Leeds plan to take the capacity to 53000, may need premier football to fill it.

Terrier wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:11 pm

Leeds plan to take the capacity to 53000, may need premier football to fill it.

If there's one thing I wouldn't take the **** out of Leeds for its their support

It's a tired old looking ground now but that's a massive increase in size to get to 53,000

Burnley1989 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:12 pm

If there's one thing I wouldn't take the **** out of Leeds for its their support

I worked with many Dirty Leeds fans all great lads,but when it came to football 90% of them were deluded and arrogant,thinking they have a god given right to be in the Premier league .. I really hope they never get there again.

It was a **** hole 20 years ago so if they've not improved on it since then they'd be better off flattening it.

Burnley1989 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:12 pm

If there's one thing I wouldn't take the **** out of Leeds for its their support

Well, they are the only fish in a big pond, with only one sided manufactured rivalries with Man Utd to sustain them.
No one thinks 'you know how this league would be improved? Put Leeds in there.' But people do think 'you know how this league would be improved? Take Leeds out of there.'

At away grounds they make good noise, like Man Utd do, but also like Man Utd, they can **** right off.

Like them or not one thing you can't knock is their support; big city or not.

I work often in Leeds.

I suggested they may need a team first.

They have a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude.

They have tremendous respect for us, just out of interest.

I think they would fill it no problem. There are people who have been on the waiting list for years.
They probably have 1 of the biggest population catchment areas in the league if not the biggest. As well as the city, they more or less have all North Yorkshire as well as Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury etc.
It's lovely watching them suffer because imho there is only Blackburn who can compete for the most self entitled, deluded fans in football.

Burnley1989 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:12 pm

If there's one thing I wouldn't take the **** out of Leeds for its their support

You absolutely could. For all their arrogance of being a big club, in a city population of about 800,000 (not including surrounding areas), before the Bielsa era and their recent Premier League football they could barely sell over 70% of their seats. In the 2011-2017 Championship era they averaged around 27,000 fans in a 38,000 seater stadium and the majority of the time had to close sections of Elland Road due to no sales, so yes as long as Leeds fans have the arrogance of having a "great support" they can be laughed at.

26,000 on the waiting list for ST’s. They’ll fill it.

Say this every time another club releases plans for their stadium but I’d love us to have a vision for Turf Moor.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/leeds-u ... verein/399

Their average attendances over the years
Before they came back into the PL, they rarely sold out Elland rd

They would need PL football to fill out 50k plus, but it would need to be upper echelons of the PL every season with regular forays into Europe because like most clubs, they only sell out when the club is on the up
Leave them in the Championship for a decade and they’ll average around the mid 20ks again

They’d be better off flattening Elland road and making a new one

All the support in the world didn’t stop little old Burnley beating the dirty beggars

NewClaret wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:26 pm

26,000 on the waiting list for ST’s. They’ll fill it.

Exactly. As things stand they would sell out a 53,000 stadium in the Championship. I guess Bielsa reignited the enthusiasm of their supporters and the waiting list for season tickets is now huge, as you’ve pointed out. Naturally, as with every other club the support would wane with a drawn out unsuccessful period, but planning to be unsuccessful isn’t really how to run a football club or any other business.

800,000 population (10 x the size of Burnley), huge catchment area of surrounding towns without football clubs.

Probably the UKs largest area for 1 club to draw from.

53,000 is pathetic. Just my opinion of course but they're nothing compared to the Manchester and Liverpool clubs.

The waiting list for season tickets is impressive but it's all relative. With the catchment area they have, they should be building a 100,000 seater stadium.

IPAclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:17 pm

800,000 population (10 x the size of Burnley), huge catchment area of surrounding towns without football clubs.

Probably the UKs largest area for 1 club to draw from.

53,000 is pathetic. Just my opinion of course but they're nothing compared to the Manchester and Liverpool clubs.

LUFC are the biggest Club in the Universe (according to their fans)

Rugby town

Their footprint is huge. I suspect they could ‘do a Tottenham’ and redevelop in the same space. It needs huge work. It’s looking more likely that the latest proposals for a city tram network will get off the ground, with one of the first two mainlines running out to the White Rose Shopping Centre, stopping at Elland Road on the way. That’d make a huge difference, as the area does not support high traffic volumes at all these days.

I have a Leeds postcode and it took me 94 minutes to travel to Elland Road a week last Saturday.

By contrast, I travelled nearly twice as far, to Burnley on Saturday, in 55 minutes!!!

dougcollins wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:14 pm

They have tremendous respect for us, just out of interest.

Hi Doug, is that a statement or a question? Not being difficult, but I don't think Leeds particularly respect us. I know a few Leeds fans who were absolutely positive they would beat us, and literally morbidly depressed they didn't. Of course, the 6 Leeds fans I know are a spec of dust in comparison to a decent sized cross section of their support.

Elland Road has got character. Leeds have got great support. And that's from someone who dislikes them more than Blackburn due to being from Skipton.

It’s not too long ago the top tier of their only two tier stand was closed for games due to lack of interest. I’ve been there with plenty of empty seats.

Massive city of roughly 800,000 and only one club in and around it. They should be looking at Manure levels of home support.

No question their away support is excellent - always has been. Their home support in comparison is shocking considering their catchment area and numbers.

Manchester has two big clubs to share support, so does Liverpool (three if you count Everton), so does Sheffield, Birmingham and London have plenty… Leeds have the fourth (?) biggest city in England to themselves, and a MASSIVE catchment area. Yet still they have recently struggled to fill what they’ve got. Sure, top of the championship football has brought the Elland Rd “faithful” back in droves, but recent history proves the “massive support” claims to be a myth.

