Home fans only in Wolves' Stan Cullis stand

Wolves' new £18m Stan Cullis Stand is set to be a home fans only zone when it opens fully next season.

The initial plan was to relocate away supporters in the quadrant of the new two-tier North Bank, which will be opened in its entirety for the new campaign.

But chief executive Jez Moxey said the club are looking at housing visitors in the bottom tier of the Steve Bull Stand, similar to games against the better-supported teams last season.

That means it would be Wolves fans only behind both goals next term to reinforce home advantage, with Molineux's capacity rising from 28,000 to 31,700.

"We have configurations that cater for a small number of away fans and a large number in the quadrant, but we have discussed things internally because next season is different to a Premier League season," said Moxey.

"We don't want large swathes of empty gold seats in the home areas."

Moxey revealed the 7,700-capacity stand is ready to be opened on time, just over a year to the day since work started.

"The stand is coming along well but the schedule is tight," he said. "I hope people agree that, inside and out, it looks quite incredible."

So far, only the bottom tier – holding around 4,000 fans – of the stand has been open.

But the process hasn't been smooth, and several new seats broke during the first game they were installed – the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City on April 22.

Meanwhile, work has started on renovating the pitches at Molineux and the Compton training complex.

Head groundsman Wayne Lumbard said: "It initially involves taking off the grass and the first two millimetres of the root zone.

"The top four inches will be cultivated with new material and the contractors will lasergrade it and seed it.

"It's up to us to get it to peak quality seven to 10 days before the Villa pre-season friendly game on (Saturday) August 11."