Stadium Plans

[beppe7619]

The moon has more atmosphere than the Kop. Most overhyped stand in the world.

I am going by football clubs stands history holt end stretford end gallowgate end. Not atmosphere

 

[NewarkWolf]

I wonder how Fosun intend to progress the stadium on the back of Jeff saying the club can become one of the biggest clubs in the world in five years.
A lopsided ground, one temp stand, possibly two, both without a roof, with a badly ageing Steve Bull stand, just doesn't add up to that ambition re the stadium.

A new stadium built elsewhere.....

 

[Berlin Wolf]

A new stadium built elsewhere.....

I would put my money on the club maximising the current 32k Molineux.
Perhaps, a future 500 seat SE Corner temp stand, and renovation work on the Steve Bull stand improving facilities there.
A new 40 to 45k stadium built elsewhere would cost several hundred million minimum, most fans don't want to move elsewhere anyway.
You can never say never. But the sheer cost of Fosun financing a new stadium elsewhere, or building new stands at Molineux, seem dead and buried.

 

[Berlin Wolf]

Times have moved on .. You could have a safe standing / seating 15k South Bank now easily No excuse!

The club could. Taking Molineux's capacity over 40k, and importantly, more seats for the younger generation of fans to fill.
As Stourport wolf says, 'our capacity is too small for our fan base, and we are keeping future generations of young supporters locked out'.
Mid 60s to mid 70s, you'd see hundreds of teenagers queuing at the U16 (Children's) North Bank turnstiles, me and my sister were two of them.
I am not sure how many young teenagers attend home games these days but most seem to be with parents, not in small and large groups meeting up.
One reason maybe due to all seating. It is difficult getting tickets to meet and sit together, unlike paying at the turnstiles and standing together like in the past.

 

[yateleywolf]

Some great comments on this thread I think it's sad Fosun have decided to do nothing with it.They did get the screens working , I suppose, but the tannoys still don't really work and WiFi? It's hard to moan to much when your eighth in premier league it's just frustrating they don't want to capitalise on it.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

The club could. Taking Molineux's capacity over 40k, and importantly, more seats for the younger generation of fans to fill.
As Stourport wolf says, 'our capacity is too small for our fan base, and we are keeping future generations of young supporters locked out'.
Mid 60s to mid 70s, you'd see hundreds of teenagers queuing at the U16 (Children's) North Bank turnstiles, me and my sister were two of them.
I am not sure how many young teenagers attend home games these days but most seem to be with parents, not in small and large groups meeting up.
One reason maybe due to all seating. It is difficult getting tickets to meet and sit together, unlike paying at the turnstiles and standing together like in the past.

I would also like to see reduced ticket prices for u-18s. They are the fans if tomorrow but can't afford to come and watch.

 

[Berlin Wolf]

I would also like to see reduced ticket prices for u-18s. They are the fans if tomorrow but can't afford to come and watch.

Just seen a seat become available in the South Bank for the Brighton game. Price for Under 17 £14.00, Under 12 £6.00.
How affordable are those prices for those age groups? I suppose the U17 could be a bit cheaper.
But agree, we need more fans of tomorrow attending, with pricing (and more seats) that will encourage more of them to attend.

 

[Bugsy911]

If you look around you at a match day its clear we have a more mature fan base and without hooking our children on live support the tipping point will arrive, we need to start this now and ensure a generation of kids don't miss out on watching live football at this wonderful club rather than staying at home to watch on TV or worse still play on the Xbox.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Some great comments on this thread I think it's sad Fosun have decided to do nothing with it.They did get the screens working , I suppose, but the tannoys still don't really work and WiFi? It's hard to moan to much when your eighth in premier league it's just frustrating they don't want to capitalise on it.

That sums it up for me too. Very happy with how things are going on the pitch, and with the club in general. The lack of progress on the stadium is a disappointment, made worse when we see other clubs progressing plans for their stadiums.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

Those were the days my friend.

