Stadium Improvements

[Pasquale for King]

43 minutes ago, EIEIO said:

These are good short term improvements,  Ann has already highlighted finishing the new stand as one of her priorities.

I’ve not sat in the wheat field for years but ten turnstiles has never been enough, some sort of rearrangement of the area is required. 
She has said it’s one of the things she wants done over the next two years, I would hope she hires the proper people to do it as the current set up really doesn’t work on a match day. Having stood and watched the queues getting in, whilst waiting in a huge queue with other ST holders who’s cards didn’t work for two staff to deal with us was a bit amateur to be honest. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Pasquale for King

[EIEIO]

6 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

I’ve not sat in the wheat field for years but ten turnstiles has never been enough, some sort of rearrangement of the area is required. 
She has said it’s one of the things she wants done over the next two years, I would hope she hires the proper people to do it as the current set up really doesn’t work on a match day. Having stood and watched the queues getting in, whilst waiting in a huge queue with other ST holders who’s cards didn’t work for two staff to deal with us was a bit amateur to be honest. 

I've had a season ticket in the wheatfield since it opened and always use the Gorgie Road turnstiles. The wheatfield entrance has got gradually worse over the years. You would think it would be easy to build a block of turnstiles closer Gorgie Road near where the admin office staff park their cars.

Edited September 14, 2021 by EIEIO
Spelling

[brux]

If we truly have ambitions to challenge the old firm every season the stadium as it is will not allow us to grow. Issue is that can we build the season ticket fan base to 25k+, if we can then I'd be up for exploring the foundation to rebuild stands/purchase land.

[Pasquale for King]

6 minutes ago, EIEIO said:

I've had a season ticket in the wheatfield since it opened and always use the Gorgie Road turnstiles. The wheatfield entrance has got gradually worse over the years. You would think it would be easy to build a block of turnstiles closer Gorgie Road near where the admin office staff park their cars.

There was an issue with that on Sunday at the Gorgie turnstiles. 
Admin cars and Sky trucks too, they were blocking us around 5pm on Saturday as we drove out. 

[Stu_HMFC]

7 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

More turnstiles at the wheatfield for a start, to have such a small ticket office window with only two staff on seems like bad planning also. Finishing the main stand and creating a better feel/atmosphere in the fans bar or move it. 

More turnstiles at wheatfield and even a new set of steps added to the ones currently in place would be ideal. 

 

The ticket office is a Joke inside the club shop right at the door also there will be times the ticket office will get busy and the line of fans will either be round the shop or blocking the entrance, This should of been in a separate part of the stand or even its own door and entrance not being in the shop. 

 

I also think the inside end walls of the stands need to be boarded over and painted Maroon remove these legend photos and the badge in the wheatifeld and freshening it up . could have a some legends painted on these Zal Rudi Robbo something similar to what Bournemouth has . 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Stu_HMFC

[Pasquale for King]

6 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

More turnstiles at wheatfield and even a new set of steps added to the ones currently in place would be ideal. 

 

The ticket office is a Joke inside the club shop right at the door also there will be times the ticket office will get busy and the line of fans will either be round the shop or blocking the entrance, This should of been in a separate part of the stand or even its own door and entrance not being in the shop. 

 

I also think the inside end walls of the stands need to be boarded over and painted Maroon remove these legend photos and the badge in the wheatifeld and freshening it up . could have a some legends painted on these Zal Rudi Robbo something similar to what Bournemouth has . 

Agree with all of that, my neice who only goes to a couple of games a season mentioned the other three stands were looking a bit in need of sprucing up at the end of the game when they emptied. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Pasquale for King

[Stu_HMFC]

7 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Agree with all of that, my neice who only goes to a couple of games a season mentioned the other three stands were looking a bit in need of sprucing up at the end of the game when they emptied. 

No mention of the faded seats 😂 Even outside the stadium the roofs of the stands need a good jet wash. 

 

Place in general needs a good deep clean throughout Gorgie I'm no arsed thought about the place except Tynecastle haha. 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Stu_HMFC

[Pasquale for King]

2 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

No mention of the faded seats 😂 Even outside the stadium the roofs of the stands need a good jet wash. 

 

Place in general needs a good deep clean throughout Gorgie I'm no arsed thought about the place except Tynecastle haha. 

