Very good post @SussexWolf, thanks for that.
I guess it would look less risky if it was done stand by stand?
What do you think the financial case for doing the Steve Bull by itself and then the Jack Hayward 'later' might be?
At this point I'd happily take anything!
The post got me thinking too, and I suspect the club reached a similar conclusion about not doing a big expensive rebuild.
If £200m makes for a thin business case that doesn’t cover the risks taken on, then a more modest investment to achieve as much of the same benefits as possible, makes more sense. Suppose the club still targets 45k and much enhanced hospitality facilities, but reduces the total budget to £100m. Fosun still use their muscle to secure better finance rates than the short term Macquarie loans. So what could we do for £100m?
We could redevelop the Steve Bull, and associated corners. All the state of the art hospitality we need, plus maybe taking the capacity up to 40k (ie a bit bigger than Morgan planned). Maybe we fix the North Bank roof at the same time! Let’s assume 70m for that.
We could then cheaply expand the South Bank, extending a single tier backwards as far as the site allows, and to the height of the North Bank. Let’s assume that takes capacity up to 45k and costs another 20m.
We could then reconfigure the BW internally, moving some facilities out (to the new Steve Bull or a separate office on Waterloo Rd) and creating a larger concourse in the upper stand, enhancing the corporate facilities further, and some cosmetic enhancements to match the rest of the stadium and extend the life of the stand. Let’s assume no capacity increase and costs another 10m.
Around 100m all in, 45k capacity, top quality hospitality and decent size seats and concourses for all our fans. Phased projects in the order above completed over 5 years and combined with the start of a broader redevelopment of the land around Molineux.
PS.
If 100m is still too much, then half it again to a total of 50m. Keep phases 2 & 3 above, but instead of replacing the Steve Bull, refurbish and remodel it extensively for 20m. Probably takes the total capacity down to 40k on completion and while the facilities would be much improved, they wouldn’t be at the level achievable through a total rebuilding of it. Wouldn’t be my choice since it would require lots of compromises and may be false economy.