| Average Crowds 18:23 - Oct 12 with 9788 views | ipswichtillidie |
A lot being made of the fantastic support. I wonder when/if the club look to increase the capacity. The new owners would surely look at this given how they have done things so far. It would increase the sell on from a business perspective greatly too. My question would be could we generate the support to fill say a 40,000 all seater. Maybe even larger with safe standing. Looking at the list from the link below if we could establish ourselves around that number it would be a huge step in cementing our long term aspirations of being a (BiG) club again. Perhaps they might look at a new venue. All conservations they would have had.
Just a thought…
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/ipswich-town-home-crowds-among-biggest |  |
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| Average Crowds on 19:37 - Oct 12 with 1484 views | PhilTWTD |
| Average Crowds on 19:03 - Oct 12 by Marshalls_Mullet |
I don't think there is any evidence to suggest that it would be sustainable, and viability would be a HUGE question mark.
It will be bottom of their list for sure. |
They have said stadium developments would be a fair way down the line. It's a case of building the club gradually as it progresses, hence most of the developments so far have been relatively conservative, improving the look of the ground, training ground pitches etc rather than anything more substantial.
 Ashton: Cobbold Stand Has a Lifespan 9th Nov 2021 11:03CEO Mark Ashton says the Cobbold Stand will require redevelopment of some type at some point given its age but that the club is looking at the stadium in a holistic manner rather than at any stand individually.  25
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| Average Crowds on 19:40 - Oct 12 with 1467 views | sotd78 |
Closing Portman Road; redeveloping the carparks; sticking on hotels etc and this might make sense linked to us as established Prem club with some summer time concerts etc. In that scenario the club would want to rebuild the Cobbold Stand - another deck would add perhaps 6,000 to the capacity - taking us to say 35K. We'd fill that against the top sides; the London clubs etc. Mostly with 6,000 away fans of course. That might be a financial wonder but it might also wreck Ipswich as a family club too. Imagine all them exiled East Enders blowing bubbles etc.
Be very careful what you wish for.
More likely our owners would love to have 20,000 season ticket holders with another 8,000 fans paying top dollar per game. Isn't that the model Arsenal use. A waiting list of silver and gold card holders all queued up to pay £80 a seat.
As for a new stadium - one with great transport links, loads of local parking, And 300 million to build it? I doubt I will see it in my lifetime. |  |
| Blue shirts/white shorts - sotd78 |
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| Average Crowds on 19:55 - Oct 12 with 1440 views | EssexBloo |
| Average Crowds on 19:30 - Oct 12 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Its realism, and commercial awareness not a lack of ambition.
Good evening. |
If we could have a bigger capacity than M’boro from this list then it would be something to be very proud of and would only leave some big clubs ahead of us. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stadiums_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_capaci
If we built something similar to the Lansdowne stand at Bristol City then it might edge us near to 35,000 |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 20:14 - Oct 12 with 1397 views | Swansea_Blue |
Boro are a good example of what happens when you have a large ground and only half fill it. It can look like a morgue. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 20:30 - Oct 12 with 1376 views | Hipsterectomy |
| Average Crowds on 20:14 - Oct 12 by Swansea_Blue |
Boro are a good example of what happens when you have a large ground and only half fill it. It can look like a morgue. |
Or MK Dons stadium which I think was designed to be easily upgradeable to 40,000/45,000
just why [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 20:33]
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| Average Crowds on 20:31 - Oct 12 with 1377 views | N2_Blue |
| Average Crowds on 19:30 - Oct 12 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Its realism, and commercial awareness not a lack of ambition.
Good evening. |
Maybe redevelop one of the cobbold or Magnus stands and have a capacity of around 30k or low 30s.
That is plenty. Rather the club played to a full stadium every week and a waiting list if needed.
Nothing worse than playing in a half empty stadium. We will often only have crowds of around 20k-25k. 20k in a 40k stadium would be horrible. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 20:42 - Oct 12 with 1355 views | NickITFC |
Personally I do think we will see the redevelopment of the Cobbold stand in the next few years or at least plans for it. I don't think we will be looking at a huge capacity increase but definitely an increase in the hospitality sector. State of the art boxes and a large section of safe standing towards the North stand end would be my choice.
