Stadium Plans

[Jawwfc]

The Blues owners seem overly ambitious Blue are a club in England's second city and with a huge population and two football teams (maybe 3 with the albion) but blues aren't a big club, Birmingham doesn't have the pull of London/Manchester/Liverpool or even Newcastle. The spurs ground attracts tourists which in turn brings the NFL concerts etc and a general footfall which I can't imagine would be the case in small heath.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Whatever the thoughts are for a rebuild and where, it has to be multi functional
Hotels, retail,food outlets and more importantly a venue for concerts and other events that will make it a hub for entertainment as well as a home for Wolves
Is there room to do that in our current location im not sure

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Think West Ham went from c33k to 57k average attendance?

The only thing I’d say there is the West Ham fan base is much bigger than Blues to begin with. They won a World Cup after all!!

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Whatever the thoughts are for a rebuild and where, it has to be multi functional
Hotels, retail,food outlets and more importantly a venue for concerts and other events that will make it a hub for entertainment as well as a home for Wolves
Is there room to do that in our current location im not sure

Personally I think there’s too much put into additional revenue streams, it’s an idea rather than a practicality. I mean who’s bringing a hotel to Wolverhampton? It’d be absolutely dead (like the one on Waterloo Road is). Wolverhampton as a City is dead or at best taking its last breaths. Retail is gone, bars outside match day are dead. It’s unfortunately a ghost town. Additional venues for concerts for example, would never get approval from the council they’ve got a significant amount invested in the Halls to recoup for a start.

If we ever do the ground under Fosun (which I don’t see unfortunately). It needs to be a sporting stadium that can host the odd summer concert, anything more grand would be a complete waste

 

[DJLWolf]

Think West Ham went from c33k to 57k average attendance?

I always thought this was odd.

Surely the only explanation is either cheap tickets prices (although I checked this a few months ago and that didn't seem to be the case) or they attract a shed load of tourists.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

The only thing I’d say there is the West Ham fan base is much bigger than Blues to begin with. They won a World Cup after all!!

They also had more demand than supply in the first place, sold loads of cheap kids tickets, had an incredible transport infrastructure and a realistically huge catchment. There's no comparison to Spurs or West Ham. There's no comparison to the oil money that's produced the Etihad complex. There's maybe a bit more to Everton, who are basically bankrupting themselves spending £800m on a stadium.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Personally I think there’s too much put into additional revenue streams, it’s an idea rather than a practicality. I mean who’s bringing a hotel to Wolverhampton? It’d be absolutely dead (like the one on Waterloo Road is). Wolverhampton as a City is dead or at best taking its last breaths. Retail is gone, bars outside match day are dead. It’s unfortunately a ghost town. Additional venues for concerts for example, would never get approval from the council they’ve got a significant amount invested in the Halls to recoup for a start.

If we ever do the ground under Fosun (which I don’t see unfortunately). It needs to be a sporting stadium that can host the odd summer concert, anything more grand would be a complete waste

Isnt that the whole point though to breathe new life into the city centre?
Bringing new retail, bars ,cafes etc would certainly help
All town and City centres have to be innovative now,retail outlets are dead as you say, but small speciality businesses can thrive if they are different to what has gone before,and offer people a different experience
A hotel would be used for match days at least and for other events if they get it right
Wolverhampton used to be buzzing at the weekends,theres no reason it cant be again if people get the planning and services right

 

[Minimalist]

Personally I think there’s too much put into additional revenue streams, it’s an idea rather than a practicality. I mean who’s bringing a hotel to Wolverhampton? It’d be absolutely dead (like the one on Waterloo Road is). Wolverhampton as a City is dead or at best taking its last breaths. Retail is gone, bars outside match day are dead. It’s unfortunately a ghost town. Additional venues for concerts for example, would never get approval from the council they’ve got a significant amount invested in the Halls to recoup for a start.

If we ever do the ground under Fosun (which I don’t see unfortunately). It needs to be a sporting stadium that can host the odd summer concert, anything more grand would be a complete waste

I was just about to say the same about people’s odd obsession with stadiums having hotels!
Another bar or two similar to the north bank one, perhaps one that is open non match days, maybe a restaurant too and a space that could be used for corporate events or by the university.
Being set up for concerts in the summer might work ( I’ve often thought if the other half corner of the north bank was done that would make a good end to put a stage, about 8k seated with all the wv1 facilities and 10k or so standing, not too big and quite atmospheric). But beyond that I’m not sure much is truly viable.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Personally I think there’s too much put into additional revenue streams, it’s an idea rather than a practicality. I mean who’s bringing a hotel to Wolverhampton? It’d be absolutely dead (like the one on Waterloo Road is). Wolverhampton as a City is dead or at best taking its last breaths. Retail is gone, bars outside match day are dead. It’s unfortunately a ghost town. Additional venues for concerts for example, would never get approval from the council they’ve got a significant amount invested in the Halls to recoup for a start.

