Anyone describing Headingley as a disgrace or a shambles really needs to have a word with themselves.

Headingley could do with a proper upgrade which we would all welcome and I am sure in time that will come. Meanwhile I am happy with the way that the club and GH is going about this in a cautious way , he will not plunge the club into unmanageable debt, but I would like to know the true story about the Southstand rebuild why it came to a stop after getting planning permission on a scaled down plan . Is it the reduced size that brought it to a halt?or was it lack of funds?

You ignore you core clients at your peril - Leeds have won 6 GF and got to numerous CC finals but the money generated by the fans goes where? The Carneige was paid for by the university and they have redone the pitch that apart not much investment in the facilities. The visibility at Headingley is terrible and that is a big part of what customers are paying for.

On the Western Terrace - customers have moved on from getting drenched whilst spending their spare cash, perhaps one of the reason why attendances are dropping is the reluctance of away fans to risk getting soaked watching a game at Headingley

The south stand needs more bars and more toilets - getting a drink can take an age. A new stand could be raised and a cantelever roof to improve visibility

Smokey TA, If you think putting a roof on the west is a vanity project then you fail to see the bigger picture, if all the issues you have disappeared tomorrow, you not think GH would go full steam ahead with a roofed terrace?

Incorrect. The new stadium will be 100% owned by Castleford Tigers and Wheldon Road will continue to be ours too (until the land is sold off - then the loans from Jack Fulton will be repaid).

It's not and never has been sold as a "community stadium"

Confusing that with Wakefield's i think.

no I don't.

The western terrace is not a big stand to start with. It can't realistically be extended. Putting a roof on it will be expensive, and it is likely to cut capacity if anything. We wouldn't be able to charge huge amounts more, and the market for it even as a super wonder stand isn't massive because of its small capacity

So its a stand that will cost millions to build, bring in few if any new customers, certainly not regularly, and would cut the capacity of the stadium. I can't see any business case for it. I cant see how it will pay for itself.

The north and south stands do need an upgrade. The north stand isn't cracking and working the YCCC we should see quite a big benefit from redoing that. The southstand is pretty much going to be a copy. As ans we aren't going to see much difference but the business will as the old girl is getting pretty expensive to maintain. But the money spent on covering the western terrace isn't going to come back.

If there weren't the planning issues behind it and it was just spare land then yeah, I think we would see something similar to the Carnegie there. It would make sense. But spending large amounts of money just to put a cover on it really doesn't make business sense.

Interestingly, Yorkshire have stopped selling tickets for the Football Stand end for the T20 and international games due to part of it being condemned.

The plan is to replace in entirely in 2019, so it may be that they just don't fix it and bring forward the replacement instead, which may hasten any plans to replace/refurb the North Stand on the rugby side.

One thing is certain. While the cricket ground work takes place access to the North Stand on matchdays is going to be chaotic to put it politely.

The benefits are hugely outweighed by the hassle and cost.

Planning permission would be difficult if not impossible to get due to objections from those in the houses behind. Add in the need to resite the scoreboard and big screen to the costs of construction and for what? Maybe a couple of thousand extra away fans over the course of a season?

The sums don't add up, and if GH is anything it's a businessman who won't spend money unless he sees a return.

The North stand cricket side is basically falling down, as others have noted. There'll be no test cricket at Headingley unless that's adequately sorted out, and no test cricket makes the whole cricket ground a white elephant. I can't work out how they can rebuild the cricket stand without affecting the north stand, so it would make sense to do them both at the same time.

The main thing I think Leeds miss out on is making use of their facilities to improve gameday experience. It's all, like the rest of RL, stuck in Bullmania days of third-rate reality show singers and goose-bumped cheerleaders. Headingley has more opportunity than other grounds to get street food concessions, craft beer stalls etc going on the cricket side to get more punters (especially students) in and spending money, but the whole catering side things is just tired.

As for the ground as a whole - close, traditional city stadiums are the way forward not back. When the cladding started falling off at newbuilds in the US they were all clamouring to build up "heritage" ballparks, just as will in St.Helens or Wigan, not that they'll be able to afford to build them.

I believe the latest thinking is to rebuild the Southstand before 2018, as it would need doing prior to the planned North Stand rebuild in 2019 (isnt the Aussie Test in 2020?).

This is easily achievable given the cash required is sat in the bank and planning permission has been obtained.

Having said that I think its pretty unlikely the club would build the new Southstand they have planning permission for. They were baffled that they could only get planning for the most basic of structures from LCC (one that is not capable of raising extra income in any way as alluded to above).

Its more likely the first step will be a return to planning to try and get a capacity bump to something like the original 8000 (not 6000), with some basic bar and catering facilities (rather than the approved empty shell).

I thought the whole north stand was getting re-done, I didn't realise the rugby side was staying as it is!

Quote: Sal Paradise "I thought the whole north stand was getting re-done, I didn't realise the rugby side was staying as it is!'" That is the intention. Test cricket will continue without the existing shared stand although YCCC is looking at the options to use the lower level even if the top part is out of action. The next ashes Test is in 2019 - already confirmed - so the aim is for any new stand to be finished in time for that. Plans have been shown on the YCCC website. yorkshireccc.com/news/view/2740/ ... masterplan

Quote: Sal Paradise "I thought the whole north stand was getting re-done, I didn't realise the rugby side was staying as it is!'" That is the intention. Test cricket will continue without the existing shared stand although YCCC is looking at the options to use the lower level even if the top part is out of action. The next ashes Test is in 2019 - already confirmed - so the aim is for any new stand to be finished in time for that. Plans have been shown on the YCCC website. yorkshireccc.com/news/view/2740/ ... masterplan

Further to all this, I think it's interesting to note that apart from those clubs that share with soccer clubs, all the new grounds have a lower capacity than those they replaced.
Another reason not to relocate away from Headingley.

Is it a top class stadium though?