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

[Fxxx the SPFL]

Lets dig the pitch down another thirty feet and create another seven or eight rows round the whole stadium that would add an extra few thousand just throwing that out their 

[Unknown user]

22 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

I'd sell naming rights to our Stadium in order to fund a full proper redevelopment of the other 3 stands in a Heartbeat. Can stick the name Tynecastle somewhere else. 

 

I know they're smaller than us but a 5 figure sum bought Hamilton's naming rights for a season in the premier a couple of years ago. Naming rights aren't worth shit.

[Jambo61]

17 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

Enough to near decapitate Neil Lennon? 😃

That was a 50p!

[Daveandal]

1 hour ago, **** the SPFL said:

Lets dig the pitch down another thirty feet and create another seven or eight rows round the whole stadium that would add an extra few thousand just throwing that out their 

 

Now that's some blue sky thinking.....

 

Or pinky worm thinking or something 

[upgotheheads]

1 hour ago, jambos are go! said:

Expansion of PPV to include all home games is a much better alternative. IMO.

 

Not being able to do this is costing us a fortune, it might mean we would have to kick-off every week at 1230 though.

 

1 hour ago, **** the SPFL said:

Lets dig the pitch down another thirty feet and create another seven or eight rows round the whole stadium that would add an extra few thousand just throwing that out their 

 

The pitch is already to narrow, it would be like playing on a bowling alley, nice idea though.🤪

[FarmerTweedy]

10 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

I think it’s about time we bring the actual facts out.

 

Capacity went from 17,420 to 19,852 

 

 

Think you're on the wrong website mate! 

[Ray Gin]

1 hour ago, **** the SPFL said:

Lets dig the pitch down another thirty feet and create another seven or eight rows round the whole stadium that would add an extra few thousand just throwing that out their 

 

This. **** playing elevens, let's be the biggest 5-a-side club in the country.

 

[Shaggy]

In truth, we shat the bed with the new stand. It holds under 7000 still. We should have built a big b*stard 10000 seat main stand with 2 tiers and corporate boxes separating the tiers. To literally spend all that money for an extra couple of thousand seats showed a serious lack of ambition

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

In truth, we shat the bed with the new stand. It holds under 7000 still. We should have built a big b*stard 10000 seat main stand with 2 tiers and corporate boxes separating the tiers. To literally spend all that money for an extra couple of thousand seats showed a serious lack of ambition

That was the maximum allowed. 🥸

[FarmerTweedy]

8 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Good post.  The other big element that folk forget is that rebuilding the Wheatfield probably means Murrayfield again for two years or a 10-12k capacity at Tynie for two years. Neither are particularly appealing and could prove expensive. 

I think we'd definitely have to decant to Murrayfield for a while, as we've got way too many season ticket holders to accommodate in the other three stands, even without accommodating hospitality, etc. I don't think it would have to be for two seasons though. Bearing in mind that we built the new main stand and only had to decant for four matches (admittedly with a little help from the fixture schedulers, and we were seemingly about half an hour away from having to postpone Partick!) I think the absolute maximum we'd need would be one season at Murrayfield, and I suspect there's a decent chance we could have a new stand open in time to return to Tynecastle after only about half a season away. That's based on concentrating on getting the minimum facilities required for hosting fans ready first before any other extras, and of course remembering to order all the vital components on time! 😀

 

This is assuming it's just a case of replacing the Wheatfield with a bigger stand, and there not being any major complicating factors!

[FarmerTweedy]

1 hour ago, Jambo61 said:

That was a 50p!

I though it was a quid? Either way, I'm sure a 10p could have had a similar effect!

[kingantti1874]

10 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

In truth, we shat the bed with the new stand. It holds under 7000 still. We should have built a big b*stard 10000 seat main stand with 2 tiers and corporate boxes separating the tiers. To literally spend all that money for an extra couple of thousand seats showed a serious lack of ambition

That was the original idea but we were blocked sadly

[Ribble]

19 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

Firstly, 5,000 extra seats would need to bring in £700 per seat to generate £3.5. And as Soonbe110 rightly pointed out, there's vat on tickets, so we'd actually have to sell £840 of tickets for each seat every season. We wouldn't get anywhere near that, certainly not at our current ticket prices or anything close to them. 

