Planet Swans ArchivesThe subject of expansion has been a hot topic in the past few years in Swansea and there is little doubt that we need to expand the stadium. A 21,000 seater stadium is simply not enough with the club in the Premier League and non expansion takes away the opportunity to be more competitive on ticket prices, offer incentives such a kids for a quid and generally ensure that we grasp a future generation of Swansea fans at this point in time.
I was fortunate enough to have grown up in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the Swans were flying and it was the football at that time that helped hook me and keep me bonded to the club from then on in. We have the opportunity to do that again now to many many new Swans fans and to help that along it is vital that we have seats in the stadium to accommodate them when they want to come.
The council are clearly not buying that delays are down to them with a council spokesman telling the Evening Post “The council, like the fans, want the Swans to continue to excel and to go from strength to strength in the Premier League and beyond.
“Our support for the club has always been unstinting, right from the dark days when we twice bailed them out, to the bold decision to build the £27 million Liberty Stadium that’s been the bedrock of the success which we are now all enjoying.
“The council hasn’t received any income from the Swans for using the stadium in the last 10 years.
“We now need the Swans board to decide if they are going to purchase the stadium, which we have been exploring, or expand it, or both, and do it soon.
“The council stands ready to work through the detail of either option to move things forward quickly
“We’re not the ones holding it up.
“We gave planning permission many months ago and have facilitated a land deal to secure expansion space for the new development.
“We also agreed to sit down to discuss landlord’s consent last week but, unfortunately, the Swans board representatives cancelled.
“We’d urge the Swans board to decide what they want to do and get on with it.
“The fans have already waited two seasons for expansion and progress needs to be made or a golden opportunity will be missed.”
The tit for tat discussions will do nobody any favours nor actually get the people in who need to expand the stadium but with the subject much much more on the horizon then it surely has to move closer and the two parties need to sit down, discuss what needs to be done and get on and do it.
The players deserve it, the board deserve it and more important the football club deserves it.
Make it happen
