Anyone know what's happening? I'm just in the pub and we're all saying we haven't heard anything. Is there a plan for it to happen this off season or are we gonna wait?
Wait , wait and then wait some more , The Council will give in to the Clubs offer of buying it at some point , although I have mixed emotions ,great if the Club buy it cheaply but with my taxpayers hat on, the best price they can get for it .
Buy the stadium then we are ****ed.....the problems will still be there only now the swans will be responsible for everything.....there is only one way we will ever get what we want and that is build our own purpose built stadium.......there will be no other way with the many objections and where the stadium is.....
Agree Dai, why buy the Liberty only to end up exactly where we are now but with additional responsibilities for maintenance, repair and general upkeep. On top of this, we'd still have to pay for an expansion so Imo, buying the Liberty offers no pecuniary advantages to us. On the other hand, if we did decide to build our own then where would we build it? The Swansea Bay Region Development group has already stated that all major developments within Inner Swansea, for at least the next ten years have been earmarked. Not sure about the boundary defining inner Swansea but I imagine it takes us to the outskirts, Gorseignon, Killay, Birchgrove, Skewen, Penllegaer, Clydach? Just where would we build? Therefore, the only chance we have of growth is an expansion, but this brings its own set of problems, mainly being the shops and businesses in Morfa Park who are, allegedly, opposed to the expansion and who are, allegedly, the reason why we are still only talking of a proposed expansion instead of actually planning one. Each path we look down seems to be blocked by one thing or another so I think, unless we get some more investment we're doomed to stay where we are, in every possible way. We've plateaued in every way we can, financially, size, league position and physical location.
Im not saying we dont have a problem of where a stadium would be built but i am saying it would be a huge error of judgement to buy the liberty. If we were lower league somewhere then the liberty would be fine but for a club trying to go places then its a barrier. Im sure a solution can be found if we said we want to go it alone....
The plan seems fine to me buy the ground at a knock down price, then follow this with periodic expansion of the stadium spread over the next few years it appears that this is by far the cheapest option. For a club like ours there is no way we could afford to build a brand new stadium without massive private investment so if we want to avoid these American type investors then let's continue in the same vane and progress steadily and slowly.
Guys what would an additional 13,000 seats at the Liberty bring? Let's be bullish and assume that it will be completely sold out for each and every PL fixture (it won't). So 13,000 seats an average ticket price of £40 includes VAT at 20%, so a net £33 for the club 19 home matches Therefore, in a current "best case scenario", and before increased match day costs eg Stewarding etc. it would generate c£8.15m - one tenth of what is received from the PL
Its a good problem to have though, it shows our desire to keep moving forward. Just a thought, one site which may become available in the not too distant future is the Swansea Council Waterfront building. It currently is a superb example of monumental waste of public funds, space and resources and the council may look to offload it, re-relocating back to the Guildhall. It has quite a bit of surrounding land too so parking facilities could be extended to cater for match day. I expect the traffic would be fun but on a positive note the council will get maximum use out of the ridiculous number of traffic lights they inflicted on us.
We need a 35k stadium and there is no way on this gods earth we will ever get that at the Liberty in a month of Sundays. We are rapidly out growing the place and it is getting to the stage now that it will start to hold us back if we are not switched on and do something. How many years have we been told that we are going to extend the stadium by just 5k ? and has it happened...no and the reason its no is because there are many different bodies at white rock that object and it only has to be one to stop anything going ahead before a long drawn out compromise can be reached. but when there are many including the police then you can wait until the end of time as it will never happen no matter how many times jinx says we are going to extend....the only extension will be for TV and radio......the liberty only cost £37m to build and its in a poor place but we have out grown what it has to offer and for us to move on then there needs to be a re think of where we are heading and how we can achieve it....
You can't look at a purely financial way, like how much money does 13.5k extra fans bring in, put it this way, if we continue with thousands of people on the waiting list to get a season ticket, then we are basically alienating our support, if it continues then we can expect these fans to get pissed off and not bother to support the club. The viable option for the club is to buy the stadium and expand. There is no place in Swansea or the surrounding areas that will support the stadium and the infrastructure needed. It was supposed that felindre might do it, but that is out now. Its not just the stadium its the land, that will probably cost more than the stadium itself, i'm not happy with the liberty entirely as it was built in the wrong part of the site, and we were prevented in building a stadium along the lines of MK Dons by the sports council of wales / cardiff We have missed a trick, and its going to cost us to fix the problems they have caused!
we wont get much change out of between £80 - £100m but it will be money well spent in the long run...
I suspect that the Board will/is looking at it from the financial perspective. They have prudently managed the Club over the last dozen years or so, and I can't see them changing that approach.
You are missing the point, they of course will do it the prudent way, but what i'm saying it's not healthy for a club of our size to alienate fans, our support is generally the SA postcode only, we don't really attract support from elsewhere within the UK, so not providing enough seats will have an adverse effect on our club.
No - I'm not missing the point. The Board will be cognisant of what you are saying but will also factor in the risk of relegation to the Championship - and will those fans who you do not want to alienate remain loyal and continue to watch us play Preston, Rotherham, Charlton etc?
I think you are, as you are presuming that we will get relegated, and we will lose support. We can't think like that as a club, we got to be looking to get stronger each season and compete. The fact is we have got to deal with here and now, here we are in the premier league with one of the smallest stadiums in the league, we have a waiting list of thousands for a season ticket, and hardly anyone can buy a ticket for a game as they are sold immediately. That is not healthy if we want to grow our support.
Where do I say that we will get relegated? I don't - I said the Board will factor in (to their decision making process) the risk of relegation. Their base case may be that we will remain in the PL for years to come - but you can be certain that there will be a sensitivity analysis which will consider the risk of relegation.
20,800 our top wack is far to small and we have reached our limit on how far we can go. we have a fantastic catchment area that is bigger than the majority of the premiership and it's criminal today as we start our 5th year in the top flight that we are unable to take advantage of our position because of a small stadium that wont be enough for our needs and growth of the club.......stay at the liberty and we risk going back down....
So what you are saying then is that Preston, Rotherham and Charlton will come up to the premier league where we are, their fans will be ecstatic at your confidence. And every team will factor in relegation, or they should do! But the point is that these fans are here now, there is demand for tickets now. If we are to expand the stadium or buy it there is risk that we could be relegated the season after, if we don't win games that will likely happen. But once we have made the decision to buy and expand we can't alter that once we have committed to it
