That public footpath next to Western Terrace I believe is the problem as its public access

Headingley is one of the worst grounds for visibility - both the north and the south stand have pillars all over the place that restrict view if you are not high up in both stands you cannot see the try line at both ends. Visibility in the lower tier of the carneige and the whole of the western terrace isn't great. Not having a quarter of your ground covered and zero possibility of that ever happening is also a longer term issue. Wooden seats in the ground's most expensive enclosure!!

Headingley has a unique atmosphere and a superb playing surface but as a stadium of an elite club is a disgrace really.

Knowsley Rd was OK until you wanted the toilet!!

TBH I prefer Headingley to any of the soulless modern all seater grounds. The view in the southstand is great apart from the odd pillar. What it loses in viewing it makes up for in atmosphere. Make everyone sit down and you’ll lose that.

The away end could do with some cover but I rarely use that as I prefer the southstand if I’m coming to Headingley. You could do with a bit more legroom in the Northstand.

Thoughts of a move away from Headingley are insanity IMO.

Totally agree with this. It's a good ground, if you are bottom four material. But an elite side with aspirations to be the best in the world, it's a pretty poor stadium.

I would love us to move out and set up something new. Won't ever happen I know, but staying as we are Headingley needs a hell of a lot of investment in it.

Can't they build an up and over on the west, a flying freehold?

Headingley's greatest feature is that all spectators are close to the action.
Modern stadia are constructed for the benefit of TV coverage, which in itself ican be very misleading - rarely do the cameras show the vast empty stands (eg Huddersfiled) which sap up any atmosphere that the crowd might generate. This removes one of the motivating factors for the players - the crowd noise!
On our last couple of visits to Wembley, we had to take binoculars to even read the players' numbers - absolutely a waste of money and Wembley is off our visiting list. By contrast, like Headingley, Old Trafford is oozing atmosphere because the crowd is close to the action. Likewise Wakey...
Long may the spectators be seen and heard!
Never mind "creature comforts" - it's only for a couple of hours!

We don't have to build a identikit stadium.

But we really need to develop the stadium. The sooner the better.

We could be going into the next decade 2020 with 3 stands that we're built what 70 years prior? That crazy for a club with aspirations of an elite sports club.

But I feel for it's been a trait of the club over the last few years to rest on our laurels as we have been successful on the pitch we have we haven't seemed to do much of anything in terms of marketing or making a presence in the city or investing in the stadium. I mean after 10 years of winning more trophies than ever our crowds haven't increased and even decreased compared to some years

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that we may have 5+ years of barren rugby and the stadium is what may draw people to go

Wembley is one of the best stadiums for views for its size

Re build the north and south stand is what's needed not a move to a new stadium. Leave the away fans to get wet.

HQ is in desperate need of rejuvenation, barring the Carnegie Stand the whole stadium is an embarrassment for a club with Leeds' pedigree.

I can't see ant reason why Leeds Cricket, Football & Athletic Company would want to move HQ although Lot 17a would be now worth a fair few quid as prime development land.

Not if you are on the lower tier

Agree with this, needs a concrete plan with a definitive time-scale which needs to be adhered to.Redevelop south stand first then move the north stand punters into the south stand and then redevelop that.

Headingley does need some work but from a business point of view rather than a fans. There's not a lot wrong with the southstand other than the cost of maintenance. Its not like when its rebuilt its going to be some fancy all singing all dancing thing. Its going to be pretty much a rebuild of what we have. A long terraced stand. I don't think fans want much difference, and I don't think there is much benefit for anything different.

North stand does need redoing, obviously that is slightly out of our hands but there are things in the pipeline.

West stand. I have absolutely no issue with the west stand. On a warm night I think it is one of the best places in the country to watch RL and would choose to stand there. There is very little benefit to actually changing it. It would be very expensive, would cut capacity and would be a vanity project rather than a business one.

YCCC will be doing all they can to facilitate the replacement of the current North Stand. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/cr ... -1-7116671 So there is a will on both sides of the stadium to crack on with the redevelopment. The issue as ever will be funding.

YCCC will be doing all they can to facilitate the replacement of the current North Stand. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/cr ... -1-7116671 So there is a will on both sides of the stadium to crack on with the redevelopment. The issue as ever will be funding.

