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

[JALBO]

1 hour ago, soonbe110 said:

Only once in last thirty years has our average home crowd been above 20k - the season we were at Murrayfield. Other than the derby game we virtually never sell out home seats. Not sure there’s demand there yet. 

 

This is true - but at the same time, our stadium capacity for almost all of the last 30 years has been below 20,000.

 

What is clear is that any increase in capacity can't be done easily or cheaply at Tynecastle. I would have thought a wise approach would be for the club to determine what the realistic options are, and do what they can to plan - but sustained success is probably needed to see any significant deveopment taken forward.

 

[LarrysRightFoot]

2 hours ago, CMc said:

Those are the biggest stadia in their respective countries though?

I know, I’m just saying is be surprised if you could sell all your seats to season ticket holders - is it even commercially viable? I mean you’ll have people who work away, work shifts etc who it dues to make sense for them to buy a ST or if they do miss the majority of games l, meaning the club are missing out most likely. 

[LarrysRightFoot]

1 hour ago, soonbe110 said:

Only once in last thirty years has our average home crowd been above 20k - the season we were at Murrayfield. Other than the derby game we virtually never sell out home seats. Not sure there’s demand there yet. 

As with everything timing is key. Our capacity works just now - however, with the stated ambitions of the club it might be going forward. I’m sure they’ll have ideas about future proofing. 

[LarrysRightFoot]

1 hour ago, Jambo92 said:

 

Yeah I agree in this current situation but Scottish football can change very quickly. 

To get to 25,000 seats were talking tens of millions of £ to achieve which would affect long term playing budget which likely cause us to decline on field and attendances suffer. 

 

What is important is that Hearts implement is a seat resale program, season seats around the stadium empty this season that could be earning club/fans some additional income.

 

Yes. I’ve just said in another response that timing is key. The club are sounding ambitious (ambition doesn’t guarantee results as we know) and I’m sure there will be ideas/plans to future proof us if we can realistically sell more seats on a consistent basis. 

[Daveandal]

23 minutes ago, JALBO said:

 

This is true - but at the same time, our stadium capacity for almost all of the last 30 years has been below 20,000.

 

What is clear is that any increase in capacity can't be done easily or cheaply at Tynecastle. I would have thought a wise approach would be for the club to determine what the realistic options are, and do what they can to plan - but sustained success is probably needed to see any significant deveopment taken forward.

 

 This is exactly the point I was trying to make earlier but put far more eloquently 

[McCrae]

2 hours ago, The Mercer Takeover said:

There is a major downside to this logic.

 

If all seats are gone, how do you get the next generation into Tynecastle or expand the support further. How do those working shifts or spending much time working away, get to see their team.

 

Growing the support must be a long term objective and if that involves filling in some corners, so be it. We are working wonders in raising FOH cash, all we need now is some big vision on how we spend it.

 

I

For most games you can still get a ticket.

[Section Q]

I think we passed on building a bigger stadium when we built the new stand. It could have been two tier but as Budge said at the time, we didn't have the money. It's the logical solution but won't happen for obvious reasons,  unless at the time it was drawn up, there was the option to turn it into a two tier stand at a later date. And I don't think that's the case. Unless we can fill in the corners, it isn't going to happen.

[JimmyCant]

1 hour ago, upgotheheads said:

 

I don't think we will need to use Murrayfield this season because of the pitch size,  but it will be interesting to see what our average attendance for European game is next season, especially if we draw some big teams. If we get a really big team we might chose to take it to Murrayfield though.

You can’t chop and change half way through a campaign. Your stadium needs to be declared at the start and UEFA have to approve it.

 

We’d only need to use Murrayfield if we were in the Champions League group stages (season after next then 😀)

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Section Q said:

I think we passed on building a bigger stadium when we built the new stand. It could have been two tier but as Budge said at the time, we didn't have the money. It's the logical solution but won't happen for obvious reasons,  unless at the time it was drawn up, there was the option to turn it into a two tier stand at a later date. And I don't think that's the case. Unless we can fill in the corners, it isn't going to happen.

The council wouldn’t let us have the stand any higher 

[CMc]

19 hours ago, Led Tasso said:

There's several issues limiting us at Tynecastle, none of which are absolutely final but many of which are not easy to overcome.

