The Liberty

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Blue Prophet

Blue Prophet

Active Member
Jan 27, 2011
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Cardiff
Now I'm allowed back on the Swans board I've been looking back over some of the threads I'd missed, the one I found interesting was the one about increasing the capacity at the Liberty.

Huw Jenkins has always adopted a "safety first" policy, and has so far been proven right, I can't see him going gung ho and adding another 5 or 10 thousand seats, could you fill a 30,000 seat stadium, certainly for the big games, and you would probably get around 25K for "lesser" opposition, so it would be a good additional revenue stream. However rightly or wrongly I can't see Jenkins spending the money on what could be a white elephant should you drop out of the PL............however the Swans are doing OK at the moment and there certainly appear to be at least three worse teams in the PL.........my take for what it's worth is Jenkins will adopt a conservative approach, and when Swansea have had a couple of seasons in the PL and become an "established" PL club (a sort of Stoke or Fulham) then I can see him investing in the stadium...................is this short sighted, should he go for it now and use the additional revenue to invest in the team to help you in your PL campaign...........or will he use the "softly softly" approach........my guess is "softly softly", it seems to have worked so far.
 
Welcome back Prophet <ok>

Well I am a believer in strike while the iron is hot, we have met the criteria of selling out the stadium on a regular basis, the next one would be to stay in the league, if we are close onto 25-30 points come the new year I think it would looked at and decided.

It's down to the board not just Jenkins, as he is the public face of the club and does not make decisions on his own, they have obviously put a business plan into this to see if we can afford £15m to do this, if we stay up then yes I think we can, if it looks like relegation or not enough points on the board then no.

Another issue is having an academy for the club, this is where Cardiff City have a huge advantage, hammam had the right idea here, even if you hated the rest of his actions. if there was a simple choice between the two then academy for me as its a no brainer for any club with ambition.
 
I'd go with jager on this plus you have to consider the potential of an increased capacity for things outside The Swans..there is the rugby side of it, not The Ospreys in particular they might fill it against The Scarlets and thats about it, but there are various International matches in both football and rugby that might not sell out The Millenium but might do in a 30,00 seater, Also the bigger the stadium the bigger the music gig options and as the stadium is a buisiness as well as a venue ,these options will generate a valuable income...by the way welcome Proph
 
you see a relegation threatened team like wolves (ok, this is their 3rd BPL season) increasing one of the stands so that the overall capacity is 40,000 ambitious, but if they get relegated the stadium would look a bit empty at certain games.


i'd say the stadium capacity is about right for the level of club swansea are, perhaps it could in the future fill a 30000 stadium but IMO, hugh should wait until the swans have been in the premiership for at least 2 seasons before considering expansion <ok>
 
Swamp we have sold the stadium out, have 4k-5k awaiting season tickets and the matchday tickets sell within a day, so I don't think at the moment the stadium is big enough. But when we know where we are likely to land up come the new year it will be looked at IMO
 
you are right swamp our stadium is spot on...don't need extra seating that will lay empty when we eventually get relegated, it wont happen..<ok> A new training pitch and academy is much more needed before any barmy ideas like extending ..<doh> we are a small club and should not go above our station. the stadium is fine as it is,
 
Well a chock-a-block stadium and waiting list shows that, as long as we're in the Premiership, we could make money out of extra seating. Maybe there's some way of putting in 5k temporary seats or something?
 
Welcome back Prof. Like everything these days, it comes down to money, the club new that if they had one season in the Premiership, it would generate £90+ Million, be it made up of parachute payments over four years, but with the demand clearly outstripping supply, any good business (I'm repeatedly told we are a business), would up the production line to harness the demand. It's clear to me that if we stay up, and it is looking likely, then we will be looking at another £45 Million on top of the £90+ next year too, and to me it seems that expanding for another 7000 seats, is a no brainier, because there are 5000, waiting season ticket holders, (I'm one of them) and still countless thousands for match day, when you consider that the 2000 tickets are always sold out in a day by enlarge, but how many thousands are disappointed? No business can afford to lose large sums of revenue, and while I can see why those who would prefer to be cautious and wait a few seasons, this is not an option as far as I see it, as the stadium is not big enough for the demand for Premiership football, that clearly is there, and the 7000 seats increase is not a huge undertaking, in the grand scheme of things, we need to keep looking forward, and we have an opportunity to strengthen and increase our fan base, and establishing Premiership football in Wales, and that my friends is the bigger picture...............
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superswan99 said:
you are right swamp our stadium is spot on...don't need extra seating that will lay empty when we eventually get relegated, it wont happen.. A new training pitch and academy is much more needed before any barmy ideas like extending .. we are a small club and should not go above our station. the stadium is fine as it is,
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Dai as mentioned it won't be our decision and it will be decided upon by the directors of Swansea City football club, not on a discussion board like this, they are in a far better position to know what is good for the club than us.

