Poll - Stadium expansion after 3 seasons in top flight

[fleckneymike]

6 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

If winning the fvcking thing doesn't make you established then I don't know what does quite frankly.

Blackburn 

[Ashley]

30 minutes ago, fleckneymike said:

Blackburn 

How many years did they stay in the Prem for? Were Coventry not established as a club for what 40 years in the top flight before relegation?

[Buzzell]

7 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

I love new threads. 

I love new polls. 

[Guest Bilo]

It's tough to know really, because you could crash at any time if you don't keep moving forward.

 

10 years ago, most would have classed Newcastle as an established PL club and they've been relegated twice since then. Sunderland went down last season and seemed an established, albeit definitely lower half, PL club. The latter are definitely a cautionary tale when you look at the swathes of faded red empty seats in their near 50k capacity stadium. Erring on the side of caution is understandable in this context.

 

That said, how are we going to grow unless we make efforts to expand our fanbase? How many fans must try to buy a ticket each week and end up disappointed? Are we squandering our potential to grow as a club? Let's not forget that in all of Leicestershire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, we're not only the sole PL club, but the sole club in the top two divisions of English football. Our potential is enormous. I think 42,000, if we remain a top 10 side for the foreseeable future, is a sensible and realistic capacity for us to pursue. 

Edited 13 August 2017 by Bilo

[Guest Bilo]

42 minutes ago, Ashley said:

How many years did they stay in the Prem for? Were Coventry not established as a club for what 40 years in the top flight before relegation?

Funnily enough, they were an example I wished to cite as a cautionary tale.

 

When they first built the Ricoh, they were a club entering into their fourth year in the Championship after more than three straight decades of top flight football. They must have built it with an eye on returning to the PL, perhaps even expansion if they were successful afterwards. Obviously the intricacies of stadium and club ownership are chalk and cheese, but the fundamentals of their building the Ricoh and us building Filbert Way are probably very similar. 

[urban.spaceman]

42 minutes ago, buzzer_b said:

I love new polls. 

I love lamp. 

[davieG]

1 minute ago, Bilo said:

Funnily enough, they were an example I wished to cite as a cautionary tale.

 

When they first built the Ricoh, they were a club entering into their fourth year in the Championship after more than three straight decades of top flight football. They must have built it with an eye on returning to the PL, perhaps even expansion if they were successful afterwards. Obviously the intricacies of stadium and club ownership are chalk and cheese, but the fundamentals of their building the Ricoh and us building Filbert Way are probably very similar. 

I think their reasons was more to do with raising money as they sold Highfield Road and rented the Ricoh. No building costs but no home to call their own even a mortgaged one like ours.

[The Doctor]

2 hours ago, Bryn said:

I think "established" is a bit of a myth. Most Premier League clubs could crash and burn at any point.

 

Case in point, charlton - 7 or so years reasonable midtable under curbishley, one wrong appointment and they're now on an 11th season out, and have regressed to a championship/L1 yoyo side. No such thing as established for the most part, you're always one wrong step from crashing and burning.

 

 

[Guest Bilo]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

I think their reasons was more to do with raising money as they sold Highfield Road and rented the Ricoh. No building costs but no home to call their own even a mortgaged one like ours.

That's what I mean by some of the intricacies being different.

 

I expect their long term aim may have been to get promoted to the PL, get established, buy the stadium and then expand if necessary. It was a gamble that patently hasn't paid off.

[Bryn]

The other advantage of stadium redevelopment is the club could look to introduce a safe standing area, or at least have an area designated for conversion to that when (and I think it probably is when) the league approves it.

[dmayne7]

3 hours ago, Osavo said:

 

And where were all these people wanting tickets when we were rotting in the Championship? Nowhere to be seen. I'd be looking for a few years of European football and more success before expanding, to ensure we can attract fans which will stay even if times do turn bad.

 

Might sound a little negative/defeatist but realistically a club of our size are always relegation candidates, Premier League trophy in the cabinet or not. We proved that last season.

And here lies the problem. This phrase should be broken down and split in 2.

 

Where were all the fans local to Leicester when we were rotting in the Championship?

 

Because the other side of the coin, is people like me, who've never lived in Leicester or anywhere close (meaning family aside, I knew no other city fans growing up) still managed to get to games and yet we're the ones now missing out. Does that sound fair? Of course not but we have to accept the demand is now there.

 

Like it or not, we're now a global club and whilst we're in this league, we will easily be able to get more. We'll have a lot of new fans (was next to a guy from Sweden last night and it was his first Leicester game). It's also a sign of intent to players and supporters alike, that we want to compete with the big boys.

