No you're right, there is a "soft segregation" between home and away supporters at Headingley now, that is its not official but they go to great lengths to try and achieve it.



Its possible of course to pay over the odds and sit in the North Stand wings and there may be space in the Carnegie Stand for away supporters but I believe that if you buy tickets in advance from your own club then you will only be offered Western Terrace tickets (other than the North Stand seats).



And it works both ways too - while Leeds supporters can freely go and stand on the Western Terrace, if they have a Southstand ticket they are not allowed to transfer to the WT or use the turnstiles at the Kirkstall end of the ground, I tried to transfer out of the southstand and only managed it by finding a dateless steward who was too confused to argue and opened a gate that he shouldn't have, I think he'd only been told not to let anyone IN, not OUT.

All of which is irrelevant if any planned building doesn't comply with local planning laws, and building something higher than a structure thats already there in a predominantly residential area is always going to be a problem whether or not you own ALL of the houses for miles around.



Building a stand that is no higher than the current terrace would drastically reduce the capacity of that terrace (its surprisingly big) and hence be totally pointless from a business point of view, the reduction in capacity probably wouldn't even cover the extra couple of quid per head that you might be able to charge to stand under cover (and would any of you be happy to pay £22 to stand in any stadium ?)

Exactly, and from a Leeds business point of view it makes sense, as it's not as if it would be utilised much anyway. Stinks as an away fan though.



However, if they did buy them houses, they'd probably do more than just "put a roof on". You'd be able to extend that stand significantly. No need to at the moment, but maybe in the future. Although again, with parking and access problems that Headingley suffer from, you'd have a lot to do to be able to get planning permission for a larger capacity.

Wrong, we cant go backwards due to the ginnell. We'd have to go upwards which would also mean going back.

Or we could have everyone sat on the person in fronts shoulders like they do at Real Madrid

Aye we could. Scandlous there and Camp Nou.



Only way we could do some form of roof is by losing some capcity and the walkway at the back, which i presume is required for an emergency exit.

Let's see the Whinos fans reaction to 1,500 Wiganers suddenly taking up their space in the South Stand. That will go down well won't it?

Its never going to happen, the southstand is all ticket for the most popular games (and you can guess that they are not made available to other clubs) and there is no access to it from the sides like there used to be - you stay on the Western Terrace like you've been told

I still can't see any reason that a roof can't be put on to the existing terrace, albeit it would have to have some supporting pillars as there isn't space for a cantilever roof. If Blyth Spartans can manage it then I'm sure Leeds Rhinos can.

Unless a Southstand ticket is bought

Except Blyth Spartans have a shed load of land available around the ground and don't have a public walkway to deal with.



In my opinion the Western Terrace will get done eventually, in maybe 10 years time, but the matter of the houses and walkway are difficult to overcome. As I understand it Leeds have already bought a couple of the houses behind the WT but there are several others that would undoubtably complain about rise in height of the stand.

Even putting a roof on would obviously require planning permission that would be tricky to get through since it would still have to be higher than the height of the current stand and as has been said the walkway directly behind the WT means it can't be taken further back.



With the South Stand needing "urgent" work on it, obviously that has taken priority and the facilities and old wooden seats of the North (Main) Stand need upgrading too. So in the short term thats going to have to take priority since planning permission won't be a problem for either North or South Stand developments.



It's also inaccurate to say that money hasn't been spent on Headingley in the past, it most certainly has. Before the Carnegie Stand was built there were several refurbishments in the North Stand including the dressing rooms and players lounge and a refurbishment of the South Stand roof. I also remember the South Stand bar and changing rooms being refurbished. Also the hotel with all its associated conferencing and banqueting facilities was built along with a new club shop and training facility, which probably goes someway to explain Leeds vastly higher income than other SL clubs.