TYNECASTLE STADIUM UPGRADE POTENTIAL - UEFA category 4 granted ( updated/merged )

[redjambo]

How about a transparent pitch and underground seats where you can look up at the action?

 

We've got to think outside the envelope.

[Mark_Mywords]

1 minute ago, redjambo said:

How about a transparent pitch and underground seats where you can look up at the action?

 

We've got to think outside the envelope.

 

Hahaha.  We could make the corner truss supports from glass so the 'corner people' can have unrestricted views.

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

2 minutes ago, Mark_Mywords said:

 

Hahaha.  We could make the corner truss supports from glass so the 'corner people' can have unrestricted views.

Thought about suggesting that myself but upon refraction it’s probably not the best idea.

[redjambo]

1 minute ago, Mark_Mywords said:

 

Hahaha.  We could make the corner truss supports from glass so the 'corner people' can have unrestricted views.

 

Now you're talking.   I still think that the idea that someone proposed at one time of hanging big nets from the floodlights in which supporters could watch the game was a winner of an idea. Can you imagine the fun celebrating a goal in one of the nets?

[redjambo]

1 minute ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:

Thought about suggesting that myself but upon refraction it’s probably not the best idea.

 

Perhaps not, but we should at least set up a focus group to look at the idea.

[Ked]

For the roseburn we could have segregation of a perspex type thing.

Would reduce the number of lost seats.

Would that be viable.

Could have balcony type seats hanging from the stand roofs.

Or giant safety nets hanging from all four stands where you could lie down and watch the game from above.

 

[been here before]

37 minutes ago, Jambo 4 Ever said:

Any of the stands or corners 

 

Wouldnt work.

[David Sharp]

On 08/11/2021 at 17:41, AlimOzturk said:

Doubt we will outgrow the stadium anytime soon. For big European ties we will use Murrayfield. 

No way.

[redjambo]

Just now, David Sharp said:

No way.

 

No way we'll outgrow the stadium any time soon? Or no way we'll use Murrayfield for big European ties?

[Jambo 4 Ever]

13 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

Wouldnt work.

How not?

[Watt-Zeefuik]

5 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

No way we'll outgrow the stadium any time soon? Or no way we'll use Murrayfield for big European ties?

 

Much as I'd love to happen to be in town for a European night and be able to score a ticket, for at least as far as the EL group stages the possible money to be made inn getting a result likely outweighs the financial benefit of the bigger crowds. And in that case, Tynecastle in its current loud, cozy, imposing, packed out state is too big an advantage to pass up.

 

If we somehow progressed to the point of drawing Barcelona in a knockout round or something, hard to turn down the size and exposure that Murrayfield would offer.

[Cruyff]

Similar example in terms of construction but on a much bigger scale. Signal Iduna Park at different stages of redevelopment. Notice how they cantilevered the stands when they filled in the corners and removed the compression trusses. 

 

 

 

 

 

[been here before]

9 minutes ago, Jambo 4 Ever said:

How not?

 

Well how would it?

[sadj]

19 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

No way we'll outgrow the stadium any time soon? Or no way we'll use Murrayfield for big European ties?

Just , no way man , no ****ing way , i think way or is it no way……🤔

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Love the pictures of the Westfalenstadion but I think when you're planning on selling 80k tickets per game you can operate at a different level of engineering than an SPFL side can afford.

 

But if they allow German-style safe standing and we can have a Maroon Wall, well . . .

[Rogue Daddy]

16 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

Well how would it?

Always thought you could hang a big screen from the pink stantion/crossmembers above the Georgie and Roseburn stands (depending on the weight of the screens of course). If they could be a decent size, to generate more income, we could play our CL away games live and sell tickets!😃… also, with it looking like VAR coming in, may be worth thinking about. 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, redjambo said:

How about a transparent pitch and underground seats where you can look up at the action?

 

We've got to think outside the envelope.

 

37 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

 

Much as I'd love to happen to be in town for a European night and be able to score a ticket, for at least as far as the EL group stages the possible money to be made inn getting a result likely outweighs the financial benefit of the bigger crowds. And in that case, Tynecastle in its current loud, cozy, imposing, packed out state is too big an advantage to pass up.