One of the biggest limitations at the moment is lack of availability in the North stand lower. That isn't going to change anytime soon. There are fans wanting to get seats in areas with an atmosphere. The North stand lower is too small so safe standing elsewhere should be considered. Spreading the vocal supporters around the ground can only be a good thing for atmosphere. I have been saying the upper tier should be made safe standing for a couple of years.... Still hoping it might happen! |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 20:45 - Oct 12 with 1347 views | MattinLondon |
| Average Crowds on 20:30 - Oct 12 by Hipsterectomy |
Or MK Dons stadium which I think was designed to be easily upgradeable to 40,000/45,000
just why [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 20:33]
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Their owner is someone who wants everything here-and-now. He wanted a league club to be within the boundaries of MK but instead of investing in a local non-league club he decided to bring an established club to MK instead - and we all know how they went.
And he wanted a big vanity project of a stadium instead of simply building a smaller one with the option of increasing capacity if-and-when. Ridiculous, just ridiculous. |  | | |
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| Average Crowds on 20:48 - Oct 12 with 1342 views | longtimefan |
| Average Crowds on 19:17 - Oct 12 by ipswichtillidie |
I return to my previous comment that demographically things have changed.. Perhaps you might have noticed the odd house popping up over the last few years. Take a look a populations of local areas now compared to 22 years ago where as your link will show we were getting gates of 25/26/27 k. I just think if you look at history and use it as an excuse your doomed to fail. Look at Weat Ham as an example. They use to have gates around those levels now they fill a large 60k all seater. We could get attendances up and match day prices down… |
“ I just think if you look at history and use it as an excuse your doomed to fail.”
I thought the perceived wisdom was that if you fail to learn the lessons of history then you’re doomed repeat it | | | |
| Average Crowds on 20:51 - Oct 12 with 1340 views | textbackup |
| Average Crowds on 19:14 - Oct 12 by EastTownBlue |
I’m not sure how much the capacity can be increased by redeveloping the Cobbold Stand. Having a ground that holds just beyond 30,000 should suffice.
For anyone thinking of building a new ground out of town by the A12/A14, get yourselves a season ticket at Reading. |
I might be alone in this, but i'd fully support a new build if it was on the land where the old all weather pitch used to be on alderman park.
as long as it was a bowl style |  |
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| Average Crowds on 21:01 - Oct 12 with 1312 views | azuremerlangus |
The Cobbold stand is the obvious one to re-develop - but what that actually looks like is anyone’s guess. Is it something small scale (bolt-on extra tier) or perhaps a complete re-build? If you want to get a chance to be involved with a world cup bid then the latter will be needed to get to the 40k requirement. I feel this option is for much later. In the mean time 3 corners could be utilised perhaps? |  |
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| Average Crowds on 21:05 - Oct 12 with 1300 views | textbackup |
| Average Crowds on 21:01 - Oct 12 by azuremerlangus |
The Cobbold stand is the obvious one to re-develop - but what that actually looks like is anyone’s guess. Is it something small scale (bolt-on extra tier) or perhaps a complete re-build? If you want to get a chance to be involved with a world cup bid then the latter will be needed to get to the 40k requirement. I feel this option is for much later. In the mean time 3 corners could be utilised perhaps? |
i think it would be an almost carbon copy of the away stand at norwich,
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffootballgroundguide.com% | |
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| Average Crowds on 21:14 - Oct 12 with 1285 views | azuremerlangus |
Probably.
Extending backwards is the cost-effective option (as done with the West stand when the Pioneer tier was added), but the remaining old stand needs updating. | |
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| Average Crowds on 21:21 - Oct 12 with 1273 views | textbackup |
| Average Crowds on 21:14 - Oct 12 by azuremerlangus |
Probably.
Extending backwards is the cost-effective option (as done with the West stand when the Pioneer tier was added), but the remaining old stand needs updating. |
im also pretty sure the road behind the stand is now blocked off, and not even in use on non match days, so cant see that being an issue either | |
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| Average Crowds on 21:29 - Oct 12 with 1248 views | ITFC_Forever |
| Average Crowds on 19:16 - Oct 12 by blueislander |
As I understand it safe standing will not necessarily increase capacity. |
I think it would slightly, but not by loads. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 21:37 - Oct 12 with 1241 views | MillsyVOR |
| Average Crowds on 19:00 - Oct 12 by Marshalls_Mullet |
30,000 is about right for the club, even if we reached the Prem. |
But… We cannot hold 30,000…. |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 21:41 - Oct 12 with 1234 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Average Crowds on 18:58 - Oct 12 by homer_123 |
Nothing bad ever came about when we invest in our stadia. |
The important difference would be whether there was an investment that paid for it rather than us borrowing funds. It would be interesting to know how capacity could be gradually increased without major disruption while it is being done. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 21:48 - Oct 12 with 1233 views | Bobbychase |
Given we are currently averaging 26,000 ish in League One there is scope, but as others have pointed out, if we did get back to the Prem and were getting mullered every week. the numbers would fall off.