For a long time there was only the Steve Bull (John Ireland) stand and the South Bank terrace open. The North Bank and Molineux Street stands had been condemned following the Bradford fire. We still had gates over 20k and a capacity of nearly 30k.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

I'd take pretty much any expansion of the stand right now but it's a shame the proposal for the Steve Bull rebuild is only 13k, it hardly seems worth it capacity-wise. The 90s Doug Ellis stand has a similar capacity and the 'footprint' there is much smaller. I know expectations, in terms of legroom and facilities have changed but there's potential to build across the road, like Newcastle's Milburn Stand, and similar at Old Trafford and and again at Villa Park. There's also obviously loads of space in front of the current stand.

I know an increase to 13k from 9k doesn't sound much, but it's an increase of 44% which is sizeable.

It's in the corners where the biggest increases will be realised and without total redevelopment of the wing stands we'll struggle to seamlessly integrate the current, weirdly designed, kinked stands.

If we applied a 44% increase to the entire stadium, it would be over 46k which is just about where it needs to be in my opinion.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Yes @Mardenboroughs Shoulder the younger generation can't believe I bet from the 1940 /50's to the 70's the South Bank used to hold 25K to 30K thousand people all being it standing that is. That's almost the capacity that the Molineux has been for the past few decades.

To be fair to the woman commentating on my stream for the Villa game, she mentioned it. It made a pleasant change to the Sky and BT comms who can tell you the location of every brick in the big six grounds and the toilet habits of their squad, but know bugger all about Molineux and Wolves beyond what’s printed on their briefing sheet!

 

[Monketron]

To be fair to the woman commentating on my stream for the Villa game, she mentioned it. It made a pleasant change to the Sky and BT comms who can tell you the location of every brick in the big six grounds and the toilet habits of their squad, but know bugger all about Molineux and Wolves beyond what’s printed on their briefing sheet!

It makes sense given that woman was Jacqui Oatley who is a huge Wolves fan!

 

[Sussex Wolf]

I know an increase to 13k from 9k doesn't sound much, but it's an increase of 44% which is sizeable.

It's in the corners where the biggest increases will be realised and without total redevelopment of the wing stands we'll struggle to seamlessly integrate the current, weirdly designed, kinked stands.

If we applied a 44% increase to the entire stadium, it would be over 46k which is just about where it needs to be in my opinion.

It tells you something about the size of Anfield that after the current phase of expansion is complete, they will have a 61k capacity, almost as big as Spurs, but without seating in any of the corners.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

It makes sense given that woman was Jacqui Oatley who is a huge Wolves fan!

I didn’t get her name, but I wondered if it was. Makes sense. I know the “expert” was Osman, so at least it balanced things up.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

To be fair to the woman commentating on my stream for the Villa game, she mentioned it. It made a pleasant change to the Sky and BT comms who can tell you the location of every brick in the big six grounds and the toilet habits of their squad, but know bugger all about Molineux and Wolves beyond what’s printed on their briefing sheet!

It was great having the huge South Bank terrace as capacity could be scaled up for games such as the Swindon League Cup Semi Final with an attendance over 42k and still retain the atmosphere with smaller gates. Health and Safety nightmare though it was!

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

It tells you something about the size of Anfield that after the current phase of expansion is complete, they will have a 61k capacity, almost as big as Spurs, but without seating in of the corners.

The four stands retain separation in name only though, they do encroach upon eachother in the lower portions at least and seating does populate the corner areas if not creating a corner stand by design.

There must be 5-6k in the corners at Anfield, whereas Wolves will be looking at double that at least if filling in every corner.

 

[Wolf316]

The four stands retain separation in name only though, they do encroach upon eachother in the lower portions at least and seating does populate the corner areas if not creating a corner stand by design.

There must be 5-6k in the corners at Anfield, whereas Wolves will be looking at double that at least if filling in every corner.

Would also mean we could stick the away fans in a corner.

 

[WickedWolfie]

A new stadium built elsewhere.....

