Ibrox Upgrade

[A Gallant Pioneer 555]

Could easily be replicated at Ibrox.

The stand not the tifos

That was built modelled on Ibrox i am sure. Westfallen?

[Inigo 32,549]

That was built modelled on Ibrox i am sure. Westfallen?

Other way around.

[A Gallant Pioneer 555]

Other way around.

Apologies, thank you. You are spot on.

[Guest]

They have been richer for at least the last 14 years. £6m for Lennon, Sutton, Hartson, £4m for Valgaeren etc etc and paying £50-60k a week to Bellamy and the 2 Keanes whilst we were signing Dan Eggen, Jerome Bonnisel and Kevin Muscat on free transfers. They were paying Bobo Balde £40k a week when we were trying to cut Artur Numans contract to £5k a week. They paid for Scott Brown when we couldn't afford to. The signed Kris Commons because we couldn't' afford to match the wages for him. There is no doubting they have the financial upper hand just now and it is nothing to do with the last 4 years. Their stadium is integral as to why they are the richest. It gave them a huge advantage over us after it opened averaging crowds of 59000 to our 47000. 12000 tickets every second week at say £25 a ticket for at least a decade until average crowds levelled out. Guessing at anything between £40m and £60m financial gulf in just 10 years. In Scottish football terms that is enormous.

If it costs anything up to £20m to increase Ibrox to 60000-65000 it would pay for itself in what, 10 years, 15 years? A legacy forever. It has to be a worthwhile investment. 10 years in the life of a football club is nothing. Our club has so much more to grow, so much potential to develop and so much still to do. We are a sleeping giant with huge potential. If we were to match Celtics capacity it would blow Scottish football away. Right now, i understand our position 100%, i know where we are, i know what we have and don't have and i know we could never afford to do anything like this right now but it has to be a plan for the future, it has to be part of our growth and development as a club.

We can win titles with a lower capacity ground, of course we can, we have proven that, but at what cost? It meant living outwith our means, it meant we couldn't afford the teams we put on the park, it meant the bank taking over, forced sales, administration, is all that really worth it when we can just show a bit of vision and ambition and give the club and fanbase a home worthy of them. As grand and as stunning as Ibrox is, i personally think it is too small and i know that sounds crazy at the minute but i honestly believe it is. We had almost 300000 ticket applications for the last 16 Champions League match against Villarreal, we had a quarter of a million fans follow us to Manchester and another 50000 at Ibrox to watch the final along with countless millions in their homes watching us on TV, the fanbase is there, we have the numbers. What we don't have is a vision, a vision to sell to the fans to show them where we feel we should be. SDM made a mockery of our brand for the 10 years of his reign. His gambling got out of control and ultimately cost us. Under a stable board who share a dream with fans, who knows where we could go.

I want what is best for our club, i want to be the biggest, the best, the richest and everything else that goes with being Scotlands biggest football institution and the worlds most successful football club. I want Celtic to know they can no longer outspend us or no longer pay players more than us and i want the whole of the UK and Europe to know that too. We have to be the premier choice for any players coming to Scotland or growing up in Scotland. I want us to be the undisputed number 1 and having a ground to match that status for me is paramount.

I want the same things mate but having a bigger stadium doesnt achieve it

If we increase by 10k and sell those 10k tickets 10 times a season thats only 2.5 million a season before the cost to build and the cost to run it.

Ive no idea what building 10k seats would cost but id rather the money went to the team to ensure we get 10million in CL money every season than to get less than 2.5 mill a season with an expansion just so we can say weve got the biggest stadium. Our stadium is already recognized as being better than Torbett Towers.

Theres plenty of clubs with huge stadiums that arent as big as us and theres plenty of Clubs as big as us with smaller stadiums.

The way to get rich is to get more folk watching us across europe and England on TV, another 10k seats will do little to achieve what we want to achieve.

Its something we should do AFTER weve got back to the top and regularly in the CL, not before. The tims do all they can to try and convince Europe that theyre an CL club when theyre not, building a bigger stadium without the numbers would be like us kidding ourselves on.

[Inigo 32,549]

Apologies, thank you. You are spot on.

No probs, mate.

Just as a wee interesting aside, a member of my family was telling me that he was a shareholder at the time of the discussions of the redevelopment in the 70s and was present at some of the meetings involved in arranging it. Apparently some on the Board were in favour of a significantly smaller stadium than the 44k we eventually got, into the thirty thousands. Thankfully, enough people disagreed and 44k was eventually decided upon, but it was a close thing. My family member was in favour of bigger than 44k. Apparently some didn't think in the future more than the high 30s would be necessary.

