How to Increase Ibrox

[harlands plater 16,975]

For years I argued that as the biggest club in the country we should have the biggest stadium, which we did have for many years, but I now accept it will probably never happen

. We should be sitting with around 59k seats just now but when it came to filling in the corners Murray got greedy and thought the way to go was installing big screens so we would fork out to watch away games at Ibrox as well as paying for home games.

The screens can't be replaced with seats as there are supports for the stand roofs behind them. You could argue the design of the stadium revamp in the 70s was shortsighted in that it left spaces at the corners, but it was based on the Westfalen in Dortmund, now the Signal Iduna, and look how that has been redeveloped over the years.

Thanks to the mess the aforementioned charlatan Murray got us into, it will now be forever financially improbable that we can afford anything other than basic maintenance to just keep the Stadium as it is now.

[Tenerife Bear 1,748]

2 minutes ago, harlands plater said:

For years I argued that as the biggest club in the country we should have the biggest stadium, which we did have for many years, but I now accept it will probably never happen

. We should be sitting with around 59k seats just now but when it came to filling in the corners Murray got greedy and thought the way to go was installing big screens so we would fork out to watch away games at Ibrox as well as paying for home games.

The screens can't be replaced with seats as there are supports for the stand roofs behind them. You could argue the design of the stadium revamp in the 70s was shortsighted in that it left spaces at the corners, but it was based on the Westfalen in Dortmund, now the Signal Iduna, and look how that has been redeveloped over the years.

Thanks to the mess the aforementioned charlatan Murray got us into, it will now be forever financially improbable that we can afford anything other than basic maintenance to just keep the Stadium as it is now.

That is depressingly heartbreaking. I want our club to grow and progress and with that means a much higher capacity/modern stadium. 

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

On 09/06/2016 at 8:55 PM, jimgers said:

Cheapest option would be to remove the big screens fill in the spaces, might add about another 1k, reduce away support allocation there is another 1k. The American stadiums have big video and advertising screens that hang on steel cables in the middle of the pitch at the half way line, that can be risen and dropped or sit at the optimum position during the match.

Maybe cost about £1mil,  Could be one to part sponsor through the Club1872 Special Projects?

How many times does it need to be said, that it's really not that simple?

The structure behind the screens is essential to hold up the three roofs, as they took out the four roof supports (2 for each corner) to create space for the screens.

There was another more viable option of removing the Govan stand roof and replacing it after adding a third tier. There are actually images of this plan. I believe it was genuinely considered by Murray.

 

The only other option would be narrow tall stands where the driveways to the gates are, but I don't think that would be efficient and would look odd as it would need to have five or six very small tiers, each of perhaps five or six rows of fifteen or 20 seats. Would it be worth it for 500-700 seats in each corner? I doubt it.

As it currently stands, there's no financial justification for increasing ground sizes in the context of Scottish football.

P.S. I believe that this one was an effort by a fan.

So, please spare us the "remove the screens and add seats" baloney.

P.P.S. I found images of the corner plans, but I don't think they're structurally viable, given the flimsiness of those two supports and the cantilevering above, if it even is that, looks questionable too.

[ItsRangersForMe 13]

We need to be careful if changing Ibrox that we don't take away from the intense atmosphere it can generate.  I'm not really sure how sound waves work but would imagine that the  vertical  sides on the Copland, Govan and Broomloan stands help to push noise out onto the playing surface. When you start messing around and opening the corners up it becomes more of a bowl where less of the noise gets to the players. It then becomes less unique and more like other stadia.

Having said that, I would love to see the capacity of Ibrox increased somehow. This would give more space for people who decide to go to the game without planning in advance. The down side is that if the stadium is bigger the club might sell less season tickets as supporters would be able to get into most games without committing to a season ticket. The club should be able to think of a way round this by giving more incentives to buy a season ticket though. It could be something as simple as having to pay an extra £5 or £10 for a game if you pay at the gate or buy a ticket on the day of the match.

On a side note related to stadium redevelopment. I have always thought that it would be great for Rangers to make Ibrox more visible as part of Glasgow. Ibrox  should be visible in the classic view of Glasgow looking down the Clyde towards the Finnieston  Crane, armadillo, science centre. It should be part of that view and known to people all over the world as part of the Glasgow skyline. The only way to do this is to build something high. Instead of having one arc as Wembley does, what about two arcs, starting at  each corner and crossing over hundreds of feet above the centre circle. Once we bring in blue grass in the future it would be like a giant St Andrews cross when looking down from aeroplanes. Would be a great feature to get tourists to Ibrox even just to get the view from the top. It would need to  have a smart design and be well made to last for years. Also would need to be sure it didn't limit us with any future stadium redevelopment. Maybe David Murray could put something back into the club by building this for us. I huv a dream.

