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

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

Our ground is only too small if Europe becomes a factor. If Europe becomes a factor we’ll have money to look at doing something about it. If not we won’t but it won’t be a factor anyway…

[Tommy Brown]

1 hour ago, EIEIO said:

Think Athletic Bilbao did  possibly Wolverhampton did too?

was going to say Wolves also.

i think they did, not 100% sure

[Pasquale for King]

33 minutes ago, adambraejambo said:

I'm sure hospitality in main stand you take escalator up from main reception. Not done so myself but I'm positive I seen that on here a while back. 

Yes you can get the lift up to any of the floors, used it for the skyline lounge. 

[Thomaso]

34 minutes ago, Bongo 1874 said:

I'll answer it for him having a bigger stadium would help to challenge the old firm, allowing us to bring in more money from match day revenue, it's on the club to attract new and more fans to Tynecastle. 

 

Which we have shown we can do at Murrayfield, Hampden etc. 

 

These plans could be put in place. 

 

 

 

 

Chicken and egg situation.

No point in building a bigger stadium if we don’t have the team to fill it! 
Team first, then when Tynecastle is bursting at the seams then we focus on the issue of a bigger stadium.

[Thomaso]

41 minutes ago, adambraejambo said:

I'm sure hospitality in main stand you take escalator up from main reception. Not done so myself but I'm positive I seen that on here a while back. 

You take the lift up to the Skyline. The escalator is installed but not in use I believe.

[Thomaso]

56 minutes ago, cb1874 said:

Never mind the stadium upgrades...that's pointless while our pitch is too small. We'll always be constrained by that.

Too small for what?

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, Thomaso said:

You take the lift up to the Skyline. The escalator is installed but not in use I believe.

It is. It takes you up to the second floor - used by the CIA. 

[Tazio]

16 minutes ago, Tommy Brown said:

was going to say Wolves also.

i think they did, not 100% sure

I don’t think Wolves did. Their ground just looks bizarre as they built a stand behind an existing one and then demolished the one in front so the stand was miles from the pitch. 

[CMc]

2 hours ago, Hesh said:

 Have there been any clubs who have changed the orientation of their ground or have they just moved?

Spurs 

[ShedBoy]

2 hours ago, Hesh said:

 Have there been any clubs who have changed the orientation of their ground or have they just moved?

Bournemouth rotated their pitch 90 degrees 👍🏻

Edited January 10, 2022 by ShedBoy

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Why are we talking about rotating the ground again?

 

Rotating the pitch was an interesting idea when we were re-doing the main stand but now it would require demolishing our brand new stand or devaluing many of its seats.

 

There's room for a wider field and a 25k Wheatfield stand if we could fill it and if we could get planning permission. We can't currently fill it and planning permission would be extremely tricky and likely require big payments to NBDC.

[Thomaso]

45 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

Why are we talking about rotating the ground again?

 

Rotating the pitch was an interesting idea when we were re-doing the main stand but now it would require demolishing our brand new stand or devaluing many of its seats.

 

There's room for a wider field and a 25k Wheatfield stand if we could fill it and if we could get planning permission. We can't currently fill it and planning permission would be extremely tricky and likely require big payments to NBDC.

Read the thread 

[Tommy Brown]

1 hour ago, Tazio said:

I don’t think Wolves did. Their ground just looks bizarre as they built a stand behind an existing one and then demolished the one in front so the stand was miles from the pitch. 

Your right, my sketchy memory of the new stand not being in the same post code as the pitch 

 

Hadn't realised their main stands have the Dens Park shape.

[Tommy Brown]

1 hour ago, CMc said:

Spurs 

They moved the pitch about the pitch length away,   didn't rotate it.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

1 hour ago, Thomaso said:

Read the thread 

 

Ah, sorry. I didn't see it was historical. Skimming too fast.

[Jambo-Fox]

3 hours ago, adambraejambo said:

I'm sure hospitality in main stand you take escalator up from main reception. Not done so myself but I'm positive I seen that on here a while back. 

Escalator or elevator going up!!