[Lewdbear72 45]

Get rid of family stand sign on broomloan it looks pish

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

Totally agree. Get rid of the screens and fill in the corners, would look fantastic. We might not fill the seats now but I see it as building for the future.

Can't see it happening any time soon though.

I don't think we can. If I remember correctly, it's the building work behind the corners that hold up the roof of the Sandy stand.

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

Get rid of family stand sign on broomloan it looks pish

I think everyone agrees with that. Plus it was one of the criminals that put it there.

Everything to do with those cunts should be destroyed.

[Guest]

No probs, mate.

Just as a wee interesting aside, a member of my family was telling me that he was a shareholder at the time of the discussions of the redevelopment and was present at some of the meetings involved in arranging it. Apparently some on the Board were in favour of a significantly smaller stadium than the 44k we eventually got, into the thirty thousands. Thankfully, enough people disagreed and 44k was eventually decided upon, but it was a close thing. My family member was in favour of bigger than 44k. Apparently some didn't think in the future more than the high 30s would be necessary.

I think attendances will probably continue to drop, not just for us or Scottish football but for all football. Nearly every big game is on telly, and football isnt as popular with kids these days either. A lot of folk see football as a thing you do once or twice a year for a day out, and many chose a club just for the sake of chosing a club and dont have the emotion attached to a Club like we do.

Fair dues Clubs in Cities like London or Barcelona or Milan will regularly sell out due to the tourism aspect but I dont see that being the case in places like Glasgow.

Scottish Football is going downhill fast, I cant see any real money being invested in stadium expansion.

They should do up the area outside Ibrox, encouraging people to spend more time in the area on matchdays, they should have some nice restaurants and bars in the area and stuff for kids, most folk get off their bus and get right back on it after the game or drive up and then try to get away as quick as possible, which isnt surprising considering the area around Ibrox is a bit of a dump. Ive been to stadiums like the Emirates or Stuutgart and pre match theres a kind of carnival atmosphere with things going on. We should be tapping into that.

[AlCapone 7,678]

wouldn't hurt to put a little pressure on the Council and ask them why the whole of the east end and especially Glasgow green and Peoples palace is being upgraded and has gardeners all over the shop making it spotless ,yet the whole of the area surrounding our stadium is left to rot .The park across from the stadium probably doesn't make a penny but the bastards at the Council won't upgrade it .The whole area right the way up to the park is needing a good upgrade .The paths are fucking full of potholes and filled with very old litter that the lazy bastards at the council don't touch .Bearing in mind the Bellahouston park is used as a cash cow and brings in thousand with concerts and events .Minimum is spent to clean up the damage after some of these .When the fuck was the last time the grass was cut around the sports centre .Im my opinion ,deliberately left long so it looks like it's a run down area .How many times do you see photos taken of Ibrox last few years with this on forefront .Fuck knows why we couldn't take up the offer of all the free maintenance from Rangers fans tradesmen when it was offered .Under DM in last 10 years ,he didn't give s fuck It sadly seems it's not much of a priority with the present lot

good luck with that

[Sweetheart 8,458]

wouldn't hurt to put a little pressure on the Council and ask them why the whole of the east end and especially Glasgow green and Peoples palace is being upgraded and has gardeners all over the shop making it spotless ,yet the whole of the area surrounding our stadium is left to rot .The park across from the stadium probably doesn't make a penny but the bastards at the Council won't upgrade it .The whole area right the way up to the park is needing a good upgrade .The paths are fucking full of potholes and filled with very old litter that the lazy bastards at the council don't touch .Bearing in mind the Bellahouston park is used as a cash cow and brings in thousand with concerts and events .Minimum is spent to clean up the damage after some of these .When the fuck was the last time the grass was cut around the sports centre .Im my opinion ,deliberately left long so it looks like it's a run down area .How many times do you see photos taken of Ibrox last few years with this on forefront .Fuck knows why we couldn't take up the offer of all the free maintenance from Rangers fans tradesmen when it was offered .Under DM in last 10 years ,he didn't give s fuck It sadly seems it's not much of a priority with the present lot

I believe it's part of GCC plans, when this will happen I don't know. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/developmentplan When the TV camera's or photographers try to take tacky pictures of the stadium to in an effort to embarrass Rangers they do the exact opposite. Your see a glorious building, in an area that GCC fail to maintain The embarrassment belongs to GCC.

[A Gallant Pioneer 555]

I believe it's part of GCC plans, when this will happen I don't know. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/developmentplan When the TV camera's or photographers try to take tacky pictures of the stadium to in an effort to embarrass Rangers they do the exact opposite. Your see a glorious building, in an area that GCC fail to maintain The embarrassment belongs to GCC.

Joe Bloggs doesn't know that though and that is exactly why those type of pictures are used by the mhedia. To convey poverty. To embarrass. To shame.