32,000, with very, very good corporate facilities, should be enough. |  |
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| Average Crowds on 22:01 - Oct 12 with 1202 views | MillsyVOR |
| Average Crowds on 21:48 - Oct 12 by Bobbychase |
Given we are currently averaging 26,000 ish in League One there is scope, but as others have pointed out, if we did get back to the Prem and were getting mullered every week. the numbers would fall off.
32,000, with very, very good corporate facilities, should be enough. |
Posture, posture 👌 | | | |
| Average Crowds on 22:16 - Oct 12 with 1187 views | TheBoyBlue |
I assume the owners would look to establish the club in the PL and more importantly see capacity crowds become the norm before extending capacity and even then I imagine it would be by just a few thousand with the redevelopment of the Cobbold Stand.
A new stadium would be unlikely I guess and also not my favourite option. With big crowds the town centre is buzzing and local businesses benefit, which is surely what we want of a community club, so taking it out of the town would be a pity.
All of it is so far down the road.
As an aside, I have often wondered whether if we did want a much bigger stadium we could turn the pitch round so it runs from Portman Road to Constantine Road over the practice pitch, but I can't imagine how you would do that without having to move away like Spurs did and there is nowhere we could practically move to.
As I said, don't think you'd want that big a stadium anyway. | |
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| Average Crowds on 22:43 - Oct 12 with 1159 views | Ftnfwest |
| Average Crowds on 21:01 - Oct 12 by azuremerlangus |
The Cobbold stand is the obvious one to re-develop - but what that actually looks like is anyone’s guess. Is it something small scale (bolt-on extra tier) or perhaps a complete re-build? If you want to get a chance to be involved with a world cup bid then the latter will be needed to get to the 40k requirement. I feel this option is for much later. In the mean time 3 corners could be utilised perhaps? |
Complete rebuild pretty much mirroring the SBR I would think, which would probably only add 2-3k but that's all we need really |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 22:57 - Oct 12 with 1152 views | DinnernotTea |
Fkin hell steady on! This is the first good average attendance we've had in more than 15 years and there's talk of when can we add more seats!!!!??? Hilarious.
For now let's settle on 29,500. What we know about casual football fans is that the second McKenna leaves for bigger or we bob about in 16th in the Championship it'll be sub 20,000 again. Getting way above ourselves as fans right now. | |
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| Average Crowds on 23:44 - Oct 12 with 1097 views | bournemouthblue |
40k is a jump, maybe possible in the Prem with big away followings?
I doubt the club would entertain expansion of any size without sustained Premier League football and that's unlikely to happen for some time, it hasn't happened since the advent of the Premier League
Plans were drawn up for the Cobbold when they did the South and North I believe, in fact I think there may even be a model of this, at the club somewhere? It's possible it might be outdated now and a modern design would have to be looked at again. Ashton has experience at Brizzle with modern stadia of this for example.
A publically accessible bar, much as Newcastle have at St Jame's Park would make a lot of money potentially, that would definitely be a nice addition.
36k was mooted as a capacity after this new stand I believe so 40k isn't far off really as people would believe but still a substantial expansion
They did have plans to redo the roof on the Magnus, which would have been lighter weight and able to add more light to the pitch.
A higher quality corporate offering, is as big an appeal as much as simply expanding for numbers sake
The council is planning to build a new set of swimming pools near the ground I believe, no idea what the plans are for the car parks, maybe a multistory, not sure?
You could actually build a stand over the road as other clubs have done, should the council approve it [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 23:56]
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| Average Crowds on 23:55 - Oct 12 with 1085 views | mrfixit426 |
| Average Crowds on 22:57 - Oct 12 by DinnernotTea |
Fkin hell steady on! This is the first good average attendance we've had in more than 15 years and there's talk of when can we add more seats!!!!??? Hilarious.
For now let's settle on 29,500. What we know about casual football fans is that the second McKenna leaves for bigger or we bob about in 16th in the Championship it'll be sub 20,000 again. Getting way above ourselves as fans right now. |
Finally, the voice of reason. |  | | |
| Average Crowds on 07:59 - Oct 13 with 959 views | ipswichtillidie |
| Average Crowds on 22:57 - Oct 12 by DinnernotTea |
Fkin hell steady on! This is the first good average attendance we've had in more than 15 years and there's talk of when can we add more seats!!!!??? Hilarious.
For now let's settle on 29,500. What we know about casual football fans is that the second McKenna leaves for bigger or we bob about in 16th in the Championship it'll be sub 20,000 again. Getting way above ourselves as fans right now. |
Calm down mate. If you read the OP it’s more of a discussion point which most people have grasped. | |
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