 

The first, most limiting issue is COMAH regulations from the ethanol tanks at NBDC.

 

Until we deal with that, we cannot get planning permission to expand Tynecastle by one seat.

 

So it really doesn't matter about corner stanchions, an expanded Wheatfield, or rebuilding stands. Until that's dealt with, we can't do anything.

 

The last time we approached them in the aughts, the cost to the club was between £1-2m to help NBDC move its infrastructure. I can only assume that's gone up to £3-4m by now. So there's a big cost that has to get sunk in before we can even think about doing anything, but it's also not beyond the realm of possibility.

 

Okay, so AFTER we deal with the ethanol, because we have to deal with the ethanol before we do anything . . .

 

In any deal with NBDC I would hope that skooching the community pitch that they own towards the west would be possible, since it's just empty land on the other side. If that happens, we have a lot of room behind the Wheatfield to redevelop.

 

However, given that that would inherently involve changing the roof stanchions, and the Roseburn and Gorgie stands are getting up in age on their projected life spans at construction (which I think was 30-40 years IIRC), it probably makes sense to rebuild or at least do a re-fit on all three at once.

 

My hope is we could get up to 26k or maybe even 30k, with an extra tall Wheatfield that looked over the Main at the castle. That's probably a £30-40m project all told with ethanol remediation, demo, land aquisition, and so forth. Totally worth it at some point, but probably 10 years off at least.

Was that to move the ethanol tanks to a different bit of their existing site?

 

Securing this and a wee bit of space behind the stand to future proof the site would seem to make sense when our debt levels are low. 

[ri Alban]

1 hour ago, Bongo 1874 said:

The day hearts have a 30k seater stadium that will allow us to finally challenge the old firm, I can die knowing I've done my bit, for future generations of jambos. 

 

We will only get better and stronger this club is going place's, Scottish football is hopefully getting stronger. 

 

It's the burning desire i have knowing that one day, we can see Hearts win a league with Celtic and Rangers in it. 

 

A packed Tynecastle singing we won the league **** you Rangers we won the league, we won the league we won the league, **** you Celtic we won the league. 

 

Against all odds we showed we could achieve it, this club is special never give up hope, i love this club and would give my last to see it achieve this. 

 

We need to continue to attract more supporters/fans will follow if we can be successful. 

 

 

 I like it, I think I'll join ye. 

 

[Nookie Bear]

14 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The council wouldn’t let us have the stand any higher 

Stick a bike lane through the concourse and they will allow anything. 

[JALBO]

2 hours ago, maroon66 said:

Application submitted to the coucil on Friday to erect new screens.

 

Do you know where the club proposed to locate the screens?

[maroon66]

1 minute ago, JALBO said:

 

Do you know where the club proposed to locate the screens?

Not seen the application yet mate but I've been told one of them is on the inside of the main stand next to the old police box,if that makes sense.

[JALBO]

7 minutes ago, maroon66 said:

Not seen the application yet mate but I've been told one of them is on the inside of the main stand next to the old police box,if that makes sense.

 

👍

[FarmerTweedy]

18 hours ago, davemclaren said:

You have to wonder what planet some people live on!  40k capacity!!!

[FarmerTweedy]

7 hours ago, Italian Lambretta said:

Does that include the sellick game at start of season?

I'm guessing yes, and probably also the Boxing Day game against Ross County. 

 

[red]

Let’s first try to have another 3-4 seasons like this season or better before we start talking about building new stands/stadiums.

[FarmerTweedy]

7 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Assuming an average of 1,500 away fans at home games that suggests about 14-15k home fans on average. If we give up 2,000 seats for two sections plus segregation at most for all away fans then there’s at least 2-3k growth still available for home fans before we have a major issue. 

The average away fans will a fair bit lower than that given that only hibs have even got that much of an allocation. The actual figure will almost certainly be below 1,000.  Also, in the league, and where we've had full or close to full crowds allowed, the average attendance figure has been comfortably over 17k, so there's been at least 16k home fans on average, and we really don't have much scope to grow that.

 

There's no doubt there are no easy answers to growing Tynecastle further, but if anything, that makes it more important that the club do actually explore now what options could be possible and what would be needed to make them possible, rather than just wait and maybe find in a few years from now that some other development has killed off what would otherwise have been the best option. 

