Knighthead Capital have owned Championship side Birmingham City since last summer and have now unveiled stunning new plans for the club involving a move away from St Andrews
Something about walking before you can run, show you have literally any competency in running a club before unveiling these big plans, still a fair chance they could be a League 1 side in a month
Making plans that would be ambitious for a top half Premier League side, while you’re in the Championship relegation zone and on your fourth permanent manager of the season, fills me with less confidence than if these plans weren’t announced at all
Azyerr on
Saw someone on twitter suggest a 60k seater stadium for Birmingham to move into. Absolutely ridiculous.
Also, is there any real need for a new stadium at the moment? Especially as you might be league one in the near distant future.
Fergy123 on
Why?
TravellingMackem on
Can sell your old one to Coventry so they can finally have a stadium of their own too đ€Ł
ktledger94 on
Are they not still doing work on St Andrews? What a weird announcement with the club struggling and the owners showing they have no idea what they are doing
Paul277 on
“Ok so we might be relegated in a month.. What do we need.. I know! A 60,000 seater stadium!”
Musername2827 on
People missing the point with this big time. This isnât the owners ânot knowing what theyâre doingâ at all.
Theyâve inherited a club thatâs been dying from a thousand cuts for well over a decade, a club that literally has the name of the second city and has been underfunded and run absolutely dreadfully in comparison to its namesakes from Manchester, Liverpool etc for the entirety of its existence. Theyâre going to build a state of the art centre akin to the Etihad complex, the amount of money that will bring not only to the club but the city of Birmingham as a whole is incredible.
Theyâve made one mistake with the Rooney debacle, absolutely everything else theyâve done in their time here has been absolutely fantastic, up the Knighthead.
somebodyanything on
To be fair went to the birmingham game at the start of the season, proper shithole that place. The stadium wasnât great either.
GadsByte on
Alot of people are criticising this, but I feel that they are missing half the point. Right now, the city of Birmingham lacks a proper arena compared to London and Manchester. A new stadium / arena could be massive for the city, allowing them to host bigger shows / concerts, national level events and other sports such as American Football (given who their owners are)
Sheeverton on
Lmao subversion at it’s finest, way to distract from the fact you may well being relegating them
Izual_Rebirth on
Question: do capex costs like stadiums get taken into account in FFP calculations?
TheSpottedMonk on
Is now the right time to announce this? Probably not. Is now the right time to do this? Definitely. The amount of time it will take to build and everything else around it. This isn’t a stadium for Birmingham City Football Club. This is a stadium for Birmingham City, to bring in revenue from elsewhere, to be able to host big events and concerts. Hell, if this had been in place they wouldn’t have to hold the Euros in 2028 at a Villa Park in desperate need of a revamp. We may go down to league one, and we may never fill this stadium, but at least our owners are willing to invest and put money in. They’re not going to abandon us instantly after doing this, and with the investment they give we should bounce back from league one immediately. I get why other fans are taking the piss, we’re utter shit on the pitch. Maybe Knightshead can’t run a football club, but they can certainly run a business and make the whole thing more profitable despite a failing football team. The football team is just a big name with reach and influence they can use to spearhead everything they want to do
chrissssmith on
Amibition is good, but you don’t have to travel very far to see some of the dangers of this – a short 20 minutes train to Coventry and the Ricoh will suffice. What a nightmarish disaster that has been, all triggered by Coventry failing to hold onto Premier League status 25 years ago.
In terms of my own team, the expansion of Portman Road when we were flying high in 2000/1 essentially bankrupted the club and we went into administration shortly after things went wrong on the pitch. Whilst Birmingham won’t go bust under their owners, they can still go ‘semi-bust’ in terms of losses restricting their ability to do other things. Indeed, Spurs suffered (rememeber that summer window they made zero signings a few years ago because of stadium costs?)
Furthermore re: the Spurs model they are an incredibly stable top-half Premier League team and have been for the entire Premiership era. You might end up with a successful stadium (in terms of events, gigs, good for the city) but a half empty stadium that is bad for the football club. Again, you don’t need to travel far for this – about 60 minutes on the train will get you the Stadium MK in Militon Keynes which hosts lots of events (anyone go to see My Chemical Romance there last year?) but is a horrible empty souless place for MK Dons when they play.
Let’s hope the owners are smart rather than reckless. 60k seats definitely feels too big given Spurs is only 63k for example. A flexible, modern stadium with supporting infrastructure and 40k seats, could be great. But the devil is in the detail.
