999 more years for Wolves at Molineux
Wednesday 31st March 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Molineux’s redevelopment into a 40,000-seater stadium took a leap forward today as Wolves were given a 999-year lease on the ground.
The club had asked Wolverhampton City Council for the freehold of the land to progress plans to expand the existing 29,300 capacity, with a hotel and conference centre among the options.
The council did not want to grant the freehold in order to ensure there must always be a football pitch at Molineux.
Details have yet to emerge on Wolves’ expansion plans.
But today council leader Neville Patten revealed the club was planning to invest £40 million in improving the stadium and surrounding area, with early proposals including a hotel and conference rooms.
He said club chief executive Jez Moxey had told him of the proposals at a meeting yesterday.
“Jez has praised Wolverhampton and said Wolves are looking to spend £40m. I understand they’re in talks with the University over buying some land at the back of Molineux as well.”
Wolves owner Steve Morgan bought Peal House, the former Carillion building on the corner of Waterloo Road, in January.
The city council last night agreed to extend the lease to 999 years from 125 years.
Councillor Patten added: “This means any developers who may want to put money in know that their investment will last.
“It also prevents the stadium from being moved out of the city centre.”
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What a superb arrangement! Well done to the city counsil for both encouraging and protecting the presence of Wolverhampton Wanderes in the city centre.
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Good news. However!!!! I would rather see the club invest £40 mil into the team to ensure top flight football than spend it on the stadium first. So cement our place over the next 2 seasons and then develop the ground please.
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well said rich although we can do that if we expand the stadium due to the ticket sales and profits off that but we do really need to focus on the team first.
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Thats a good point rich, although a bigger and better stadium might help us to attract a higher calibre of player. Plus the extra tickets sold will help fund more players.
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comon we gna make teams scared when they come to moluinuex after the redevelopment
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Great news from the club all these nice purpose built out of town stadiums are nice,but i want to stay at the molineux.
So glad Steve Morgan shares that view
HEAVENS AT THE MOLINEUX AND THATS WHERE WERE FROM!!!!!!
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Great news. Now lets Kick on with team & Stadium like we should have done in the 90′s. Let’s finally fulfill our potential. No more hurt & underachievment. Lets shut that sneering cocky lot up down the road once and for all.
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Well done to Mr. Morgan and Jez; busy behind the scenes ensuring our long term future.
While we’re at it, let’s fill in a couple of corners in so I don’t get frost bite from the wind whipping through Molineux in Dec-Feb, it would also help create a better atmosphere.
Good luck on Saturday. UTW
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Good news but a club the size of Wolves should look at a slightly bigger capacity!
In terms of the team, once we have secured our status, all we need to do is get rid of a few and bring in 4 or 5 experienced players and we will be fine!
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Why? We’ve only sold out half of our home games this season?
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Just to annoy idiots like you Wolvesmod…negative, negative, negative all the way!
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This is fantastic news for Wolverhampton City centre.
An increased capacity would hopefully attract more supporters and by doing so, would also create more spending in city centre businesses. This in turn should create more employment.
It is a win win situation. Fingers crossed that the team keep winning in the manner that they batterred West Ham.
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Its good times to be a Wolves fan at the moment, the mission to stay in the Premier League is well on target and almost touchable…
These plans too improve the stadium has come with great timing IMO… Clearly we need to secure our fate… But should we achive our goal, a 40K compacity in my eyes is perfect for where we currently are at the moment…
Anything more than 40k would be a huge gamble… Of cause theres nothing stopping the plans to be put in place further exspanion at a later date, this I’m sure Morgan and Co will be thinking of…
The futures bright my friends!!!
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Were so lucky that we are able to develop on an inner city stadium. I hate these new out of town ones. You can only get there by car and there is no pubs or food places anywhere meaning your forced to pay stupid prices for food I wouldn’t even give my dog. We can hop on the bus a few hours before the match, maybe do some shopping if you want, grab some food, have a few beers then have a short stroll to the ground.
