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Posted (edited)
On 13/05/2025 at 21:33, Utah Owl said:

Sorry but that's complete cobblers. Plenty of space behind the Leppings Lane end for starters. Have you forgotten about the WC plans which would have taken the capacity up to 45K?

Plenty of space behind the Leppings Lane end… a pretty major disaster began to unfold outside of the stand because of a severe lack of space when faced by huge crowds.
 

Houses and a river hem it in and there’s zero room to do anything there.

 

Villa Park is flanked at 3 sides by a park and two huge club car parks.

 

I get the emotional ties to Hillsborough, but you can’t change the geography of the place or the stigma of the disaster that will forever hang over it.

Edited by hallam_stallion
  • Like 1
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Posted
On 24/05/2025 at 14:22, hallam_stallion said:

Plenty of space behind the Leppings Lane end… a pretty major disaster began to unfold outside of the stand because of a severe lack of space when faced by huge crowds.
 

Houses and a river hem it in and there’s zero room to do anything there.

 

Villa Park is flanked at 3 sides by a park and two huge club car parks.

 

I get the emotional ties to Hillsborough, but you can’t change the geography of the place or the stigma of the disaster that will forever hang over it.

 

So what about the 2018 world cup plans?

Posted
1 hour ago, Miffed said:

 

So what about the 2018 world cup plans?

What about them?
 

They were drawn up 16 years ago… things have moved on a bit since then.

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Posted
24 minutes ago, hallam_stallion said:

What about them?
 

They were drawn up 16 years ago… things have moved on a bit since then.


They clearly didnt think there would be issues rebuilding a larger stand at the leppings lane end when they drew up the plans.

The houses and the river havent moved since then.

Posted

Why Wrexham AFC is a catalyst for regional regeneration - The Welsh football club has been rejuvenated by its new Hollywood owners and the ripple effects are being experienced throughout the local economy

 

By June 2026, an imposing 27m high, crown-shaped, red brick landmark is expected to greet locals and visitors as they enter the city of Wrexham. The new stand at Wrexham Association Football Club is set to become a “unique piece of stadium architecture,” and, if completed, will symbolise the revitalisation of both the football club and the Welsh city.

 

image.png.4c721f9ef24c222e4a9e1b31c6310b7e.png

 

There is much riding on the shoulders of the new Kop stand; it’s the key to the club’s continued expansion and the first phase in the city’s gateway regeneration scheme. But the rollercoaster saga behind the Kop rivals the scripts of its Hollywood A-list celebrity owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two football novices who have navigated the UK’s funding, planning and legal landscapes for the last four years. 

 

With just a year to complete the new five-storey stand, the saga, already told through an award-winning Disney documentary series, is set to further enthral football fans across the globe. 

 

When the two Hollywood actors completed their takeover of the small club in north Wales back in February 2021, the footballing world was stunned. Neither had any experience nor history with UK football. For its part, Wrexham AFC was in the doldrums, relegated to playing in non-league football and wholly owned by its dedicated supporter’s trust. 

 

“The club was struggling,” recalls long-standing Wrexham AFC fan and former RICS Wales board member, David Subacchi FRICS. “Attendances were not good, and the condition of the stadium was starting to deteriorate. It was depressing as a whole for Wrexham because so many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them.” “So many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them”

 

It was this enduring connection between the club and its community that captured the attention of the two actors. The club was founded in 1864 to give Wrexham’s young working-class men “an enriching hobby”. It is now the third oldest professional association football club in the world, while the Racecourse, as it’s lovingly known, is the world’s oldest international stadium, having hosted the first-ever Wales match in 1877. 

 

While Reynolds and McElhenney were always clear on their sporting ambitions for the club – Wrexham returned to the English Football League in 2023 after a 15-year absence and has just achieved a historic third consecutive promotion in three seasons to the Championship – they also wanted to tell its story. “This is more than football,” McElhenney has said. “It’s about revitalising the town.” 

 

The proposed Kop redevelopment is central to this revitalisation, for both the city and the club. It will restore the renamed SToK Cae Ras stadium to a four-sided ground after the original stand was condemned in 2008 and a temporary one erected in 2023 by the new owners. Crucially the new Kop will bring the stadium back up to international match standards, opening the city to the potential economic benefits of welcoming a new set of football fans. It will also mark phase one of the Wrexham Gateway, a regeneration project led by local public sector partners keen to capitalise on the top-flight ambitions of the club. 

