Queens Park Rangers will keep pushing ahead with their plans to build a new 35,000 to 40,000-capacity stadium even if the club relegates, something that has became increasingly probable in recent weeks. They also took out a loan in connection to their plans:
QPR owner Tony Fernandes hopes to have some “good news” about the club’s search for a new stadium within a fortnight.
The struggling Premier League club made the news on Tuesday when it emerged that a £15 million loan had been taken out against their assets, including current stadium Loftus Road, with Barclays Bank in Hong Kong.
But Fernandes took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to explain his decision to borrow money.
Loan for qpr is for new stadium. Next 2 weeks will be hopefully good news. But work is starting. We will not say anymore on stadium.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) April 17, 2013
QPR is thought to be focusing on two different sites for a new stadium: one in the west of London and one in the north-west.
Swansea City have also released further details on how they want to expand Liberty Stadium:
The club have submitted plans to increase the capacity, which from next season will be 22,500, to around 33,000.
If backed by Swansea council, work will be carried out over three phases.
The club have included how they will handle the extra traffic that an increased capacity will bring.
In a statement, the club said: “The works proposed would see the extension of the North, South and East stands of the stadium in a phased manner over the next three to five years.”
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Phase one could begin at the end of next season and would see the East Stand capacity increased by 3,844 which does not include completing the corner sections. The other two phases would follow.
Separate works on the West Stand at the end of this season will already lift capacity from the present 20,500 to 22,500 seats.
Southend United’s plans for a new stadium, on the other hand, have been one long struggle and are now said to a on “knife-edge“:
The club has planning permission for a 22,000-seat stadium at Fossetts Farm.
If the scheme goes ahead, Sainsbury’s plans to build a supermarket on the site of its current Roots Hall ground.
But in a letter to Southend Council the partners said that a £6m donation towards the town centre was no longer viable and have offered £3.5m instead.
The League Two club originally agreed to make the payment as part of planning conditions, but the sum has been at the centre of a dispute which has delayed work on the scheme.
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“The scheme was conceived in an entirely different world when the offer of £6m was made in 2007 and we, along with many others, could not have foreseen the financial landscape of today.”
Finally, West Ham United vice-chairman Karen Brady has addressed West Ham fans in a 7-minute video on the club’s Olympic Stadium conversion plans: