Heard at the weekend that the North Stand development is on hold. Club want to be assured that we can fill it and will monitor attendances next season.
It’s disappointing if true as Khaldoon was only a month and a half ago talking about it being in the works during his end of season interview.
Like many fans, I would like to see the ground expanded. The club have known for sometime that we could sell many more tickets for a number of fixtures at the Etihad. However, they have also known for sometime, that other fixtures would be less likely, if at all, to sell out an expanded stadium. The South Stand expansion will have given them a view on cost. I'm sure they will have invested significant funds,time and people since the original stadium expansion plans were released, to move forward on this, but as of yet they have not and if this newest information is correct, then it's unlikely to start in the near term.
I posted after Khaldoons Part 2 interview that I thought his response to a question on the North Stand expansion, was somewhat strange, compared to his other responses. I felt then that any expansion plans were not imminent. It was like, theres a long thread on BM so it needs to be addressed. I'll say theres lots of people working on it, theres lots of planning stuff and because I know fans love safe standing , i'll change the conversation to that too. It's not often you hear Khaldoon having to include "you know" into one of his slick responses, changing the subject and rubbing his nose in quick succession. Likely he is as frustrated as many of us that phase 2 of stadium expansion, that they announced, has not started yet.
If other projects currently have higher priority , well I'm sure there are good reasons for that. He doesnt need to share them with me.
It's fantastic that they continue to invest in the club to nurture its development, if NS expansion delayed, its not the end of the world