  

image.thumb.png.864416cbcea9578d6c572eb8e0af99bc.png

 

Significantly, the Kop is designed by Populous, the architect behind Sphere Las Vegas and Tottenham Hotspur’s £1bn stadium that opened in 2019, which was also the centrepiece of a regeneration scheme in the north London district. 

“The incredible things happening at the club are continuing to propel Wrexham onto a global stage, and football is bringing communities together, boosting local pride and helping to attract visitors and investment,” says Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council on its partnership with the club. 

 

The stand design was given planning approval in March and includes seating for an extra 5,500 Wrexham fans. Additional capacity has been built into the design to future-proof the stand, although it will be dependent on further planning approval. And the roof has been acoustically designed to enhance the spectator experience. 

 

At the back of the seating will be a five-storey development with new hospitality, player and media facilities and the potential to host non-footballing conferences and exhibitions. To the front will be a new public plaza, while the exterior of the Kop will be encased by an eye-catching red-brick lattice to provide a new city landmark as people exit and enter Wrexham. 

 

The proposed Kop is a significant departure from usual stadium designs, with the owners’ seemingly keen to play tribute to the long history between the fans and the club as well as the city’s industrial heritage. The red-brick façade is a nod to the city’s history as a manufacturing centre for red brick and terracotta tiles. The club’s nickname The Red Dragons is immortalised in one corner with two large, embossed dragon designs. 

 

The angled planes at the top of the façade represent coal and slate seams, referencing Wrexham’s long mining heritage. Outside the main stadium is the 100k Plaza, named in honour of the fans who, in 2011, saved the club by raising £100,000 in just one day. The club also plans to add a memorial to the 261 miners killed in the 1934 Gresford mining disaster, many of whom were loyal Wrexham fans. 

 

image.thumb.png.f4f044da672563de2fce4958e0880942.png

 

But as the journey of Wrexham AFC has been meteoric on the pitch, with an estimated 100m households globally watching the team play last season, the path to the new Kop has been decidedly rocky. The designs are the second to gain planning approval with the club scrapping its original 2022 plans from architect AFL last year. 

 

Part of the issue has been funding. The club and its public sector partners twice bid for more than £18m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, citing the Kop redevelopment as a key part of Wrexham’s regeneration. It was rejected twice. The council then transferred a “substantial” part of a £25m grant from the Welsh government to kick start it, but that came with conditions, notably that the Kop would be up to international standards. The club and the council then spent over a year in protracted grant funding negotiations, with McElhenney noting in the Disney documentary Welcome to Wrexham: “All those regulations are there in place for a reason, but it’s a lot harder to build in the UK than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world.” 

In October 2024, the club went back to the drawing board and the new Populous design, not dissimilar in size and scale from the first, flew through planning earlier this year. Work is expected to start shortly. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulties of the redevelopment, the club is remaining tight lipped on precise timelines and the contractors involved in the next stage.

 

The Kop may also herald stage one of a major stadium overhaul with owners Reynolds and McElhenney making no secret of their desire to create a 45,000 to 55,000 capacity ground. 

 

For the fans, the new Kop will be a visible mark of Wrexham’s replenished fortunes, albeit with a tight deadline. “Yes, it’s challenging, but I put my money on these owners – if they say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it,” says Subacchi. “But I’m not only interested in the football. I’m interested in the impact it has economically on the city and in some of the challenges that anybody involved in a project this size is going to face. It’s fascinating.”

  • Like 1
Posted
6 hours ago, Animis said:

Why Wrexham AFC is a catalyst for regional regeneration - The Welsh football club has been rejuvenated by its new Hollywood owners and the ripple effects are being experienced throughout the local economy

 

By June 2026, an imposing 27m high, crown-shaped, red brick landmark is expected to greet locals and visitors as they enter the city of Wrexham. The new stand at Wrexham Association Football Club is set to become a “unique piece of stadium architecture,” and, if completed, will symbolise the revitalisation of both the football club and the Welsh city.

