Inside Leeds United’s plan to modernise Elland Road while maintaining its edge

Special report: Leeds want to increase arena’s capacity by 15,355 to 53,000 to make it the country’s seventh-largest club ground

With Leeds fans standing on seats, swinging white scarves above their heads and belting out I Predict A Riot, the unique atmosphere of Elland Road could not have been captured more accurately than the win against Norwich last season that sent the club to the Championship play-off final.
There was joy at the prospect of returning to the Premier League then, but the old stadium can also be a cauldron of hostility – a place visiting teams often find difficult to deal with. Watching the clubs fans get “lairy”, as the lyrics to the Kaiser Chiefs song go, can shrink some opposing players as swiftly as it lifts those wearing all white.
LEEDS INTO CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF FINAL via 4-0 thrashing of Norwich. Fans celebrate special night at Elland Road by belting out I Predict A Riot. 🔥One of England’s most storied clubs, & most tortured fanbases, 90 minutes from a Premier League return. ⚪️pic.twitter.com/o4KEIiomEX
And that will be the task for the club’s owner, American 49ers Enterprises, as it looks to expand and update the 127-year old stadium. Everyone associated with the club, from fans to the board, accept the need to improve the ground, but they do not want it to lose its edge.
Last month, Leeds announced the next phase of their expansion, with proposals to increase capacity by 15,355, which would make it the country’s seventh-largest club ground, with 53,000 seats, “in a stadium that retains the unique atmosphere”, according to Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe.
The stadium has long been on the agenda at the club, before 49ers Enterprises took control, so it was always going to be a project for the new owner to work on. The group built the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where the San Francisco 49ers Amercan football team have played for the last decade. It has also hosted NFL Super Bowls.
So the dream for 49ers Enterprises is to retain the atmosphere while moving with the times. An elite stadium – with prestigious Uefa Category 4-status, making it eligible to host European club football – is the plan. But it is the plan for a Premier League team.
That wild night against Norwich put them on the brink of a return to the top flight but they were beaten at Wembley by Southampton. It is understood work on the expansion will begin only if they get back into the big time.
Daniel Farke is a manager with a track record of promotion and excellent points hauls in the second tier, and this vision relies on him getting the team promoted. They are fifth, handily placed for a shot at promotion, but there are no guarantees.
High-profile, albeit minority, investment by celebrities such as Will Ferrell, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps reinforces the view that Leeds have huge potential. Red Bull racing have become shirt sponsor and their kit manufacturer is Adidas.
Those driving on the M621 motorway cannot miss the stadium, with its large Jack Charlton East Stand. Driving towards it, however, can send fans, and journalists, into palpitations. The final stretch from the motorway on to Elland Road itself is a notorious bottleneck that can add time to journeys.
“Every year there is a story about the city of Leeds getting a tram service and expanding the stadium,” said Rob Conlon, of highly respected fanzine The Square Ball. So we have been here before.
 Leeds have appointed a local transport consultant to look at access to the stadium. According to the club, the aim is to “ensure an improvement in the experience for both residents and supporters arriving at the ground”.
Leeds have not released images of their plans. It is a long-term project and they are getting everything in place as they wait for promotion. They have said they have appointed specialist stadium architect KSS, which has a track record in British football. It has worked on Leicester City’s training ground, regarded as one of the best in the Premier League and the talk among players at other clubs because it has its own golf course. KSS has also worked on Anfield’s expansion and Manchester United’s training-ground revamp.
The hospitality areas in the West Stand will be upgraded to make the build financially viable, according to sources. Leeds are also determined to get their season ticket waiting list down from 26,000. They will also plan to increase the number of general admission tickets.
“There wasn’t much further detail apart from the announcement so we’ll wait and see what the trade-off is,” said The Square Ball’s Conlon on the balance between more hospitality and retaining the atmosphere. “There is a lot of unknown to it. But there is obviously a need to modernise the stadium and nobody wants it to lose its soul.”
Whether Elland Road will retain its roar from the stands has been a topic of conversation. To that end, Leeds will work with acoustics experts on “reverberation times”, which is the technical term for the time between chanting stopping and decaying by 60 decibels.
The company that worked on Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, Populous, worked with rock group U2’s sound engineers and tapped into the experience of stadium concerts to fine-tune the acoustics for that project.
As Conlon points out, fans are not getting too carried away, as they have heard about plans for the stadium before. What is clear is that everybody wants to stay at Elland Road rather than relocate. But it will look very different if they get back in the Premier League.