Popped past this afternoon - delighted to confirm that the LEDs and new gantry are being installed and will be completed by the weekend.

Great news. I'm there on Saturday so will report progress.

Great stuff, also seen we've been entertaining the council leader and CE today as part of the Wakefield Partnership Summit. Hopefully we've had a few discussions re redevelopment of the west stand. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wakefiel ... er_android

Great stuff, also seen we've been entertaining the council leader and CE today as part of the Wakefield Partnership Summit. Hopefully we've had a few discussions re redevelopment of the west stand. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wakefiel ... er_android

Just seen the gantry, looks pretty decent, much better than what was there previously. Not sure if its finished yet though.

Which gantry and we’re is it situated?

I would imagine it’s the TV camera Gantry on the West Terrace, Sky have issued minimum standards for their TV crews. I will have a look on Saturday morning at the share holders breakfast.

As Dunkirk says, it's above the mural of the players.

Breakfast as well, the club is obviously becoming a feeder for their shareholders.

I suspect any redevelopment of west/north or wherever won’t start till off season 2025 in another 12 months.

There will be a lot going on this off season with the south east restaraunt and sports bar I would think.

He wants to see what kind of crowds we get in SL before he decides how big the stadium needs to be.

Rumour is Matt is buying us all a car too.

To share?

Did he say you would hopefully be looking forward to a Fiesta at the seasons end.

Probably a siesta !

That will depend on the quality of what we provide on the field

that's true...




partially

Can’t fault that to be honest.

If we can manage to see out for the likes of Leeds, Cas and one or two more then that should be enough to justify some works.

Surely we need to build as big as we can in the coming years along with the team and sell it to the fans , seems counter intuitive to see how many we get then build accordingly. Imaging when we go on a losing run and the wakey fans of old rear their heads and head for the exit once again . Build as big as you can then get the place filled and rocking

Not necessarily, you have to be wary of the utilisation score which for us could be very important. Build it too big too soon and it could have negative impacts on our score.

If we manage to pull around a 6k-6.5k average next season (which I think would be a realistic target then I can see the west being done with adding 500 or so during the works.

It’s not as simple as building it.

You have to also look at the demand within the stadium. Things I would consider are:

- The average 2025 attendence and how any increase in capacity would affect utilisation scoring for IMG grade.

- where the demand is within the stadium. For example if the east, north and south are continually sold out or close yet the west doesn’t sell out or close once then would you further develop the north to increase capacity for home fans where the demand is? If your filling the east most weeks then redeveloping adding facilities and new stand with added capacity and boxes could be worth it. You won’t for 500 or so fans.

- hospitality demand - if the MKM and south boxes sell out most weeks then you can justify a redevelopment including a number of boxes on 1F above the terrace as this should generate revenue match day.

- whether anything built could be utilised by the events team for outside match day. For example 5/6 x boxes on a sky terrace that house 10 persons each but have folding sectionable walls to open or close and increase between 10-60 person capacity would be ideal. You can then utilise 5/6 x boxes for match day and have another 50/60 (or more) events option for events/parties/business conferences.

- Ellis may want the new stand to house certain new facilities such as a gym or have a building/gym connected to the south west corner (the vacant space). Needs planning and consideration.

There are other considerations but that’s just a quick one.

BV is never going to be massive, its far too constrained. Best we could get on the current footprint is say 3k on the west, 4k in the north and 2.6k on the East. Maybe another 500 if some terracing was place in front of the flats. Circa 10k. Appreciate it's expensive and I'm spending some else's money, but we don't need to see what crowds we're going to get in SL to know what we need to do.

Agree that about 10k maybe but maybe 12k (if south is levelled and a new stand is built).

Things like this need careful planning though to maximise utilisation, facilities and payback especially.

I guess that's why he has a successful business and lots of money.

'Just build as big as you can' isn't really a good plan. As said above you need to know where to invest first.
He's always said he wants a bigger stadium to hold a regular 10k.

The North stand footprint is massive, and never has been used for its potential, along with the north east corner there is so much room for development

Agree with everything really, but given we've averaged 6k in the Championship (yes winning team), with virtually no away support, I think we must be aiming higher than that.

I think even more away fans will be looking forward to coming to BV now, rather than dreading it.

And you know they've missed us

If we're in the playoff chase til the very end I could see us averaging 7,500. There were 5,000 to see us beat Barrow, who brought five fans (not slagging them off), in a dead rubber. Agreed, a winning team is a huge factor, but no reason we can't be as competitive as Leigh have been over the last two years, and they averaged 2,779 in their promotion winning year.