 

image.png.4c721f9ef24c222e4a9e1b31c6310b7e.png

 

There is much riding on the shoulders of the new Kop stand; it’s the key to the club’s continued expansion and the first phase in the city’s gateway regeneration scheme. But the rollercoaster saga behind the Kop rivals the scripts of its Hollywood A-list celebrity owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two football novices who have navigated the UK’s funding, planning and legal landscapes for the last four years. 

 

With just a year to complete the new five-storey stand, the saga, already told through an award-winning Disney documentary series, is set to further enthral football fans across the globe. 

 

When the two Hollywood actors completed their takeover of the small club in north Wales back in February 2021, the footballing world was stunned. Neither had any experience nor history with UK football. For its part, Wrexham AFC was in the doldrums, relegated to playing in non-league football and wholly owned by its dedicated supporter’s trust. 

 

“The club was struggling,” recalls long-standing Wrexham AFC fan and former RICS Wales board member, David Subacchi FRICS. “Attendances were not good, and the condition of the stadium was starting to deteriorate. It was depressing as a whole for Wrexham because so many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them.” “So many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them”

 

It was this enduring connection between the club and its community that captured the attention of the two actors. The club was founded in 1864 to give Wrexham’s young working-class men “an enriching hobby”. It is now the third oldest professional association football club in the world, while the Racecourse, as it’s lovingly known, is the world’s oldest international stadium, having hosted the first-ever Wales match in 1877. 

 

While Reynolds and McElhenney were always clear on their sporting ambitions for the club – Wrexham returned to the English Football League in 2023 after a 15-year absence and has just achieved a historic third consecutive promotion in three seasons to the Championship – they also wanted to tell its story. “This is more than football,” McElhenney has said. “It’s about revitalising the town.” 

 

The proposed Kop redevelopment is central to this revitalisation, for both the city and the club. It will restore the renamed SToK Cae Ras stadium to a four-sided ground after the original stand was condemned in 2008 and a temporary one erected in 2023 by the new owners. Crucially the new Kop will bring the stadium back up to international match standards, opening the city to the potential economic benefits of welcoming a new set of football fans. It will also mark phase one of the Wrexham Gateway, a regeneration project led by local public sector partners keen to capitalise on the top-flight ambitions of the club. 

  

image.thumb.png.864416cbcea9578d6c572eb8e0af99bc.png

 

Significantly, the Kop is designed by Populous, the architect behind Sphere Las Vegas and Tottenham Hotspur’s £1bn stadium that opened in 2019, which was also the centrepiece of a regeneration scheme in the north London district. 

“The incredible things happening at the club are continuing to propel Wrexham onto a global stage, and football is bringing communities together, boosting local pride and helping to attract visitors and investment,” says Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council on its partnership with the club. 

 

The stand design was given planning approval in March and includes seating for an extra 5,500 Wrexham fans. Additional capacity has been built into the design to future-proof the stand, although it will be dependent on further planning approval. And the roof has been acoustically designed to enhance the spectator experience. 

 

At the back of the seating will be a five-storey development with new hospitality, player and media facilities and the potential to host non-footballing conferences and exhibitions. To the front will be a new public plaza, while the exterior of the Kop will be encased by an eye-catching red-brick lattice to provide a new city landmark as people exit and enter Wrexham. 

 

The proposed Kop is a significant departure from usual stadium designs, with the owners’ seemingly keen to play tribute to the long history between the fans and the club as well as the city’s industrial heritage. The red-brick façade is a nod to the city’s history as a manufacturing centre for red brick and terracotta tiles. The club’s nickname The Red Dragons is immortalised in one corner with two large, embossed dragon designs. 

 

The angled planes at the top of the façade represent coal and slate seams, referencing Wrexham’s long mining heritage. Outside the main stadium is the 100k Plaza, named in honour of the fans who, in 2011, saved the club by raising £100,000 in just one day. The club also plans to add a memorial to the 261 miners killed in the 1934 Gresford mining disaster, many of whom were loyal Wrexham fans. 

 

image.thumb.png.f4f044da672563de2fce4958e0880942.png

 

But as the journey of Wrexham AFC has been meteoric on the pitch, with an estimated 100m households globally watching the team play last season, the path to the new Kop has been decidedly rocky. The designs are the second to gain planning approval with the club scrapping its original 2022 plans from architect AFL last year. 

