Leeds United: Elland Road redevelopment news emerges as Finance Expert shares costs
We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Leeds United...
Dan Plumley has insisted that it will cost tens of millions for the reconstruction of the West Stand at Elland Road for Leeds United, whenever they bite the bullet.
Angus Kinnear has shared recently that costs have gone up by 50% with a three-year plan looking to be put in place to get things done in West Yorkshire.
The finance expert has shared many questions that will need to be asked before it goes ahead, such as who will foot the bill and how league performance will effect that.
“You’ve got benchmark figures there to go off,” he exclusively told MOT Leeds News.
“Look at the amount of money it is taking Everton to do a full new stadium, obviously the Spurs one was the most expensive in history. So, you’re talking hundreds of millions to do a full stadium, then you work off from there, so if it’s full stand reconstruction, you come down from those numbers but it is still significant amounts of money, certainly in the tens of millions for sure.
“You have other factors at play with the cost of everything to do that going up, materials, labour, inflation comes into the mix.
“You have then got to look at how you fund that, then you come back to Leeds United with a few things in the mix, the takeover, who is going to invest to fund the stadium? Who foots the bill? How league performance affects that is key as that is how much money you’re going to generate which will in turn have a knock-on effect so there are lots of moving parts.
“It’s really tricky because the front and centre of it is you can generate a lot more money in the long-term through redevelopment, but it is a heavy cost outlay in the initial stages and clubs are weighing that up at the minute.
“This is no different for Leeds.”
There are still many questions.
Andrea Radrizzani is set to sign off on a full takeover to hand the reins over to the 49ers Enterprises in the summer, so does the cost go across to them? That’s despite these plans being in place seemingly for years.
The 49ers have experience of stadium construction having built their own, so their expertise could certainly come in handy with Kinnear and company not exactly clear.
All eyes remain on this one.
In other Leeds United news, the club may now face a losing battle to keep their star player at Elland Road beyond the summer transfer window.