Part of Leeds United’s plan to upgrade Elland Road while retaining their advantage

With fans standing on seats, swinging white scarves around their heads and singing I predict a riot in unison, the unique atmosphere of Elland Road couldn’t be captured better than last season’s victory over Norwich which sent Leeds United to the Championship play-off final.

Fervent and joyful at the prospect of a return to the Premier League, the old stadium can also be a cauldron of hostility – a place that visiting teams can find difficult to deal with. Watching people become secular, as the lyrics to the Kaiser Chiefs song say, can bring down some opposing players as much as it elevates those who wear all white.

And that will be the task of the club’s owners 49ers Enterprises, who are looking to expand their 127-year-old stadium and bring it into modern times. Everyone associated with the club, from the supporters to the boardroom, accepts the need to improve the pitch, but this cannot come at the cost of losing advantage.

Last month, Leeds announced the next phase of their Elland Road expansion with proposals to increase the capacity by 15,355 seats, which would make it the seventh largest club ground in the country as a 53-seat arena 000 seats, “in a stadium which retains the unique atmosphere”, according to the president of Leeds, Paraag Marathe.

The stadium had long been on the club’s agenda, before 49ers Enterprises took full control, so it was always a project that the American owners had to work on. The group built Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where the San Francisco 49ers played for the past decade. It hosted the NFL Super Bowl.

Sleeping giants

So this is the dream of 49ers Enterprises; to maintain the atmosphere while evolving with the times. An elite stadium – with prestigious UEFA Category 4 status, making it eligible to host European club football – is the plan. But that’s the plan for a Premier League team.

That crazy night against Norwich put them on the verge of returning to the top flight but they were beaten at Wembley by Southampton. It is understood that work on expansion will begin if they leave the Championship and return to the big time.

Daniel Farke is a manager with a history of promotion and excellent points in the second tier, and this vision is based on promoting the team. They are currently fifth and look well placed to try to progress, but there are no guarantees.

High-profile, albeit minority, investments from celebrities such as Will Ferrell, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps only reinforce the idea that Leeds has huge potential. Red Bull has identified them as their shirt sponsor and their kit manufacturer is Adidas.

Current status

Anyone traveling the M621 can’t miss the Leeds Coliseum from the motorway, with the grand Jack Charlton East Stand and its unmistakable steep trajectory. The sight of the white girder beams at the top of the stadium means you’re getting very close to the game. However, heading towards the stadium can cause palpitations among fans and journalists. This final stretch of the motorway to Elland Road is a notorious bottleneck which can make journeys longer.

“Every year there are stories about Leeds getting a tram service and expanding the stadium,” said Rob Conlon of the well-respected fanzine. The square ball. So we’ve been here before.

What Leeds have done is appoint a local transport consultant to look at routes to the stadium by road and from the city centre. According to the club, the aim is to “ensure an improved experience for both residents and supporters arriving at the ground”.

What will development look like?

Leeds have not released images of their plans. This is a long term project and they are putting everything in place in case of promotion. What they have published is the appointment of specialist stadium architects KSS and they have experience in British football. They worked at Leicester City’s training ground, considered one of the best in the Premier League and attracting talk among players from other clubs for building a golf course on site. KSS worked on the Anfield expansion and redesign of Manchester United’s training ground.

There will be an upgrade to the West Stand hospitality areas, making the construction financially viable, according to sources. Leeds are also determined to reduce their season ticket waiting list, which currently stands at 26,000. They also plan to increase the number of general admission tickets.

“There haven’t been many more details outside of the announcement, so we’ll wait and see what the compromise will be,” said The square ballConlon on the balance between more hospitality and maintaining the atmosphere. “There are a lot of unknowns. But the stadium obviously needs to be modernized and no one wants it to lose its soul. »

Keeping the atmosphere of Elland Road

Whether Elland Road will retain its roar from the stands has been a topic of conversation. To this end, Leeds will work with acoustics experts on “reverberation times”, the technical term for the time between stopping the singing and decreasing by 60 decibels.

The company that worked on Tottenham’s new stadium, Populous, worked with U2’s sound engineers and used experience from stadium concerts to fine-tune the acoustics of Spurs’ pitch.

As Conlon points out, fans aren’t getting too carried away because they’ve already heard about the stadium plans. What is clear is that everyone wants to stay in Elland Road rather than move.

There was more talk of moving the Thorp Arch training ground, but they ended up extensively renovating their headquarters under Marcelo Bielsa and staying there. They also stay at Elland Road, and it will look different if they return to the Premier League.