Anyone describing Headingley as a disgrace or a shambles really needs to have a word with themselves.

Headingley could do with a proper upgrade which we would all welcome and I am sure in time that will come. Meanwhile I am happy with the way that the club and GH is going about this in a cautious way , he will not plunge the club into unmanageable debt, but I would like to know the true story about the Southstand rebuild why it came to a stop after getting planning permission on a scaled down plan . Is it the reduced size that brought it to a halt?or was it lack of funds?

You ignore you core clients at your peril - Leeds have won 6 GF and got to numerous CC finals but the money generated by the fans goes where? The Carneige was paid for by the university and they have redone the pitch that apart not much investment in the facilities. The visibility at Headingley is terrible and that is a big part of what customers are paying for.

On the Western Terrace - customers have moved on from getting drenched whilst spending their spare cash, perhaps one of the reason why attendances are dropping is the reluctance of away fans to risk getting soaked watching a game at Headingley

The south stand needs more bars and more toilets - getting a drink can take an age. A new stand could be raised and a cantelever roof to improve visibility

Smokey TA, If you think putting a roof on the west is a vanity project then you fail to see the bigger picture, if all the issues you have disappeared tomorrow, you not think GH would go full steam ahead with a roofed terrace?

Incorrect. The new stadium will be 100% owned by Castleford Tigers and Wheldon Road will continue to be ours too (until the land is sold off - then the loans from Jack Fulton will be repaid).

It's not and never has been sold as a "community stadium"

Confusing that with Wakefield's i think.

no I don't.

The western terrace is not a big stand to start with. It can't realistically be extended. Putting a roof on it will be expensive, and it is likely to cut capacity if anything. We wouldn't be able to charge huge amounts more, and the market for it even as a super wonder stand isn't massive because of its small capacity

So its a stand that will cost millions to build, bring in few if any new customers, certainly not regularly, and would cut the capacity of the stadium. I can't see any business case for it. I cant see how it will pay for itself.

The north and south stands do need an upgrade. The north stand isn't cracking and working the YCCC we should see quite a big benefit from redoing that. The southstand is pretty much going to be a copy. As ans we aren't going to see much difference but the business will as the old girl is getting pretty expensive to maintain. But the money spent on covering the western terrace isn't going to come back.

If there weren't the planning issues behind it and it was just spare land then yeah, I think we would see something similar to the Carnegie there. It would make sense. But spending large amounts of money just to put a cover on it really doesn't make business sense.

Interestingly, Yorkshire have stopped selling tickets for the Football Stand end for the T20 and international games due to part of it being condemned.

The plan is to replace in entirely in 2019, so it may be that they just don't fix it and bring forward the replacement instead, which may hasten any plans to replace/refurb the North Stand on the rugby side.

One thing is certain. While the cricket ground work takes place access to the North Stand on matchdays is going to be chaotic to put it politely.

The benefits are hugely outweighed by the hassle and cost.

Planning permission would be difficult if not impossible to get due to objections from those in the houses behind. Add in the need to resite the scoreboard and big screen to the costs of construction and for what? Maybe a couple of thousand extra away fans over the course of a season?

The sums don't add up, and if GH is anything it's a businessman who won't spend money unless he sees a return.

The North stand cricket side is basically falling down, as others have noted. There'll be no test cricket at Headingley unless that's adequately sorted out, and no test cricket makes the whole cricket ground a white elephant. I can't work out how they can rebuild the cricket stand without affecting the north stand, so it would make sense to do them both at the same time.

The main thing I think Leeds miss out on is making use of their facilities to improve gameday experience. It's all, like the rest of RL, stuck in Bullmania days of third-rate reality show singers and goose-bumped cheerleaders. Headingley has more opportunity than other grounds to get street food concessions, craft beer stalls etc going on the cricket side to get more punters (especially students) in and spending money, but the whole catering side things is just tired.

As for the ground as a whole - close, traditional city stadiums are the way forward not back. When the cladding started falling off at newbuilds in the US they were all clamouring to build up "heritage" ballparks, just as will in St.Helens or Wigan, not that they'll be able to afford to build them.