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

[soonbe110]

11 hours ago, Mahroon said:

I get where you are coming from but think we are in a catch 22 at the moment. Take Saturday for example, we didn’t fill the stadium due to the fact most of us that didn’t go knew deep down we would be getting an absolute skudding. I don’t think we would fill the stadium week in week out untill we were challenging for the league, then people would be desperate to go to every away game there for would need to be going to every home game for LP etc. 

Yes I agree.  Stadium is currently more than adequate.  To increase capacity just in case we can challenge for the league is just speculative and tbh we have been there before  and it’s not worth the risk. We built the three stands and they were seldom full. Even since Main stand opened more often than not there’s unsold tickets a few days before a game somewhere in the stadium. Ticket exchange, if embraced by the fans, will increase capacity even further, potentially by over 1k seats per game. All our spare funds need to go in playing resources for next 2-3 years to ensure we build a gap between ourselves and rest of the non-OF clubs. Group stage football every season shouldn’t be beyond us. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

Fair enough.  I bow to your knowledge. 😎

Eh, I guess that's the thing, I don't have the knowledge. If someone paid me to sort through all the planning requirements I could do it, but I'm not going to take the time to.

 

What I guess I'm saying is that my educated guess is that it would be possible. I don't want to sound more confident than that!

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, Led Tasso said:

Eh, I guess that's the thing, I don't have the knowledge. If someone paid me to sort through all the planning requirements I could do it, but I'm not going to take the time to.

 

What I guess I'm saying is that my educated guess is that it would be possible. I don't want to sound more confident than that!

👍

[johnking123]

Cant see us having 15k stand. 11-12k and try make space for people to congregate. Need the pitch ,car park and knock a few storage buildings down.

[johnking123]

[davemclaren]

In reality how closer can  a bigger, say 25,000 stadium really take us to the old firm? I think we have likely maxed out current hospitality demand, given we've been pondering over what to do with the main stand empty floor, for a few years now. 

[Libertarian]

19 hours ago, Led Tasso said:

Since this seems to be the week of introspection after getting knocked out of the cup, I'll just say that I don't think we can truly "close the gap" on the OF until we get a bigger stadium. We can narrow the gap a good bit with European revenue, and we can support that with player development and trading. But we're still going to be a tremendous disadvantage without a bigger stadium.

 

Scottish football is unusually reliant, for European teams, on in-person support. The availability of the EPL on national broadcast dampens the market for the domestic product. On the flip side, Scots turn out for match tickets at rates unmatched almost anywhere.

 

I've said before the model should be Elland Rd. Pay NBDC to move the ethanol, buy the bit of the community pitch behind the Wheatfield, and build a 15k stand. We had 3,500 on the season ticket waiting list. If that becomes 4000 season tickets that we sell in a new stand that's over £20 million in new revenue over 10 years. That should be enough to finance half the stand.

 

I'm not impatient. I know this will take time. But we're all frustrated with the financial ceiling we're bumping into. A 29k capacity stadium that we could fill regularly could give us the boost we need over the rest and bring our revenues to within 30-50% of the OF.

Absolutely agree. When you consider the funding provided by the Foundation on top of the extra revenues generated by a bigger capacity, it's a no brainer. There are too many nay sayers putting obstacles in the way but the club has to start pushing at the door.

[Sooks]

10 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

In reality how closer can  a bigger, say 25,000 stadium really take us to the old firm? I think we have likely maxed out current hospitality demand, given we've been pondering over what to do with the main stand empty floor, for a few years now. 

I think it would take us closer and away from the rest , but what it would also do is make us a bit more able to compete vs similar sized European clubs . The lack of TV money in Scotland puts us at a real disadvantage there 

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, Sooks said:

I think it would take us closer and away from the rest , but what it would also do is make us a bit more able to compete vs similar sized European clubs . The lack of TV money in Scotland puts us at a real disadvantage there 

This is certainly only the second time ( the first being early Romanov ) in my years following Hearts where the demand outstrips supply for most matches. That fact has a downside as well. 

