Increase East Stand capacity

[Kitchandro]

Bit our fanbase isn't that much bigger is it? Like the earlier poster says we have spent a fortune, have an ex England manager and we still are pulling in less than 25,000 comfortably.

We have a massive emigration rate in Leicester as well which doesn't help, I know at least ten people used to be regulars that now live out the country, we have lost a lot of regulars that way over last ten years.

Than Blackburn? Yes.

Part timers don't generally care what we've spent and all this whilst we're still in the Championship, they will queue up to see us playing the big boys.

In League 1 we averaged 19K didn't we? How many other clubs would average that much?

[Kitchandro]

This all routes back to racism at football

We have a huge asian community but a see very few coloured faces at football. Maybe they don't feel welcome. We'd get 27k+ a game if our minorites went to games.

It's cos they all like cricket

[m00nie]

Than Blackburn? Yes.

Part timers don't generally care what we've spent and all this whilst we're still in the Championship, they will queue up to see us playing the big boys.

In League 1 we averaged 19K didn't we? How many other clubs would average that much?

so we have gone from 19k winning games in l1, to 22k in championshoip... all of just 3000 extra.. yet people think were going to suddenly get another 20,000k on top of the 22k in the prem.. thats nearly double

[Spudulike]

In League 1 we averaged 19K didn't we? How many other clubs would average that much?

Haven't got the figures but it was over 20,000

[crisp packet]

Real Madrid was a sell out

Playing in the prem we would , sell out most weeks with the current capacity .

Against your big clubs we could perhaps get 40k we always took 40k to wembley in the 90's more than alot of our opponents ....

[Guest MattP]

This all routes back to racism at football

We have a huge asian community but a see very few coloured faces at football. Maybe they don't feel welcome. We'd get 27k+ a game if our minorites went to games.

I've worked with hundreds of Asians born in Leicester and could probably count on my hand the amount that supported City.

For some reason they don't seem to get behind the local sides, Leicestershires cricket attendances are more tragic than the football when it comes to support from the Asian community.

[Guest MattP]

Than Blackburn? Yes.

Part timers don't generally care what we've spent and all this whilst we're still in the Championship, they will queue up to see us playing the big boys.

In League 1 we averaged 19K didn't we? How many other clubs would average that much?

Pretty much all the clubs who have a stadium over 30,000 I would say.

[Kitchandro]

Well tbf we are all guessing here, we won't truly know how many fans we will get in the Premiership until it actually happens. I don't think there is anything we can really do about it, if it happens I just hope they do it right and make the stadium look impressive, and hope that they try and get it full byt making ticket prices reasonable. I love our stadium as it's the only home stadium I've ever known (I only went to Filbo a few times) but I do think it looks shit. Some of the old stadiums are quite a bit smaller than ours but most look quite a bit bigger, even when they are empty they look good but ours will never impress people.

It's not so much a lack of 'character' or 'soul' that is the problem as it's the fans that give a stadium character and give a club it's soul. I'd just like to be able to say I watch football in a big, impressive looking stadium as opposed to a boring average one. So in that way I would love the stadium to be expanded if they did it properly. But don't get me wrong I would hate to see loads of empty seats or for it to have no atmosphere.

[Kitchandro]

Pretty much all the clubs who have a stadium over 30,000 I would say.

I don't think the Sheffield clubs are averaging that.

And there are quite a few Premiership clubs with stadiums under 30,000 so maybe not them.

[Haydos]

I want more bodged photoshop (paint) jobs!

[thybluefox]

People are talking in this thread like those that want a ground extension would be expecting it as soon as we get promoted (hypothetically).

Attendance's would take a little while to settle I think, there would be a big increase if we go up then it would settle and really depend on how well we're doing. To say though that it's impossible that we'd ever sell out a 40k stadium is ridiculous though. None of us know what the next 10 or 15 years hold for the club, just look at the last mental 15 years.

[nuttytimmy]

Our record attendance before the Madrid friendly was a Premiership game against Newcastle - pipping even the visits of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool (which were all 30,000+ attendances in the same season). To me, we'd be best proving the support base for a season before any commitment is made to extend the ground, after all we don't have a World Cup as an excuse any more.

As for the debate about our fanbase, it'll be something approaching a million (of which a third are in the greater Leicester urban area) based on a total population of the county. That does not mean all of those million will be City fans, of course - many will support teams from surrounding areas or farther afield or, indeed, not follow football. Nonetheless this compares with the 140,000 people in Blackburn with Darwen, a largely urban Unitary Authority that neighbours the likes of Burnley - there is much more competition for supporters in the dense area of south Lancashire / north of Manchester.