It walking distance from the train station, bus station and tram station (or taxi ranks if that’s what you want). What more could you ask for.
I know and have met many away fans who love coming here too for pretty much the same reasons.
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great news. even better than staying up. the current ground is a mess. too far away from the pitch. not intimidating enough. average food n bar areas. corners not filled in. TV screens which don’t work. the list goes on…
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why are you talking about the baggies ground stay off our message boards
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Just trying to work out how old i’ll be at the end of the lease.
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erm….DEAD old!!!
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Brilliant news. I think once survival is assured, because we still need 9 points then I think Wolves will be thinking of demolishing the steve bull stand and start to properly look at how a modern stadium should look like, with obvious scope to make us the most intimidating grounds in the country.
Here is a question…. What is your preferred stadium design? Have a bowl of a stadium which the sound coming out of it is immense, or what about the 4 stands on its own?
I prefer the bowl, because of the fact it can look awesome on match day.
Another plus point from Morgan & Moxey, thank the lord we are not moving out of the city centre. Because I did fear we would move to Junction 2 M54 belt.
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A freehold would have given the club encouragement to sell the land and find a cheaper ‘out of city’ option. Well done to the council for protecting the Molineux.
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this good news for the city.a state of the art stadium,hotel.lets hope we can stay in the premier league so it matches the best teams around.
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brilliant news. cant wait to see the plans. i dare say it wont be too long until we see them. good times overall!!
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Good news regarding the future of football at Molineux but as has been said by many before, the team is the most important aspect. IF the development is to be in addition to team strengthening then good becomes great but if instead of, then this is indeed bad news!
In the 70′s the Wolves board invested in the John Ireland Stand instead of in the team and it almost brought the club to it’s knees with the interest payments owed to the bank – this should NOT be repeated!!!
A 40,000 ground capacity would certainly add extra revenue to the club for all sorts of purposes but must NOT be to the detriment of team strengthening which will be of the utmost priority should be manage to keep our Premier League place!
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Don’t we get £40 million for staying up?
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Ive had many happy times at Molineux mostly back when we had a decent team in the 50′s through to the 70′s , that was when we could get over 50000 every game not the paltry 28000 nowadays leading to a complete loss of atmosphere in recent years not helped by lack of success on the pitch and successive terrible managers and overpaid useless players.
The area around Molineux is also a complete eyesore nowadays,and Whitmore Reans is just a crime ridden drug fuelled desperate place which makes me want to get back down the M5 at 4.45 pronto on matchdays!
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i suggest you stay in torquay then and leave supporting the wolves to true wulfrunians. whats wrong with torquay united?
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Great News that the stadium its staying where it is, i too hate these outer city stadiums. Im very pleased about all the things planned to make our club better in all aspects,also the council for being diligent in NOT selling it as a Freehold. But i must agree with No 2 Rich5wolves, in that id sooner spend the money on the ‘team’ rather than me having a ‘posh new plastic seat’and tv’s etc, i go to watch the team NOT the surroundings etc. So lets hope Steve Morgan bought US as a FOOTBALL TEAM first and foremost NOT as a business oppotunity to expand and make himself loads of cash ?. Saying that if its the 1st option then its GREAT NEWS for WOLVES FC and ALL THE SUPPORTERS OF WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS F.C UTW FOREVER
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When the match against the Villains was on Sky they were praising the pitch partly because of the open corners. Why isn’t our pitch better then?
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Because of all the extra miles put in by players putting a shift in have taken their toll on the surface!
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Spending on the team would be great but we realy need more punters in the ground to pay the players wages.
If we went down in a couple of years due to players leaveing on frees or bad byes coming in 40000 would not be enough for a fizzy pop promotion year. Just hope there are plans to expand to 60000-80000 so we can realy push for europe where we all want to be.
Looking forward to Arsenal tonight, I think we will beat them on Sataurday. We have not had a good beating since Chelsea away a few weeks ago and they might have one eye on the return game.