 

Yeah the whole of Gorgie could do with a facelift, I’m sure all the student flats that are planned will help 🙈. 

[Stu_HMFC]

1 minute ago, Pasquale for King said:

Yeah the whole of Gorgie could do with a facelift, I’m sure all the student flats that are planned will help 🙈. 

Aye the Flats around the back of the Wheatfield are horrid overflowing bins right down the bottom of the street there is an abandoned car with crap inside it and grass growing around the outside of it. 

[Craig_]

Might it be possible to extend the Wheatfield up the way with a second tier, so creating an overhang, rather than extending the footprint?

 

Sure that's been done at other stadia previously (Old Trafford, perhaps?)

[Nobreath]

27 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

The ticket office is a Joke inside the club shop right at the door also there will be times the ticket office will get busy and the line of fans will either be round the shop or blocking the entrance, This should of been in a separate part of the stand or even its own door and entrance not being in the shop. 

 

 

Perhaps it's to increase foot-fall in the club shop and increase sales. 

 

I do agree it's not ideal. 

[Stu_HMFC]

11 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

Might it be possible to extend the Wheatfield up the way with a second tier, so creating an overhang, rather than extending the footprint?

 

Sure that's been done at other stadia previously (Old Trafford, perhaps?)

Sounds a Possibility so it wouldn't be like Easter Road top tier maybe a 1/4 of the current Wheatfield would be below the a new top tier like the stands behind the goals at Murrayfield 

[wavydavy]

18 minutes ago, Nobreath said:

 

Perhaps it's to increase foot-fall in the club shop and increase sales. 

 

I do agree it's not ideal. 

 

Makes a bit of a mockery of social distancing to.

[Pasquale for King]

30 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Aye the Flats around the back of the Wheatfield are horrid overflowing bins right down the bottom of the street there is an abandoned car with crap inside it and grass growing around the outside of it. 

I know mate I live in Smithfield street, will get onto my pal Ashley the local councillor. Shes hood but can only do so much, the bins are a problem everywhere. 

[Pasquale for King]

26 minutes ago, Nobreath said:

 

Perhaps it's to increase foot-fall in the club shop and increase sales. 

 

I do agree it's not ideal. 

In a new build it’s actually a disgrace, like a lot of things I hear about behind the scenes, amateurish. 
Far too much room for the entrance to the facilities when you stand and look at it. 
We can only hope different designers are used for the other unfinished bits. 

[Pasquale for King]

48 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

Might it be possible to extend the Wheatfield up the way with a second tier, so creating an overhang, rather than extending the footprint?

 

Sure that's been done at other stadia previously (Old Trafford, perhaps?)

I think St James park also is proof of what can be done, not cheap though. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Pasquale for King

[davemclaren]

1 hour ago, Nobreath said:

 

Perhaps it's to increase foot-fall in the club shop and increase sales. 

 

I do agree it's not ideal. 

Ticket office becomes less critical every year as more and more opt for online transactions. 

[Boris5115]

I would love to see an increase of the pitch size in the future but how that could be achieved I have no idea and I would imagine that the costings would be huge. All you hear from that shower of crap down the road is about the tiny pitch which is exactly the same size as Dens Park but you never hear them moaning about that. 

[Hectormasson]

17 hours ago, Libertarian said:

I also love Tynecastle but when we were playing at Murrayfield a couple of years ago we had 26,000 against Aberdeen and 36,000 against Rangers. I'm sure we also had crowds in excess of 20,000 against Kilmarnock and St Mirren. It's all lost revenue. I have said this before that Jamie Bryant who was the brains behind the FOH had plans to realign the pitch from north/south to east/west, tear down the four stands and completely rebuild. According to Jamie this would have allowed for a bigger playing area and a 35,000 to 40,000 capacity. He planned to finance the rebuild through the Foundation. The smaller capacity of the current stadium is costing us revenue. 

Totally agree, we needed a new stand  definetly , but to what cost?? To get in maybe 3.5 k  at a push more fans?  19k or whatever is too small taking out hobos and the weegies were left with under 16k for our own people,  

[Jambo92]

Bigger stadium doesn't mean more money.  First the cost of the rebuild will take many years to pay off, which is likely to impact on field spend which is likely to affect attendances which is likely to affect ticket prices. Before you know it you've got 25k seater, 11,000 season tickets and a stadium that has lost its atmosphere.  Love hearing all the potential ideas but my wish for the next 5-10 years is that we focus on spending our income on talent to play for Hearts. 