That is my own suspicion

 

[WickedWolfie]

If you look around you at a match day its clear we have a more mature fan base and without hooking our children on live support the tipping point will arrive, we need to start this now and ensure a generation of kids don't miss out on watching live football at this wonderful club rather than staying at home to watch on TV or worse still play on the Xbox.

That, in much blunter terms, is what l was saying last night.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Just seen a seat become available in the South Bank for the Brighton game. Price for Under 17 £14.00, Under 12 £6.00.
How affordable are those prices for those age groups? I suppose the U17 could be a bit cheaper.
But agree, we need more fans of tomorrow attending, with pricing (and more seats) that will encourage more of them to attend.

Those prices aren't actually too bad given the capacity constraints.

 

[wwbug]

If its purely business then money can be made so much more easily from enlarging the world fan base, branding and international deals.
If its full at 32,000 just increases match day revenue by 50%, not the seating capacity 50% .
If its just business and saves a lot of hassle. ! And I know it isnt just business to us. .

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Would also mean we could stick the away fans in a corner.

I think that was always the plan. A NE corner that can be increased/decreased on an ad-hoc basis dependent on the size of the away following.

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

I think that was always the plan. A NE corner that can be increased/decreased on an ad-hoc basis dependent on the size of the away following.

I've had some great seats in the Stan Cullis Stand NE corner they are too good for away fans..
They should put the away fans in uncovered GH stand SW corner and other uncovered corner SE when it's done also!

 

[Sussex Wolf]

I've had some great seats in the Stan Cullis Stand NE corner they are too good for away fans..
They should put the away fans in uncovered GH stand SW corner or other uncovered corner SE when it's done also!

Nice idea, but I think others pointed out that the police would have words about putting the away support between the South Bank and SB Upper! Would be great for banter but a recipe for disaster before and after the game!

 

[TFWanderers]

our old south bank which was 30k our south bank should be 13 k not 5.5 k and is such a sad loss to our ground lost in history. 30 years since it was lost. I use to hear the molineux roar 1.3 miles away from the ground in the early 80s now you can’t tell there is a game on now until you are by molineux alley

Molineux was the biggest all seater stadium when completed but in reality, it should have been bigger.

We had gates of 20,000+ with only the South Bank and John Ireland open.

28,525 was never going to be big enough should the club have stabilised back in the top flight........which is exactly what Jack wanted to achieve after pumping the money into the infrastructure.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

I remember saying when the new North Bank was being built, that they have to complete the next phase to avoid having a lop sided stadium. For this reason and as the oldest stand, they need to replace the Steve Bull stand next.

 

[WickedWolfie]

I've had some great seats in the Stan Cullis Stand NE corner they are too good for away fans..
They should put the away fans in uncovered GH stand SW corner and other uncovered corner SE when it's done also!

Do you go to any away games? If so then don't moan if other teams stick Wolves fans in the ****tiest most godawful part of the ground.

Oh, and the chances of WMP or the ground licensing authority agreeing to your "genius" plan is zero.

 

[Wolvessince63]

I think Fosun are in the same predicament as a lot of clubs regarding investment in the stadium.
On Gary Neville’s podcast yesterday he was talking about how much the Glazers need to spend on a crumbling Old Trafford in the next few years, 100’s of millions of pounds.
Although sad to say, but I think a new stadium is the cheaper option for us.

 

[GV Wolf]

I remember saying when the new North Bank was being built, that they have to complete the next phase to avoid having a lop sided stadium. For this reason and as the oldest stand, they need to replace the Steve Bull stand next.

Or start by replacing the north bank. It’s already dated, looks awful from inside the ground, looks awful from outside the ground, people get soaked when it rains when once they were dry, the corporate seats have ruined the atmosphere/singing in the stand and the acoustics are terrible. Just bite the bullet, begin with a new north bank and let’s have a wow factor of a new stadium. I won’t hold my breath.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Molineux was the biggest all seater stadium when completed but in reality, it should have been bigger.

We had gates of 20,000+ with only the South Bank and John Ireland open.