 

It's going to have to happen sooner rather than later.

[Gerard]

43 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

Because the other side of the coin, is people like me, who've never lived in Leicester or anywhere close

I see your location is Hull/Kent.

 

That must be a hell of a back garden you have. 

[Gerard]

45 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

. We'll have a lot of new fans (was next to a guy from Sweden last night and it was his first Leicester game).

 

I actually seen a kid who was about 11 in a Leicester top in Covent Garden yesterday. 

 

His Mum told me they were on holiday from Mexico and had tickets for the match and the thing her son had been looking forward to most about his holiday was to watch Leicester play.

[Gerard]

4 hours ago, Osavo said:

 

And where were all these people wanting tickets when we were rotting in the Championship? Nowhere to be seen. I'd be looking for a few years of European football and more success before expanding, to ensure we can attract fans which will stay even if times do turn bad.

 

Might sound a little negative/defeatist but realistically a club of our size are always relegation candidates, Premier League trophy in the cabinet or not. We proved that last season.

 

Who cares where they were?

 

The big six are miles ahead of us. Of the rest:

 

Newcastle 52,000 stadium

West Ham 60,000

Everton moving to a 55,000

 

That's nearly half the league looking to distance themselves from clubs like ours. Whilst stadium size isn't the be all and end all it produces extra match day income and merchandise sales and portrays you as being a bigger club which increases sponsorship revenue. 

 

It just totally baffles me that fans like you are happy for us to be little old Leicester and we should know our place. 

 

70% of the PL aren't established and are a few bad decisions away from being relegated and staying outside the PL for a couple of decades. Why on earth would a fan of the club think we should never try to improve ourselves by expanding the ground and fan base and we should just try and stay in this league as little Leicester until the inevitable relegation happens.

 

I would agree about not expanding if we were averaging 5,000 below capacity but I've been trying to get a season ticket for three seasons running now with no luck. I can't take my kids many matches either and there are literally thousands in the same boat as me.

[splinterdream]

I've been going down the football all my life, my dad took me down when I was little, me and my my mates used to go and get a ticket on the night in my teens, I had season tickets during some of the most boring seasons in the championship and now I can't get a ticket. I really don't understand why people are concerned if there's empty seats, it's nice to be able to get some tickets last minute. Didn't we used to get 42,000 at filbert st in the second tier? 

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, Gerard said:

I see your location is Hull/Kent.

 

That must be a hell of a back garden you have. 

Haha, long time since I've updated that. Wimbledon now so not only is there no chance of a 200 mile garden, lucky to have a 200cm garden with London prices!

[Bob Weasel Fox]

55 minutes ago, Gerard said:

 

Who cares where they were?

 

The big six are miles ahead of us. Of the rest:

 

Newcastle 52,000 stadium

West Ham 60,000

Everton moving to a 55,000

 

That's nearly half the league looking to distance themselves from clubs like ours. Whilst stadium size isn't the be all and end all it produces extra match day income and merchandise sales and portrays you as being a bigger club which increases sponsorship revenue. 

 

It just totally baffles me that fans like you are happy for us to be little old Leicester and we should know our place. 

 

70% of the PL aren't established and are a few bad decisions away from being relegated and staying outside the PL for a couple of decades. Why on earth would a fan of the club think we should never try to improve ourselves by expanding the ground and fan base and we should just try and stay in this league as little Leicester until the inevitable relegation happens.

 

I would agree about not expanding if we were averaging 5,000 below capacity but I've been trying to get a season ticket for three seasons running now with no luck. I can't take my kids many matches either and there are literally thousands in the same boat as me.

Superb post

 

spot on

[fleckneymike]

58 minutes ago, Gerard said:

 

Who cares where they were?

 

The big six are miles ahead of us. Of the rest:

 

Newcastle 52,000 stadium

West Ham 60,000

Everton moving to a 55,000

 

That's nearly half the league looking to distance themselves from clubs like ours. Whilst stadium size isn't the be all and end all it produces extra match day income and merchandise sales and portrays you as being a bigger club which increases sponsorship revenue. 

 

It just totally baffles me that fans like you are happy for us to be little old Leicester and we should know our place. 

 

70% of the PL aren't established and are a few bad decisions away from being relegated and staying outside the PL for a couple of decades. Why on earth would a fan of the club think we should never try to improve ourselves by expanding the ground and fan base and we should just try and stay in this league as little Leicester until the inevitable relegation happens.

