https://www.sunderlandecho.com/spor...plans-for-sunderlands-stadium-of-light-487099 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exclusive: Mark Campbell reveals his ambitious plans for Sunderland's Stadium of Light Mark Campbell has revealed his ambitious plans for the Stadium of Light - which would have seen Sunderland’s home ground reach a capacity of 55,000. By Mark Donnelly Tuesday, 30 July, 2019, 07:00 please log in to view this image Mark Campbell has revealed his plans for the Stadium of Light In the second part of his exclusive interview with the Echo, the businessman discusses his plans for the home of the Black Cats’, both inside and outside the ground. Campbell and a consortium of fellow businessmen launched a takeover bid for Sunderland earlier this year, before revealing he stepped back from negotiations after the terms of the proposed deal changed. But before talks stalled, Campbell had put in place plans to grow the capacity of the Stadium of Light, making it the biggest stadium in the North East. “We wanted to extend the stadium, that was one of the bigger things we wanted to do,” he admitted. “We’d spoken to some people about doing that because we wanted to make it the biggest stadium in the north east. “If Qatar do lose the World Cup in 2022 then it will come to England, and if you have the biggest stadium in the north east - the home of football in the region - then wow, you can do wonders there. “We were going to go to 55,000 to start with. Sign up to our Sunderland AFC newsletter “It’s a very easy stadium to expand, it’s just metal and steel rods and would have only taken four months to do. And that wasn’t going to be the end of the investment, either, with Campbell also putting plans in place for a ‘revolutionary’ fan zone. “We were going to outsource the fan zone and it was going to be a revolutionary thing we were going to do, with a building very close to the stadium,” he added. “We’d had advanced discussions with the local authority about it. “We spoke to the same company who fitted the bars at Tottenham Hotspur and we were going to go into a partnership with a bank who were going to offer accounts for the fans and a contactless system. “So people could have got their beer in record-breaking time with the systems that fill the beer up from the bottom of the glass and by going contactless.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seemingly he would've done the important things first - set about extending the stadium in case the world cup can't go to Qatar in the hope of getting the rights to host games in the north east with the biggest stadium (Seems completely pointless - if the WC stays in Qatar then we have a 55000 stadium with 30-35000 people in!) And he would've got contactless put in for paying for beer and some weird fast filling from the bottom cups. Not sure I've had a long wait for a beer in the ground for as long as I can remember! Although the contactless thing would be useful as I hate carrying cash Seems the playing side of things would've not been his first priority from that!!
Talk about getting priorities right .....We are a million miles from needing a bigger capacity. I love the ambition, but first things first...get a team playing consistantly that will fill the stadium we currently have.
Chicken and egg thing really, I suppose. If you can find some way of getting more paying customers through the door then you have to stump up less to improve the team.
A 55k stadium in league 1 is ridiculous. He sounds like another George Reynolds. We're a million miles away from being in the position to extend the stadium. We need to be an established Premier league again before we even contemplate it.
Sounds like a dreamer The club is in its worst league position ever (starting a 2nd season in league 2) and he's banging on about Qatar and the World Cup. I wish him luck at Falkirk
While the increased capacity would be a white elephant at this stage, the fanzone thing is intriguing. St Pauli in Hamburg have a big fan area which, I believe, is the responsibility of different fans groups to run on a rotational basis. Its jumping apparently. With the Red & White army and the various fanzines the potential for SAFC to operate a similar system could very well exist.
Ok , who can see themselves , in their lifetime sitting in the (eventual) 62000 (packed out ) SOL . I’m going 40% for me .
At an international match, yes. On a regular basis at home games, nope....I don't expect to be back in the Premier league for a long time
bob murray was the first to want to do that ! should have happened in 2001, Reid should have signed quality players and got us into europe, but that is the past and i am 59 but doubt i will see 55,000 at the SOL in my lifetime. It would be great for concerts, and if they put a huge curtain along the closed areas for like where we are now or maybe the folding/standing seat idea would be better. This club has the potential to be massive, but we need huge investment and sponsors first.
Not what you need. I’m sure as a PL club you’d sell out but you’d look daft right now. Think this guy is a dreamer. Better off without those
He sounds like a ****ing idiot with no touch whatsoever about the club. Let’s extend the stadium, that’s already lost atmosphere as it’s too big, on the off chance England get a shady World Cup. What the **** man. I do not want someone near the club who’s thought process is away from re-establishing the club first. I’m delighted this fell through.