[Des Lynam]

3 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

The day hearts have a 30k seater stadium that will allow us to finally challenge the old firm, I can die knowing I've done my bit, for future generations of jambos. 

 

We will only get better and stronger this club is going place's, Scottish football is hopefully getting stronger. 

 

It's the burning desire i have knowing that one day, we can see Hearts win a league with Celtic and Rangers in it. 

 

A packed Tynecastle singing we won the league **** you Rangers we won the league, we won the league we won the league, **** you Celtic we won the league. 

 

Against all odds we showed we could achieve it, this club is special never give up hope, i love this club and would give my last to see it achieve this. 

 

We need to continue to attract more supporters/fans will follow if we can be successful. 

 

 

 

 

[Sertse]

Get a statue of Barry McKay outside it

[jamtartan74]

1 hour ago, FarmerTweedy said:

The average away fans will a fair bit lower than that given that only hibs have even got that much of an allocation. The actual figure will almost certainly be below 1,000.  Also, in the league, and where we've had full or close to full crowds allowed, the average attendance figure has been comfortably over 17k, so there's been at least 16k home fans on average, and we really don't have much scope to grow that.

 

There's no doubt there are no easy answers to growing Tynecastle further, but if anything, that makes it more important that the club do actually explore now what options could be possible and what would be needed to make them possible, rather than just wait and maybe find in a few years from now that some other development has killed off what would otherwise have been the best option. 

I would be very surprised if the club didn’t already know what was possible and what’s not possible, do u or anyone else on here truly believe that they haven’t looked into it already even if there are currently no plans to expand? They will know more than anyone on here will know if it’s possible, at this minute in time there is really no need for expansion in any case as historically after a good season like this one the next one tends to be shite 😂 (hopefully that’s not the case next season) and the support levels off again. If we can grow year on year and having waiting lists for season tickets then maybe it will become an issue but right now it’s not.  

Edited April 24, 2022 by jamtartan74

[Bazzas right boot]

6 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Only once in last thirty years has our average home crowd been above 20k - the season we were at Murrayfield. Other than the derby game we virtually never sell out home seats. Not sure there’s demand there yet. 

 

Tbf, we only need about 16500 St and we have a problem, not 20000.

We aren't far from that. 

We'd then need to decide whether to  sell St for the roseburn which straight away has issues. 

 

If we had 3 or 4 years, maybe even less like this one we'll be full and either knocking Hearts fans or away fans back. 

. 

[soonbe110]

6 minutes ago, jamtartan74 said:

I would be very surprised if the club didn’t already know what was possible and what’s not possible, do u or anyone else on here truly believe that they haven’t looked into it already even if there are currently no plans to expand? They will know more than anyone on here will know if it’s possible, at this minute in time there is really no need for expansion in any case as historically after a good season like this one the next one tends to be shite 😂 (hopefully that’s not the case next season) and the support levels off again. If we can grow year on year and having waiting lists for season tickets then maybe it will become an issue but right now it’s not.  

Exactly.  When the main stand was rebuilt they would have looked at all possible options and settled on the most viable and affordable. We can’t make either the main stand or the Westfield bigger. No chance to make Gorgie bigger so only Roseburn as a possibility.  That would require us buying the old school land and then convincing the Council to let us build a stand that’s much higher then the other three.  Even if we got the go ahead I’m not sure what could be done with the remaining part of the old school land. Seems like a very expensive solution to a problem that may not even exist. 

[soonbe110]

6 minutes ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

Tbf, we only need about 16500 St and we have a problem, not 20000.

We aren't far from that. 

We'd then need to decide whether to  sell St for the roseburn which straight away has issues. 

 

If we had 3 or 4 years, maybe even less like this one we'll be full and either knocking Hearts fans or away fans back. 

. 

Not sure there are any issues with Roseburn. 1500 max away fans at any game including segregation, a few structural adjustments to the access and exit from away part of the stand and we are left with 18-18,500 seats for home fans.  Plenty for a good few years. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

12 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Looks relatively flat to me, probably slight growth over a 25 year period.  There’s nothing in the graph to suggest that our current stadium isn’t big enough for our needs today and for the foreseeable future. A more telling graph would be one showing home support numbers over the same period. 