 

Part of the issue has been funding. The club and its public sector partners twice bid for more than £18m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, citing the Kop redevelopment as a key part of Wrexham’s regeneration. It was rejected twice. The council then transferred a “substantial” part of a £25m grant from the Welsh government to kick start it, but that came with conditions, notably that the Kop would be up to international standards. The club and the council then spent over a year in protracted grant funding negotiations, with McElhenney noting in the Disney documentary Welcome to Wrexham: “All those regulations are there in place for a reason, but it’s a lot harder to build in the UK than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world.” 

In October 2024, the club went back to the drawing board and the new Populous design, not dissimilar in size and scale from the first, flew through planning earlier this year. Work is expected to start shortly. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulties of the redevelopment, the club is remaining tight lipped on precise timelines and the contractors involved in the next stage.

 

The Kop may also herald stage one of a major stadium overhaul with owners Reynolds and McElhenney making no secret of their desire to create a 45,000 to 55,000 capacity ground. 

 

For the fans, the new Kop will be a visible mark of Wrexham’s replenished fortunes, albeit with a tight deadline. “Yes, it’s challenging, but I put my money on these owners – if they say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it,” says Subacchi. “But I’m not only interested in the football. I’m interested in the impact it has economically on the city and in some of the challenges that anybody involved in a project this size is going to face. It’s fascinating.”

Smack rats teeth spring to mind

Screenshot_20250616_175138_Chrome.jpg

Posted
23 hours ago, Animis said:

Why Wrexham AFC is a catalyst for regional regeneration - The Welsh football club has been rejuvenated by its new Hollywood owners and the ripple effects are being experienced throughout the local economy

 

By June 2026, an imposing 27m high, crown-shaped, red brick landmark is expected to greet locals and visitors as they enter the city of Wrexham. The new stand at Wrexham Association Football Club is set to become a “unique piece of stadium architecture,” and, if completed, will symbolise the revitalisation of both the football club and the Welsh city.

 

image.png.4c721f9ef24c222e4a9e1b31c6310b7e.png

 

There is much riding on the shoulders of the new Kop stand; it’s the key to the club’s continued expansion and the first phase in the city’s gateway regeneration scheme. But the rollercoaster saga behind the Kop rivals the scripts of its Hollywood A-list celebrity owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two football novices who have navigated the UK’s funding, planning and legal landscapes for the last four years. 

 

With just a year to complete the new five-storey stand, the saga, already told through an award-winning Disney documentary series, is set to further enthral football fans across the globe. 

 

When the two Hollywood actors completed their takeover of the small club in north Wales back in February 2021, the footballing world was stunned. Neither had any experience nor history with UK football. For its part, Wrexham AFC was in the doldrums, relegated to playing in non-league football and wholly owned by its dedicated supporter’s trust. 

 

“The club was struggling,” recalls long-standing Wrexham AFC fan and former RICS Wales board member, David Subacchi FRICS. “Attendances were not good, and the condition of the stadium was starting to deteriorate. It was depressing as a whole for Wrexham because so many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them.” “So many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them”

 

It was this enduring connection between the club and its community that captured the attention of the two actors. The club was founded in 1864 to give Wrexham’s young working-class men “an enriching hobby”. It is now the third oldest professional association football club in the world, while the Racecourse, as it’s lovingly known, is the world’s oldest international stadium, having hosted the first-ever Wales match in 1877. 

 

While Reynolds and McElhenney were always clear on their sporting ambitions for the club – Wrexham returned to the English Football League in 2023 after a 15-year absence and has just achieved a historic third consecutive promotion in three seasons to the Championship – they also wanted to tell its story. “This is more than football,” McElhenney has said. “It’s about revitalising the town.” 

 

The proposed Kop redevelopment is central to this revitalisation, for both the city and the club. It will restore the renamed SToK Cae Ras stadium to a four-sided ground after the original stand was condemned in 2008 and a temporary one erected in 2023 by the new owners. Crucially the new Kop will bring the stadium back up to international match standards, opening the city to the potential economic benefits of welcoming a new set of football fans. It will also mark phase one of the Wrexham Gateway, a regeneration project led by local public sector partners keen to capitalise on the top-flight ambitions of the club. 