[Sooks]

30 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

This is certainly only the second time ( the first being early Romanov ) in my years following Hearts where the demand outstrips supply for most matches. That fact has a downside as well. 

Yeah I know and it is not some thing we should rush in to blindly . It is also the first time in my life that we have been this debt free though and with revenue streams and benefactors that could be a game changer 

[johnking123]

If benefactors would help pay a massive chunk of a new wheatfield. Would be the smart thing to do.  We could move some of the hospitality to new wheatfield and increase hotel size if it does well. 

[kila]

3 minutes ago, johnking123 said:

If benefactors would help pay a massive chunk of a new wheatfield. Would be the smart thing to do.  We could move some of the hospitality to new wheatfield and increase hotel size if it does well. 

 

Restore view of the castle from top of the Wheatfield

 

[davemclaren]

27 minutes ago, kila said:

 

Restore view of the castle from top of the Wheatfield

 

Other solutions are available. 
 

 

[Ricardo Quaresma]

3 hours ago, johnking123 said:

 

Nice; If we could get 12K, obviously that would be great, more would be fantastic as we can only do this once

 

If we don't get more fans in we make it extremely difficult to get the gap to OF closed

 

What's the point in not doing something like this, I ask people?

[Bongo 1874]

Demand is there we take easy 25k/27k to Hampden and Murrayfield,  its attracting those that turn up to those games to come more often.

 

Showing the fans we are serious about winning silverware and the league.

 

This can be achieved.

 

25k isn't enough over 30k sets us up for life.

 

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

9 minutes ago, Bongo 1874 said:

Demand is there we take easy 25k/27k to Hampden and Murrayfield,  its attracting those that turn up to those games to come more often.

 

Showing the fans we are serious about winning silverware and the league.

 

This can be achieved.

 

25k isn't enough over 30k sets us up for life.

 

Where the money coming from ? 

[johnking123]

Anderson seems more than happy to help with the infrastructure of the club. Believe he is the one putting up the cash for hotel.  The man likes to reward a bit ambition.  As most investors do.

[Bongo 1874]

10 minutes ago, Selkirkhmfc1874 said:

Where the money coming from ? 

I wonder if Ann and James would like a stand named after them 🤔.

 

We always find a way.

 

This heart still beats.

 

[Guest]

It's natural  to talk about getting nearer to the OF, but the bigger picture could very well be involvement in a European League set up.  I can that coming along in tbe next 15 or 20 years. We won't be anywhere near the top, but we need to be positioned as best as possible if and when it does arrive.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Jonkel Hoon

[Bongo 1874]

30k seater stadium , based in the capital absolute no brainer.

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

11 minutes ago, Bongo 1874 said:

I wonder if Ann and James would like a stand named after them 🤔.

 

We always find a way.

 

This heart still beats.

 

To be fair it wouldn't surprise me if Mr Anderson would fund something like that 

[Bongo 1874]

1 minute ago, Selkirkhmfc1874 said:

To be fair it wouldn't surprise me if Mr Anderson would fund something like that 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2022/12/fund-manager-gifts-80m-to-italian-university/&ved=2ahUKEwju_6Dq9Nr9AhXKEsAKHU6wAvwQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw1J8L0Pk5Mrfs-TcBcmhBBe

 

I have no idea how many figures he has at the end of his bank account, but what i can tell you he has deep pockets.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

4 hours ago, Selkirkhmfc1874 said:

Where the money coming from ? 

Addressed this above. £20m loan financed with new season ticket sales, £10m from FoH/1000 club, £10m from large benefactors ideally.

 

If the other two fall short, it should be possible to finance a bit more of it. Up to 60% of the cost wouldn't be irresponsible.

 

Ideally this waits until interest rates come down a bit.