 

It's not flat, as I noted, our attendance in poor years is now above what our attendance in good years used to be. Also look at the minimum attendance. In other words, Tynecastle tickets are now hard enough to get that we have fewer and fewer empty seats for "bad" games.

 

This is an excellent situation to be in! A packed house is good! But at the current rate of growth, in 10-15 years we'll be at a point where we're turning away a lot of fans, and that's money and support left on the table.

 

8 hours ago, upgotheheads said:

 

I have never heard of a building haveing a predetermined lifespan. There may may some design criteria in a contract that says that the  building has specific materials that can be expected to last a minimum time, for example electrical wiring which is usually around replaced after 30 years, but steel and concrete can last for centuries. There's still some concrete used in Roman buildings  more than 2,000 years old, and there's a lot of prefabs around Edinburgh that were supposed to be a short term solution to the post war housing problems and are still in use 80 years later. 

 

Roman concrete is significantly different. The biggest difference is that steel reinforced concrete allows water to get inside much more easily, degrading the structure. There's also theories about levels of volcanic ash in Roman concrete.

 

In any case, modern concrete never lasts that long.

 

9 hours ago, Jambo92 said:

One of the reasons ticket sales will be strong is because of the limited capacity. 

If we had a 25,000 seater demand would drop because fans would know they could buy a ticket 1 hour before kick off.

Look at Hibs, zero incentive to purchase a season ticket apart from loyalty, you can wait till Saturday and pick your seat no bother, even better get £5 tickets thrown at you every few months.

 

Our capacity is fine, our stadium is near perfect for the club. If you want to move to some soulless lego stadium out in Gogar just so you can look at 5000 more seats then you need your head checked.

 

Our current capacity is excellent for our current size, and I agree that making the tickets a sought-after item is a good thing. In 10-15 years it may be not enough. Doing anything now, given planning and cost constraints, would be a mistake.

 

 

1 hour ago, soonbe110 said:

Exactly.  When the main stand was rebuilt they would have looked at all possible options and settled on the most viable and affordable. We can’t make either the main stand or the Westfield bigger. No chance to make Gorgie bigger so only Roseburn as a possibility.  That would require us buying the old school land and then convincing the Council to let us build a stand that’s much higher then the other three.  Even if we got the go ahead I’m not sure what could be done with the remaining part of the old school land. Seems like a very expensive solution to a problem that may not even exist. 

 

When the main stand was rebuilt, we expanded the stadium to the level allowed by planning, and the restriction was the ethanol tanks at NBDC. Absent those tanks, a bigger Wheatfield would absolutely be possible. But again, we're fine for now, and there's no low cost option for expansion any time soon.

 

6 hours ago, JALBO said:

 

This is true - but at the same time, our stadium capacity for almost all of the last 30 years has been below 20,000.

 

What is clear is that any increase in capacity can't be done easily or cheaply at Tynecastle. I would have thought a wise approach would be for the club to determine what the realistic options are, and do what they can to plan - but sustained success is probably needed to see any significant deveopment taken forward.

 

 

Good post, exactly right.

 

The summary I wish everyone would internalize:

 

1. We're not stuck for capacity at Tynecastle. It's possible to expand, but . . .

2. Tynecastle's capacity is as high as it can go until the ethanol is dealt with, which will cost a few million pounds.

3. Our current size is great for our current club, and leads to great atmosphere for a lot of games, but . . .

4. Our support has been growing slowly steadily for a few decades and if we have sustained success and it keeps up, we will start to leave fans out and money on the table.

 

SO.

1. No expansion now or any time soon

2. Expansion possible later, if success brings both money and crowds to support it.
 

[upgotheheads]

33 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

 

 

1. No expansion now or any time soon

2. Expansion possible later, if success brings both money and crowds to support it.
 

 

What comes first, the chicken or the egg? 

Business people (like Ann budge) know how to grow a business, so we should cherish her while she is with us.

 

The tone of your post is very negative though. Who knows what will happen in the future , but I seriously doubt that building technology, especially with regard to concrete, has actually regressed over the last 2,000 years, and as for concrete and steel; if what you say is true then we can expect New York to start falling down soon given that it's construction has  almost  exclusively been based on concrete and steel for the past 120 years.  

 

As for the impact of the Ethanol Plant, I have no idea, like most people outwith the experts, but it seems to me that if you can put two stands (Wheatfield and Roseburn) within a hundred yards of it then a development two hundred yards away will not be impossible.

