Leeds want to keep Elland Road atmosphere

Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe has outlined the club’s plans for the expansion of Elland Road.

Leeds announced their intention to expand their stadium in September last year, taking the capacity from 37,645 to 53,000 seats. This would make it the seventh-largest club stadium in England.

Marathe, who is also president of 49ers Enterprises, the group that owns Leeds, said that the club are aiming to expand without compromising the existing capacity.

“We’ll expand the hospitality and also the GA (general admission), it will be a little bit of everything,” said Marathe, speaking online as part of the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit on Wednesday.

“Mostly in the West Stand but then we’ll look at the South and North, too. But we want to do it without compromising seats over the next couple of years, so it’s going to be a bit tricky but that’s our goal and we’re ploughing forward on all fronts.”

“What’s of paramount importance is to keep the cauldron and electricity of the stadium today — it is a special place, over 100 years old,” he said. “Elland Road is a place that players and managers from other clubs don’t like playing at because it’s been called a cauldron or a hurricane of noise.

Marathe also addressed the idea that energy drinks company Red Bull — which owns a minority stake in the team and is their front-of-shirt sponsor — could eventually take over the club.  “Not contemplated at all,” he said. “There’s no language to that effect. It’s not something we’ve discussed ever. They wanted to be a minority partner and will continue to be a minority partner for as long as we have a partnership.”