Forever_Everton on
This is exactly how Darlington fell…
New owners, build oversized stadium, barely fill said stadium, administration, 2 relegations in 20 years
Edit: relegated thrice. From Football League Second Division to Conference North
2nd Edit: Football League Third Division. Not Second Division
mjd2505 on
For those who aren’t Blues fans and aren’t as familiar with the site itself – this isn’t going to happen within 5 years. The site itself needs decontaminating before anything can even start to be built, it’s between a 5-10 year plan. A lot can happen in that time, and bar the Eustace/Rooney decision, the new owners have got more or less everything spot on and have the resources to back us.
Even if we go down, we’ve got plenty of time to rebuild and build a side that can challenge in the championship and potentially get up to the premier league.
I_miss_Chris_Hughton on
Assuming this is long term, i hope they find a way to keep the main stand. Genuinely love it, like a time capsule of the golden age of football
I_miss_Chris_Hughton on
Æuying the land rn is objectively smart. Birmingham Council are having a fire sale and we can literally sit on it.
But im really hesistant about a new stadium. Id rather all efforts remained on first keeping and then taking the club up.
KingCostly on
Most of these comments show that you really shouldn’t comment on other clubs’ situations as you will not know anywhere near the full story.
These owners are not here for a few years, they are here to drive Birmingham as a city forward for decades to come.
The new stadium is for the city as well as the club. It is to draw huge interest from other forms of entertainment and sports to bring their events to Birmingham. It is to build a destination that does not exist in Birmingham, the city’s second city ffs. That will only help the club bring in huge revenues.
If your reaction to this news is ‘lol why you need 60k in league 1’ then I’m afraid you’re an idiot and don’t know anything about the situation.
I would not comment on say Norwich building a new stadium after new ownership as I know nothing about how the club is ran etc.
Think before you post drivel, people.
ShiroHagan on
Please call it the Triton showers arena
Vegan_Puffin on
This seems rather dangerous. Ignore the flair, genuinely coming at this from the point of view of seeing how Evertons stadium is pushing them towards financial ruin and they have PL money helping them.
St Andrews is not in great shape and in an ideal world maybe a new stadium would be good but they are looking at League 1 football potentially.
dothefanDango92 on
Gonna look great in the next Wrexham documentary
plaaard on
Sounds like alot of empty seatsâŠ..
Underscore_Blues on
Don’t think it’s worth any other time converting the skeptics, they’ll realise Knighthead aren’t just a small investment firm soon enough.
I can see both sides of the argument but I think anymore than 40-45k is just silly. These days you can make stadiums easily expandable after construction.
going_down_leg on
This stadium is not for football purposes. Lots of people saying thereâs no way blues can fill it etc. they want a massive multipurpose venue that they can profit from for the long term outside of football.
Dead_Namer on
I would be more worried that they appointed Mike Rigg. Look for Mark Hughes to be appointed next.
26 Comments
Something about walking before you can run, show you have literally any competency in running a club before unveiling these big plans, still a fair chance they could be a League 1 side in a month
Making plans that would be ambitious for a top half Premier League side, while you’re in the Championship relegation zone and on your fourth permanent manager of the season, fills me with less confidence than if these plans weren’t announced at all
Saw someone on twitter suggest a 60k seater stadium for Birmingham to move into. Absolutely ridiculous.
Also, is there any real need for a new stadium at the moment? Especially as you might be league one in the near distant future.
Why?
Can sell your old one to Coventry so they can finally have a stadium of their own too đ€Ł
Are they not still doing work on St Andrews? What a weird announcement with the club struggling and the owners showing they have no idea what they are doing
“Ok so we might be relegated in a month.. What do we need.. I know! A 60,000 seater stadium!”
People missing the point with this big time. This isnât the owners ânot knowing what theyâre doingâ at all.
Theyâve inherited a club thatâs been dying from a thousand cuts for well over a decade, a club that literally has the name of the second city and has been underfunded and run absolutely dreadfully in comparison to its namesakes from Manchester, Liverpool etc for the entirety of its existence. Theyâre going to build a state of the art centre akin to the Etihad complex, the amount of money that will bring not only to the club but the city of Birmingham as a whole is incredible.
Theyâve made one mistake with the Rooney debacle, absolutely everything else theyâve done in their time here has been absolutely fantastic, up the Knighthead.
To be fair went to the birmingham game at the start of the season, proper shithole that place. The stadium wasnât great either.
Alot of people are criticising this, but I feel that they are missing half the point. Right now, the city of Birmingham lacks a proper arena compared to London and Manchester. A new stadium / arena could be massive for the city, allowing them to host bigger shows / concerts, national level events and other sports such as American Football (given who their owners are)
Lmao subversion at it’s finest, way to distract from the fact you may well being relegating them
Question: do capex costs like stadiums get taken into account in FFP calculations?