 

As someone else said you'd also have increased income from the existing capacity i.e current silver sections being gold or silver and moving to platinum or gold etc 

 

Also need to factor in the matchday income from food, drink, programme's, merch, additional hospitality etc that 5000 extra bodies generates, £3.5m isn't that unrealistic

 

Either way the club will easily be able to run the numbers from the main stand on old v new and apply that to any potential expansion and come to a funding agreement that suits both the club and the lenders/benefactors

[Shaggy]

8 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

That was the original idea but we were blocked sadly

Was that because of the school behind it and needing certain amount of sunlight or some nonsense like that?

[Texaco]

Just out of interest if we ever had to play  games at Murrayfield again for rebuilding or the likes of some massive glamour European tie what % of the gate and other revenue do the SRU take? Wonder what the crowd tipping point is to make it commercially viable?

[Byyy The Light]

9 hours ago, Daveandal said:

I'm just repeating what's been said a million times before but we are in a bit of a strange situation.

 

Without doubt we have outgrown our current capacity. The question is though would the time, effort and cost be justified in pushing capacity to say 22/23k? The answer is in a short to medium term financial sense is no. 

 

But from a fan perspective and the ability to continue to grow in all senses then it probably is sensible to do it.

 

How is the question.

 

I think the most realistic way is to lobby the SFA to change the rules on rail seating and the 1:1 ratio.  If you could make it in line with the German regulations then we could add seats that way for the domestic games.

 

It would be the quickest and most cost effective way to increase capacity and I think it is something that the OF clubs would also want to do so we'd have them in our corner.

[FarmerTweedy]

39 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

As someone else said you'd also have increased income from the existing capacity i.e current silver sections being gold or silver and moving to platinum or gold etc 

 

Also need to factor in the matchday income from food, drink, programme's, merch, additional hospitality etc that 5000 extra bodies generates, £3.5m isn't that unrealistic

 

Either way the club will easily be able to run the numbers from the main stand on old v new and apply that to any potential expansion and come to a funding agreement that suits both the club and the lenders/benefactors

The bit in bold wouldn't apply, as it'd be the current Wheatfield we'd be replacing. 

 

And match day food and drink sales don't bring in much profit.  Hospitality, I'll give you, could potentially bring in a significant amount if a new stand included facilities for it and there was also sufficient demand, but it'd take an awful lot of it and it'd have to be popular to get anywhere near £3.5m. And of course, it would push the cost of the stand higher and reduce the number of seats available for regular fans.  Well worth including if there's demand for it of course, but it still doesn't automatically make the figures stack up.

[novoman]

A few tweaks to the home sections and quite a few hundred seats could be gained.

 

Close the second tunnel, it’s not required. Exit and entry can come from one of the corners …. 50 + seats 

 

Move the emergency services from section N into the bottom of the away corner,  as its always closed now anyway with plastic sheets, move the VAR monitor here too,
putting more seats into bottom of section N … 150 +seats 

 

Make more use of the space behind the dugouts on both sides, bring the aisles closer to the dugouts on both sides  and compact the press/ media further down.
move the dugouts in closer to the tunnel as a double aisle is not required .. 100 +seats 

 

Make a permanent fence separating away fans section…. 400 +seats 

 

Move the aisles to the end of section T in the main stand and gain a couple of seats at the end which are now still restricted due to the police surveillance box .. 50 +seats 

 

The top of the Gorgie road stand has two or 3 rows missing in section nearest the main stand .. I think this was due to sunlight issues back in the day for Gorgie road flats … the trees behind are now right up and block the light now anyway… 150+ seats 

 

At least 900 seats in the home sections gained, Not enough for our waiting list but it’s a start for the short term …
 

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

6 minutes ago, novoman said:

A few tweaks to the home sections and quite a few hundred seats could be gained.