  

image.thumb.png.864416cbcea9578d6c572eb8e0af99bc.png

 

Significantly, the Kop is designed by Populous, the architect behind Sphere Las Vegas and Tottenham Hotspur’s £1bn stadium that opened in 2019, which was also the centrepiece of a regeneration scheme in the north London district. 

“The incredible things happening at the club are continuing to propel Wrexham onto a global stage, and football is bringing communities together, boosting local pride and helping to attract visitors and investment,” says Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council on its partnership with the club. 

 

The stand design was given planning approval in March and includes seating for an extra 5,500 Wrexham fans. Additional capacity has been built into the design to future-proof the stand, although it will be dependent on further planning approval. And the roof has been acoustically designed to enhance the spectator experience. 

 

At the back of the seating will be a five-storey development with new hospitality, player and media facilities and the potential to host non-footballing conferences and exhibitions. To the front will be a new public plaza, while the exterior of the Kop will be encased by an eye-catching red-brick lattice to provide a new city landmark as people exit and enter Wrexham. 

 

The proposed Kop is a significant departure from usual stadium designs, with the owners’ seemingly keen to play tribute to the long history between the fans and the club as well as the city’s industrial heritage. The red-brick façade is a nod to the city’s history as a manufacturing centre for red brick and terracotta tiles. The club’s nickname The Red Dragons is immortalised in one corner with two large, embossed dragon designs. 

 

The angled planes at the top of the façade represent coal and slate seams, referencing Wrexham’s long mining heritage. Outside the main stadium is the 100k Plaza, named in honour of the fans who, in 2011, saved the club by raising £100,000 in just one day. The club also plans to add a memorial to the 261 miners killed in the 1934 Gresford mining disaster, many of whom were loyal Wrexham fans. 

 

s

 

But as the journey of Wrexham AFC has been meteoric on the pitch, with an estimated 100m households globally watching the team play last season, the path to the new Kop has been decidedly rocky. The designs are the second to gain planning approval with the club scrapping its original 2022 plans from architect AFL last year. 

 

Part of the issue has been funding. The club and its public sector partners twice bid for more than £18m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, citing the Kop redevelopment as a key part of Wrexham’s regeneration. It was rejected twice. The council then transferred a “substantial” part of a £25m grant from the Welsh government to kick start it, but that came with conditions, notably that the Kop would be up to international standards. The club and the council then spent over a year in protracted grant funding negotiations, with McElhenney noting in the Disney documentary Welcome to Wrexham: “All those regulations are there in place for a reason, but it’s a lot harder to build in the UK than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world.” 

In October 2024, the club went back to the drawing board and the new Populous design, not dissimilar in size and scale from the first, flew through planning earlier this year. Work is expected to start shortly. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulties of the redevelopment, the club is remaining tight lipped on precise timelines and the contractors involved in the next stage.

 

The Kop may also herald stage one of a major stadium overhaul with owners Reynolds and McElhenney making no secret of their desire to create a 45,000 to 55,000 capacity ground. 

 

For the fans, the new Kop will be a visible mark of Wrexham’s replenished fortunes, albeit with a tight deadline. “Yes, it’s challenging, but I put my money on these owners – if they say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it,” says Subacchi. “But I’m not only interested in the football. I’m interested in the impact it has economically on the city and in some of the challenges that anybody involved in a project this size is going to face. It’s fascinating.”

Thanks for posting ,

I think the outside is horrible.

The other thing I dislike is having corporate boxes above the kop, I know it makes money.

 

But whenever I have sat below one it always feels like a them and us atmosphere.

 

I think the main atmosphere  stands should be like our north stand or kop.

Posted
On 16/06/2025 at 11:45, Animis said:

Why Wrexham AFC is a catalyst for regional regeneration - The Welsh football club has been rejuvenated by its new Hollywood owners and the ripple effects are being experienced throughout the local economy

 

By June 2026, an imposing 27m high, crown-shaped, red brick landmark is expected to greet locals and visitors as they enter the city of Wrexham. The new stand at Wrexham Association Football Club is set to become a “unique piece of stadium architecture,” and, if completed, will symbolise the revitalisation of both the football club and the Welsh city.