As someone once said to me, the only reason Leeds Utd are the biggest club in Leeds, is because there isn’t another one.

by Burnley1989 » Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:12 pm

If there's one thing I wouldn't take the **** out of Leeds for its their support

Even if you account for when they were in the Premier League, Leeds is a very poorly supported club per capita!...

They are nearly double the size of Liverpool's population and other cities. They have no other big clubs in that city, like Liverpool (Everton & Liverpool) and Manchester (UTD & City), and there is very little competition for fans on the outskirts with other clubs like Manchester (Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Bury etc)...

Statistically, they are one of, if not the worst-supported city club per capita in the country and we also blow them away per capita!

IPAclaret » Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:17 pm

800,000 population (10 x the size of Burnley), huge catchment area of surrounding towns without football clubs.

Probably the UKs largest area for 1 club to draw from.

53,000 is pathetic. Just my opinion of course but they're nothing compared to the Manchester and Liverpool clubs.

Not just your opinion but factually correct... Per capita, especially when you consider their lack of immediately located competition and massive city size and catchment area, they are very poorly supported compared to most clubs let alone the other big city clubs... They are nowhere near the levels of support of clubs like Manchester and Liverpool where it is pretty much like a religion.

mybloodisclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 24, 2024 12:05 am

Hi Doug, is that a statement or a question? Not being difficult, but I don't think Leeds particularly respect us. I know a few Leeds fans who were absolutely positive they would beat us, and literally morbidly depressed they didn't. Of course, the 6 Leeds fans I know are a spec of dust in comparison to a decent sized cross section of their support.

It may be grudging, but they respect how we're run financially, and how relatively successful we are. A lot of Leeds fans are decent people.

Can you imagine the noise from 53,000 Leeds fans. It would be loud. It would be a mixture of abuse and chanting to get their manager/board out for failing to win 46 games in a row, but it would definitely be loud.

Absolute myth about their support, which has been done to death already I see.

The lads that I know who do go are passionate and can't be faulted but they carry more than their share of fair weather fans.

They didn't have 26,000 waiting for Season Tickets about 2 weeks before Bielsa turned up, let's put it that way.

They thought the 49ers and RedBull were gonna have them chucking money around like the good old days of the riddler, but just like last time they've frittered it all on shite. They're on a knife edge with FFP now and like most enjoyers of Parachutes they're gonna have to let more crown jewels go if they don't get up this season, and when that happens its back to being the same as everyone else, hoping this year it's your team that pulls off a miracle.

If I were their owners I'd be more concerned about getting them up and then keeping them there a while first, because I'd love to see what happens to that waiting list if theyre not back up before the parachutes run out.

Anonymous Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:20 pm

They probably have 1 of the biggest population catchment areas in the league... they more or less have all North Yorkshire as well...

Not my piece of it... never my piece of it! It was so much fun sitting in a pub surrounded by them the other day.

The attendance guff is always a weird way to score points about any club, honestly don't get it. Feels like it's something to fall back on when you're crap or a way to have a pop at a rival who's doing well.

That said, Leeds generally is a curious example of a city - or a region even - not being hugely into football. I think Sheffield is smaller - and around 50-60,000 people go to watch their two clubs. And they've been every bit as miserable as Leeds for a good while, and are surrounded by other football league clubs. Still, not a criticism, the ones who go to Leeds are very good. It's just interesting why there's never been more.

How big is Newcastle ?
Now they would compete with Sunderland , Boro , Gateshead and the pool .

distortiondave wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2024 7:26 pm

It was a **** hole 20 years ago so if they've not improved on it since then they'd be better off flattening it.

I disagree, I like the older traditional run down stadiums, these modern soulless bowls aren’t anywhere near as good for football.

KRBFC wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 24, 2024 11:45 am

I disagree, I like the older traditional run down stadiums, these modern soulless bowls aren’t anywhere near as good for football.

I agree. Give me a Goodison, Villa Park or Hillsborough any day of the week over any new ground.

I live in Leeds. Pleased they are expanding but the announcement is short on details / designs / timescales. Definitely long overdue and there’s a generation of local kids who’ve missed out on being able to go regularly. If they get the design right and preserve the atmosphere it would be a great stadium.

Waiting list or not, I’d be surprised if there was a take up of an extra 26,000 season tickets by Leeds fans if they suddenly became available.

Tribesmen wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 24, 2024 11:39 am

How big is Newcastle ?
Now they would compete with Sunderland , Boro , Gateshead and the pool .

Officially about 300,000 in Newcastle. But the direct built up area includes North Tyneside. So that's another 200,000

They don't really compete massively with Gateshead (another 200,000) which is also basically the same city, or South Shields, based on the fact that they've never been football league clubs (at least not in living memory). And Hartlepool and Boro (and Darlington) are too far away to be considered competitors for support

Sunderland do compete supporter wise. But there is a bit of a rural boundary to the North of Sunderland, which really places South Tyneside in the Newcastle urban catchment area, especially with the metro. Places to the west of Sunderland like Durham and Washington are the areas that could go to either club, and do.

Newcastle also has full access to Northumberland without competition, and that's another 300,000

Based on the geography, Sunderland is a much better supported club than Newcastle

Until the Saudis came in, most Geordies were pretty apathetic. Sure, they had a strong core of fans, but in the PL they were averaging about 45,000 at the time. Based on nin-competitive catchment area of 1m, that's pretty meh

Think they will easy sell out to begin with at least. We live in Leeds and involved in grassroots football, so many people who just can not get tickets for Leeds games, they are like gold dust.