 

Close the second tunnel, it’s not required. Exit and entry can come from one of the corners …. 50 + seats 

 

Move the emergency services from section N into the bottom of the away corner,  as its always closed now anyway with plastic sheets, move the VAR monitor here too,
putting more seats into bottom of section N … 150 +seats 

 

Make more use of the space behind the dugouts on both sides, bring the aisles closer to the dugouts on both sides  and compact the press/ media further down.
move the dugouts in closer to the tunnel as a double aisle is not required .. 100 +seats 

 

Make a permanent fence separating away fans section…. 400 +seats 

 

Move the aisles to the end of section T in the main stand and gain a couple of seats at the end which are now still restricted due to the police surveillance box .. 50 +seats 

 

The top of the Gorgie road stand has two or 3 rows missing in section nearest the main stand .. I think this was due to sunlight issues back in the day for Gorgie road flats … the trees behind are now right up and block the light now anyway… 150+ seats 

 

At least 900 seats in the home sections gained, Not enough for our waiting list but it’s a start for the short term …
 

Well thought out and sensible post

[soonbe110]

2 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

I think we'd definitely have to decant to Murrayfield for a while, as we've got way too many season ticket holders to accommodate in the other three stands, even without accommodating hospitality, etc. I don't think it would have to be for two seasons though. Bearing in mind that we built the new main stand and only had to decant for four matches (admittedly with a little help from the fixture schedulers, and we were seemingly about half an hour away from having to postpone Partick!) I think the absolute maximum we'd need would be one season at Murrayfield, and I suspect there's a decent chance we could have a new stand open in time to return to Tynecastle after only about half a season away. That's based on concentrating on getting the minimum facilities required for hosting fans ready first before any other extras, and of course remembering to order all the vital components on time! 😀

 

This is assuming it's just a case of replacing the Wheatfield with a bigger stand, and there not being any major complicating factors!

You could be right but I would think a full season away is likely.  The SPFL have some rules re playing all clubs at the same stadium iirc. In any case it’s all pie in the sky at the mine no because funding would be impossible without a major benefactor. Ticket exchange expansion, reducing away allocation, ppv timing restriction removal’s and modest price increases will have to do for the next few years. Just might be worth the investment to get planning application in and understand fully the obstacles and likely costs etc. 

[FarmerTweedy]

1 hour ago, soonbe110 said:

You could be right but I would think a full season away is likely.  The SPFL have some rules re playing all clubs at the same stadium iirc. In any case it’s all pie in the sky at the mine no because funding would be impossible without a major benefactor. Ticket exchange expansion, reducing away allocation, ppv timing restriction removal’s and modest price increases will have to do for the next few years. Just might be worth the investment to get planning application in and understand fully the obstacles and likely costs etc. 

I think there were rules on playing all clubs at the same stadium quite a number of years ago - I'm sure Inverness had to play a full 11 "home" games at the tawdry pit when they got promoted to the top flight for the first time and had stadium work done, even though their ground was actually ready for use a few games earlier - but I think those rules were done away with.  Again, we only played four games at Murrayfield when we built the new main stand. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

1 hour ago, soonbe110 said:

You could be right but I would think a full season away is likely.  The SPFL have some rules re playing all clubs at the same stadium iirc. In any case it’s all pie in the sky at the mine no because funding would be impossible without a major benefactor. Ticket exchange expansion, reducing away allocation, ppv timing restriction removal’s and modest price increases will have to do for the next few years. Just might be worth the investment to get planning application in and understand fully the obstacles and likely costs etc. 

 

1 minute ago, FarmerTweedy said:

I think there were rules on playing all clubs at the same stadium quite a number of years ago - I'm sure Inverness had to play a full 11 "home" games at the tawdry pit when they got promoted to the top flight for the first time and had stadium work done, even though their ground was actually ready for use a few games earlier - but I think those rules were done away with.  Again, we only played four games at Murrayfield when we built the new main stand. 