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I agree with the comment about capacity. Wolves used to host over 60,000 on a regular basis. 100,000 people or more turned out to greet them when (the time before last) they managed promotion to the Premier League… so clearly there is a demand. Perhaps some seats further from the pitch and higher would command lower prices… then perhaps a large number of would be supporters might be able to attend?
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Danger signs ahead.The Morgan money will be spent on bricks and mortar,and not on quality footballers.The club will go into debt doing this,Moxey has already confirmed this.We will be told they will have individual pots of money for players and for the ground.They said exactly the same thing in the late 70s ,but look what happened.It was the debt on the new stand that sent us into administration.What is wrong with getting it right on the pitch first.With a guaranteed £40 million from Sky,why spend millions for extra capacity.How often do we fill the current ground? I wonder who will get the contract to build the new stands.
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Chris its not all doom and gloom
We will get it right on and of the pitch
Its not like the bad old days at Molineux
We all must look forward to the future and hope for the great times to return
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tellwolf, I certainly hope so,but we must learn from the mistakes made last time.
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because our new owner is a millionaire…so we can afford to do both if we survive, team does come first though
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The news from Molineux keeps on getting better by the day, the City needs the club and the facilities that this re-devolopment will bring both on and off the pitch.
I hope this will prove Steve Morgan is now a true Wolves fan and not a ‘red in our bed’. His future commitment to Wolves is greatly appreciated by all.
Now all you jez bashers might give thanks that he took control of our limited funds
and moved the club forward in the best way possible.
Not like the stupid mob at Portsmouth and (MOB IS THE CORRECT WAY TO EXPLAIN THE LEADERSHIP OF THIS CLUB)
The Gold and Blacks have caused mayhem down here(London)beating the bubble blowers in there Manor.
Come on you Wolves.
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SM’s fingerprints are all over this. A few weeks ago the news came out that he’d got his hands on the land around and about the Mol.
Now we hear about the 999 year lease to keep our great football club in the grounds it has occupied for a century or so.
Their seems to be a balanced view coming from the WWFC board backed up by more confident performances on the pitch.
And BTW, don’t you love Theo Walcott saying the gooners have a big game against the Wolves moments after stepping off the Emirates agsinst Barca. The MEAT in the sandwich!
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Stardate 3009 -
our Lease is up this year, why are we not spending more on players, that guy we signed from alpha centurus may have eight legs but it takes him till half time to get his boots on.
But lets give Craddock another year on his contract, he’s not as quick as he used to be, in fact he just seems to be stationary on the penalty spot, but he reads the game well.
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Well done AGAIN Wolverhampton Council. Councillor John Bird saved us back in the dark days (not Hayward) and they have come to the fore again. Great news, dead chuffed
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It was a combination of Bird/Hayward that saved the club.Bird’s determination to ensure the club stayed in Wolverhampton backed by Sir Jack’s millions.
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Malta, The Council at the time put in real money when they purchased Molineux from the Administrator.Without that we would have been left high and dry.
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Rich no2 although I can see where your coming from I think you will find outside investors will be a lot happier putting money into the ground and hotel Etc. than risking it on hit or miss playing staff.This is about taking our beloved club back to where it belongs and it’s going to take time and a lot of patience as well as cash.
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Sounds like an Arsenal type of approach – don’t take unnecessary risks by spending lots of cash on players and hope that the team muddles through until the fincial position settles down. Invest in the infrastructure to provide a long term secure, prosperus future. If we can get a fraction of Arsenal’s success following this strategy then we will be set for a great future
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I’m with #2 on this one
Don’t get me wrong its fantastic news for the football club, but we need to consolidate first. We’re still not mathematically assured of premier league football for next season yet. I’d like Mr Morgan to show as much enthusiasm with building a premier league squad as he does with construction. After all we are a football club and not a building site. It would be a traversty to have a 40000 capicity stadium only half full watching 2nd tier football
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