going to be great. Hes the only player I know who isnt a 9 or a 10 hes in between so a 9 1/2. Me personally cannot wait to see him and Bamford together working properly.
Morning all. Exciting news about the expansion but it won't happen until Premier League status is fully established. Does that mean another season, two more seasons, more ? The longer we wait the more revenue we'll miss out on, but rush into and get relegated (I know, I know) and we could end up in free fall again. Would be awesome and the club can definitely fill it if right now. As long as they leave the wedge alone !!!
Good Morning toMatt and co from a dull cold Bardsey We must be very careful with altering the ground Look at Spurs they invested millions on a new ground and neglected the players result disarray along with Arsenal so I say lets cosolidate for a couple of seasons
Morning 60. Sounds like they're looking at expanding rather than knocking down and starting again but I agree we shouldn't rush this.
Morning all, The ground renovation will be a gradual thing I think, one stand at a time maybe. I read somewhere that when they put the corparate boxes at the back of the south stand they lost two thousand seats. Would it be a difficult thing to put them back? Not a massive inrease but means they do not lose as much capacity if they have to close other stands.
That's great news. I'd seen that he came off the bench last weekend. Always liked Sol. How's the football down there. Did you make the play offs this year?
Short and to the point. I can be more descriptive but felt the more gentle approach was appropriate.....
I was rushing about and travelling back from Norfolk yesterday so didn’t get a chance to post on the morning thread. Redeveloping ER will be an interesting one, you can’t help but feel they’ve missed a great chance of putting it in place this season with no fans at the ground. Spend £26m in 24 hours or lose it? I’d open up Rightmove and sort by most expensive first...