 

🎶Second floor: carpets
Travel goods and beddings
Materials and soft furnishing
Restaurant and teas
Going down🎵

Edited January 10, 2022 by Jambo-Fox

[Libertarian]

3 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

I'll answer it for him having a bigger stadium would help to challenge the old firm, allowing us to bring in more money from match day revenue, it's on the club to attract new and more fans to Tynecastle. 

 

Which we have shown we can do at Murrayfield, Hampden etc. 

 

These plans could be put in place. 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely agree Bongo 1874. Tynecastle is a wonderful arena but I always felt (I know I am in a minority) that we should have moved to a site with much more scope for expansion. However we have now built the new stand so I suppose we should now look at ways to increase the size of the pitch as well as the capacity. I'm not an architect but I suppose one possibility would be to demolish the Wheatfield and rebuild with a bigger capacity 6 metres to the west. Take away two front rows of the Gorgie and Roseburn stands to stretch the pitch. 

[Hearts_fan]

4 hours ago, Thomaso said:

We are nowhere near the size of our stadium preventing us from winning the league!

The priority is getting team on the park that dominates all other teams outwith the OF and finishes 3rd every season.

Once we achieve that and really want to challenge the OF for the league we can open the debate on moving to a larger stadium.

 

 

 

No, folk can open a debate whenever they want.

 

Plus, if the Club waits until there are queues outside the stadium before even thinking about a bigger capacity, the result will be the subsequent years spent planning rather than selling thousands of extra tickets from that day onward. 

 

[Mysterion]

On 10/11/2021 at 20:15, pablo said:

The Distillery, the Heroin factory and even the Caledonian Brewery should all be incentivised to move out of the area. 

 

Was skimming through the older posts on this... leaving the Brewery aside - 100% agree with regards to the Distillery and the Heroin factory. 

 

Can the club use FoH to buy them and have them as businesses that operate to provide income to Hearts ? 

 

I've said it before on one of these threads - our next 5-10yrs should be about setting up other revenue streams (eg. buying a business or two) to provide additional income to build/sustain the club. 

[Tazio]

3 minutes ago, Mysterion said:

 

Was skimming through the older posts on this... leaving the Brewery aside - 100% agree with regards to the Distillery and the Heroin factory. 

 

Can the club use FoH to buy them and have them as businesses that operate to provide income to Hearts ? 

 

I've said it before on one of these threads - our next 5-10yrs should be about setting up other revenue streams (eg. buying a business or two) to provide additional income to build/sustain the club. 

It’s going to take a lot more money than our FOH subs to buy NBD. 

[Ibrahim Tall]

11 minutes ago, Mysterion said:

 

Was skimming through the older posts on this... leaving the Brewery aside - 100% agree with regards to the Distillery and the Heroin factory. 

 

Can the club use FoH to buy them and have them as businesses that operate to provide income to Hearts ? 

 

I've said it before on one of these threads - our next 5-10yrs should be about setting up other revenue streams (eg. buying a business or two) to provide additional income to build/sustain the club. 

Possibly if Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates start pledging.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

7 minutes ago, Mysterion said:

 

Was skimming through the older posts on this... leaving the Brewery aside - 100% agree with regards to the Distillery and the Heroin factory. 

 

Can the club use FoH to buy them and have them as businesses that operate to provide income to Hearts ? 

 

I've said it before on one of these threads - our next 5-10yrs should be about setting up other revenue streams (eg. buying a business or two) to provide additional income to build/sustain the club. 

 

I get what you're saying but we're a football club. Do other businesses do that - buy completely different businesses? If we have cash to spend, we should invest in bringing young players through and improving first team players with the best football technology/facilities (eg the Footbonaut - https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/borussia-dortmund-and-hoffenheim-use-footbonaut-to-hone-their-passing-skills-464313.jsp) and the best medical staff, coaches, etc. That seems to offer the best chance of a return both on and off the field, as well as helping us attract and retain good players, coaches and managers.

[Bongo 1874]

Maybe someone could ask what can and can't be done.

 

I hope one day before i die, I can pass onto the next generation a stadium that is modern and European worthy, and one that holds 30k. 

 

The old firm can be challenged I'll die before i put down the flag to them, horrible horrible clubs that don't want to see Scottish football have a 3rd club challenging them. 