28,525 was never going to be big enough should the club have stabilised back in the top flight........which is exactly what Jack wanted to achieve after pumping the money into the infrastructure.

Many of us said so at the time. Should have been 30-35k when SJH finished with scope to add another 10-15k without demolishing stands if and when needed.

The new generation of identikit stadiums after Molineux was rebuilt, like the Riverside, got that aspect right. Boro were constrained to 20k if they had rebuilt Ayresome Park because of the housing and roads around it. They built the Riverside quickly, and without the corners, it held 30k when opened. A few years later, they filled in the corners, adding 5k. They have scope to expand up to 42k within their original outline permission and design if needed. People may criticise it for being a “boring bowl”, but it suits Boro well. It’s built to a budget, but the concourses are spacious, the views inside the stadium excellent, and despite it sitting next to the river, it’s not half as cold as it gets in Molineux when the wind and rain whips in through the open corners!

 

[WickedWolfie]

Or start by replacing the north bank. It’s already dated, looks awful from inside the ground, looks awful from outside the ground, people get soaked when it rains when once they were dry, the corporate seats have ruined the atmosphere/singing in the stand and the acoustics are terrible. Just bite the bullet, begin with a new north bank and let’s have a wow factor of a new stadium. I won’t hold my breath.

That is very possibly the most ridiculous suggestion that l have ever seen on here.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

Like it or not, before the North Bank was rebuilt we couldn't get 30k inside Molineux.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Surely we could just make the South Bank a lot bigger and rebuild the Steve Bull so it joins the North Bank and South Bank together. It could bring us close to 50/60k capacity & cost is the only issue 30/40m??

 

[beppe7619]

I know people don’t like corporate but that is the way football is now. Paying 10k for a box on match day it helps brings revenue to the club and let’s us buy players

 

[DeWolfMan60]

Anybody know how many restricted view seats there are in the North Bank upper that the club cannot sell? Caused by the Steve Bull roof. Presumably there isn't anything they can do with the roofs of both stands to bring these seats into use maybe by removing the offending section of the Steve Bull and extending the North Bank roof? Probably not worth the massive cost for a few seats?

 

[GV Wolf]

That is very possibly the most ridiculous suggestion that l have ever seen on here.

Why is it, just because it’s the newest doesn’t mean it’s the best. When fosun come up with some new plans they either have to follow the curve of the NB into a new Steve bull stand or start again. Personally I would prefer them to start again and 4 individual stands rather than a half bowl stadium .

 

[WickedWolfie]

Why is it, just because it’s the newest doesn’t mean it’s the best. When fosun come up with some new plans they either have to follow the curve of the NB into a new Steve bull stand or start again. Personally I would prefer them to start again and 4 individual stands rather than a half bowl stadium .

The North Bank isn't the best albeit that it is far from as bad as you state. It's not the worst either, far from it, which is why your comment is so weird in my view. Have you ever been in the Steve Bull?

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

The North Bank isn't the best albeit that it is far from as bad as you state. It's not the worst either, far from it, which is why your comment is so weird in my view. Have you ever been in the Steve Bull?

I've recently had the pleasure of both stands. As a 6ft 6' tall person with very long legs, the Steve Bull is a torture to endure. But I would rather suffer than not get a ticket at all and accept that I am the exception that cannot be the blueprint for stadium legroom. The view from the Steve Bull was superior as you are a bit far away towards the back of the Stan Cullis upper.

 

[lostwolf]

The North Bank isn't the best albeit that it is far from as bad as you state. It's not the worst either, far from it, which is why your comment is so weird in my view. Have you ever been in the Steve Bull?

I think the North Bank would also feel better if it was linked to a (bigger and better quality) duplicate Steve Bull.

I'd want to see the two tiers half rounded into the South Bank too, with the lower tier fully rounded.

We probably won't see any movement on the ground while Fosun are in charge anyway but I do worry a bit that us in J9 and 10 will end up split up and the atmosphere there diluted, as happened with the North Bank rebuild.