Yes, you can get special dispensiation for extenuating circumstances, as we did when the main stand was built. You can't jsut say, "but we'll get a huge crowd at Murrayfield" and switch. But your home stand being under construction certainly counts.

[johnking123]

Our next build would be pretty major I think. Would be full season away.

[sac]

On the news a few days ago said the Huns were adding 700 extra seats plus additional 270 wheelchair spaces.

[braveheart]

6 hours ago, **** the SPFL said:

Lets dig the pitch down another thirty feet and create another seven or eight rows round the whole stadium that would add an extra few thousand just throwing that out their 

And have a pitch the size of a tennis court😂😂😂

[Ricardo Quaresma]

16 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

I think it’s about time we bring the actual facts out.

 

Capacity went from 17,420 to 19,852 

 

 

 

That is correct, dunno where I got the extra 1 for 17,421, but I did see the 17,420 last night

 

I thought 1 wasn't worth mentioning 🙂

 

EDIT: Although we did have 20,099 before various arseholes (Sky, SFA & others) whittled it down to 19,852

 

-

Edited June 1, 2023 by Ricardo Quaresma
Added more

[Ricardo Quaresma]

14 hours ago, rudi must stay said:

I think we are at that stage where we couldn't be any bigger. I wouldn't spend money increasing the stadium. We might actually lose fans increasing the stadium, it is now a wonderful environment for football to be honest I believe it brings us many points a season. It has been absolutely Ann Budge's greatest success and the bar is incredibly slick business wise 

 

We're already bigger and have been for a long time, but I don't think we should expand immediately because of the rise in construction costs, also, we're trying to get group stages in Europe due to availability of that now, but it's just something to consider when we've decided to expand, regarding when to pull down a stand

 

13 hours ago, johnking123 said:

We have to look at building up tynecastle anyway we can. Because alternative is moving. Sitting stagnant is not an option.

 

Agree absolutely

[Ricardo Quaresma]

On 29/05/2023 at 08:15, Libertarian said:

The income generated by a bigger capacity at a conservative estimate would be in the region of £3.5 million per and probably much more. Plus around £1.5 million FOH subs. Even at your inflated cost of £50 million, which is highly unlikely, the improved capacity would pay for itself in 10 years. I really do believe that the club can't afford to stand still and has to do this in order to achieve it's potential. 

 

I don't think it would be that much, even if we could increase to 28K, but it will pay for itself, you can take that to the bank!

[Section Q]

5 hours ago, davemclaren said:

That was the maximum allowed. 🥸

I thought it was down to financial constraints...............according to Budge at the time........!

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Section Q said:

I thought it was down to financial constraints...............according to Budge at the time........!

Nope. 

[Section Q]

13 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Nope. 

Papers must've misquoted her.

[Chuck Berry]

4 hours ago, novoman said:

A few tweaks to the home sections and quite a few hundred seats could be gained.

 

Close the second tunnel, it’s not required. Exit and entry can come from one of the corners …. 50 + seats 

 

Move the emergency services from section N into the bottom of the away corner,  as its always closed now anyway with plastic sheets, move the VAR monitor here too,
putting more seats into bottom of section N … 150 +seats 

 

Make more use of the space behind the dugouts on both sides, bring the aisles closer to the dugouts on both sides  and compact the press/ media further down.
move the dugouts in closer to the tunnel as a double aisle is not required .. 100 +seats 

 

Make a permanent fence separating away fans section…. 400 +seats 

 

Move the aisles to the end of section T in the main stand and gain a couple of seats at the end which are now still restricted due to the police surveillance box .. 50 +seats 

 

The top of the Gorgie road stand has two or 3 rows missing in section nearest the main stand .. I think this was due to sunlight issues back in the day for Gorgie road flats … the trees behind are now right up and block the light now anyway… 150+ seats 

 

At least 900 seats in the home sections gained, Not enough for our waiting list but it’s a start for the short term …
 

 

Good points.  As others have said, reducing the ridiculously large away barrier costs nothing and frees up a decent amount of seats. Filling the Wheatfield tunnel back in would give another 30/40 seats back.