If we ever do the ground under Fosun (which I don’t see unfortunately). It needs to be a sporting stadium that can host the odd summer concert, anything more grand would be a complete waste

Always makes me laugh. Drop by the Brittannia Hotel, I mean that's a perfect location, must be making an absolute fortune? WV1 is the last part of the ground to sell every game, I've never been in, but it seems massively overpriced for individuals actually paying while also being a poor offer for actual corporate hospitality. Maybe there's a market for the odd really big gig (much bigger than anything that could go in the Civic), but that's been there for years and it's a very occasional extra, football stadium gigs aren't really a great idea anyway IMO, forget the weather, the acoustics and atmosphere are always crap. Also already competing with Villa offering 15k extra seats. It has to pay as a football ground, anything else is a little bonus. Likewise I wonder if people have ever walked around Small Heath, even the station isn't really near enough and although obviously the railway goes past the ground, I think it's not a line you could get anywhere from? If that line could get you straight into New Street that would help a bit, but I don't think that's possible?

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

It would be madness for them to do this. They’ve never been a big club attendance wise. They haven’t recorded an average attendance of over 40,000 for 75 years. There average over the last few years has been in the teens and occasionally the low twenties. Where do they think an extra 30,000 fans are going to suddenly appear from? Hasn’t anyone told them that you need to create a demand first?

Get into the Premier League, stay there, consistently finish in the top 6 and then you might need a 50,000 seat stadium. Building one now while in the lower reaches of the Championship and attracting crowds of 20,000 if you’re lucky would be the height of crazy, even if you do get a surge in interest through a promotion challenge the crowd isn’t going to increase that drastically.

Or are the owners going down the Field of Dreams route of ‘if you build it, they will come’

Sadly, I agree. Clubs increasingly rely on broadcast revenue not attendance fees. There is little to be gained from maintaining a stadium, let alone building a shiny new one.

However, that short-sighted strategy could come back to bite the owners. Football fans are customers, who expect a level of comfort and service. Crap food, long queues, small seats, expensive tickets, people will go somewhere else for their entertainment.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Isnt that the whole point though to breathe new life into the city centre?
Bringing new retail, bars ,cafes etc would certainly help
All town and City centres have to be innovative now,retail outlets are dead as you say, but small speciality businesses can thrive if they are different to what has gone before,and offer people a different experience
A hotel would be used for match days at least and for other events if they get it right
Wolverhampton used to be buzzing at the weekends,theres no reason it cant be again if people get the planning and services right

I think the last part is key. Birmingham as a city has had huge wafts of regeneration but still bars/restaurants open and close at alarming rates because whilst busy on weekends it’s still a ghost town in the week and they can’t just rely on weekends. Wolverhampton is in a much worst situation. It doesn’t have things like Brindley Place or the Bull Ring as attractions, or the convention centre etc. Wolverhamptons regeneration is for the council to manage, the club chucking money at infrastructure isn’t their responsibility. I mean there were two pubs right by the ground that shut, there’s a half empty hotel already 100 metres away and a concert venue already trying to find its feet again 100 metres away again

 

[WickedWolfie]

Blues new stadium will only become worthwhile if it becomes a serious money earner for them. In order to do that it will have to regularly mostly sell out for their home games, host and sell out numerous international games on the football side. It will also need NFL, MLB, boxing and concerts regularly every summer. It’s hard to see the American sports going to Birmingham when there are 3 genuinely perfect venues in London for this, boxing will only go where when a Birmingham fighter becomes stadium worthy so it’s concerts mainly, then.

Re your first sentence if that seems likely Villa will necessarily respond or have their own earnings decline steeply.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Think West Ham went from c33k to 57k average attendance?

They have a massive footprint and seriously good public transport at Stratford.

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

I'm sure that the American's will have done there sums on the capital receipts they'll get from St Andrew's and their training grounds. Probably have a deal lined up with developers.