 

If we somehow progressed to the point of drawing Barcelona in a knockout round or something, hard to turn down the size and exposure that Murrayfield would offer.

 

No chance of that.. 

 

 

 

 

Unlikely that Barca will make European football for a while. 

😜

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Smith's right boot

[Bazzas right boot]

Replace the wheatfield with this bad boy. 

 

Guys at the top tier might not even be in a EH postcode. 

 

 

[Thomaso]

44 minutes ago, Rogue Daddy said:

Always thought you could hang a big screen from the pink stantion/crossmembers above the Georgie and Roseburn stands (depending on the weight of the screens of course). If they could be a decent size, to generate more income, we could play our CL away games live and sell tickets!😃… also, with it looking like VAR coming in, may be worth thinking about. 

A big screen hanging from the truss would block the view of those sitting in the back row would it not? 🤔

[Rogue Daddy]

22 minutes ago, Thomaso said:

A big screen hanging from the truss would block the view of those sitting in the back row would it not? 🤔

…you may be right, although the roof tends to slope up from the back of the stand to the truss and the back row is much higher than the pitch meaning you’re looking down. 🤷‍♂️ Not saying you’re wrong, it would depend on the size of the screen I suppose. Always though it would be worth thinking about. 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Rogue Daddy

[Portable Badger]

On 08/11/2021 at 17:17, Niemi’s gloves said:

To be fair, one of the numerous Hearts mugs I possess, bought perhaps 30 years ago, is labelled “Tyncastle Stadium”.

I’m pretty sure it came from the club shop! 

I’ve still got that mug as well.  I was raging at Santa for years!!

[FarmerTweedy]

21 hours ago, Smithee said:

 

More money for the player budget isn't really needed, said no football club, ever.

 

Personally I don't get the fascination with ringfencing this money for infrastructure. We're a football club, why wouldn't we spend it on football players, or just add it to the general budget?

I think it depends on whether we have specific infrastructure requirements to spend it on. For instance, if the club have decided that developing our own training ground is definitely the way to go, then it would make sense to put the FoH contributions aside to pay for it. I wouldn't necessarily start piling up all the money in the bank just in case we happen to find something to spend it on years down the line, although I can see an argument for building up an 'emergency fund' of maybe one or two million.

[Unknown user]

2 minutes ago, FarmerTweedy said:

I think it depends on whether we have specific infrastructure requirements to spend it on. For instance, if the club have decided that developing our own training ground is definitely the way to go, then it would make sense to put the FoH contributions aside to pay for it. I wouldn't necessarily start piling up all the money in the bank just in case we happen to find something to spend it on years down the line, although I can see an argument for building up an 'emergency fund' of maybe one or two million.

 

All valid.

I just feel we're so used to building we've kind of forgotten how to turn our attention 100% to football.

The club always seem to have one project or another starting, which is fine and all that, but 11 players on the pitch is our priority and it always seems to be compromised by something.

 

Look at us, a big support pumping extra money into the club like no one else in this country - but we refuse to allow it to be used for making the difference where it matters.

 

It blows my mind, honestly!

[Libertarian]

On 08/11/2021 at 17:23, Smith's right boot said:

Some of the down sides of staying at Tynecastle were-

 

The pitch is too small for certain European games. 

Expansion is limited in terms of actual size and the return on any investment to do it. 

 

I was happy to stay at Tynecastle but a  25k all singing and dancing number outside of town would have given us  the opportunity to have a bigger a stadium. 

That ship has sailed at least for 15/20 years. 

 

If anything if we become European regulars we should make the pitch bigger, this would further reduce capacity. 

 

 

Purchase the land behind the Wheatfield. Knock down the Wheatfield build a bigger two tier stand  with increased hospitality 3 metres back from the current stand. This would cost a fortune but would be a long term investment which would undoubtedly, in the long term allow the club to increase turnover substantially. 

[FarmerTweedy]

12 hours ago, Locky said:

I vaguely recall when building the main stand up, that we were looking to do it similar to how Liverpool upgraded Anfield, so that there was room for expansion with minimal impact. No idea what happened to that though.

