Hi all, Firstly, good luck for the season ahead, except for your first home match and the game on the 3rd March that is, I really do hope you stay up and get the same respect/disrespect we get for bloodying the noses of so called 'BIG' clubs . I was wondering though, if you stay in the PL for a couple of seasons you'll fill your ground every week, you have a decent fan catchment area (whatever that actually means ) and a lovely little ground, but with a capacity of around 20,000 you clearly wouldn't be taking advantage of all that, so is the Liberty Stadium capable of being extended easily or would it take a re-build? I'm obviously not talking about doing anything silly, but I've no doubt you could sell 25,000 season tickets for this season without any trouble and I know it may be jumping the gun a bit, but are there even any plans to extend to a larger capacity if necessary?
I'm not sure, but the Chairman says they are looking into possibly expanding next season depending on how things go. So I guess there must be a way.
Really you really do know how to make a big entrance! this is a sore subject at the moment, but I like your style!................ please log in to view this image
You will hear people saying it is/it isn't extendable, but I was recently speaking with one of the Stadium Management Teams head honchos regarding this very topic, and he stated that the stadium has not been built with expansion in mind. Neither can we 'slot in' additional seating due to existing Fire Safety Regs being in place for 20,500 attendances.If additional seating was added then alterations would be required to increase exits,toilets,bars etc. However, the parting shot was that the stadium could be extended but would require a lot of engineering work,new groundworks,new roof,new internal additions etc, so the bottom line is that anything that can be knocked down can be rebuilt and extended I guess, but not an easy job.
That is why Jenkins said that if it's to be extended it will start next May at the earliest, so dead space will be utilised IMO for extra seating with alterations as needed, it will probably cost a few million at the least, and only feasible if we stay up. As for extending the structure itself, I think dropping the pitch 4 or 5 meters might be a way to go, or taking the roof and extending up or a myriad of other ways, I think it would be cheaper to build an entire new stadium than that to be honest, it will costs tens of millions to make drastic changes. Any changes will be will cost a lot
Amazing short sightedness aye! So what do we do hope we come straight back down! I'm sure the East stand can be re-engineered to take another 5000 fans, and the roof re sculptured back into North and South stands, we will see! where there's a will there's a way............... please log in to view this image
Phill - I would've thought that building above the West stand would be easier? Technically, the 'building' section of the West stand has a flat roof - surely there'd be a way to just build an additional tier above the hospitality boxes using the West Stand building as a foundation. I would guess you'd have to strengthen the foundations of the West Stand, and it would be expensive, but no where near as expensive as building a new stadium, right? You'd easily add 3 or 4 thousand that way. I would hope that Huw will be having the stadium assessed and some designs drawn, maybe even get planning permission approved way before the season end. Because if we wait and wait, the end of the season will be upon us and when we stay up, we need to be prepared to get straight to work on the stadium!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. When the stadium was built we were in League 1 and I daresay the thought of Premiership football, although still a pipedream, was the goal of everyone concerned. Who`d have thought we`d have got there so quickly! If we do stay up, and it`s a big IF, then we should think about re-structuring the stadium. So get those plans in fast, because we are staying up.
Thing is if you are talking structural changes to the stadium, there is no way on earth that it will be completed in the off season, so going into the new season it will take half the seating away until finished, that will result in income being lost in various places, it would be a disaster to be honest. So building a new stadium would probably cost about the same by the time you add on everything. Also as a stadium is often funded by other things like retail parks, hotels and so on, the cost can be spread out, for example felindre would be a possible place, with talk of a golf course and hotel and other things there, of course that would mean no super hospital there, and the land must be bought with permissions etc Extra seats is what Jenkins is talking about, I am almost certain of it as it could be done in a couple of months
Bigkidderz I think the west stand would be too complex an engineering issue, as it stands some considerable hight above the three other stands, and contains all the office floors and hospitality complex etc! To me as a lay person the East stand would be the easiest to take apart and re-engineer and would still be a balanced design concept after re construction................ please log in to view this image
There is an interview with Huw on BBC website and he mentions building extra seating upwards and backwards. Seems the least costly and most straightforward. A new stadium is out of the question, unless we finish in/near top 4. If we are near bottom, then most matches wouldn't even get 25,000. Add in an extra 5,000 seats and that should be enough for the vast majority of matches. Swansea doesn't have a huge catchment area, so I can't eve see them getting 30,000+ crowds on a regular basis. Even Chelsea only get 40,000 and they have a huge catchment area. Not a sore subject and not shortsightedness, but just something that needs to be sorted out in the future. You can't build everything super huge on the off chance that the capacity will be used in the future. In any case, the money wasn't available at the time, so they couldn't build something that they couldn't afford.
So in answer to the OP´s question... Kind of! Basically if you can source a load of cheap camping chairs, then yes, the stadium capacity is expandable!
Its not about building something super huge though is it, its about building it with the opportunity of expansion in the future, something the other design had I believe, and the funding from the sports council of wales had nothing to do with the stadium itself, it was about moving the athletics track, the money to build the actual stadium came mostly from the council, and the money they received to build the retail park.! No vision, its that simple, once again the bureaucrats who have a vested interest in this has stitched us up imo , if there is blame it should go to them as they are a useless bunch!
People seem surprised that "the suits" have struck again. As far as I can see, any time a decision on... well... anything is ade by a panel or committee after a series of meetings, then the outcome is always going to be negative. Unless you´ve got impartial, knowledgable people, who are connected to the issue intrinsically, then you´re never going to get what you want because the ultimate decision will be finance driven as opposed to "needs driven".
The other problem with committees making decisions is that there is always compromise involved and you end up get the worst of everything. Option A and B may be good, but half don't like option A and half don't like option B, so the go with option C, which no-one likes and is the worst possible option. A bit like coalition government.
I think the most we can extend to is about 32,000. Huw Jenkins has said the plan would be to build support structures and then build up for a new level above the existing stands in the North, South and West. If we're in the Premier League for next season then I'd expect work to be done to extend part of the stadium (possibly an extra 6-8k) and further work for the following season if ticket demands proved high enough again.
Exactly. The people involved in planning a stadium should be made up of experts in stadium construction, people who the decision affects (represantatives of the Swans) and someone who´s got a bit of paper with a number on it, which states how much we can spend. Unfortunately, as is the case with most things, there was probably 18 levels of middle management in the game to royally **** things up for everyone!
Most stadiums can be extended the Liberty is no different. cost is the issue and time. People are saying about dropping the pitch down 3-5m. How? There is a river alongside the stadium. The watercourse will be too high, Best option, use existing stand build new tiers behind, lift the old roof off and on with a new extended roof off the new tiers. But cost is the issue. Crowds? Who says we can't get crowds of the30k? We've got 16k ST holders and could have sold 1000's more.
Are you a strucual engineer then ? The watercourse is there, but there is always a way to work with that , taking the roof off and extending up has problems also, does the current under pinning allow for extra thousands of tons of weight to be added ? Building so close to the river was stupid in the first place IMO it would have been better to build the stadium where morrisons stands now as originally planned