[Wee Mikey]

I'd be gobsmacked if options for future expansion haven't already been explored and aren't being reviewed regularly.

 

As far as being able to fill any additional capacity, one indicator is the current corporate hospitality sell-out to season end (with a waiting list); and another is this season's home sell-outs prompting the introduction of the ticket exchange plus a ST waiting list.

 

Without doubt, Hearts carry a huge latent support in and around Edinburgh itself.

 

One need only have to look at the glorious images from the 2012 cup parade whereby an estimated 100,000 turned out.

 

My own photos & vids are not on my phone but, belive me, the views of both the High St and Johnston Terrace were awesome, as were the scenes down to Haymarket and thence along to Tynecastle.

 

The thing is, harnessing that support week-to-week is clearly linked to how well the team does on the pitch, but it's definitely there.

 

In lieu of my own footage:-

 

Hearts 2012 Cup Parade

 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scottish-cup-final-100000-fans-857290?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

 

 

 

[Bongo 1874]

They key thing about this is getting this all in place because ,with a bigger stadium more fans through the door.

 

More fans at Tynecastle = more money, more money can go on bigger player wage etc.

 

Giving us an edge over Hibs and Aberdeen, and giving us a fighting chance against those horrible two.

 

Imagine being the team that rammed it up scottish football, and beat all the odds and won the league.

 

Believe!!!!!!.

[DETTY29]

Could we bid for a future Super Cup final?

[Armageddon]

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

8 minutes ago, Armageddon said:

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

I've donated to FOH since the start but my kids haven't and would imagine that be same for lots of families

[FarmerTweedy]

19 hours ago, davemclaren said:

In reality how closer can  a bigger, say 25,000 stadium really take us to the old firm? I think we have likely maxed out current hospitality demand, given we've been pondering over what to do with the main stand empty floor, for a few years now. 

I don't think that's correct. Ann Budge has said we were planning the hotel before covid hit, and it's also been reported that we've got huge demand for hospitality, with everything basically sold out up to the split for a while now, and expectation of higher hospitality season ticket sales next season. 

 

Your question is a valid one though, even if we had 25k capacity and significant additional hospitality space, and were selling out consistently, we would still be miles behind the arsecheeks in financial terms. What we would be though is significantly further ahead financially of all the other clubs below us, which would hopefully mean we could become more consistent at beating those teams, and that in turn would take us a lot closer to the toxic twosome in points terms, giving us a better chance of at least occasionally sneaking into 2nd place if not 1st, if a really good season for us coincided with a really poor one for one of both of them. 

[FarmerTweedy]

16 hours ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

 

Nice; If we could get 12K, obviously that would be great, more would be fantastic as we can only do this once

 

If we don't get more fans in we make it extremely difficult to get the gap to OF closed

 

What's the point in not doing something like this, I ask people?

The point in not doing it would be that if we couldn't actually fill the extra capacity, the financial outlay would be extremely damaging, and all those empty seats would detract from the atmosphere of the ground.  I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, I actually like the idea, but your question seems to come from almost an assumption that the capacity will definitely be filled, and that there are no real risks to such a project. 

[Americana]

13 minutes ago, FarmerTweedy said:

The point in not doing it would be that if we couldn't actually fill the extra capacity, the financial outlay would be extremely damaging, and all those empty seats would detract from the atmosphere of the ground.  I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, I actually like the idea, but your question seems to come from almost an assumption that the capacity will definitely be filled, and that there are no real risks to such a project. 

 

Theres always going to be risks in business and yet if we take none we have more than likely signed up to a lifetime of mediocrity with very few moments that will live forever ie the odd bit of silverwear.

 

I would imagine the potential profit from opening the gap from the rest could be plenty to fund this stand, guaranteeing at least third every season would be enough to keep the demand high for fixtures. I get what people are concerned about but the club has a pretty big opportunity to move forward , massively in part to being favourites for European Group Stage football each season behind the OF, either that or we play it safe and risk one of our competitors taking advantage and opening the gap themselves should they press on .  