[nuttytimmy]

Also, there is a substantial Asian population in Blackburn...

[m00nie]

People are talking in this thread like those that want a ground extension would be expecting it as soon as we get promoted (hypothetically).

Attendance's would take a little while to settle I think, there would be a big increase if we go up then it would settle and really depend on how well we're doing. To say though that it's impossible that we'd ever sell out a 40k stadium is ridiculous though. None of us know what the next 10 or 15 years hold for the club, just look at the last mental 15 years.

to say we are going to sell out a 45k stadium is just as ridiculous... cant have it both ways..

[The Padster]

For all those who are guessing at the population of Leicester....

The City Council has the population at the time of the 2001 at 279,923.

This seemingly credible page, My link,,updated in 2010 has this to say;

Leicestershire has a population of roughly 630,000 people. It borders with Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland. It is estimated that by 2026, the county’s population will exceed 700,000. It is thought that the trend in the county’s age profile getting generally older will continue. Roughly 10% of the county’s population is non-white.

Together, the city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire has a combined population of 1 million.

Leicestershire’s largest town is Loughborough with a population of 57,600.

[Kitchandro]

to say we are going to sell out a 45k stadium is just as ridiculous... cant have it both ways..

But it won't be 45K

[m00nie]

Our record attendance before the Madrid friendly was a Premiership game against Newcastle - pipping even the visits of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool (which were all 30,000+ attendances in the same season). To me, we'd be best proving the support base for a season before any commitment is made to extend the ground, after all we don't have a World Cup as an excuse any more.

this for me..

getting promoted is first.. then gauge the attendances.. if in the prem were still not filling our stadium then theres no point extending.. dont see the point of extending if its just for a couple extra thousand for couple games a year..

[m00nie]

But it won't be 45K

just using the figure someone said before...

[Ashley]

But it won't be 45K

It was going to be 50,000 if we got the world cup wasn't it?

We'll probably go to 42,500 then if needed, expand more making it into a mini old trafford

[Ashley]

But it won't be 45K

[panky and our gang]

So build a extension to hold 42/5 thousand just so we can sell out on possibly three games and that's presuming we get back into the prem . The rest of the time it will look just like a bigger piss pot with the same 22 thousand marbles rolling around in it . It would look half empty even on a good day and would add nothing to the atmosphere . We are never going to be a forty thousand gate club it is just not going to happen especial in this economic environment we now live in . Top and his family maybe rolling in it but i'm sure most people are staying away because of the stupid pricing structure that takes no account what the average wage earner can afford to pay .

[Spiritwalker]

I would guess the extension would take us to about 38k, which we would

fill about 6 times a season in the prem. The other alternative to increase

revenue would be to significantly raise ticket prices,so I would favour the

ground extension even if that means occasionally playing in a half empty

stadium.

[m00nie]

I would guess the extension would take us to about 38k, which we would

fill about 6 times a season in the prem. The other alternative to increase

revenue would be to significantly raise ticket prices,so I would favour the

ground extension even if that means occasionally playing in a half empty

stadium.

dont you think that it would be both... expansion AND price raise.

[Lillehamring]

our attendance in the prem at the walkers

03/04 - avg 30983, min 26674, max 32148 - factor in a few shit away supports and the reduced capacity when security/segregation was increased - and that was with thisless than glamorous squad and only 3 home wins and 19 home goals.... only 4k less than spurs, 6k less than villa and leeds and 7k less than arsenal.

who's to say that if the ground had been bigger, the team better and the players even of the quality of our current line up, the figure wouldn't have been approaching the 40k mark.

(interestingly that season we had the 13th and 17th top goal scorers )

http://www.premierleague.com/page/Statistics

[bluesbrothers]

I agree to some extent. I think in terms of capacity the ground is about right now. Last time we were in the premiership in 03/04 I think we averaged about 30,000 at home & we sold out a few games. If we established ourselves in the premiership it might be worth looking into expanding capacity to 40,000 which I think is tha plan anyway. But I'd hate to see us rush into an expansion & then find ourselves back playing championship football getting 20,000 people in a 40,000 capacity stadium.

There's nothing more depressing than a big, half-empty stadium & it would make half-decent numbers (21-22K a week in the championship is not bad) look shit due to the fact the ground would only be half full.

Positive news generally though

I don't neccesarily agree, because perhaps certain sections would be closed to ticket sales until demand was such that it was needed, maybe?

For example, if there were 2 tiers in the east stand, they would fill the lower tier first. It'd make sense for many reasons, not least that it'd save staffing the upper section.

We'll probably start giving what is now the family stand to away support instead of just the corner too, so allocations will be more like 6,000 than 3,000.