Time to expand Loftus Road

[C-Dizzle]

Perhaps QPR can't fill LR for good reasons.

LR's capacity is around 18,000
The school end holds more than 3,000 and is often given up for away support, yet most clubs do not bring 3,000+ to QPR.

That leaves around 15,000 seats left for QPR fans and about 400 of these offer very poor views that are not worth more than £5, yet cost around £20.

So at present, if QPR sell 14,000 to home fans, that equates to almost a full house.

As for expanding LR. Where will the expansion take place. they cant go any higher due to planning permission and a lack of space leaves very little room for bigger stands.

The only realistic solutions for bigger crowds, is to make the school end lower tier availble to QPR fnas only, for every game and restrict visiting fans to the 2000+ seats in the upper tier.

Or build a new stadium.

Spot on, as I've said in the c'ship a 30,000 seat stadium would bring in about 20 - 21,000 punters. Do a Leeds United or MK Dons and either close a tier (elland roads top tier or MK dons whole top ring) until the bigguns come in as far as the CHAMPIONSHIP goes (I Think Palarse, Leeds-u-nowhere and fake hoops might attract closer to 30k, perhaps 27) Modern facilities etc also attract players, although the current group of UTTER LEGENDS don't seem phased

[PutneyHoop]

You cant physically extend LR, nor can we even fill it at the moment. And there is no need for a new stadium just yet..

We have the plans in place from around 5 years ago to build upwards..

[Gtleighsr3]

higher u go the less leg room.Top row will be dwarf friendly only.

[stainrodisalegend]

We have the plans in place from around 5 years ago to build upwards..

Really? What stand? And was it ever passed or simply drawn up by architects?

[80sCasual]

Really? What stand? And was it ever passed or simply drawn up by architects?

If we had the plans we obviously had the planning permission, why not just knock down the whole stadium and rebuild a bigger one in the same place with no restricted views, basing it on the old one (close to the pitch, keeping it a fortress).

Do we have a fan on here who is an architect and can submit some plans based on our ideas.

[stainrodisalegend]

If we had the plans we obviously had the planning permission, why not just knock down the whole stadium and rebuild a bigger one in the same place with no restricted views, basing it on the old one (close to the pitch, keeping it a fortress).

Do we have a fan on here who is an architect and can submit some plans based on our ideas.

Afraid you are very wrong there. Anyone can draw up plans but they need to be passed by the council, which can often be very difficult. Hence my question and not at all obvious.

[Scarlet pimple]

The club wanted to build the sar stand higher, but the council said no.

[kingo]

About 5 years ago there were 2 options being looked at. One was to build a new ground on the astro turf, park and some BBC land in SAR. The other was to extend the SAR over the pavement, like Villa have done and also to make the Ellerslie Rd smaller but with a view to purchasing houses in the road. The pitch would be moved over to allow a much bigger SAR and the ground would be 3 sided to start off with. I am not sure what happened with either of these 2 plans though.

[80sCasual]

clipped a lovely one on a gooner in the paddock one season,i mean said hello fella and shook his hand.

Very polite, introducing yourself before smacking him, nice touch shaking his hand as you picked him up off the floor too.

[W6hoops]

We had the option to extend the school end under Chris Wright. It would`ve increased the capacity by only around 3000 or so. Due to the obvious school behind not wanting to move!!! But by all accounts it was deemed not cost effective enough. If we were to develop the ground we would want another minimum of at least 7-8000 seats. Also rumour was to build another stand on top of the ellerslie road stand but it would upset the residents. There is space around The Bush to build a new ground, wether it is purchasable or not i don`t know.

[Scarlet pimple]

Problem wirh LR is the amount of seats that have resticted views, when we had 17k against leicester last season, plastics at the back of the upper loft were complaining to stewerts that they couldn't see the goal, they were not happy bunnie's.

They will prob never come back to LR.
If only the owners could find the space around w 12 area and build a state of the art stadium along the lines of LR but obviously without its inbuilt faults and plus hold at least 10k more fans in better comfort, with a provision to expand.....you never know we might even overtake fulham and chelsea.

Well fulham anyway.

[Nodge70]

We had the option to extend the school end under Chris Wright. It would`ve increased the capacity by only around 3000 or so. Due to the obvious school behind not wanting to move!!! But by all accounts it was deemed not cost effective enough. If we were to develop the ground we would want another minimum of at least 7-8000 seats. Also rumour was to build another stand on top of the ellerslie road stand but it would upset the residents. There is space around The Bush to build a new ground, wether it is purchasable or not i don`t know.

Not quite. Wright and the Club were actively and encouraged by the council to purchase the site of the old Ellerslie School and the old flats behind on Blomfontein Road before the Jack Tizzard school was built. The new stand there would have taken capacity to 25,500. The council were stunned when Wright turned down the opportunity as they had basically green lighted the entire operation.

[kingo]

There are several ways to add about another 4-5k on at LR. The problem areas are Ellerslie Rd and Loftus Road due to existing houses. But The SAR could be extended back over the pavement, and the boxs removed and positioned in the corners to utilise the 'dead space', stairs and entrances could be repositioned to corners to add seats in viewable areas. The Ellerslie Road could be extended and re roofed in transparent materials to add seats and the Loft and School end could utilise the space behind better. LR at the moment is a ground designed for standing at lower levels that has had seating put in.

[Nodge70]

There are several ways to add about another 4-5k on at LR. The problem areas are Ellerslie Rd and Loftus Road due to existing houses. But The SAR could be extended back over the pavement, and the boxs removed and positioned in the corners to utilise the 'dead space', stairs and entrances could be repositioned to corners to add seats in viewable areas. The Ellerslie Road could be extended and re roofed in transparent materials to add seats and the Loft and School end could utilise the space behind better. LR at the moment is a ground designed for standing at lower levels that has had seating put in.

They looked at that. Council said no due to the impact of the building preventing any of the flats getting natural light.

[kingo]

They looked at that. Council said no due to the impact of the building preventing any of the flats getting natural light.

I was told it was ok, but that it must be high enough to not interfere with buses. The light problem can be overcome using modern translucent materials.