 

Simple measures to get more Jambos into the stadium.

[WheatfieldWarrior]

On 31/05/2023 at 22:10, FarmerTweedy said:

Enough to near decapitate Neil Lennon? 😃

 

I heard he's still waiting for the exit wound to heal...

[WheatfieldWarrior]

17 hours ago, Queensland Jambo said:

We'd then fill in the cornerz before bulldozing the Wheatfield and Roseburn stands and building new mega 3 tier stands.

 

Let's just bulldoze Wheatfield Street and build a Maracanã

[jambofaefife]

I don’t think the costs quoted to extend the Wheatfield would that much. Figures banded about are for a whole new stadium not an extension.

 

There is nothing wrong with the existing steel and pre-cast concrete structure.

 

All you need to do is takeaway the truss that’s holding the roof up. The new roof could be cantilevered from the rear if there is enough land.

 

Remove the roof, which the cladding will be well past its 15 year guarantee that it came with.

 

 Build a structure on the community pitches tying into the existing steel structure which could create a lot more rows of seats and corporate boxes.

 

Then finish it of with a brand new roof and new seats

 

Ownerhip of the land and also the blasting regulations will be the stumbling block.

[Bungalow Bill]

15 minutes ago, jambofaefife said:

I don’t think the costs quoted to extend the Wheatfield would that much. Figures banded about are for a whole new stadium not an extension.

 

There is nothing wrong with the existing steel and pre-cast concrete structure.

 

All you need to do is takeaway the truss that’s holding the roof up. The new roof could be cantilevered from the rear if there is enough land.

 

Remove the roof, which the cladding will be well past its 15 year guarantee that it came with.

 

 Build a structure on the community pitches tying into the existing steel structure which could create a lot more rows of seats and corporate boxes.

 

Then finish it of with a brand new roof and new seats

 

Ownerhip of the land and also the blasting regulations will be the stumbling block.

How much to buy the land we need?

 

edit - just asked the wife who buys land for a living. She said if she was buying for houses, the size of the community pitch would be about £2 million, residential £1-£1.5 million. 

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Bungalow Bill

[johnking123]

Next rebuild has to big. Will be costly too. Be tempted to place more facilities in a new wheatfield and move more hotel rooms into the 1st floor. 12000 seater stand or its not really worth it. It will cost £30-£40 million.

[jr ewing]

22 minutes ago, johnking123 said:

Next rebuild has to big. Will be costly too. Be tempted to place more facilities in a new wheatfield and move more hotel rooms into the 1st floor. 12000 seater stand or its not really worth it. It will cost £30-£40 million.

Too risky. Let's not. 

[Sinbad the Sailor]

104 pages yet everyone forgets the question has already been answered by those who run the club. No.

 

Unless we have somebody willing to put in upwards of £20m it's not happening.

[luckydug]

Thought we were unable to extend Tynecastle because of safety regulations. 

[washniklaw]

1 hour ago, jambofaefife said:

I don’t think the costs quoted to extend the Wheatfield would that much. Figures banded about are for a whole new stadium not an extension.

 

There is nothing wrong with the existing steel and pre-cast concrete structure.

 

All you need to do is takeaway the truss that’s holding the roof up. The new roof could be cantilevered from the rear if there is enough land.

 

Remove the roof, which the cladding will be well past its 15 year guarantee that it came with.

 

 Build a structure on the community pitches tying into the existing steel structure which could create a lot more rows of seats and corporate boxes.

 

Then finish it of with a brand new roof and new seats

 

Ownerhip of the land and also the blasting regulations will be the stumbling block.

HSE has always been the big issue but money and investment can surely be found to overcome the restricting factors on expansion to the stadium. Purchase of the community pitch would be essential to the plan as well as the car park at the west end of the pitch. Once the stand work is complete we could shift the community pitch 30m further west to keep it fully functioning.

