Former Leicester City player Matt Piper has given his verdict on the club’s plans to expand the stadium and the area surrounding the King Power Stadium.
Having made some remarkable progress on the pitch under the stewardship of Brendan Rodgers, the club looks set to continue their development off the pitch as well in the coming years.
The club have already taken a step forward when it comes to their training facilities, and this week they announced their plans for their stadium complex as well, submitting planning permission to Leicester City Council to increase the stadium’s seating capacity as well as transform the area around the King Power Stadium.
However, speaking on the latest edition of the Leicester City Football Forum, when asked by host Owynn Palmer-Atkin about the calibre of players that changes to the stadium like this can bring in, Piper claimed this type of project wouldn’t do much to persuade a new player to join the team, saying that a stadium isn’t a priority when a player chooses their next club:
“I think a player’s mindset is more who manages the team. Initially, I think a player would be like: ‘Who manages the team and where are the team in the table, what kind of players are there and is it going to be good for my personal development?
“A stadium to a player is obviously nice, but I don’t think it would be high on the decision-making, more the training ground because you spend most of your time there, so that’s already in place. So for attracting new players I don’t think it needs to be rushed because I think we’ve already got that pull with what we’ve got in place currently.”
TIF Thoughts on Matt Piper’s comments about Leicester City and the club’s expansion plans
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It’s interesting to note Piper’s take on the subject, because if he’s right about the player’s point of view on the matter, then you can understand why the club went about doing the training ground first and then moving on to the stadium in that order.
And whilst a move like this might not necessarily attract the players directly when it comes to increased revenue with the extra capacity as well as the additional parts of the project, then it could at least provide them with some extra funds to boost the team and carry on the progress that the club has made in recent years.
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