[Pans Jambo]

2 minutes ago, Hectormasson said:

Totally agree, we needed a new stand  definetly , but to what cost?? To get in maybe 3.5 k  at a push more fans?  19k or whatever is too small taking out hobos and the weegies were left with under 16k for our own people,  

I like the fantasy of tearing down the Wheatfield and building a 2 tier stand with about 9,000 - 10,000 capacity. More hospitality but this time with corporate boxes facing the pitch and a large fans bar. A proper TV studio etc.

 

Bring us up to around 25K

 

Get it done Ann & FOH

[Stuart Lyon]

7 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

I like the fantasy of tearing down the Wheatfield and building a 2 tier stand with about 9,000 - 10,000 capacity. More hospitality but this time with corporate boxes facing the pitch and a large fans bar. A proper TV studio etc.

 

Bring us up to around 25K

 

Get it done Ann & FOH

Will need many more turnstiles than we have now!

[Pans Jambo]

Just now, Stuart Lyon said:

Will need many more turnstiles than we have now!

& more loo roll & hot water

[stirlo]

The bottom line is if there is any possibility of further expansion/redevelopment at Tynecastle in future we will require the field behind the Wheatfield, so if there is any possibility of buying that from the distillery (I believe they still own it) the club should try and do a deal. It would be low risk IMO because even if the club did eventually move away the field would still retain its value as a piece of real estate.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

52 minutes ago, Boris5115 said:

I would love to see an increase of the pitch size in the future but how that could be achieved I have no idea and I would imagine that the costings would be huge. All you hear from that shower of crap down the road is about the tiny pitch which is exactly the same size as Dens Park but you never hear them moaning about that. 

Blows me away that anyone would even remotely respect the opinion of utter Hibs dross fans. The tight pitch is what gives Tynecastle its cauldron-like intensity of atmosphere compared to the echo dome, so I’ve got absolutely no issue with it whatsoever, watched a lifetimes worth of football on that pitch and had more enjoyment than any Hibs fan watching their pathetic mob lose more derbies than they win at their own big spacious pitch.
 

The thing that annoys me is, the football on the pitch not the pitch itself, it’s exactly the reason Hearts football philosophy should basically be a 5-aside / futsal style of quick thinking 1 touch football in and around the box, because there’s no space to operate, so you need quick feet. But we’ve had a DoF running the club who had the exact opposite and worst possible philosophy. Hoping that, after the transitional promotion season, we are seeing some glimpses of that ball play with the interplay between GMS and Woodburn. That’s what we need. A whole team of quick feet guys like that.  

[One five]

10 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

& more loo roll & hot water

And more catering staff to sell pies and coffee 🥧 ☕️

the queues are frustrating at HT😱

[Deans Jambo]

13 minutes ago, Stuart Lyon said:

Will need many more turnstiles than we have now!

We do but it isn't the main problem as you can see from the photo there is one long queue for the turnstiles and hardly anyone at the actual turnstiles! There needs to be a least 5 queues but might require closing off the road. 

[Bazzas right boot]

29 minutes ago, Jambo92 said:

Bigger stadium doesn't mean more money.  First the cost of the rebuild will take many years to pay off, which is likely to impact on field spend which is likely to affect attendances which is likely to affect ticket prices. Before you know it you've got 25k seater, 11,000 season tickets and a stadium that has lost its atmosphere.  Love hearing all the potential ideas but my wish for the next 5-10 years is that we focus on spending our income on talent to play for Hearts. 

 

Win the league, play the next season at Murrayfield  in front of 45k, build the stadium, move in the season after. 

 

Done. 

 

[Hectormasson]

34 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

I like the fantasy of tearing down the Wheatfield and building a 2 tier stand with about 9,000 - 10,000 capacity. More hospitality but this time with corporate boxes facing the pitch and a large fans bar. A proper TV studio etc.