 

 

[Garvock jambo]

Asked a simple question, hoping for answers that maybe know why it didn't happen . 40 replied, but only @Thomasoconfirmed what I asked for ! .nae wonder I drink 

[WheatfieldWarrior]

5 hours ago, davemclaren said:

It is. It takes you up to the second floor - used by the CIA. 

 

if you have press the right sequence of buttons, it takes you down to the secret base.

[WheatfieldWarrior]

1 hour ago, Bongo 1874 said:

Maybe someone could ask what can and can't be done.

 

I hope one day before i die, I can pass onto the next generation a stadium that is modern and European worthy, and one that holds 30k. 

 

The old firm can be challenged I'll die before i put down the flag to them, horrible horrible clubs that don't want to see Scottish football have a 3rd club challenging them. 

 

 

 

Simple solution is to buy the land from the old school, the land for the distillery and then build a bigger Maracanã.

 

Thing we need is money.  The rest is simple.

 

[Kiwidoug]

8 hours ago, chrisyboy7 said:

All i know is our ground is to small and we wont ever compete to win the league with a maximum of 19k fans...

I think you're right and I think you're wrong.  I think it is possible with 19,000 but much more likely with 30,000.

[Thomaso]

4 hours ago, Hearts_fan said:

 

No, folk can open a debate whenever they want.

 

Plus, if the Club waits until there are queues outside the stadium before even thinking about a bigger capacity, the result will be the subsequent years spent planning rather than selling thousands of extra tickets from that day onward. 

 

Yes folk can debate to their hearts content on JKB…

[Thomaso]

4 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

Maybe someone could ask what can and can't be done.

 

I hope one day before i die, I can pass onto the next generation a stadium that is modern and European worthy, and one that holds 30k. 

 

The old firm can be challenged I'll die before i put down the flag to them, horrible horrible clubs that don't want to see Scottish football have a 3rd club challenging them. 

 

 

Very worthy sentiments, but to be honest I’m pretty proud of the stadium our generation will pass on to the next generation, bearing in mind the archaic stadium passed on to us by the previous generation.

[Thomaso]

A thing of beauty ❤️

[Aussie Jambo]

As said already. Use the corners. You could call one the new shed end. 

Bring back this.. 

 

[pablo]

8 hours ago, Mysterion said:

 

Was skimming through the older posts on this... leaving the Brewery aside - 100% agree with regards to the Distillery and the Heroin factory. 

 

Can the club use FoH to buy them and have them as businesses that operate to provide income to Hearts ? 

 

I've said it before on one of these threads - our next 5-10yrs should be about setting up other revenue streams (eg. buying a business or two) to provide additional income to build/sustain the club. 

 

To be honest I wasn't really coming from it from a Hearts perspective as such.

 

It's ridiculous to have lorries of Malt/Barley whatever squeezing through residential tight streets. The whole area including Russell Road should be regenerated into a new urban area. 

 

It's a bigger thing than Hearts.

[Libertarian]

16 hours ago, Pans Jambo said:

Where the Plaza is? The land that was previously the car park, nursery and that weird building with the upstairs in it?

I'm sure that building which was built behind the main stand was erected in the late 60s early 70s.

[Tommy Walker]

39 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

I'm sure that building which was built behind the main stand was erected in the late 60s early 70s.

As I recall it was a concrete pillbox type structure with security screens...social club ???

[Hearts_fan]

So 

5 hours ago, Thomaso said:

Yes folk can debate to their hearts content on JKB…

 

So if folk on JKB are ok to debate and discuss the idea, is it the Club that should not discuss it until there are queues outside Tynecastle? Why and by whom should the issue of larger capacity not be discussed until the very day we need it?

[davemclaren]

5 hours ago, Thomaso said:

Very worthy sentiments, but to be honest I’m pretty proud of the stadium our generation will pass on to the next generation, bearing in mind the archaic stadium passed on to us by the previous generation.

Exactly. We’ve done our job and any further significant changes will very likely happen after I’m at the great terracing in the sky. 😉

[davemclaren]

7 minutes ago, Hearts_fan said:

So 

 

So if folk on JKB are ok to debate and discuss the idea, is it the Club that should not discuss it until there are queues outside Tynecastle? Why and by whom should the issue of larger capacity not be discussed until the very day we need it?