Edited April 24, 2022 by upgotheheads

[Jambo-Fox]

4 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

You have to wonder what planet some people live on!  40k capacity!!!

Think big to be big

think small and be small

[Watt-Zeefuik]

2 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

 

What comes first, the chicken or the egg? 

Business people (like Ann budge) know how to grow a business, so we should cherish her while she is with us.

 

The tone of your post is very negative though. Who knows what will happen in the future , but I seriously doubt that building technology, especially with regard to concrete, has actually regressed over the last 2,000 years, and as for concrete and steel; if what you say is true then we can expect New York to start falling down soon given that it's construction has  almost  exclusively been based on concrete and steel for the past 120 years.  

 

The post wasn't intended to be negative at all, so not sure how you read that into it. We have a fabulous stadium and if results continue to improve it will give us the impetus and the resources to make a bigger one. If you think that's negative we can head over to the shed and I'll start talking politics . . .

 

Steel reinforced concrete is far stronger than Roman concrete but it doesn't last as long. This isn't a controversial statement (easily found online, here's one I just found: https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-reinforced-concrete-56078 ) New York's skyscrapers are largely steel structured with concrete and other materials forming the platforms and other elements. Some people have been experimenting with structures built with Roman-like concrete with lower water content and adding things like coal fly ash, and provided they keep the core dry are having great results making it long-lasting, but that's not your standard 21th century Portland cement mud.

[Bazzas right boot]

2 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Not sure there are any issues with Roseburn. 1500 max away fans at any game including segregation, a few structural adjustments to the access and exit from away part of the stand and we are left with 18-18,500 seats for home fans.  Plenty for a good few years. 

 

If we sell st's there then hibs wouldn't get the full end.

We are maybe a repeat  of this season of having to decide whether to cut back the roseburn for away fans if we want to get more Hearts fans into the stadium and increase our st numbers.

 

Either way it's a loss in income if we can get that many home fans then we have cut the away crowds back which is £ lost either way.

 

It's not an urgent matter but it was always going to be a question should a Hearts side become successful and consistent imo.

 

I've always thought about 23k-25k was the sweet spot.

[upgotheheads]

2 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

 

The post wasn't intended to be negative at all, so not sure how you read that into it. We have a fabulous stadium and if results continue to improve it will give us the impetus and the resources to make a bigger one. If you think that's negative we can head over to the shed and I'll start talking politics . . .

 

Steel reinforced concrete is far stronger than Roman concrete but it doesn't last as long. This isn't a controversial statement (easily found online, here's one I just found: https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-reinforced-concrete-56078 ) New York's skyscrapers are largely steel structured with concrete and other materials forming the platforms and other elements. Some people have been experimenting with structures built with Roman-like concrete with lower water content and adding things like coal fly ash, and provided they keep the core dry are having great results making it long-lasting, but that's not your standard 21th century Portland cement mud.

 

I seriously doubt that a 2,000 year lifespan is needed, or even a 100 year lifespan for that matter, but current concrete and steel technology will do for me, my children, and my grand children for that matter. The point of this debate is whether Tynecastle has reached the limit of its economic development, which it might be near but hasn't been reached yet in my opinion, and I suggested one method of getting close to that target.

For what it's worth: I think that the era of the peripheral developments of shopping and sporting stadia is coming to an end for all sorts of reasons, and we might be fortunate to have avoided it. There is something unique about city centre stadium, not the least of which is that city streets act like sponges and can soak up an enormous amount of people and traffic. I can still park my car within 15 minutes of Tynecastle, while the last time I was at MacDiarmid park it took me 45 minutes to get out of the carpark, however I always use public transport if I can. 

[FarmerTweedy]

2 hours ago, jamtartan74 said:

I would be very surprised if the club didn’t already know what was possible and what’s not possible, do u or anyone else on here truly believe that they haven’t looked into it already even if there are currently no plans to expand? They will know more than anyone on here will know if it’s possible, at this minute in time there is really no need for expansion in any case as historically after a good season like this one the next one tends to be shite 😂 (hopefully that’s not the case next season) and the support levels off again. If we can grow year on year and having waiting lists for season tickets then maybe it will become an issue but right now it’s not.  