 

Bring us up to around 25K

 

Get it done Ann & FOH

That would be class m8

[Stu_HMFC]

30 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

& more loo roll & hot water

Who's taking a crap at the match 

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

We've just rebuilt main stand which isn't finished yet so there's zero chance of further expansion anytime soon

[Libertarian]

34 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

Blows me away that anyone would even remotely respect the opinion of utter Hibs dross fans. The tight pitch is what gives Tynecastle its cauldron-like intensity of atmosphere compared to the echo dome, so I’ve got absolutely no issue with it whatsoever, watched a lifetimes worth of football on that pitch and had more enjoyment than any Hibs fan watching their pathetic mob lose more derbies than they win at their own big spacious pitch.
 

The thing that annoys me is, the football on the pitch not the pitch itself, it’s exactly the reason Hearts football philosophy should basically be a 5-aside / futsal style of quick thinking 1 touch football in and around the box, because there’s no space to operate, so you need quick feet. But we’ve had a DoF running the club who had the exact opposite and worst possible philosophy. Hoping that, after the transitional promotion season, we are seeing some glimpses of that ball play with the interplay between GMS and Woodburn. That’s what we need. A whole team of quick feet guys like that.  

My understanding is that the Tynecastle pitch is below the minimum size stipulated by UEFA. Hope I'm wrong about this.

[Libertarian]

29 minutes ago, One five said:

And more catering staff to sell pies and coffee 🥧 ☕️

the queues are frustrating at HT😱

Hopefully at some point in the future the puritans in charge of the Scottish government will be kicked out and legislation allowing clubs to sell beer in the stadium will be introduced. I very rarely drink at the game these days but it really annoys me that middle class rugby fans are permitted a beer but football fans are not. 

[Nobreath]

8 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

My understanding is that the Tynecastle pitch is below the minimum size stipulated by UEFA. Hope I'm wrong about this.

 

I believe dispensation is guaranteed until we reach the Quarter/semi finals of a European competition.

 

At that point we would be selling out Murrayfield anyway.

[iwasthere1954]

18 hours ago, Libertarian said:

I also love Tynecastle but when we were playing at Murrayfield a couple of years ago we had 26,000 against Aberdeen and 36,000 against Rangers. I'm sure we also had crowds in excess of 20,000 against Kilmarnock and St Mirren. It's all lost revenue. I have said this before that Jamie Bryant who was the brains behind the FOH had plans to realign the pitch from north/south to east/west, tear down the four stands and completely rebuild. According to Jamie this would have allowed for a bigger playing area and a 35,000 to 40,000 capacity. He planned to finance the rebuild through the Foundation. The smaller capacity of the current stadium is costing us revenue. 

Fair point. However the Rangers attendance was boosted by a huge Rangers support like it used to be in days gone by. Three thousand of them is too many in my opinion.

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, davemclaren said:

Ticket office becomes less critical every year as more and more opt for online transactions. 

Try standing there for twenty minutes before the game as folk are pushing past you to get to the turnstiles whilst two kids struggle to deal with ST holders who can’t get in AGAIN whilst their bosses are nowhere to be seen, and the Shop manager has to come out and organise it into ST holders and those picking up tickets. Should I have emailed them?

[Thomaso]

1 hour ago, Hectormasson said:

Totally agree, we needed a new stand  definetly , but to what cost?? To get in maybe 3.5 k  at a push more fans?  19k or whatever is too small taking out hobos and the weegies were left with under 16k for our own people,  

For the umpteenth time the cost wasn’t just for a basic stand to accommodate 3.5k more fans!

It including purchasing the Plaza area, 5 hospitality suites, dressing rooms, fitness area, offices, club shop, fans bar and a nursery!

[iwasthere1954]

35 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

My understanding is that the Tynecastle pitch is below the minimum size stipulated by UEFA. Hope I'm wrong about this.

You apply for a dispensation from eufa each year like hundreds of other clubs throughout Europe do.

[One five]

33 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

Hopefully at some point in the future the puritans in charge of the Scottish government will be kicked out and legislation allowing clubs to sell beer in the stadium will be introduced. I very rarely drink at the game these days but it really annoys me that middle class rugby fans are permitted a beer but football fans are not. 

Yeah if I could get a beer then a coffee would certainly be swerved for me , agree if rugby fans can enjoy a beer at half time why not football fans 🤷‍♂️

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

1 hour ago, stirlo said:

The bottom line is if there is any possibility of further expansion/redevelopment at Tynecastle in future we will require the field behind the Wheatfield, so if there is any possibility of buying that from the distillery (I believe they still own it) the club should try and do a deal. It would be low risk IMO because even if the club did eventually move away the field would still retain its value as a piece of real estate.