So don't dismiss this as barmy as it is most certainly not, serious consideration will be put into this shortly and whatever is decided we should fully back the club.

Before academy status is given the facilities for a school of excellence must be built, I hope this is being done, went past landore over the weekend and nothing.
 
it wont happen for a few seasons yet you can bet on it, the ospreys have an equal say on this and i know they are not keen so the chances of it happening is very slim and would take years to sort out, we should put our own house in order first with no training ground fit enough for non league teams and a academy to stop our talent going elsewhere. I'm so confident that no expansion will take place for a few years yet, We could put a few extra seats around the stadium in the void spaces that are there and even that will have to go through strict health and safety rules.....
 
Dai it will happen if the club wants to go ahead with it, whilst the ospreys are partners in this stadium with us, the funding would come from the swans, and it's probably been discussed in depth with them, like our other partners the council.

Tell me Dai how would you know that the ospreys are not interested ? Not only do you have sources in the swans, but the ospreys too, care to reveal your so called sources ?
 
with the ospreys averaging 6-7,000 what do you think they would say <laugh> oh i know lets increase the stadium to make it less atmospheric than what it already is....don't be daft. we share the stadium and thats all, we don't own we are not the governor's, we are lodgers an nothing more, it wont happen if ever. the stadium is the right size for the city and don't need to pamper the plastics who will disappear as soon as our stint in the premiership is over and the extension becomes a white elephant.....
 
superswan99 said:
with the ospreys averaging 6-7,000 what do you think they would say <laugh> oh i know lets increase the stadium to make it less atmospheric than what it already is....don't be daft. we share the stadium and thats all, we don't own we are not the governor's, we are lodgers an nothing more, it wont happen if ever. the stadium is the right size for the city and don't need to pamper the plastics who will disappear as soon as our stint in the premiership is over and the extension becomes a white elephant.....
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Dai why are you calling me daft ? It's not my decision to make, so let's for example say that the board of directors said that there is a case for expansion and make a commitment to undertake it, are they then daft ?

And again you are going on about who owns the stadium as a reason to not do things, really you are not business minded are you ? Two recent things happened to buildings not owned by the retailers, smyths toys took over the old pc world and currys building in the enterprise park, and selco took over the old courts building, do you think they renovated and made alterations before taking over ?
 
superswan99 said:
you are right swamp our stadium is spot on...don't need extra seating that will lay empty when we eventually get relegated, it wont happen..<ok> A new training pitch and academy is much more needed before any barmy ideas like extending ..<doh> we are a small club and should not go above our station. the stadium is fine as it is,
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well i wasnt aware swansea were consistently selling out, well now the plastics have come in and boosted attendances to around our current level so you have a point, its just if you get relegated then those people probably wont renew and then you have a big stadium with lots of empty seats that all.

i wouldnt count your chickens yet dai, you've made a good start but its a long old season <ok>
 
Good to see common sense prevail and both castigated posters come in from the cold.Credit where it's due.

Looking at your recent home attendance figures,what percentage of your new season ticket holders do you now view as former Scarlets and Osprey rugby fans?I base my question on the assumption that regional rugby is very much in decline down west.
 
Interesting, Was just wondering as we dont own the stadium will it be our desiciona s to whether we can extend or not. Surely there are 3 parties who will have their say. On whether we need an increased capacity i am a bit on the fence here. Whilst at the moment we are selling out with an awful lot of people wanting and not being able to get tickets. makes me think increase. Then next season and the one after that wil there still be the rush for tickets. i just wonder. If and i mean if we were to be relegated the ground would be half empty. (did we actually fill the liberty for a league game ouside the PL). What about the decrease in seats when the extension is being built.

I am firmly on the fence for this one. can see the pros and cons from both sides.
 
I think alot depends on the ticket pices. If we go down, and we have increased the capacity, the tickets need to be cheaper than the £25 they were last year. That was the main reason we didn't sell out in the Championship. We may have gained a lot of plastics, but we will have gained a lot of new young supporters, who will come back if the price is right.
 
trundles left foot said:
Interesting, Was just wondering as we dont own the stadium will it be our desiciona s to whether we can extend or not. Surely there are 3 parties who will have their say. On whether we need an increased capacity i am a bit on the fence here. Whilst at the moment we are selling out with an awful lot of people wanting and not being able to get tickets. makes me think increase. Then next season and the one after that wil there still be the rush for tickets. i just wonder. If and i mean if we were to be relegated the ground would be half empty. (did we actually fill the liberty for a league game ouside the PL). What about the decrease in seats when the extension is being built.

I am firmly on the fence for this one. can see the pros and cons from both sides.
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liberty been sold out a few times before we got to the prem.
 
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