I do think that their stadium/capacity is aspirational and will depend on a lot of other things falling into place, there's an absence of artists impressions that would mean to me that they are in the very early stages. They also need to get planning permission for the development. I think there's a lot to go through before the final concept will be revealed, hotels, commercial and residential properties, community and clubs sports and training facilities, transport links, entertainment venues will all be subject to feasibility studies and that's before you even consider the stadium.

The site is circa four times that of the St Andrews footprint and is located within spitting distance of the new HS2 Curzon Street station.

There is a strategic direction at present and the spreadsheet will have a lot of big numbers in it, but they are acting on a vision and will be interesting to see how that evolves or not.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

I'm sure that the American's will have done there sums on the capital receipts they'll get from St Andrew's and their training grounds. Probably have a deal lined up with developers.

I do think that their stadium/capacity is aspirational and will depend on a lot of other things falling into place, there's an absence of artists impressions that would mean to me that they are in the very early stages. They also need to get planning permission for the development. I think there's a lot to go through before the final concept will be revealed, hotels, commercial and residential properties, community and clubs sports and training facilities, transport links, entertainment venues will all be subject to feasibility studies and that's before you even consider the stadium.

The site is circa four times that of the St Andrews footprint and is located within spitting distance of the new HS2 Curzon Street station.

There is a strategic direction at present and the spreadsheet will have a lot of big numbers in it, but they are acting on a vision and will be interesting to see how that evolves or not.

Agree with all that. It’s also why I think the idea of it being opened in 2029 is overly optimistic.

 

[Kebab Warrior]

It’ll look amazing in the championship with it being 1/3 full at best.

If they’re willing to drop that kind of money on a stadium they won’t be in the championship for long. Although they might have to climb out of Div 1 first…

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

If they’re willing to drop that kind of money on a stadium they won’t be in the championship for long. Although they might have to climb out of Div 1 first…

History is full of clubs chucking money at it and failing, we did enough of it in the 90s. The FFP / PSR situation (if it’s not amended by then) will hamper it. Also the sheer gap between the EPL and championship means the three that come down look increasingly more likely to go straight back up year on year.

No green eyed envy from me, I’ve got a soft spot for blues in that they’ve always been the perennial underdog, just feel there’s more to it than spending a load to get them in the premier league, especially when the could easily be in League One. That would be the most “blues” thing ever to announce a £3 billion stadium in April and then be playing Shrewsbury in August!

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

I know we've had some fantastic football and success under Fosun's ownership of our great club with our team on the pitch..

If the last owner SM would have stayed here a few years longer the Molineux Stadium would have been fit for it's purpose in the 21st century. With at least the fans not complaining much in a Steve Bull stand and South Bank with great facilities like in this picture would they? Yes I know mixers are going to say but we'd still be in the championship but if Fosun would have come along later we could have had both. Your thoughts of how things could have transpired differently?

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

I know we've had some fantastic football and success under Fosun's ownership of our great club with our team on the pitch..

If the last owner SM would have stayed here a few years longer the Molineux Stadium would have been fit for it's purpose in the 21st century. With at least the fans not complaining much in a Steve Bull stand and South Bank with great facilities like in this picture would they? Yes I know mixers are going to say but we'd still be in the championship but if Fosun would have come ago years later we could have had both. Just a thought and your thoughts please of how things could have transpired differently?
View attachment 41750

Sums it up though doesn't it? Spent £16m on a stand, let the team rot. Ended up in L1. No money. No more ground development. We're not in a position to guarantee the PL football that we need to finance ground expansion while spending that money on the ground. Catch 22.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

I know we've had some fantastic football and success under Fosun's ownership of our great club with our team on the pitch..

If the last owner SM would have stayed here a few years longer the Molineux Stadium would have been fit for it's purpose in the 21st century. With at least the fans not complaining much in a Steve Bull stand and South Bank with great facilities like in this picture would they? Yes I know mixers are going to say but we'd still be in the championship but if Fosun would have come ago years later we could have had both. Your thoughts of how things could have transpired differently?
View attachment 41750

The trouble is Morgan stuck to what he knew (bricks and mortar), the only way molineux ended up looking like that would have been as a result of sustained premier league football which he didn’t have the appetite to invest for. He did a lot of good here off the pitch, the training facilities for one but I think he felt he could do the playing side with far less investment than what’s needed and then got the hump when it went wrong and decided no more.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

I'm sure that the American's will have done there sums on the capital receipts they'll get from St Andrew's and their training grounds. Probably have a deal lined up with developers.

