We Are Going to Need a Bigger Ground

[Clive Evans]

If we secure being Champions on Saturday & success is maintained next Season.

[HavantO]

Think our current ground is more than adequate in leagues two and one. Think we’re getting ahead of ourselves a tad.

[RientO]

How big and how do they make it bigger? Only way I see if to have an upper North Tier or to demolish the East Stand and rebuild. Or move elsewhere.
As HavantO wrote, 9,000 is fine for League 1 and League 2. Brentford have been getting by with 12,000 in the Championship, averaging around 10,000.

[HavantO]

I think the club have basically said there is close to zero possibility of further redeveloping the ground. If we ever needed a bigger ground (which would only be needed after a sustained period in the championship IMO, which is a long way off), then it would need to be elsewhere.

[o-no]

Make the seats 10% smaller, then we could fit 10% more in.

There might have to be a special 'chubsters' section for those will ample bottoms, or those people could buy 2 seats, thus improving club revenues.

Win-win.

[Esteban]

Make the seats 10% smaller, then we could fit 10% more in.

There might have to be a special 'chubsters' section for those will ample bottoms, or those people could buy 2 seats, thus improving club revenues.

Win-win.

Just get rid of seats altogether. Will double the capacity and the fatties will lose weight due to having to stand for 90 mins. A win win.

[RBMarshall]

Make the seats 10% smaller, then we could fit 10% more in.

There might have to be a special 'chubsters' section for those will ample bottoms, or those people could buy 2 seats, thus improving club revenues.

Win-win.

Just get rid of seats altogether. Will double the capacity and the fatties will lose weight due to having to stand for 90 mins. A win win.

Kent has stated that standing areas would NOT increase capacity and I guess he should know.
Basically I think he's saying you're only allow the same amount of people standing as those who could be seated in the same area. Seems strange to those of us who remember the old days but the rules now are very different I suppose.

[Clive Evans]

Crowds are not so much dependant on what League you are in ( this season a classic example ), but how many games you win & the manner in which you play. As Orient seem to play better away from Brisbane Rd, I guess we are OK.

[A Pedant]

Kent has stated that standing areas would NOT increase capacity and I guess he should know.
Basically I think he's saying you're only allow the same amount of people standing as those who could be seated in the same area. Seems strange to those of us who remember the old days but the rules now are very different I suppose.

It entirely depends on what the Sports Ground Safety Authority is prepared to licence for a given stadium layout. According to this article, the SGSA gives licences to standing areas in Leagues One and Two with higher densities than seated areas.

Also from that article, a quote from the Football Supporters' Federation: "As long as the areas are properly designed, maintained and stewarded, the FSF sees no reason why clubs cannot go for a greater ratio than one-for-one when they switch seats for standing places."

[Orientinoz]

Crowds are not so much dependant on what League you are in ( this season a classic example ), but how many games you win & the manner in which you play. As Orient seem to play better away from Brisbane Rd, I guess we are OK.

WSS is on the ball.... Success brings crowds..

[Proposition Joe]

It was big enough just 5 years ago when we almost reached the Championship. HTH.

[RientO]

Crowds are not so much dependant on what League you are in ( this season a classic example ), but how many games you win & the manner in which you play. As Orient seem to play better away from Brisbane Rd, I guess we are OK.

WSS is on the ball.... Success brings crowds..

But not necessarily sell outs. For Eastleigh and Harrogate there was extra capacity created in the East Stand and it wasn't filled. I think only for Wrexham were there no tickets available on the day.
No matter how well Orient do in league two and ultimately league one, there won't be many sell outs. I have never had an issue getting a ticket on the day in the past. I am a STH at the moment and got two free tickets next to me in the East Stand for Saturday's game a few weeks ago.

[Kent]

There is a possibility of rebuilding the East Stand with a 5,000 seater structure, which I think would raise capacity by around 1,500 from its current capacity. This has been mentioned a few times by Porter, Teague and Travis.