[gordon simpson]

2 hours ago, Armageddon said:

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

this for sure 

[jr ewing]

2 hours ago, Armageddon said:

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

8500 hard core supporters. Rest hoping for a successful team but with no guarantee. 

[Hearts_fan]

4 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

They key thing about this is getting this all in place because ,with a bigger stadium more fans through the door.

 

More fans at Tynecastle = more money, more money can go on bigger player wage etc.

 

Giving us an edge over Hibs and Aberdeen, and giving us a fighting chance against those horrible two.

 

Imagine being the team that rammed it up scottish football, and beat all the odds and won the league.

 

Believe!!!!!!.

100% BONGO

[OTT]

3 hours ago, Armageddon said:

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

 

I've posted this on another thread, but I'll post it again as I think it has merit around what you're talking about: 

 

The Alba party (irrelevant for the purposes of the discussion) has on the home screen for the sign in the below: 

 

 

I think providing FOH members with a unique recruitment link they can include on social media pages, e.g. Facebook/ Twitter etc has a lot of merit and the Foundation could reward members based on recruitment. For example, if you recruit 100 people you get a badge, if you recruit 1 person and they stay for 6 months you get a wee boost to your maroon points (100 pts for arguments sake). It would be a very easy thing to share with friends and family, and might bolster engagement with less involved fans - e.g. if you don't attend every week you can still feel a part of the club. 

 

I'm really behind this as an idea. The Foundation is successful because of the strength in numbers, what we can't afford to happen is to become complacent and allow those numbers to ever diminish, and if they're always growing because people are looking to recruit people by sharing their links with friends, family and hell, even co-workers! Then it will keep evolving and growing. 

 

It could be built on further, take the Quick donate button below - the Foundation already has functionality to take one off donations, so what about donating funds to be ring fenced for projects? Like for example a new stand ? - Fans might be more willing to donate over and above monthly subs if there is a specific goal in mind, be that the creation of a training ground, new stand or other club infrastructure. 

[kingantti1874]

3 hours ago, Armageddon said:

I still can't get my head round us having bumper season ticket sales, a 3500 season ticket waiting list, yet only 8500 FoH donators.

 

If that 8500 matched the 20k season ticket buyers/wanters we would be at £30M by now, never mind celebrating £15M.

not sure what is complicated when you really think about it.
 

1. quite a lot of our season ticket holders are children, 2. some are pensioners and 3. lots will simply not be able to afford to donate extra money over and above ST and will have chosen one of the other.  

 

it’s absolutely incredible that we have 8500 people who donate over and above ST price 

 

 

[OTT]

On 13/03/2023 at 00:36, Led Tasso said:

Since this seems to be the week of introspection after getting knocked out of the cup, I'll just say that I don't think we can truly "close the gap" on the OF until we get a bigger stadium. We can narrow the gap a good bit with European revenue, and we can support that with player development and trading. But we're still going to be a tremendous disadvantage without a bigger stadium.

 

Scottish football is unusually reliant, for European teams, on in-person support. The availability of the EPL on national broadcast dampens the market for the domestic product. On the flip side, Scots turn out for match tickets at rates unmatched almost anywhere.

 

I've said before the model should be Elland Rd. Pay NBDC to move the ethanol, buy the bit of the community pitch behind the Wheatfield, and build a 15k stand. We had 3,500 on the season ticket waiting list. If that becomes 4000 season tickets that we sell in a new stand that's over £20 million in new revenue over 10 years. That should be enough to finance half the stand.

 

I'm not impatient. I know this will take time. But we're all frustrated with the financial ceiling we're bumping into. A 29k capacity stadium that we could fill regularly could give us the boost we need over the rest and bring our revenues to within 30-50% of the OF.