I imagine they discussed it when the built the new main stand and came to the conclusion that it will likely see us through the next few decades. 

[ericb]

5 hours ago, Thomaso said:

A thing of beauty ❤️

Annoying there are seats in a brand new stand with restricted views.

[Libertarian]

23 minutes ago, Tommy Walker said:

As I recall it was a concrete pillbox type structure with security screens...social club ???

I'm sure it was the Ace of Hearts Social Club in the early 70s. I think that the club initially owned the building and then later on sold it or leased to Edinburgh City Council. It was a horrible looking building.

[Tommy Walker]

1 minute ago, Libertarian said:

I'm sure it was the Ace of Hearts Social Club in the early 70s. I think that the club initially owned the building and then later on sold it or leased to Edinburgh City Council. It was a horrible looking building.

As I recall that's the one...still looking for pic

 

[upgotheheads]

17 hours ago, Garvock jambo said:

Have been talking to Hearts friends about this conundrum, when I seem to remember my grandad telling me when I first started going to home games (late fifties),that the club bought the ground behind main stand and were going to rebuild new stand closer to McLeod St ,this was seemingly back in the 1930s. Has anyone ever heard of this ? Or has old age been playing tricks 

 

16 hours ago, Thomaso said:

You are correct. The plan was seemingly to change the direction of the pitch ie goals at the Wheatfield!McLeod Street end.

 

That was certainly being talked about by people in the sixties, but I never saw it mentioned by the club or in the press.

 

15 hours ago, chrisyboy7 said:

All i know is our ground is to small and we wont ever compete to win the league with a maximum of 19k fans...

13 hours ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Our ground is only too small if Europe becomes a factor. If Europe becomes a factor we’ll have money to look at doing something about it. If not we won’t but it won’t be a factor anyway…

 

I think you see clubs of our size doing quite well in Europe, relative to us at least, but if anything's too small it's the pitch, at least for Champions league football, and for football at he top levels in general imo.

 

 

14 hours ago, cb1874 said:

Never mind the stadium upgrades...that's pointless while our pitch is too small. We'll always be constrained by that.

 

We've missed a trick on a few occasions since the sixties, from not turning the pitch, then the basic design of the new stadium (due to the positions of the corner stanchions) and lastly with the design of the new the main stand. 

 

If the new  stand had been designed with cantilever supports strong enough to allow removal of the two  east side stanchions then the pitch could have been widened by a few yards and two corners filled in, which might have added two or three thousand to our capacity. Any development now might hinge on the ground behind the Wheatfield, where it might be possible to redesign a new stand with cantilever supports and widen the pitch that way. It might be possible to shoehorn a stadium for (maybe) 26,000 and a 68metre wide pitch within the current footprint. 

 

[upgotheheads]

16 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

I'm sure it was the Ace of Hearts Social Club in the early 70s. I think that the club initially owned the building and then later on sold it or leased to Edinburgh City Council. It was a horrible looking building.

 

Pre Mercer days I think. A really dumb piece of business by the club but I think we were desperate for the money during years of really bad management in the sixtioes and seventies.

[Mysterion]

10 hours ago, Tazio said:

It’s going to take a lot more money than our FOH subs to buy NBD. 

It was a bit tongue n cheek.

 

10 hours ago, Ibrahim Tall said:

Possibly if Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates start pledging.

 

Leveraged buy out time...

After our association with Succession/Waystar Royco I feel we should be making big deals. 

10 hours ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

I get what you're saying but we're a football club. Do other businesses do that - buy completely different businesses? 

 

Yeah man - you get companies becoming bigger with different divisions - there has been a trend for some of the big companies (conglomerates) to sell off divisions and focus on core activities recently. I'm not talking about being the size of those companies but on a smaller basis we have opportunities to create jobs and support people.

 

Already we have Hearts Hospitality which operates as a separate business supplying external services. The profits of this activity benefit the club.

 

There are other options out there (ethical property management for example) but funding (to allow expansion) our commercial activities (that aren't always football related) to create new revenue streams should be a purpose of FoH in my opinion. 