As for other areas:

- West Stand - possibly reconfiguration of the current seating rake to allow for more seats? Also possibly another tier (recall this being mentioned when it was built, although how accurate this was is for debate!)

- South Stand - continue seating to the front of the stand - essentially adding around 400-500 seats over what was the existing moat? (Not sure if this is feasible?)

- North Stand - unless somehow another tier could be constructed over the existing flats behind the current stand I doubt this stand has any room for upgrading its capacity

[RientO]

There is a possibility of rebuilding the East Stand with a 5,000 seater structure, which I think would raise capacity by around 1,500 from its current capacity.

Maybe the East Stand could be reconfigured to have a few more usable seats. The section above the old tunnel and even the tunnel itself. Also could partition under the stand on the south side and have more flexible away support areas appropriate to the opposition. That would be a fairly cheap fix.

[Razzmachaz]

The owners do want to bring our capacity up above 10,000. They think they can achieve this with the East stand. There are plans to do this. Even if we can increase our capacity by a thousand or 2. It would make a big difference to ticket availability and options for ticket promotions etc.

When the ground was redeveloped I think Hearn well under cooked the capacity in my opinion when you consider there are smaller clubs than us with larger capacity. Flats in the corners is one thing but restricting us with flats behind the stands was a piss take in my opinion and should have been veto'd

[Red_Army]

I wonder if the East stand could be extended at the wings slightly. There is a lot of space between the stand and the flats.

[BIGRON]

Just move to the London stadium and share with you know who .........

[Razzmachaz]

East stand could probably be rebuilt further forward closer to the pitch leaving more room to build behind as well. If it ever is rebuilt I would like to see a gable or something similar put into the design of the stand.

[RientO]

Just move to the London stadium and share with you know who .........

Don't even think about it. I have been there a few times now (Rugby, Stones, and in away end) and there are no seats that are anywhere near the pitch. The worst seat at Brisbane Road is better than the best seat there. Also no pubs, crazy crowd control post match, and beer at over £6/pint. Glad Saracens aren't going back there again.

[tuffers#1]

There is a possibility of rebuilding the East Stand with a 5,000 seater structure, which I think would raise capacity by around 1,500 from its current capacity. This has been mentioned a few times by Porter, Teague and Travis.

As for other areas:

- West Stand - possibly reconfiguration of the current seating rake to allow for more seats? Also possibly another tier (recall this being mentioned when it was built, although how accurate this was is for debate!)

- South Stand - continue seating to the front of the stand - essentially adding around 400-500 seats over what was the existing moat? (Not sure if this is feasible?)

- North Stand - unless somehow another tier could be constructed over the existing flats behind the current stand I doubt this stand has any room for upgrading its capacity

West stand Foundations supposedly were laid to aid a double tier stand . The structure itself would probably have to comendown & up again , but as far as i read it,
Foundations are solid.

This would cut any cost in half if it was a single tier foundation. Again it would have to be surveyed to firm the info up.

[RientO]

East stand could probably be rebuilt further forward closer to the pitch leaving more room to build behind as well. If it ever is rebuilt I would like to see a gable or something similar put into the design of the stand.

Can't get any closer. Don't think any stand is as close to the pitch these days. old Highbury and West Ham used to be.
I will have to bring my old boots and play on the wing if stand is any closer to the pitch!

[NOM]

If we secure being Champions on Saturday & success is maintained next Season.

Funniest OP for the last 4 years

Thanks

[cymruO]

Away support for most League 2 sides won't be great and I'd guess that we'd need to add a further 3-4000 to our fan base before the ground was regularly full.

[RientO]

Away support for most League 2 sides won't be great and I'd guess that we'd need to add a further 3-4000 to our fan base before the ground was regularly full.

Core regular support for Orient would probably max out at about 10,000. Even when ground could hold around 30,000 in the 1970s with Os in old second division, average attendances were only 6,000 - 10,000 in the main.

[Fisch]

Isn't the fact that LOFC doesn't own the ground something we should add into the discussion?