Do what Wolves are doing stand by stand. That way you can take breather between phases and see if the support is there. Start South, North, and then East Stand. May cost slightly more but less risk. Keeps everyone happy. Who would have thought 40000 would have gone to Wembley? So our base is increasing. If we come down we will still hold onto a lot of these new ST holders. I think we could fill a 29000 seat stadium, maybe not today but we can get there in years to come. So we need too plan for it. Just need caution don't do a white elephant build 10000 and sell only 3000 its not going to pay for itself. The Vetch's East stand classic example.
we have more important things to do before we think about extensions, so nothing will be done for a few years yet anyway, it was announced we were starting an academy a few years ago, we are still waiting so i expect its just another hot air comment by jenkins and nothing will be done until the morgans say so, as jenkins says "there's no rush"
The reason why the academy is not running is because of the debate aboutwhere to build it, the legal implications of setting it up, and the millions to do so, I would think that work will commence after the cricket season ends. As for waiting at least 3 years for extension on the liberty, as long as we stay up for another season which we should know if we have a chance come janurary on the number of points gained, it will be decided then not years down line, you strike while we have the money coming in and the iron is hot.
I have to agree, we need to get the plans drawn up now for the stadium expansion, ready for the green light to start. We just can't afford to stand still as a club. Most of the works can carry on without major disruption, then it's full steam ahead during the closed season. Impressed with the way Wolves are doing it, big thing to knock a stand down and get it ready for use in August although it won't be completed, now that is a gamble. Academy & training facilities are a must, does frustrate you by the hold up over a the Academy facility because of the cricket. Onwards and upwards!!!!
When it comes to expanding the Liberty, the stadium is just one element of the overall project. The other key elements are: (1) geographic distribution of the fan base; (2) modes of transportation to and from the stadium; (3) vicinity infrastructure improvements to support increased rail, bus, car and foot traffic. There's no point increasing capacity if the "new" supporters cannot economically and efficiently travel to and from the stadium. People must have a pleasurable experience in all aspects of supporting the club or their first visit to the Liberty will be their last. I think it's safe to say that the 40,000 that went to Wembley were not all locals, ie Swansea residents. So clearly, the expanded fan base would be traveling from West Wales, the Valleys and parts east and so on. We are fortunate to have a rail line running right past the stadium and Landore station (if it is still a viable train stop) right next to the Liberty. transportation programs would have to be worked out with Arriva and possibly First to provide economic train transportation to and from the stadium. Park and ride bus services would have to be set up to avoid road traffic congestion and the need to build out parking lots. An extra 10,000 people flowing into the Liberty area would require more than just adding seats to the stadium.
The infrastructure around the stadium is a joke to be honest, we were promised a train station to bring fans in, that has never happened, we were promised better public transport, never happened! We were promised under ground walk ways to get to the liberty across the roads that has never happened! All we get is transport madness as the police closes a major artery road into Swansea , which has a knock on effect all roads that is supposed to deal with diversions, couple that with bendy bus route that has no entry coming from Swansea by casey's and you have chaos reigning for almost an hour before and after games and as we are about to get 25% more fans in the stadium for each game, it's gonna get worse!
What Is the condition of the Landore "station". Are there EU grants to be had for this sort of economic development.
Not sure on where the funding was coming from that, I suspect from the retailers themselves when the stadium was built, but it's never happened so we have a modern stadium with great facilities served by limited thinking
Limited thinking seems to be a pre-requisite to be involved with the planning stages of anything worthwhile in Swansea. We have the obvious example of the Liberty - just how stupid was the omission of an economical add-on to the stadium? An intelligent 12 year old would have had more foresight! We have a track record of such stupidity unfortunately. The axing and decimation of the old Mumbles railway, as an example, was a decision of such appalling short-sightedness, it beggars belief to this day. Step forward and take a bow, those responsible.
what they do here in Brisbane is give free public transport to those who produce a ticket (train or bus) for the various matches held at Suncorp Stadium, be it football, league or union. dunno if Swansea council would do the same
I hope the EU don't give money. Football is a rich enough sport to fund this themselves. It's ludicrous that clubs spend almost all their vast income on players. They should be forced to contribute more to infrastructure around their grounds, etc. They have enough money to do it. It's not fair on taxpayers who don't even like football to have to fork out for things that the clubs can afford to do themselves.
Err... they could make it clearer by showing me where he said 15million. If he had, you better believe it would be the first quote in the article. It's "artistic license", and it's abused a lot by **** journalists.
Whether or not it's a good investment depends on a number of things: 1. How long will it take to accomplish and how much of a reduction will it cause during that time. 2. What are the ongoing costs associated with the bigger capacity. 3. How does it effect policing/steading costs. So long as it doesn't go on to cost us too much per season to maintain/run then £15m is a worthwhile investment. However I would wait until next season rather than this. Spend £10-15m on other aspects of the club (training/youth etc.) this time around, then teh same on teh stadium next year if we stay up.
I agree that reporters make up lots of things. But if articles had to have quotes all the way through it would be less readable. Often the exact quote is too long. Most people want a summary of the situation and what was said and not direct quotes, as you'd get in a Q&A session. If you don't believe this then you may as well give up reading the papers. I've seen you make plenty of comments without using quotes to back up what you've said. So should we all not believe anything you say?
What I write and you believe is up to you man! But in the press, unless it's a direct quote or a direct quote including, say, the figure involved, then it's simply speculation. Personally, I believe very, very little of what I read in the papers, and don't really buy any, bar the Independent occasionally, but that's personal preference. Having said that, if Huw had said "it'll cost 15million" you better believe that the article would have made a bigger deal of it!
Scottswan - Just for info, I was at the London Q&A session when Huw Jenkins confirmed that it would cost £15m to add an extra 10,000 seats.
But the road / rail infrastructure is much beyond a club's power of control or investment. Increasing the capacity of the ground must work in conjunction with the development of the area as a whole and is really a responsibility of the City/County and higher level authorities (justifiable commentary on past performance notwithstanding). The Swans become an anchor that the area leverages for its development; and there must be a coherent approach on all fronts otherwise chaos will ensue. As Jäger pointed out the area is already a traffic flow night mare.
there is more than swansea city in the morfa area so we cant do anything, there are others to consider and should anyone object then it will be dragged out for years. we dont have the god given right to demand anything as we are just a small part of the area, the railway platform should have been built the same time as the stadium like it was suppose to., until they decided to turn the stadium 90 degrees there were plans for ample parking with an underpass from the hafod right to the stadium, the stadium was originally for £25k+ but due to it being turned 90 degrees it was dropped to 20,500k and all the other plans of the platform and underpass were either put on hold or scrapped, none of this has anything to do with the club it is to do with swansea council at the time..