I do think that their stadium/capacity is aspirational and will depend on a lot of other things falling into place, there's an absence of artists impressions that would mean to me that they are in the very early stages. They also need to get planning permission for the development. I think there's a lot to go through before the final concept will be revealed, hotels, commercial and residential properties, community and clubs sports and training facilities, transport links, entertainment venues will all be subject to feasibility studies and that's before you even consider the stadium.

The site is circa four times that of the St Andrews footprint and is located within spitting distance of the new HS2 Curzon Street station.

There is a strategic direction at present and the spreadsheet will have a lot of big numbers in it, but they are acting on a vision and will be interesting to see how that evolves or not.

I agree. At the moment their ambition is helping to secure council funding to clear and remediate the land. As you say, it’s very close to the HS2 terminal, and the aspirational target for completing the development is around the time that link is supposed to open. If you read what they say, there is a lot of ideas being floated for the land. It would not surprise me if the finished project is a far more modest initial stadium, but with space to expand, a training ground, and a bunch of other development including a hotel and offices, and maybe flats. The other development taking advantage of the HS2 location and helping the overall development to make more sense.

 

[Minimalist]

I know we've had some fantastic football and success under Fosun's ownership of our great club with our team on the pitch..

If the last owner SM would have stayed here a few years longer the Molineux Stadium would have been fit for it's purpose in the 21st century. With at least the fans not complaining much in a Steve Bull stand and South Bank with great facilities like in this picture would they? Yes I know mixers are going to say but we'd still be in the championship but if Fosun would have come ago years later we could have had both. Your thoughts of how things could have transpired differently?
View attachment 41750

No further development would have happened without being back in the premier league.

I actually think it was a shame he even started it, personally think he made a bit of a mess of it. Shouldn’t have moved the pitch from being square with the BW stand. Had he not done the north bank I suspect fosun might have done something of their own by now, which would probably have ultimately been better.

 

[Achilles Last Stand]

It would be madness for them to do this. They’ve never been a big club attendance wise. They haven’t recorded an average attendance of over 40,000 for 75 years. There average over the last few years has been in the teens and occasionally the low twenties. Where do they think an extra 30,000 fans are going to suddenly appear from? Hasn’t anyone told them that you need to create a demand first?

Get into the Premier League, stay there, consistently finish in the top 6 and then you might need a 50,000 seat stadium. Building one now while in the lower reaches of the Championship and attracting crowds of 20,000 if you’re lucky would be the height of crazy, even if you do get a surge in interest through a promotion challenge the crowd isn’t going to increase that drastically.

Or are the owners going down the Field of Dreams route of ‘if you build it, they will come’

Yeah, I assume they could draw in some new faces just for the comedy value, watching them self combust or shoot themselves spectacularly in the foot on most evenings.
But 30k new faces is quite hard to find, just for a weekly laugh.

 

[SmiffyWolf]

Makes me smile yet again this thread pops up and still not even basic maintenance to the paint flaking stands .

Jeff crows on about VAR and Fosun and him need to learn lessons. How quickly are they learning as the striker situation had taken seasons and the stands well years .

Not saying it is easy at present but we hear a lot of words at times with little actions .

Basic maintenance is it really that hard for a premier League club ?

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Makes me smile yet again this thread pops up and still not even basic maintenance to the paint flaking stands .

Jeff crows on about VAR and Fosun and him need to learn lessons. How quickly are they learning as the striker situation had taken seasons and the stands well years .

Not saying it is easy at present but we hear a lot of words at times with little actions .

Basic maintenance is it really that hard for a premier League club ?

You say basic maintenance but you aren’t painting a football stand off a ladder. To paint the structural ironwork on the outside of the stadium is a massive major job. I wouldn’t be suprised if it cost 6 figures to paint each stand as a minimum and then folk would still moan that it’s just been tarted up rather than redeveloped. Painting the ground won’t stop those in the Graham Hughes stand getting wet, or make the facilities in the Steve Bull any better. It’s the proverbial lipstick on a pig

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

I agree. At the moment their ambition is helping to secure council funding to clear and remediate the land. As you say, it’s very close to the HS2 terminal, and the aspirational target for completing the development is around the time that link is supposed to open. If you read what they say, there is a lot of ideas being floated for the land. It would not surprise me if the finished project is a far more modest initial stadium, but with space to expand, a training ground, and a bunch of other development including a hotel and offices, and maybe flats. The other development taking advantage of the HS2 location and helping the overall development to make more sense.

Am I missing something? How is it being fairly close to Curzon Street going to help this project work? Who is staying in a hotel in Small Heath rather than the City? Maybe town planning just isn't my thing?