[RFCRobertson 11,778]

2 hours ago, OlegKuznetsov said:

P.P.S. I found images of the corner plans, but I don't think they're structurally viable, given the flimsiness of those two supports and the cantilevering above, if it even is that, looks questionable too.

Would likely need bigger supports than that, which of course means restricted views. 

and as you say it'd be about 500-700 increase which isn't that much and of those seats a decent amount would be restricted views to accomadate for the roof supports.

Personally the stadiums fine, if we did increase it too 60,000 it'd likely be guaranteed to sell out at old firms (so minimum 2) and european nights. The rest of the matches will be iffy at best. 

Unless things change with season tickets and how cup games work with them, home scottish cup and league cup games (unless they're against someone like aberdeen or celtic) will see hardly anyone at it. Taking the Rangers v Stranraer league cup game, there was a 29,000 attendance at it. Of course if they changed how ST worked and ST holders by default get cup games that would instantly rise by at least 15,000. But at the same time it'd be making up that extra 17,000. (again mainly for lower league opposition).

 Chances are what would really happen is, during "non-important" matches, the upper tiers wouldn't be available and banners would cover seats. Until a big match comes along and suddenly the place is packed. 

[RDFM 3,809]

3 hours ago, OlegKuznetsov said:

How many times does it need to be said, that it's really not that simple?

The structure behind the screens is essential to hold up the three roofs, as they took out the four roof supports (2 for each corner) to create space for the screens.

There was another more viable option of removing the Govan stand roof and replacing it after adding a third tier. There are actually images of this plan. I believe it was genuinely considered by Murray.

 

The only other option would be narrow tall stands where the driveways to the gates are, but I don't think that would be efficient and would look odd as it would need to have five or six very small tiers, each of perhaps five or six rows of fifteen or 20 seats. Would it be worth it for 500-700 seats in each corner? I doubt it.

As it currently stands, there's no financial justification for increasing ground sizes in the context of Scottish football.

P.S. I believe that this one was an effort by a fan.

So, please spare us the "remove the screens and add seats" baloney.

P.P.S. I found images of the corner plans, but I don't think they're structurally viable, given the flimsiness of those two supports and the cantilevering above, if it even is that, looks questionable too.

You've got to admit but, the one done by the fan looks fucking class. 

[kris1984 1,259]

As much as I would love another 10k seats, it's never happening. Although I think we'd fill it more than just euro and Old Firm games. Hearts, Hibs, Sheep would all attract full, or close to full, crowds. 

Third teir on Govan probably the best of those solutions, short of ripping the 3 stands down and starting again.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

1 hour ago, kris1984 said:

As much as I would love another 10k seats, it's never happening. Although I think we'd fill it more than just euro and Old Firm games. Hearts, Hibs, Sheep would all attract full, or close to full, crowds. 

Third teir on Govan probably the best of those solutions, short of ripping the 3 stands down and starting again.

It's the roofs and the supports that are the problem. Look at the two original supports standside on the Broomloan and Copland.

You could remove the three roofs, fill in the corners and add a third tier on those three stands with a more modern, lighter weight roof.

But it just doesn't make financial sense.

[kris1984 1,259]

1 hour ago, OlegKuznetsov said:

It's the roofs and the supports that are the problem. Look at the two original supports standside on the Broomloan and Copland.

You could remove the three roofs, fill in the corners and add a third tier on those three stands with a more modern, lighter weight roof.

But it just doesn't make financial sense.

Agreed, were light years off spending cash on things like that.

i wonder if Celtic will need a new stadium in near future. I recall Fergus towers was only built to last 20 years? I know they done work to prolong that but Christ, the whole place cost £16m. I'm sure Copland was more than that for a single stand, some 20 years earlier. 

[Gazza2258 478]

I think the demand is there at the moment, question is, how long will that be sustained and is it worth spending versus the return.

Should sell out again this year.  When I was picking up tickets the other day there was a young lad asking about buying a season ticket and the lady said he would have to go on to the waiting list, but the list was very long at the moment.  So that would suggest another sell out ST year plus some not getting a ticket.

Would be fairly far down the priorities at the moment though.

[BearInTheWood 220]

I'm not keen on the filled in oval stadium designs. Just keep it as it is but add a BIG third tier to the Govan stand that resembles Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson stand: 

We really should have 55 to 60k capacity to future proof the club for the Champions League and league titles.