 

image.png.4c721f9ef24c222e4a9e1b31c6310b7e.png

 

There is much riding on the shoulders of the new Kop stand; it’s the key to the club’s continued expansion and the first phase in the city’s gateway regeneration scheme. But the rollercoaster saga behind the Kop rivals the scripts of its Hollywood A-list celebrity owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two football novices who have navigated the UK’s funding, planning and legal landscapes for the last four years. 

 

With just a year to complete the new five-storey stand, the saga, already told through an award-winning Disney documentary series, is set to further enthral football fans across the globe. 

 

When the two Hollywood actors completed their takeover of the small club in north Wales back in February 2021, the footballing world was stunned. Neither had any experience nor history with UK football. For its part, Wrexham AFC was in the doldrums, relegated to playing in non-league football and wholly owned by its dedicated supporter’s trust. 

 

“The club was struggling,” recalls long-standing Wrexham AFC fan and former RICS Wales board member, David Subacchi FRICS. “Attendances were not good, and the condition of the stadium was starting to deteriorate. It was depressing as a whole for Wrexham because so many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them.” “So many people here judge the temperature of the city by how the football club is doing. It means a lot to them”

 

It was this enduring connection between the club and its community that captured the attention of the two actors. The club was founded in 1864 to give Wrexham’s young working-class men “an enriching hobby”. It is now the third oldest professional association football club in the world, while the Racecourse, as it’s lovingly known, is the world’s oldest international stadium, having hosted the first-ever Wales match in 1877. 

 

While Reynolds and McElhenney were always clear on their sporting ambitions for the club – Wrexham returned to the English Football League in 2023 after a 15-year absence and has just achieved a historic third consecutive promotion in three seasons to the Championship – they also wanted to tell its story. “This is more than football,” McElhenney has said. “It’s about revitalising the town.” 

 

The proposed Kop redevelopment is central to this revitalisation, for both the city and the club. It will restore the renamed SToK Cae Ras stadium to a four-sided ground after the original stand was condemned in 2008 and a temporary one erected in 2023 by the new owners. Crucially the new Kop will bring the stadium back up to international match standards, opening the city to the potential economic benefits of welcoming a new set of football fans. It will also mark phase one of the Wrexham Gateway, a regeneration project led by local public sector partners keen to capitalise on the top-flight ambitions of the club. 

  

image.thumb.png.864416cbcea9578d6c572eb8e0af99bc.png

 

Significantly, the Kop is designed by Populous, the architect behind Sphere Las Vegas and Tottenham Hotspur’s £1bn stadium that opened in 2019, which was also the centrepiece of a regeneration scheme in the north London district. 

“The incredible things happening at the club are continuing to propel Wrexham onto a global stage, and football is bringing communities together, boosting local pride and helping to attract visitors and investment,” says Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council on its partnership with the club. 

 

The stand design was given planning approval in March and includes seating for an extra 5,500 Wrexham fans. Additional capacity has been built into the design to future-proof the stand, although it will be dependent on further planning approval. And the roof has been acoustically designed to enhance the spectator experience. 

 

At the back of the seating will be a five-storey development with new hospitality, player and media facilities and the potential to host non-footballing conferences and exhibitions. To the front will be a new public plaza, while the exterior of the Kop will be encased by an eye-catching red-brick lattice to provide a new city landmark as people exit and enter Wrexham. 

 

The proposed Kop is a significant departure from usual stadium designs, with the owners’ seemingly keen to play tribute to the long history between the fans and the club as well as the city’s industrial heritage. The red-brick façade is a nod to the city’s history as a manufacturing centre for red brick and terracotta tiles. The club’s nickname The Red Dragons is immortalised in one corner with two large, embossed dragon designs. 

 

The angled planes at the top of the façade represent coal and slate seams, referencing Wrexham’s long mining heritage. Outside the main stadium is the 100k Plaza, named in honour of the fans who, in 2011, saved the club by raising £100,000 in just one day. The club also plans to add a memorial to the 261 miners killed in the 1934 Gresford mining disaster, many of whom were loyal Wrexham fans. 

 

image.thumb.png.f4f044da672563de2fce4958e0880942.png

 

But as the journey of Wrexham AFC has been meteoric on the pitch, with an estimated 100m households globally watching the team play last season, the path to the new Kop has been decidedly rocky. The designs are the second to gain planning approval with the club scrapping its original 2022 plans from architect AFL last year. 