 

I would agree about not expanding if we were averaging 5,000 below capacity but I've been trying to get a season ticket for three seasons running now with no luck. I can't take my kids many matches either and there are literally thousands in the same boat as me.

Premiership titles: zero. 

 

Little old Leicester in their little old ground. One. 

 

Newcastle haven't 'improved themselves', West Ham got a free stadium and haven't improved themselves and Everton are reliant on a billionaire and are yet to improve themselves. 

 

 

[dylanlegend]

Established is a 'strong' word. Yes we have been in the league for 3 seasons but to be honest I still believe any team apart from the 'top 6' could be relegated if they have a bad spell, even Everton / Southampton could have a bad run and go down so we are definately not immune.

 

We have to build an extension though 100%. It may not bring in much extra revenue in terms of TV money but it's what the fans want and the club needs so get it done Top!!

Edited 12 August 2017 by dylanlegend

[fleckneymike]

The only established Premiership teams are:

 

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

 

Every other bugger has been relegated. 

[lcfcsnow]

It didn't start well at our current home but we've won three titles since and lots of great memories but it was done on the cheap, I'd rather we do it properly and build a new stadium for the next step in our clubs history. Doesn't seem like there are any plans for it either way though.

[Osavo]

1 hour ago, Gerard said:

 

Who cares where they were?

 

The big six are miles ahead of us. Of the rest:

 

Newcastle 52,000 stadium

West Ham 60,000

Everton moving to a 55,000

 

That's nearly half the league looking to distance themselves from clubs like ours. Whilst stadium size isn't the be all and end all it produces extra match day income and merchandise sales and portrays you as being a bigger club which increases sponsorship revenue. 

 

It just totally baffles me that fans like you are happy for us to be little old Leicester and we should know our place. 

 

70% of the PL aren't established and are a few bad decisions away from being relegated and staying outside the PL for a couple of decades. Why on earth would a fan of the club think we should never try to improve ourselves by expanding the ground and fan base and we should just try and stay in this league as little Leicester until the inevitable relegation happens.

 

I would agree about not expanding if we were averaging 5,000 below capacity but I've been trying to get a season ticket for three seasons running now with no luck. I can't take my kids many matches either and there are literally thousands in the same boat as me.

 

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand where you're coming from and I fully appreciate that it is frustrating for supporters who can't currently get the tickets they want. However, i just think we need to err on the side of caution for a couple more years. 

 

Of the three clubs you mention, I think most would agree that Everton and Newcastle are far bigger than us, and have sold out their respective grounds for years at the current size. West Ham meanwhile, are actually in my opinion a bad example of a club trying to expand. Their move has been a relative nightmare and the only reason they can shift as many tickets as they do is their London location, which attracts a lot of tourists, added to the fact that their fanbase is probably bigger than ours anyway. Their new ground has an appalling atmosphere and has weakened them imo.

 

The Football League is littered with stadia of clubs who got ideas well above their station. Blackburn, Bolton, Wolves, Reading, Charlton, Cov all get nowhere near selling out their grounds which were built with the ambitions of making the club 'bigger', and these are examples which worry me when we talk about expanding the stadium. 

 

I am not happy for us to be little old Leicester, however I'm just not sure a club like ours has the potential to really establish itself in the upper echelons of English football. I would love to be proven wrong, and if expansion plans were announced tomorrow I would not be disappointed as such, but I just can't be completely convinced that now is a safe time to increase the capacity. The 'build it and they will come' approach is just too cavalier for me, and the club can't let hearts rule heads on decisions as big as these. 

 

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

Been on a stadium tour today and while on the tour they confirmed 100% that they are building a stand ontop of the east stand in the same design that Liverpool did

 

So we don't need any more polls, it's happening, like it or not

[dayday]

8 hours ago, FoxInTheBirstallBox said:

Been on a stadium tour today and while on the tour they confirmed 100% that they are building a stand ontop of the east stand in the same design that Liverpool did

 

So we don't need any more polls, it's happening, like it or not

That's good to hear, for me it's not about being established, if we go down you close the new stand simple.

 

Its about catering for everybody, it's crazy that people can't go because we're pretty much sold out every game.

 

 

[splinterdream]

8 hours ago, FoxInTheBirstallBox said:

Been on a stadium tour today and while on the tour they confirmed 100% that they are building a stand ontop of the east stand in the same design that Liverpool did

 

So we don't need any more polls, it's happening, like it or not

did they say how many it would add or when it will be started/finished?