 

Something I'm extremely supportive of is building the biggest stand we can get away with. Tynecastle really isn't a good site (fantastic stadium though, obviously), it's boxed in on all sides, so there is a real need to maximise the capacity whilst we can. I was hugely disappointed we didn't go for 10k with our new main stand, I'm aware the council put constraints on us related to the Distillery (Someone feel free to correct me here), so it was limited in what we could do, but that also means that its unlikely to be economically viable to increase the main stand until we're far into the future. With the Roseburn being an away stand, and the Gorgie being landlocked, common sense tells you that the Wheatfield is the last opportunity for us to really maximise the capacity at Tynecastle. So I think go for it. Build a stand that is larger than what we need right now. We can absolutely grow into it. 

 

Something that maybe isn't mentioned so much, is that as we're sitting at 90%+ each week, there is very little flexibility to bring kids along that don't have a season ticket (for example, if you and your oldest have season tickets, and your youngest wants to come along for a game, how do you manage it? - You can't. It would also increase the volume of our Platinum and gold seating, which is obviously where a lot of money is made. How many fans wanted platinum and settled for gold (wanted gold but settled for silver etc.). Corporate boxes are also something which we don't have. A new two tiered Wheatfield could bring that in, saw earlier in the thread and on others that we're doing exceptionally well on the Hospitality front, having a row of corporate boxes that supporters clubs or wealthier individuals could buy up would be another excellent way to bring more money into the club. We've found benefactors willing to put literally tens of millions into the club, I'm sure it isn't a stretch to say they'd fancy a private suite for them and their mates to enjoy the game. 

[stirlo]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

not sure what is complicated when you really think about it.
 

1. quite a lot of our season ticket holders are children, 2. some are pensioners and 3. lots will simply not be able to afford to donate extra money over and above ST and will have chosen one of the other.  

 

it’s absolutely incredible that we have 8500 people who donate over and above ST price 

 

 

 

Correct. As a proportion of our season ticket holders it's actually a very impressive number and its the fact that numbers are actually continuing to grow rather than drop off that is quite remarkable. I wouldn't be surprised if we reach 10,000 within the next 2-3 years.

Edited March 14, 2023 by stirlo

[gorgierulesapply88]

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

[Jambo-Fox]

10 minutes ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

Many say you are not even funny - I agree!

[Libertarian]

2 hours ago, OTT said:

 

Something I'm extremely supportive of is building the biggest stand we can get away with. Tynecastle really isn't a good site (fantastic stadium though, obviously), it's boxed in on all sides, so there is a real need to maximise the capacity whilst we can. I was hugely disappointed we didn't go for 10k with our new main stand, I'm aware the council put constraints on us related to the Distillery (Someone feel free to correct me here), so it was limited in what we could do, but that also means that its unlikely to be economically viable to increase the main stand until we're far into the future. With the Roseburn being an away stand, and the Gorgie being landlocked, common sense tells you that the Wheatfield is the last opportunity for us to really maximise the capacity at Tynecastle. So I think go for it. Build a stand that is larger than what we need right now. We can absolutely grow into it. 

 

Something that maybe isn't mentioned so much, is that as we're sitting at 90%+ each week, there is very little flexibility to bring kids along that don't have a season ticket (for example, if you and your oldest have season tickets, and your youngest wants to come along for a game, how do you manage it? - You can't. It would also increase the volume of our Platinum and gold seating, which is obviously where a lot of money is made. How many fans wanted platinum and settled for gold (wanted gold but settled for silver etc.). Corporate boxes are also something which we don't have. A new two tiered Wheatfield could bring that in, saw earlier in the thread and on others that we're doing exceptionally well on the Hospitality front, having a row of corporate boxes that supporters clubs or wealthier individuals could buy up would be another excellent way to bring more money into the club. We've found benefactors willing to put literally tens of millions into the club, I'm sure it isn't a stretch to say they'd fancy a private suite for them and their mates to enjoy the game. 

