ARSENAL have been warned about expanding the Emirates by former managing director Keith Edelman.
The Gunners are reportedly exploring ways to increase the capacity of their ground after being approached by an architect.
Keith Edelman oversaw the construction of the Emirates while he was Arsenal managing director[/caption]
Ex-Gunners chief has worries over the stadium being expanded[/caption]
The Emirates opened in 2006 and Edelman was crucial in the construction of the stadium, which houses just over 60,000 fans.
He believes it has stood the test of time and voiced concerns over expansion in a bombshell interview with SunSport where he blasts the board for wasting money.
He told SunSport: “When I go there, I look around and it has stood up terribly well over time.
“There are some things that are ageing and need to be replaced, but the fabric of the building is still amazing. It looks like it could have been built two years ago, not 20.
“I know everyone wants to go bigger, but when I go to Wembley, I don’t enjoy the experience. You’re too far away from the pitch.”
Edelman raised doubt on the practicality of expansion at the Emirates, pointing out the problems that could arise if a further 20,000 fans descended on the small space in N7.
He is also doubtful over whether demand will continue at its current level, hinting football could be going through a boom period currently.
He continued: “I’ve seen the reports that they’re trying to make it bigger.
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“It’s a pretty tight site because it’s got the Northern Triangle building at the top, which is where the two railway lines meet, and it’s got the North East line on the left side, you’re looking northwards, and the Dragon Park side, the other side.
“If they manage to get another 20,000 people in the site, they are going to have to do some piece of infrastructure that makes that happen, which I can’t think of at present, not because I’m not clever enough, but I’m sure there’ll be some clever architect who’ll work out some plan to get it to where it could work.
“But it’s quite difficult to think about how you do it. At the time we were struggling to get our stadium built, and that was a big leap, and we’re talking 20 years ago, so 20 years is a pretty good time.
“We weren’t thinking that we wanted to go hugely bigger. One way of looking at it is that football will always be very, very popular.
“But if you go back 20, 30 years, there were lots of times when football stadiums weren’t sold out.
“We may be in a boom period where we’re going to see attendance is very high for the 20 years, and Arsenal could fit 80,000 in. I don’t know.
“But there’s an economic ratio of price per seat and numbers of people.
“Because if you can’t fill your stadium, then you can’t premium price, and you make much more money out of premium price than you do out of adding another 5,000 seats.”
Read our full interview with Edelman
Edelman has landed a new role away from football. He has taken up a position with the country’s leading keynote speakers’ agency, Champions Speakers, to deliver speeches in the business world