Is now the right time to announce this? Probably not. Is now the right time to do this? Definitely. The amount of time it will take to build and everything else around it. This isn’t a stadium for Birmingham City Football Club. This is a stadium for Birmingham City, to bring in revenue from elsewhere, to be able to host big events and concerts. Hell, if this had been in place they wouldn’t have to hold the Euros in 2028 at a Villa Park in desperate need of a revamp. We may go down to league one, and we may never fill this stadium, but at least our owners are willing to invest and put money in. They’re not going to abandon us instantly after doing this, and with the investment they give we should bounce back from league one immediately. I get why other fans are taking the piss, we’re utter shit on the pitch. Maybe Knightshead can’t run a football club, but they can certainly run a business and make the whole thing more profitable despite a failing football team. The football team is just a big name with reach and influence they can use to spearhead everything they want to do
Amibition is good, but you don’t have to travel very far to see some of the dangers of this – a short 20 minutes train to Coventry and the Ricoh will suffice. What a nightmarish disaster that has been, all triggered by Coventry failing to hold onto Premier League status 25 years ago.
In terms of my own team, the expansion of Portman Road when we were flying high in 2000/1 essentially bankrupted the club and we went into administration shortly after things went wrong on the pitch. Whilst Birmingham won’t go bust under their owners, they can still go ‘semi-bust’ in terms of losses restricting their ability to do other things. Indeed, Spurs suffered (rememeber that summer window they made zero signings a few years ago because of stadium costs?)
Furthermore re: the Spurs model they are an incredibly stable top-half Premier League team and have been for the entire Premiership era. You might end up with a successful stadium (in terms of events, gigs, good for the city) but a half empty stadium that is bad for the football club. Again, you don’t need to travel far for this – about 60 minutes on the train will get you the Stadium MK in Militon Keynes which hosts lots of events (anyone go to see My Chemical Romance there last year?) but is a horrible empty souless place for MK Dons when they play.
Let’s hope the owners are smart rather than reckless. 60k seats definitely feels too big given Spurs is only 63k for example. A flexible, modern stadium with supporting infrastructure and 40k seats, could be great. But the devil is in the detail.
This is exactly how Darlington fell…
New owners, build oversized stadium, barely fill said stadium, administration, 2 relegations in 20 years
Edit: relegated thrice. From Football League Second Division to Conference North
2nd Edit: Football League Third Division. Not Second Division
For those who aren’t Blues fans and aren’t as familiar with the site itself – this isn’t going to happen within 5 years. The site itself needs decontaminating before anything can even start to be built, it’s between a 5-10 year plan. A lot can happen in that time, and bar the Eustace/Rooney decision, the new owners have got more or less everything spot on and have the resources to back us.
Even if we go down, we’ve got plenty of time to rebuild and build a side that can challenge in the championship and potentially get up to the premier league.
Assuming this is long term, i hope they find a way to keep the main stand. Genuinely love it, like a time capsule of the golden age of football
Æuying the land rn is objectively smart. Birmingham Council are having a fire sale and we can literally sit on it.
But im really hesistant about a new stadium. Id rather all efforts remained on first keeping and then taking the club up.
Most of these comments show that you really shouldn’t comment on other clubs’ situations as you will not know anywhere near the full story.
These owners are not here for a few years, they are here to drive Birmingham as a city forward for decades to come.
The new stadium is for the city as well as the club. It is to draw huge interest from other forms of entertainment and sports to bring their events to Birmingham. It is to build a destination that does not exist in Birmingham, the city’s second city ffs. That will only help the club bring in huge revenues.
If your reaction to this news is ‘lol why you need 60k in league 1’ then I’m afraid you’re an idiot and don’t know anything about the situation.
I would not comment on say Norwich building a new stadium after new ownership as I know nothing about how the club is ran etc.
Think before you post drivel, people.
Please call it the Triton showers arena
This seems rather dangerous. Ignore the flair, genuinely coming at this from the point of view of seeing how Evertons stadium is pushing them towards financial ruin and they have PL money helping them.
St Andrews is not in great shape and in an ideal world maybe a new stadium would be good but they are looking at League 1 football potentially.
Gonna look great in the next Wrexham documentary
Sounds like alot of empty seatsâŠ..
Don’t think it’s worth any other time converting the skeptics, they’ll realise Knighthead aren’t just a small investment firm soon enough.
https://twitter.com/alexedicken/status/1777668533058404712?t=1ss20-75hYxIKyNyxEBk4w&s=19
I can see both sides of the argument but I think anymore than 40-45k is just silly. These days you can make stadiums easily expandable after construction.
This stadium is not for football purposes. Lots of people saying thereâs no way blues can fill it etc. they want a massive multipurpose venue that they can profit from for the long term outside of football.
I would be more worried that they appointed Mike Rigg. Look for Mark Hughes to be appointed next.