 

Part of the issue has been funding. The club and its public sector partners twice bid for more than £18m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, citing the Kop redevelopment as a key part of Wrexham’s regeneration. It was rejected twice. The council then transferred a “substantial” part of a £25m grant from the Welsh government to kick start it, but that came with conditions, notably that the Kop would be up to international standards. The club and the council then spent over a year in protracted grant funding negotiations, with McElhenney noting in the Disney documentary Welcome to Wrexham: “All those regulations are there in place for a reason, but it’s a lot harder to build in the UK than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world.” 

In October 2024, the club went back to the drawing board and the new Populous design, not dissimilar in size and scale from the first, flew through planning earlier this year. Work is expected to start shortly. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulties of the redevelopment, the club is remaining tight lipped on precise timelines and the contractors involved in the next stage.

 

The Kop may also herald stage one of a major stadium overhaul with owners Reynolds and McElhenney making no secret of their desire to create a 45,000 to 55,000 capacity ground. 

 

For the fans, the new Kop will be a visible mark of Wrexham’s replenished fortunes, albeit with a tight deadline. “Yes, it’s challenging, but I put my money on these owners – if they say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it,” says Subacchi. “But I’m not only interested in the football. I’m interested in the impact it has economically on the city and in some of the challenges that anybody involved in a project this size is going to face. It’s fascinating.”

 

That's a lot of effort just to say "we modelled the new stand on Chris Wilder's teeth"

Posted
On 16/06/2025 at 11:52, Drewswfc said:

Smack rats teeth spring to mind

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Looks like what happens to the end of a block of cheese if you leave it out too long

  • Haha 1
Posted (edited)
On 16/06/2025 at 11:45, Animis said:

Why Wrexham AFC is a catalyst for regional regeneration - The Welsh football club has been rejuvenated by its new Hollywood owners and the ripple effects are being experienced throughout the local economy

 

By June 2026, an imposing 27m high, crown-shaped, red brick landmark is expected to greet locals and visitors as they enter the city of Wrexham. The new stand at Wrexham Association Football Club is set to become a “unique piece of stadium architecture,” and, if completed, will symbolise the revitalisation of both the football club and the Welsh city.

 

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I've seen better looking prisons tbh.

Edited by Mr Grey Man
Posted

Yeah, that kid definitely knows more than the Twitter lot.

 

Signal Iduna Park...or Sandnal IDunea Park, if you will

 

Posted

Hard to believe we were competing at the highest level with these 30 years ago - how far have we fallen. I like the architect's comments that the  'the turnstiles are old-school turnstile' - can you imagine what he'd say about ours.

 

Arsenal eye Wembley move as club looks at expanding Emirates stadium

By Dave Rogers7 October 2025

 

North London club wants to take capacity at McAlpine-built ground to more than 70,000.

 

Arsenal is reportedly looking at moving to Wembley stadium while work to expand its home of the past 20 years is carried out.

According to the Telegraph, the Premier League leaders want to expand their ground to beyond 70,000 from the current capacity of 60,700.

 

The ground, which was completed by Sir Robert McAlpine, opened in 2006 and at the time was the biggest club ground in the capital.

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The ground was completed by Sir Robert McAlpine and opened in 2006

 

But it has been overtaken by the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, built by Mace, and West Ham’s ground at the former Olympic stadium – built by McAlpine but later reconfigured by Balfour Beatty.

 

No details of who has been enlisted to look at the job have been released but the Emirates was designed by Populous – when it was called HOK Sport – who also designed the Tottenham stadium and the Olympic stadium.

 

The practice is considered to be the go-to firm for stadia in this country and overseas and in 2023 the firm’s global vice chair told Building the Emirates was in need of a revamp.

 

Chris Lee said: “We could revisit it. The general admission is a bit tight. The turnstiles are old-school turnstiles. Some of the club levels have been changed, but very little in general admission.”

 

Plans for the expansion are set to include changing the gradient of the stands, adapting the seating plan to fit more fans and potentially raising the roof.

 

Tottenham played at Wembley for nearly two seasons while work to build the club’s new ground was carried out.

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