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Whatever the thoughts are for a rebuild and where, it has to be multi functional
Hotels, retail,food outlets and more importantly a venue for concerts and other events that will make it a hub for entertainment as well as a home for Wolves
Is there room to do that in our current location im not sure

Of course there's room. Wolves don't need a behemoth of a stadium, we can have all those facilities on a smaller scale.

If Birmingham were to build a stadium to compete with huge stadiums in London and Manchester, there's little point Wolves doing the same...

Not every boxing card will sell out Wembley or Tottenham, not every band will attract 70,000 over multiple dates.

Wolves can position themselves for events bigger than indoor arenas and smaller than a Taylor Swift show.

In fact even if Birmingham don't build a huge stadium, we'd be better off not going in to direct competition with the big boys, but positioning ourselves in the next rung.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Am I missing something? How is it being fairly close to Curzon Street going to help this project work? Who is staying in a hotel in Small Heath rather than the City? Maybe town planning just isn't my thing?

I think it depends on how this site gets connected to the new terminal. The site is approximately 1 mile from the new terminal. The wrong side of terminal for a city centre hotel, but if the site gets developed with offices etc. then potentially a decent development site.

 

[Padraig]

You say basic maintenance but you aren’t painting a football stand off a ladder. To paint the structural ironwork on the outside of the stadium is a massive major job. I wouldn’t be suprised if it cost 6 figures to paint each stand as a minimum and then folk would still moan that it’s just been tarted up rather than redeveloped. Painting the ground won’t stop those in the Graham Hughes stand getting wet, or make the facilities in the Steve Bull any better. It’s the proverbial lipstick on a pig

They won’t even replace the wolf head flag they use before kick off which has a massive hole in it, so it doesn’t matter how much it costs, they won’t do it as they clearly see no value in appearances.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

I think it depends on how this site gets connected to the new terminal. The site is approximately 1 mile from the new terminal. The wrong side of terminal for a city centre hotel, but if the site gets developed with offices etc. then potentially a decent development site.

Huge development around Curzon street already though, hotels, offices, Uni accommodation I think for BCU. It might overspill as far as the Wheels I guess as that's closer than St Andrews, but there's a lot of rail and road to make access trickier. Can't see that being close to the HS2 terminal is going to help (apart from it'll be nice when the whole of that part of the city stops lookling like a building site.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

They won’t even replace the wolf head flag they use before kick off which has a massive hole in it, so it doesn’t matter how much it costs, they won’t do it as they clearly see no value in appearances.

No idea on that tbh, can’t say I’ve ever looked that closely at it

 

[Minimalist]

They won’t even replace the wolf head flag they use before kick off which has a massive hole in it, so it doesn’t matter how much it costs, they won’t do it as they clearly see no value in appearances.

That reminds me…. I noticed on Saturday there were no flags on the poles atop the Steve bull stand? Anyone know why?

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

That reminds me…. I noticed on Saturday there were no flags on the poles atop the Steve bull stand? Anyone know why?

Very windy I guess. Either too dangerous to go and put them up or likely to damage the flags.

 

[wolvesjoe]

I know we've had some fantastic football and success under Fosun's ownership of our great club with our team on the pitch..

If the last owner SM would have stayed here a few years longer the Molineux Stadium would have been fit for it's purpose in the 21st century. With at least the fans not complaining much in a Steve Bull stand and South Bank with great facilities like in this picture would they? Yes I know mixers are going to say but we'd still be in the championship but if Fosun would have come ago years later we could have had both. Your thoughts of how things could have transpired differently?
View attachment 41750

I agree,

Build it and the people will come.

Make Molineux one of those key venues where people love to attend and be identified with.

Experiment with ticket prices to bring the people in who are excluded at present.

Fosun have failed to build what could have been the cornerstone of a new era for the club.

It remains an astonishing mistake.

I accept that other factors may well have played into this failure, (changing relationship with China, a bankrupt local council the most important). But it still should have been built, as it was the kind of project that produces unforeseen synergies, weird effects and energies.

And it should still be built, as a priority.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

That reminds me…. I noticed on Saturday there were no flags on the poles atop the Steve bull stand? Anyone know why?

Wow. The stadium development has started!

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

I agree,

Build it and the people will come.

Make Molineux one of those key venues where people love to attend and be identified with.

Experiment with ticket prices to bring the people in who are excluded at present.

Fosun have failed to build what could have been the cornerstone of a new era for the club.

It remains an astonishing mistake.