This along with a whole stadium clean/ refurbishment/fresh lick of paint and we'd have a cracking world class home. Easy 

[The Godfather 71,886]

Won't happen and doesn't need to happen.
 

Folk living in fantasy land 

[The Tavernator 279]

Put in narrower seats, that could squeeze another 10,000 people in. The turnstiles could be the same width as the narrow seats so if your erse is bigger you'd have to pay for 2 seats. Then the chubbies would have to lose weight to save money and they'd be healthier and live longer so can buy more season tickets.

Two problems solved.

[Guest]

Folk bang on about the tims obsession with us when they're just as obsessed with us equalling their stadium capacity as if it even matters. 

No need to increase capacity,  when half the folk who moan about having a bigger capacity bother to turn up to games every week then maybe there will be a demand for it

[Billythebear77 10,386]

On 20/04/2017 at 11:25 AM, kris1984 said:

Agreed, were light years off spending cash on things like that.

i wonder if Celtic will need a new stadium in near future. I recall Fergus towers was only built to last 20 years? I know they done work to prolong that but Christ, the whole place cost £16m. I'm sure Copland was more than that for a single stand, some 20 years earlier. 

That's cause our beautiful stadium doesn't look like a fukkin mechanno set 

[Thermopylae 15,286]

I'm afraid we have to look at making Scottish football competitive again before we can have any thoughts of more capacity ... football is all about business now look at how most clubs in London can build a 60k ground that will be filled every home game with the well heeled paying top dollar ...

[The Tavernator 279]

1 hour ago, Thermopylae said:

I'm afraid we have to look at making Scottish football competitive again before we can have any thoughts of more capacity ... football is all about business now look at how most clubs in London can build a 60k ground that will be filled every home game with the well heeled paying top dollar ...

And the well heeled canny sing. Apparently some of these games have the atmosphere of a morgue.

[Blue72 1,102]

On 19/04/2017 at 11:20 PM, OlegKuznetsov said:

How many times does it need to be said, that it's really not that simple?

The structure behind the screens is essential to hold up the three roofs, as they took out the four roof supports (2 for each corner) to create space for the screens.

There was another more viable option of removing the Govan stand roof and replacing it after adding a third tier. There are actually images of this plan. I believe it was genuinely considered by Murray.

 

The only other option would be narrow tall stands where the driveways to the gates are, but I don't think that would be efficient and would look odd as it would need to have five or six very small tiers, each of perhaps five or six rows of fifteen or 20 seats. Would it be worth it for 500-700 seats in each corner? I doubt it.

As it currently stands, there's no financial justification for increasing ground sizes in the context of Scottish football.

P.S. I believe that this one was an effort by a fan.

So, please spare us the "remove the screens and add seats" baloney.

P.P.S. I found images of the corner plans, but I don't think they're structurally viable, given the flimsiness of those two supports and the cantilevering above, if it even is that, looks questionable too.

Impressed with your architectural ability and knowledge

and aye nae chance an increase in capacity is financially viable 

[the drummer 414]

 Get smaller fans and we would get more in

[kingtom80 166]

   

          do away with the big screens,their no bloody use anyway.

[Gersey 13]

Love the idea of a third tier on the Govan, that would be perfect imo. That and bringing the screens into the 21st century.

[five stars 1,621]

I wonder how much it would cost to fill in the upper corners and renovate the Copland, Govan and Broomland stands?

The roof would need to be replaced, with modern lighter material with appropriate supports.

I can't see how that would to take our capacity to 60000, what the capacity of the lower corners? I'd guess the upper corners could add another 3 or 4 thousand at the most.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

12 minutes ago, five stars said:

I wonder how much it would cost to fill in the upper corners and renovate the Copland, Govan and Broomland stands?

The roof would need to be replaced, with modern lighter material with appropriate supports.

I can't see how that would to take our capacity to 60000, what the capacity of the lower corners? I'd guess the upper corners could add another 3 or 4 thousand at the most.

The original capacity of the Broomloan and Copland was 7,500 and the Govan was 10,400. Lowering the pitch, narrowing the seats and adding Bar 72 area will have increased that amount. I reckon the most you'd get in each corner would be 2,500. That may even be a generous guess.

So I reckon you're right. We're talking about a third tier to make it worthwhile. The demand and finance for that are a long way off and possibly in the past too.

 

[harlands plater 16,975]

I wonder what the plans were for our 150th anniversary in 2022, regarding the Stadium, before the shit hit the fan.

[BearInTheWood 220]

32 minutes ago, Gersey said:

bringing the screens into the 21st century.

Yep. They don't even have to be 4K screens, just good quality 1080p with high contrast ratio would be lovely.