Norwich City: Carrow Road stadium expansion plan on hold

Carrow Road is sold out for most matches

Norwich City FC say they will consider expanding their stadium, but only after they have become an established Premier League side.

The club, whose Carrow Road ground is usually sold out, commissioned a study from the University of East Anglia.

Academics concluded that expanding the ground by 7,000 would be viable.

But chief executive David McNally said increasing the capacity would cost £20m and that continuing to strengthen the first-team squad would take priority.

In a webchat with fans on the club's website, Mr McNally said the UEA experts' findings supported the club's plans to increase the number of seats.

"This independent research project is really important as it deals with facts, such as population growth, and real numbers, such as socio-economic data, and not instinct or intuition," he wrote.

'Properly prepared'

"And so we are convinced that an expansion of Carrow Road is something that the club should contemplate.

"However, circa 7,000 additional seats could cost approximately £20m. Currently, every spare penny is reinvested in the first team squad and this is something that board wishes to continue in the short term.

"Once we have become an established Premier League side then we may consider it viable to invest in the development of Carrow Road.

"In the meantime, we will look at a number of alternative schemes in order to ensure that we are properly prepared for expansion as and when it happens."

Norwich City returned to the Premier League last season after an absence of six years.

Carrow Road currently has a capacity of 27,200 and last season the average attendance for Premier League matches was 26,606.

Both the club and the UEA said the research study had been privately commissioned and would not be released.