Paraag Marathe, president of 49ers Enterprises, featured on the latest edition of The Phil Hay Show to discuss all things Leeds United ahead of their final game of the 2020/21 season.
West Bromwich Albion visit Elland Road on Sunday in the final game of the Premier League campaign, with a top-half finish already confirmed for the Whites.
Do you think Elland Road needs to be expanded?
Yes
No
One topic of discussion on the podcast with Marathe was potential development that could take place at Elland Road in the future.
Elland Road currently has a capacity of 37,890 and there have been suggested plans of increasing that to around 50,000.
Discussing potential plans, Marathe had the following to say on the matter:
“There are things that we could do to modernise the stadium and to increase capacity, you know, hopefully, get us an increase to get above 50,000. Angus [Kinnear] has talked about that over the last few months.
“But, we have to maintain the special elements of what we have in a 100-year-old Elland Road, that is a menacing environment for opposing team players.
“And it is a difficult place to play because our supporters make it a difficult place to play – and when I say delicate balance, we have to be careful to not make it just a sterile environment because we want to increase revenues for the club.
“We want to increase revenues, yes, but we want to maintain that magic in a bottle that we have to really keep that competitive advantage that we really feel strongly about.”
TIF Thoughts on Marathe’s comments…
In a league where there are examples of newly-built stadiums offering the latest in technology and fan experience, it is interesting to hear Marathe say he would like to keep the tradition at Elland Road.
At a time where some Premier League owners have gone against the wishes of their fans in signing up to the proposed European Super League, it is a breath of fresh air to hear a member of a side’s hierarchy seemingly still in touch with the values of the club.
We think Leeds fans should be excited by what Marathe had to say here and they should certainly feel fortunate to have a board who seem to have the best interests of the club at heart.
In other news: ‘Oh nooo’, ‘Made of glass’ – Lots of Leeds fans flock to BBC man’s injury post