Sorry, I should have said if they haven't already done so, they should be looking into it. You're absolutely right that they may well have done already. It would make sense for them to keep quiet about that though, because if they said "yes, we know what we could do", they'd then be constantly hounded about when work was going to start!

[FarmerTweedy]

2 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Exactly.  When the main stand was rebuilt they would have looked at all possible options and settled on the most viable and affordable. We can’t make either the main stand or the Westfield bigger. No chance to make Gorgie bigger so only Roseburn as a possibility.  That would require us buying the old school land and then convincing the Council to let us build a stand that’s much higher then the other three.  Even if we got the go ahead I’m not sure what could be done with the remaining part of the old school land. Seems like a very expensive solution to a problem that may not even exist. 

Why do you think the School End could be made bigger but not the Wheatfield? 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

23 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

 

I seriously doubt that a 2,000 year lifespan is needed, or even a 100 year lifespan for that matter, but current concrete and steel technology will do for me, my children, and my grand children for that matter. The point of this debate is whether Tynecastle has reached the limit of its economic development, which it might be near but hasn't been reached yet in my opinion, and I suggested one method of getting close to that target.

For what it's worth: I think that the era of the peripheral developments of shopping and sporting stadia is coming to an end for all sorts of reasons, and we might be fortunate to have avoided it. There is something unique about city centre stadium, not the least of which is that city streets act like sponges and can soak up an enormous amount of people and traffic. I can still park my car within 15 minutes of Tynecastle, while the last time I was at MacDiarmid park it took me 45 minutes to get out of the carpark, however I always use public transport if I can. 

 

I didn't want to get into an academic debate about concrete lifespan, but you brought up Roman concrete. As the link I provided says, if you're not careful, reinforced concrete can start to decay after just 10 years in the wrong circumstances. I am not a structural engineer nor a building inspector and I haven't gone around Tynecastle with a flashlight looking for water penetration, but I'm guessing the club have had that done.

 

The whole point of this was to say that it's probably not a bad thing to at least consider replacing them 10-25 years out from now. But again, no need any time soon.

[FarmerTweedy]

51 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

Think big to be big

think small and be small

There's thinking big and there's living in cloud cuckoo land!

[Jambo-Fox]

1 minute ago, FarmerTweedy said:

There's thinking big and there's living in cloud cuckoo land!

And there’s living a narrow blinkered life never aspiring to be bigger or better ….

half empty or half full, pessimist

or optimist …..

[Jambo-Fox]

4 minutes ago, FarmerTweedy said:

There's thinking big and there's living in cloud cuckoo land!

Actually you are a bit flip floppy ….

 

Some of your posts are quite positive and endorse advance planning to grow the club as and when necessary 

however 

some of your posts ‘ridicule’ other posts that are effectively saying the same and advocate developing strategic plans to grow our club!

[soonbe110]

44 minutes ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

If we sell st's there then hibs wouldn't get the full end.

We are maybe a repeat  of this season of having to decide whether to cut back the roseburn for away fans if we want to get more Hearts fans into the stadium and increase our st numbers.

 

Either way it's a loss in income if we can get that many home fans then we have cut the away crowds back which is £ lost either way.

 

It's not an urgent matter but it was always going to be a question should a Hearts side become successful and consistent imo.

 

I've always thought about 23k-25k was the sweet spot.

Don’t get the argument that you would rather have Hibs fans at tynie rather than Hearts fans for a derby match. Having season ticket money in May is much better than getting a few extra pounds 11 months later, if we actually do? (Hibs have almost certainly budgeted on us visiting in May but we won’t).  
Highky unlikely that Hibs would ever give us anything other than a full stand at ER.  Cutting off their nose to spite their face if they do. 

[FarmerTweedy]

5 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

Actually you are a bit flip floppy ….

 

Some of your posts are quite positive and endorse advance planning to grow the club as and when necessary 

however 

some of your posts ‘ridicule’ other posts that are effectively saying the same and advocate developing strategic plans to grow our club!

You said the board should be sacked if they don't have plans in place for an expansion of Tynecastle to a 40k capacity. 

 

I'll just leave this particular conversation at that!

[soonbe110]

24 minutes ago, FarmerTweedy said:

Why do you think the School End could be made bigger but not the Wheatfield? 

