Celtic Park needs an upgrade.
Not many Celtic supporters will disagree as the current state of Parkhead has been a hot topic of conversation over the last few weeks.
Firstly, Celtic Park is now 30 years old. Naturally the facilities will need upgraded as time wears on.
Secondly, the size of Celtic’s season ticket waiting list is massive and it will take years for Hoops fans to get that elusive year-long Parkhead pass.
And last, but not least, stadium expansion will stave off any financial threat Rangers and the 49ers Enterprises could pose in the future.
However the cost of upgrading the stadium plus how to logistically house 54,000 season ticket holders can prove to be a tough problem to solve for the Celtic board.
But ACSOM’s Paul John Dykes reckons all Celtic need to do is to look at what Aston Villa did to get the job done.
The Aston Villa blueprint that could help refurbish Celtic Park
Dykes told A Celtic State of Mind, “And obviously, 54,000 season tickets are selling out every single year, there’s a massive waiting list.
“And then you’ve got the main stand question, that’s where my personal season ticket is and has been for a few seasons. And it definitely needs a refurb.
“Absolutely, it needs a refurb. And the way that I would look at it is, why just, you know, why move about the deckchairs? Get the whole thing redone.
“And there is a way of doing it. Aston Villa have shown that there’s a way of doing it, where people will be displaced from their season ticket seats, but they will still have a seat in the stadium. It just means that for a spell, there won’t be any general sale of tickets.”
Celtic can spend £100m on main stand upgrade
Celtic’s sound financial footing means that the board could easily invest in a main stand upgrade and Dykes explains how it could be possible.
“There is a way of doing that,” continued Paul John, “There is also a way of building a brand new £100 million main stand that brings everything level. Apparently, that would take the capacity of Celtic Park up to around 70,000, but obviously, the corporate aspect of that would be increased as well.
“People wince at the £100 million. There is a way of doing it. And I was just talking about obviously, sitting with profit in the bank isn’t always a good thing for a business because you’re paying corporation tax every single year.
“Why don’t we do it? When will be a good time? It’s going to get more and more expensive the longer we wait.”
A 70,000 seater stadium could bring in more tens of millions of pounds each season to the Celtic coffers.
Many will doubt that every game will be sold out but even adding 10,000 more season tickets could raise up to or even over £6m per season based on an average price of £600.
And that’s before we start talking the guaranteed extra European packages each year.
Surely Celtic are considering this?
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It would be great to see it extended if it’s £100m why don’t they sell the stadium name like Emirates paradise for 30 to 40 million which will pay for a good part of the extension
I personally think that our board do not want to get to far away from rangers as they may throw the towel in , 2012 happened and it could again .im watching the FIFA World Cup and looking at all the beautiful stadia. Celtic should have that and the board are holding that back as there’s no excuse!