If we can achieve the paragraph above, extention to the Wheatfield has always been my preferred next step. The stand could be increased in capacity and improved in facilities allowing for the Gorgie stand hospitality to be transferred to better seats and more up to date function suites. This would allow the Ultras the opportunity to create a ‘working class’ party stand in the current Gorgie facilities.

If we project backwards at the same angle we could go quite far back, the biggest problem will be the excessive height of the new stand. We could create an extra deck (walk way) at row 32 and then add probably an additional 12-20 rows. Each row is 200 plus seats. The extension could host hospitality and additional supports along the full length of the stand and these supporters could access their seats through new stairwells. This would create quicker evacuation of the stadium in case of an emergency.

 

If we could cantilever the roof it would allow for similar extensions to the main and roseburn stands in the future (maybe even filling the corners 😉).

[Samsza]

Would like to see us increase the size of the pitch if there is any opportunity to expand the stadium.

[OTT]

2 hours ago, johnking123 said:

Next rebuild has to big. Will be costly too. Be tempted to place more facilities in a new wheatfield and move more hotel rooms into the 1st floor. 12000 seater stand or its not really worth it. It will cost £30-£40 million.

Has to seek to maximise capacity based on the space we can get IMO. The club is growing and has a huge population to draw from. Need to be planning with an eye on the future. 

[Phil D. Corners]

11 hours ago, johnking123 said:

Next rebuild has to big. Will be costly too. Be tempted to place more facilities in a new wheatfield and move more hotel rooms into the 1st floor. 12000 seater stand or its not really worth it. It will cost £30-£40 million.

I think it’s well worth it, and it can be done over several years. Similar like we have done with the main stand with the hotel now being worked on. And have others have said it could be designed to expand have the corners filled at a later date. 
 

Wolves had no seats in their second tier of their stand for a while when it was new. 

[damo]

Keeping the fantasy going a bit longer, I was looking at Liverpool's Sir Kenny Dalglish stand as a potential model for a Wheatfield replacement. (Assuming all the caveats are taken care of ...land, planning, costs, ethanol tanks, roof truss  etc etc)

 

It holds just shy of 12K ..... its a 2 tier with corporate boxes. Anfields pitch length is also the same as ours at 100M.  Looking at these google images suggests it may be possible to build something similar without encroaching too close to flats behind ?  

 

 

[gorgierulesapply88]

Any plans for stadium improvements during this break? 

 

Perhaps bringing back cash kiosks would be a good start!

I know Hibs, are ripping up their pitch and getting new LED lights etc. Which we have already done.

[Kyle Lafferty HoMSC]

8 minutes ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

Any plans for stadium improvements during this break? 

 

Perhaps bringing back cash kiosks would be a good start!

I know Hibs, are ripping up their pitch and getting new LED lights etc. Which we have already done.

I think unfortunately cash kiosks may be a thing of the past.

Was hearing on a podcast that we have already/plan to take up at least part of the pitch

[Wee Mikey]

On 01/06/2023 at 15:12, Smithee said:

I know they're smaller than us but a 5 figure sum bought Hamilton's naming rights for a season in the premier a couple of years ago. Naming rights aren't worth shit.

 

I'm pretty sure were we to go down that road we'd do a lot better than Hamilton Accies.

 

I wonder if Hamilton's North stand is still sponsored by 'Spice of Life' ... a local restaurant? Defo one of my favourites.

 

The Spice of Life Stand. 😆

 

(payed for with take-aways?) 🤭

[Unknown user]

3 minutes ago, Wee Mikey said:

 

I'm pretty sure were we to go down that road we'd do a lot better than Hamilton Accies.

 

I wonder if Hamilton's North stand is still sponsored by 'Spice of Life' ... a local restaurant? Defo one of my favourites.

 

The Spice of Life Stand. 😆

 

(payed for with take-aways?) 🤭

 

Of course we'd get more than Hamilton Accies, but it's not going to build a stand

[Wee Mikey]

Just now, Smithee said:

Of course we'd get more than Hamilton Accies, but it's not going to build a stand

 

Aye, but at least we'd not have a Gorgie Fish Bar Stand. 😉