 

Seen a lot of chat about expanding Tynecastle and I think folk are getting a tad carried away. I'd say our stadium is the perfect size for us right now, and will be for the foreseeable. We've had a good start to the season, coinciding with our return to the top flight and fans being allowed back after Covid. But lets not kid outselves on that the high attendances are down to much more than that.

 

Lets see if we're still getting 18k turning up for Category B games at the tail end of the season.

I'm pretty sure the main stand is NOT built with a view to an extra tier being added in the future. I think the similarity to Anfield was that Liverpool built an additional tier on the back of one of their stands while that stand was still in use, and we built a lot of the structure of our new stand behind the old main stand while it was still in use.

[FarmerTweedy]

11 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

😂😂 It's a joke man, Imagine that behind one of the floodlight pillars no one would be able to see the pitch. 

 

Like I said earlier in the thread the best thing what could of been done was adding another 10 rows or so to the new main stand when they were building it and had the plans put forward. 10K main stand would of been ideal. 

 

I can't see any increase in capacity any time soon. Would love to have 25K but are we always going to have a full house most weeks? It wouldn't look good if we got 17k at a game and there was 8k empty seats. It would then give the opportunity to give the old firm a full stand what we want to stop now.   

Building the main stand that much bigger would probably have been ideal, but I believe the size we built was as big as the council would allow.

[FarmerTweedy]

5 hours ago, adambraejambo said:

Make a TV studio on 2nd floor. Whilst it was OK for league Cup games i hate seeing a temp platform made for some pundits to stand on and talk nonsense. It reduces capacity further for games we nornally have a higher demand for  . Makes no sense to me. Also when it not being used Hearts TV can use it for Pvp. I don't see why Boyd and Co need to be standing by side of the pitch. Give them a seat and they can Nash to studio a when required. I

We built a studio already. I think it's not been getting used in recent times due to something about some virus or other.

[FarmerTweedy]

5 hours ago, Arfur said:

The chance to grow into a larger stadium at tynecastle was when we built the main stand. Really the main stand should have been 2 tiered with maybe an additional 3/4K seats, should have had a counter lever roof and should have been built 4/5 meters further away from the pitch than it was. This might not have meant that corner structures could have been taken away right away but if we then purchased the land behind the wheatfield and built another 2 tier counter lever stand we could have possibly replaced the roofs of the gorgie and roseburn with ones that were held up by the main and wheatfield stands (similar to attached photo) without fully rebuilding those stands and possibly meaning we could fill in corners (and 4/5 meter gap now created), increase capacity and making the pitch fully  compliant

 

  

I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with...

 

...massive bloody pillars in the corners!!!

[Jambo-Fox]

3 hours ago, Cruyff said:

Similar example in terms of construction but on a much bigger scale. Signal Iduna Park at different stages of redevelopment. Notice how they cantilevered the stands when they filled in the corners and removed the compression trusses. 

 

 

 

 

 

Great strategic planning …. so simple if the leadership have the correct vision!

 

Think big, develop the plan and then flawlessly execute it!

 

Build it and they will come!

♥️H♥️H♥️G♥️H

[FarmerTweedy]

4 hours ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:

Thought about suggesting that myself but upon refraction it’s probably 

Aaaargggghhhhh! GIF not behaving!

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by FarmerTweedy

[Japan Jambo]

10 hours ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

There were plenty at the Bayern Munich game that didn’t go to another game that season!

 

not sure that was a full house either (26,294), was the capacity not around the 29k mark at that time. What a match though, that goal 🙂 

[FarmerTweedy]

5 minutes ago, Japan Jambo said:

 

not sure that was a full house either (26,294), was the capacity not around the 29k mark at that time. What a match though, that goal 🙂 

I don't think it was, I think too many folk decided a tenner was too steep for a ticket! 

[FarmerTweedy]

4 hours ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:

Thought about suggesting that myself but upon refraction it’s probably not the best idea.

Anyway, this post deserves much more recognition than it's likely to get! 

[Japan Jambo]

1 minute ago, FarmerTweedy said:

I don't think it was, I think too many folk decided a tenner was too steep for a ticket! 