 

Planning consent for the stadium redevelopment has been thwarted for years due to the blast radius of the distillery's ethanol tanks.

 

[Pans Jambo]

57 minutes ago, Selkirkhmfc1874 said:

We've just rebuilt main stand which isn't finished yet so there's zero chance of further expansion anytime soon

BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[davemclaren]

22 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Try standing there for twenty minutes before the game as folk are pushing past you to get to the turnstiles whilst two kids struggle to deal with ST holders who can’t get in AGAIN whilst their bosses are nowhere to be seen, and the Shop manager has to come out and organise it into ST holders and those picking up tickets. Should I have emailed them?

To be fair they should have fixed the problem the first time rather than add some capacity to cope with repeat issues. Lucky I’ve never had that problem, though I did once forget my ST and had to queue up. 

[davemclaren]

17 minutes ago, iwasthere1954 said:

You apply for a dispensation from eufa each year like hundreds of other clubs throughout Europe do.

Only issue is if we get into the Group sections iirc. 

[davemclaren]

20 minutes ago, Thomaso said:

For the umpteenth time the cost wasn’t just for a basic stand to accommodate 3.5k more fans!

It including purchasing the Plaza area, 5 hospitality suites, dressing rooms, fitness area, offices, club shop, fans bar and a nursery!

You sound frustrated. 🤣

[Niemi’s gloves]

1 hour ago, Deans Jambo said:

We do but it isn't the main problem as you can see from the photo there is one long queue for the turnstiles and hardly anyone at the actual turnstiles! There needs to be a least 5 queues but might require closing off the road. 

A picture worth a thousand words. Pretty clear that the bottleneck isn’t the turnstiles but rather the stewards checking bags etc. A very cheap and simple solution worth trying: two gaps in the barriers with two pairs of stewards. Maybe then go for two queues, one along Wheatfield Place as at present, one down Wheatfield Street. 

[Bazzas right boot]

33 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Try standing there for twenty minutes before the game as folk are pushing past you to get to the turnstiles whilst two kids struggle to deal with ST holders who can’t get in AGAIN whilst their bosses are nowhere to be seen, and the Shop manager has to come out and organise it into ST holders and those picking up tickets. Should I have emailed them?

 

Do you wake up angry, get angrier then go to sleep angry, the wake up even angrier, then get more angry... 

 

[1953]

18 minutes ago, One five said:

Yeah if I could get a beer then a coffee would certainly be swerved for me , agree if rugby fans can enjoy a beer at half time why not football fans 🤷‍♂️

There should not be any difference between football and rugby imo. Alcohol shouldn't be allowed in either. I go to the rugby occasionally and am sick of people constantly leaving their seats for more drink, going for a pee, more drink etc. Goes on all game. Just sit in your seat and watch the game. I really don't want that to start at football.

[Nobreath]

15 minutes ago, Niemi’s gloves said:

A picture worth a thousand words. Pretty clear that the bottleneck isn’t the turnstiles but rather the stewards checking bags etc. A very cheap and simple solution worth trying: two gaps in the barriers with two pairs of stewards. Maybe then go for two queues, one along Wheatfield Place as at present, one down Wheatfield Street. 

 

That sounds low cost and sensible, or they could create more turnstiles per the original planning application for Gorgie Stand to use, and the Wheatfield punters could continue using the existing Gorgie Road and Wheatfield turnstiles.

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Nobreath

[EIEIO]

Just now, 1953 said:

There should not be any difference between football and rugby imo. Alcohol shouldn't be allowed in either. I go to the rugby occasionally and am sick of people constantly leaving their seats for more drink, going for a pee, more drink etc. Goes on all game. Just sit in your seat and watch the game. I really don't want that to start at football.

Don't think alcohol should be serves during the game for the reasons you've given, before and after the game  - no problem.

[One five]

3 minutes ago, 1953 said:

There should not be any difference between football and rugby imo. Alcohol shouldn't be allowed in either. I go to the rugby occasionally and am sick of people constantly leaving their seats for more drink, going for a pee, more drink etc. Goes on all game. Just sit in your seat and watch the game. I really don't want that to start at football.

Fair point tbf.