We don’t own the land behind Wheatfield and we won’t until the distillery moves which is probably never.  To build a bigger stand on the Wheatfield site requires a much bigger footprint than we currently have. Health and Safety laws rule out us moving closer to elements of the distillery operations. We would have built a bigger stand there if we had been allowed to when we built the Wheatfield stand. 

[Chaps]

More importantly the back of the Roseburn could really do with a good power wash.

[soonbe110]

2 minutes ago, Chaps said:

More importantly the back of the Roseburn could really do with a good power wash.

Whole stadium could do with that 

[Jambo-Fox]

4 minutes ago, FarmerTweedy said:

You said the board should be sacked if they don't have plans in place for an expansion of Tynecastle to a 40k capacity. 

 

I'll just leave this particular conversation at that!

Of course they need plans and will have plans …. to grow Hearts on and off the pitch.

Clearly my (attempt at) humour passed you by …. 😃 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

20 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

And there’s living a narrow blinkered life never aspiring to be bigger or better ….

half empty or half full, pessimist

or optimist …..

 

For reasons I've tried to argue, though, it's a £30-40m task to do a major expansion. We shouldn't be taking that on until we're ready to fill up a good bit of it, and we have the cash to do so.

 

We have a stadium which currently suits of very well. Yes, as I've said I think the day will come when we need to expand, but it's not any time in the near future.

[Bazzas right boot]

12 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

Don’t get the argument that you would rather have Hibs fans at tynie rather than Hearts fans for a derby match. Having season ticket money in May is much better than getting a few extra pounds 11 months later, if we actually do? (Hibs have almost certainly budgeted on us visiting in May but we won’t).  
Highky unlikely that Hibs would ever give us anything other than a full stand at ER.  Cutting off their nose to spite their face if they do. 

 

I think the opposite, I'd cut hibs back to give us more but if we are doing that we are losing money and it would mean it's very tight even for Hearts fans to see us. 

 

Surley best to increase capacity to get more Hearts and potential fans in and give the away fans a reasonable amount, that is the way you grow and make more money. 

 

We aren't quite there yet imo, but a repeat of this season might see us reach that point. 

 

Even 3000  (£30 av ticket) extra fans 6 times a year is over £500,000k

 

It's not chicken feed. 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Bazzas right boot

[Bazzas right boot]

6 minutes ago, Chaps said:

More importantly the back of the Roseburn could really do with a good power wash.

 

 

Canna afford it, the windeas have eaten up the cleaning budget. 

 

 

[Jambo-Fox]

31 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

 

For reasons I've tried to argue, though, it's a £30-40m task to do a major expansion. We shouldn't be taking that on until we're ready to fill up a good bit of it, and we have the cash to do so.

 

We have a stadium which currently suits of very well. Yes, as I've said I think the day will come when we need to expand, but it's not any time in the near future.

I agree 😊 but no harm in having plans prepared for when the day comes ..

♥️♥️♥️♥️

[Poseidon]

As much as I'd initially dislike how asymmetrical the stadium would become, I think the next major expansion should be of both the Wheatfield and Roseburn at the same time, allowing also for the filling of a corner. 

 

Massive obstacles of course with the school, ethanol tanks etc etc but that sort of expansion would set us up forever.

 

A lot of money and a big increase in seats so wouldn't be looking at this in the short term. But say we were still successful and Tynie became definitely too small then it would be good if the FoH money could be ring-fenced for 5-10 years to make a dent in the overall cost before breaking ground. 

 

Standing room only in the filled corner to bring back the shed of course! 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Poseidon

[Bozi]

The thing is, Tynecastle on a good day, is a bear pit,  with the stands full, the fans in good voice and the atmosphere electric there really is no stadium like it.

 

The Big games, we could probably sell out a 30k stadium easy and have the place absolutely rocking...

 

But it's the Ross County, Kilmarnock, Dundee United games...these are the ones where our 20k limit and 16k fans inside the stadium make the real difference over a season.

 

There is little point adding 5k seats unless we can keep the bear pit feeling all season, no point adding 5k seats if we are only going to sell out when Celtic TheRangers,Hibs come to Tynecastle if we lose the essence of the stadium 

 

[Section Q]

On 24/04/2022 at 23:31, davemclaren said:

The council wouldn’t let us have the stand any higher 

Budge said a single tier was all our budget could afford.