 

I was a student at the time so it'd was probably less, no way was I missing that though

[Watt-Zeefuik]

3 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

Building the main stand that much bigger would probably have been ideal, but I believe the size we built was as big as the council would allow.

This is true. The club asked the council how big the stand could be. The council gave an answer (based on H&S models) that it had to be under a certain number. Tynecastle's current capacity is one seat under that number.

[chrisyboy7]

This debate has been great.....I suppose it wasn't intended to be an argument .....really just what's possible as everyone can clearly see that we will need to up things and if we cant grow then what's the point.....Its natural to a business to grow. I accept we will never have a big stadium but im sure there are ways it can be expanded up to a higher level on 2 sides.

[Boab Mugabe]

Isn’t our big challenge with redevelopment having enough of a ‘run off’ area behind the goals? I think we get dispensation for some UEFA competitions but if we were to ever make the CL again we’d not be able to use Tynie and if we could, we’d have to cordon off the first few rows of seats?

 

Would have been great to have bought the old High School land but there’s probably lots of limitations in terms of what we could do in terms of expanding the stadium footprint.

[davemclaren]

2 hours ago, chrisyboy7 said:

This debate has been great.....I suppose it wasn't intended to be an argument .....really just what's possible as everyone can clearly see that we will need to up things and if we cant grow then what's the point.....Its natural to a business to grow. I accept we will never have a big stadium but im sure there are ways it can be expanded up to a higher level on 2 sides.

What are you basing ‘being sure’ on though? 😎

[John Findlay]

The current Tynecastle cannot be extended there is simply no room to do so. 

The only way Hearts could get a 30,000 capacity stadium would be to move somewhere else. That is not happening anytime soon.

[EIEIO]

1 hour ago, John Findlay said:

The current Tynecastle cannot be extended there is simply no room to do so. 

The only way Hearts could get a 30,000 capacity stadium would be to move somewhere else. That is not happening anytime soon.

My reading of the thread is that the Wheatfield could be extended by a few thousand seats and that's it without buying additional land from the NB distillery. However, the potentially explosive tanks within the NB distillery would prevent planning permission being granted as we are capped at 20K capacity as a result of planning permission restrictions when we built the new main stand.

I could well be wrong as there is some amount of pish slavered on this thread.

[Pans Jambo]

3 minutes ago, EIEIO said:

My reading of the thread is that the Wheatfield could be extended by a few thousand seats and that's it without buying additional land from the NB distillery. However, the potentially explosive tanks within the NB distillery would prevent planning permission being granted as we are capped at 20K capacity as a result of planning permission restrictions when we built the new main stand.

I could well be wrong as there is some amount of pish slavered on this thread.

Would not be a ground-breaking feat of modern engineering to add a tier to the Wheatfield stand with more corporate hospitality areas. (maybe boxes and say 3000ish extra seats) but as you say, the safety issues with the ethanol tanks next door would be a big problem. Still, that would mean a capacity of around 23,000 (ish) which would be plenty IMO. Be an extra couple of million income per season....which would be handy.

[1953]

13 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

I don't think it was, I think too many folk decided a tenner was too steep for a ticket! 

I didn't live anywhere near Edinburgh at that time so wasn't there but I'm sure my dad got a ticket for free. Seem to remember that there was something on the radio during the day of the match offering OAP's free tickets, all they had to do was pick them up before the game. That certainly swelled the crowd a bit so perhaps a tenner was too much.

[Rogue Daddy]

17 hours ago, Cruyff said:

Similar example in terms of construction but on a much bigger scale. Signal Iduna Park at different stages of redevelopment. Notice how they cantilevered the stands when they filled in the corners and removed the compression trusses. 

 

 

 

 

 

Love this! Any idea over how many years this took place?

[Nookie Bear]

14 hours ago, Jambo-Fox said:

Great strategic planning …. so simple if the leadership have the correct vision!

 

Think big, develop the plan and then flawlessly execute it!

 

Build it and they will come!

♥️H♥️H♥️G♥️H

 

Are Leicester not expanding their stadium? What's that costing?