Agree with nearly all of the above 

[Libertarian]

8 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

They key thing about this is getting this all in place because ,with a bigger stadium more fans through the door.

 

More fans at Tynecastle = more money, more money can go on bigger player wage etc.

 

Giving us an edge over Hibs and Aberdeen, and giving us a fighting chance against those horrible two.

 

Imagine being the team that rammed it up scottish football, and beat all the odds and won the league.

 

Believe!!!!!!.

[davemclaren]

48 minutes ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

Is that many of the original many so, by definition, not so many?

[damo]

47 minutes ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

Why did you stay in the boat when Neilson left the 1st time ? Is this not what you wanted ? 

[gorgierulesapply88]

5 minutes ago, damo said:

Why did you stay in the boat when Neilson left the 1st time ? Is this not what you wanted ? 

Of course, however many reasons remain. Budges brother etc.

[Sooks]

1 hour ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

[Bongo 1874]

1 hour ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

Each to their own mate, you and Hearts will still be here when Stendel or Neilson or whoever is manager is gone.

 

Try to look at it like that.

 

The one constant is the fans 😀.

[DETTY29]

2 hours ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

You blame Neilson for Hibs winning the cup don't you?

 

And you cheered Rangers beating Celtic in the semi final that season too, without considering which team Hibs had a far better chance of winning against in the final?

Edited March 14, 2023 by DETTY29

[GavK1012]

4 hours ago, gorgierulesapply88 said:

I know many who don't contribute and the reasoning behind it was to try send a message to club re neilson the 1st time around. Many have stayed in the same boat. Myself included.

 

Not the mention the dialogue from the FOH to fans is absolutely shocking, and then we have queen anne who setup the grass line etc and banned 'fans' on various occasions and then spoke out against other fans in the papers. Very outspoken is queen anne.

 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

7 hours ago, OTT said:

 

Something I'm extremely supportive of is building the biggest stand we can get away with. Tynecastle really isn't a good site (fantastic stadium though, obviously), it's boxed in on all sides, so there is a real need to maximise the capacity whilst we can. I was hugely disappointed we didn't go for 10k with our new main stand, I'm aware the council put constraints on us related to the Distillery (Someone feel free to correct me here), so it was limited in what we could do, but that also means that its unlikely to be economically viable to increase the main stand until we're far into the future. With the Roseburn being an away stand, and the Gorgie being landlocked, common sense tells you that the Wheatfield is the last opportunity for us to really maximise the capacity at Tynecastle. So I think go for it. Build a stand that is larger than what we need right now. We can absolutely grow into it. 

 

Something that maybe isn't mentioned so much, is that as we're sitting at 90%+ each week, there is very little flexibility to bring kids along that don't have a season ticket (for example, if you and your oldest have season tickets, and your youngest wants to come along for a game, how do you manage it? - You can't. It would also increase the volume of our Platinum and gold seating, which is obviously where a lot of money is made. How many fans wanted platinum and settled for gold (wanted gold but settled for silver etc.). Corporate boxes are also something which we don't have. A new two tiered Wheatfield could bring that in, saw earlier in the thread and on others that we're doing exceptionally well on the Hospitality front, having a row of corporate boxes that supporters clubs or wealthier individuals could buy up would be another excellent way to bring more money into the club. We've found benefactors willing to put literally tens of millions into the club, I'm sure it isn't a stretch to say they'd fancy a private suite for them and their mates to enjoy the game. 

 

Absolutely to all of this.

 

And the limited size of the main stand was for several reasons. We built as big as we were allowed (and down a bit from our original plans) with regards to the ethanol tanks. We also were building in an extreme hurry because of the reconstruction of the nursery at the time, which gave us a chance to buy the land and include it in our building. We also had to replace all of the "back office" stuff in Tynecastle, including club offices, training rooms, lockers, showers, media, studios, etc, all of which are much more expensive to build than a big tiered ramp with seats on it, so our budget was stressed.