I accept that other factors may well have played into this failure, (changing relationship with China, a bankrupt local council the most important). But it still should have been built, as it was the kind of project that produces unforeseen synergies, weird effects and energies.

And it should still be built, as a priority.

MK Dons built it and they didn’t come (granted a fairly rubbish outfit) Coventry built it and they didn’t come either.

I don’t necessarily buy into the “locked out fans” bit. We’re absolutely in the midst of a cost of living crisis where many are unfortunately struggling with the most basic of needs such as heating and food costs. Building a bigger stadium and putting the ticket prices down doesn’t help those who can’t afford it as it is. Even knocking £10 off a ticket which would mean they’d be championship/League one prices isn’t enticing someone who’s in the aforementioned position. Unfortunately football is a leisure pursuit much like going to the pub for a pint and when times are hard neither are necessities in life.

Like everyone I think Molineux needs redevelopment because it’s past its sell by date but I don’t buy into this theory that somehow that magically will be millions of additional income. I mean realistically if they’d done it 5 years ago and they’d built a 50,000 stadium, we wouldn’t be filling it because we haven’t got that fan base. It’d go up as a lot of casual fans would come for a bit but in time would dwindle off. Even the absolute glory years of the late 50’s when football was cheap our average attendance was only circa 35,000

 

[Monketron]

Always makes me laugh. Drop by the Brittannia Hotel, I mean that's a perfect location, must be making an absolute fortune? WV1 is the last part of the ground to sell every game, I've never been in, but it seems massively overpriced for individuals actually paying while also being a poor offer for actual corporate hospitality. Maybe there's a market for the odd really big gig (much bigger than anything that could go in the Civic), but that's been there for years and it's a very occasional extra, football stadium gigs aren't really a great idea anyway IMO, forget the weather, the acoustics and atmosphere are always crap. Also already competing with Villa offering 15k extra seats. It has to pay as a football ground, anything else is a little bonus. Likewise I wonder if people have ever walked around Small Heath, even the station isn't really near enough and although obviously the railway goes past the ground, I think it's not a line you could get anywhere from? If that line could get you straight into New Street that would help a bit, but I don't think that's possible?

Which is why we should go down the arena route with a roof instead of a stadium. A smaller-style Johan Cruyff Arena would be a great blueprint not just for Wolves but the area as a whole.

 

[Dingle Chris]

I agree,

Build it and the people will come.

Make Molineux one of those key venues where people love to attend and be identified with.

Experiment with ticket prices to bring the people in who are excluded at present.

Fosun have failed to build what could have been the cornerstone of a new era for the club.

It remains an astonishing mistake.

I accept that other factors may well have played into this failure, (changing relationship with China, a bankrupt local council the most important). But it still should have been built, as it was the kind of project that produces unforeseen synergies, weird effects and energies.

And it should still be built, as a priority.

I agree but build

Which is why we should go down the arena route with a roof instead of a stadium. A smaller-style Johan Cruyff Arena would be a great blueprint not just for Wolves but the area as a whole.

Just off the M54 would be perfect. Good transport links North, South and West.

 

[Lupus ad Penn]

As long as I can walk to the ground at 2.30 from the Combermere Arms, I don’t mind where they rebuild the ground.

 

[Stourport wolf]

MK Dons built it and they didn’t come (granted a fairly rubbish outfit) Coventry built it and they didn’t come either.

I don’t necessarily buy into the “locked out fans” bit. We’re absolutely in the midst of a cost of living crisis where many are unfortunately struggling with the most basic of needs such as heating and food costs. Building a bigger stadium and putting the ticket prices down doesn’t help those who can’t afford it as it is. Even knocking £10 off a ticket which would mean they’d be championship/League one prices isn’t enticing someone who’s in the aforementioned position. Unfortunately football is a leisure pursuit much like going to the pub for a pint and when times are hard neither are necessities in life.

Like everyone I think Molineux needs redevelopment because it’s past its sell by date but I don’t buy into this theory that somehow that magically will be millions of additional income. I mean realistically if they’d done it 5 years ago and they’d built a 50,000 stadium, we wouldn’t be filling it because we haven’t got that fan base. It’d go up as a lot of casual fans would come for a bit but in time would dwindle off. Even the absolute glory years of the late 50’s when football was cheap our average attendance was only circa 35,000

In my opinion, Wolves have as least a big fan base as West Ham.
West Ham attracted a lot of new supporters, when they were gifted their present stadium.
We have missed and are missing an ideal opportunity, to attract new supporters for our future, by not having a bigger stadium.