[Libertarian]

57 minutes ago, 1953 said:

I didn't live anywhere near Edinburgh at that time so wasn't there but I'm sure my dad got a ticket for free. Seem to remember that there was something on the radio during the day of the match offering OAP's free tickets, all they had to do was pick them up before the game. That certainly swelled the crowd a bit so perhaps a tenner was too much.

I don't think that is true

 

[Cruyff]

38 minutes ago, Rogue Daddy said:

Love this! Any idea over how many years this took place?

Yeah, so the 1st pic would have been as built in 1972, the two big side stands east and west were expanded in the early 90's, 1992 I think they were completed.

 

The expansion of two end stands north and south began in 95 and were completed in 99 and the corner parts and cantilever of the roof was 2002-2003. I think the whole stadium as it is now was finally completed in 2006.

 

I think it almost bankrupted Dortmund though. 

 

You can read more about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfalenstadion

[Rogue Daddy]

22 minutes ago, Cruyff said:

Yeah, so the 1st pic would have been as built in 1972, the two big side stands east and west were expanded in the early 90's, 1992 I think they were completed.

 

The expansion of two end stands north and south began in 95 and were completed in 99 and the corner parts and cantilever of the roof was 2002-2003. I think the whole stadium as it is now was finally completed in 2006.

 

I think it almost bankrupted Dortmund though. 

 

You can read more about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfalenstadion

Cheers for that 👍... loved this bit -

 

"During the course of those renovations, construction workers found an undetonated 1,000–pound (450 kg) bomb dropped by an Allied bomber in World War II that was only about one metre below the halfway line on the pitch."

 

...so they found this during the 'filling of the corners' renovation. Meaning that the stadium had already gone about 3 renovations prior to them finding the bomb! 🤣

 

It just shows what can be done over time with new ideas and materials. I actually think it looks like Tynie... albeit on steroids, but there is a similarity.

[Jambo-Fox]

51 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

 

Are Leicester not expanding their stadium? What's that costing?

Yes 8,000 extra seats, 220 room hotel,  6,000 capacity indoor arena, multi storey carpark, flagship fan store and a 20 storey residential tower! 
Cost no idea …. 

[Nookie Bear]

1 minute ago, Jambo-Fox said:

Yes 8,000 extra seats, 220 room hotel,  6,000 capacity indoor arena, multi storey carpark, flagship fan store and a 20 storey residential tower! 
Cost no idea …. 

 

Not bad.

 

Usually a bit sceptical of these major developments when done in tandem with stadium expansion but i think the ground is quite near the city centre to make this more than just a fantasy.

[upgotheheads]

On 08/11/2021 at 16:32, Mikey1874 said:

Nothing 

 

At its final maximum 

 

On 08/11/2021 at 16:32, frankblack said:

There isn't really a lot of room to upgrade anything other than the Wheatfield and filling in corners.  Given the difficulty and enclosed space the stadium is in you would wonder if a need arose for substantially bigger capacity we would have to move to a new ground..

 

I wouldn't expect any major stadium development to be a priority in the next 15 years, however.

 

On 08/11/2021 at 16:38, been here before said:

Cornurssssss.

 

Dae the cornurssss.

 

Make the Wheatfield bigger but its the cornurssss.

 

I'm a bit of an obsessive about this and every game I look at the stands and wonder how the stadium could be changed without knocking down the whole thing. For me it's not just about capacity, it's pitch size too.

The main factor is the corner stanchions which hold the floodlights and support the coat-hanger beams. They limit pitch size and also stop the corners being seated.

 

The only solution I can think of is to replace the four compression pillars with four Cantilever supports which would be placed back by the depth of the existing stands and in line with them, with cantilevers extended to support the coat hangers . The existing supports are not particularly massive, so it looks to me as if they are not supporting more weight than a cantilever system could manage.

 

Pitch size could be increased by removing one row of seats all round, which might reduce capacity by a thousand, but filling in the corners might add 4-5 thousand, (I'm guessing the figures). If this development could be accommodated along with a redevelopment of the Wheatfield we might end up with a stadium of around 26-28 thousand, (all figures up for argument).

 

 

 

On 08/11/2021 at 17:39, Bongo 1874 said:

 

 

This would have been the ideal solution but would surely be too expensive now. I remember that turning the pitch 90 degrees was a topic in the sixties and seventies.