 

 

[FWJ]

I’d love the whole area between Tynecastle and Murrayfield to be redeveloped, relocating the distillery and pharmaceutical factory, maybe even the train depot.  Walking around the area is a pain in the a**e with 90 degree turns, dingy underpasses, disappearing pavements, no clear sight lines.  For eg, it’d only be a 5 minute walk from Murrayfield tram stop to the stadium in a straight line - currently you’re all over the place, more or less 3 sides of a square to get there.

The whole area is so constrained nothing can expand.

[highlandjambo3]

15 hours ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Anyone itk about the escalator supposedly installed in the main stand?  I’m sure I seen it all wrapped up in its packaging back when materials were being shipped into the main stand skeleton but nothing since……still to be installed somewhere at the unused level I assume……or what?

Apparently hibs have an escalator…..used exclusively for fire drills:

 

 

[davemclaren]

35 minutes ago, FWJ said:

I’d love the whole area between Tynecastle and Murrayfield to be redeveloped, relocating the distillery and pharmaceutical factory, maybe even the train depot.  Walking around the area is a pain in the a**e with 90 degree turns, dingy underpasses, disappearing pavements, no clear sight lines.  For eg, it’d only be a 5 minute walk from Murrayfield tram stop to the stadium in a straight line - currently you’re all over the place, more or less 3 sides of a square to get there.

The whole area is so constrained nothing can expand.

Think you would have to move the Edinburgh to Glasgow railway, Suburban railway and Western Approach Road as well. 😉

[Bazzas right boot]

16 hours ago, Thomaso said:

We are nowhere near the size of our stadium preventing us from winning the league!

The priority is getting team on the park that dominates all other teams outwith the OF and finishes 3rd every season.

Once we achieve that and really want to challenge the OF for the league we can open the debate on moving to a larger stadium.

 

 

 

100%

Weve been 3rd as many times as we've been demoted in our recent history. 

 

Getting in about 3rd consistently is the 1st step, that really means for 5 years or so, not once in every 5 seasons followed by a 6th place finish. 

 

IMO European group stage football is the 2nd stage. 

 

Then as you say we might be in a place were we need a bigger stadium and can 5hen think about the league seriously. 

 

A Cup win  would be nice but really irrelevant on it's own in regards to building a consistent league team. 

[EIEIO]

40 minutes ago, FWJ said:

I’d love the whole area between Tynecastle and Murrayfield to be redeveloped, relocating the distillery and pharmaceutical factory, maybe even the train depot.  Walking around the area is a pain in the a**e with 90 degree turns, dingy underpasses, disappearing pavements, no clear sight lines.  For eg, it’d only be a 5 minute walk from Murrayfield tram stop to the stadium in a straight line - currently you’re all over the place, more or less 3 sides of a square to get there.

The whole area is so constrained nothing can expand.

Always thought a footbridge(s) or underpass should have been built at Murrayfield tram stop to allow better access to Gorgie. Even an additional tram stop at Russell Road would open things up more.  

[AndyNic]

8 hours ago, Thomaso said:

A thing of beauty ❤️

 

All those faded seats do my nut in.

 

Would love to get the internal sides of the stands painted maroon or add the 'legends' graphics like Bournemouth have. That would look brilliant. 

[merseyjambo]

I know it might be a bit basic, but I think we could do with improving the food kiosk areas and have a bit of a revamp of what’s offered.

 

The difference in the quality of food at some grounds is quite remarkable. Man City and Man United are prime examples. The food at City is off the scale whereas at United it’s still pretty much what was served up at pie stands about 20 years ago. 
 

I’m not talking hummus and falafels but maybe looking at offering things like fish and chips, that sort of thing. Something maybe a bit more substantial than a pie. 
 

Are the concourse TVs working yet??? Maybe put Hearts TV on prior to game, show the game in home concourse only (quite common in England) via City TV, MUTV etc. 

 

Some of these things may have already happened as I’ve not had a chance to get up this season due to work commitments.

 

I know they were talking about putting big screens up in ground.

 

Some little cosmetic changes would go a long way.