Express & Star

Wolves' Molineux expansion set for 2019

Wolves hope to start their multi-million pound Molineux revamp in 2019, Laurie Dalrymple confirmed as he suggested the South Bank will be the first stand redeveloped.

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Laurie Dalrymple at Molineux (AMA SPORTS PHOTO AGENCY)

Plans are being drawn up to increase Molineux’s capacity but bosses want to establish the club in the Premier League first and will devote this year’s budget to improving the team.

But with Fosun looking to make Wolves a top flight force, they also want to expand Molineux’s 31,700 capacity.

“There are a few things up in the air but the plan at this stage is to be in a position where we’d start the redevelopment in summer 2019,” Dalrymple told the Express & Star.

“We’ve started those discussions and they’ve accelerated since Christmas.

“We’ve got a few bits and pieces we need to tie up in terms of what’s physically ours, around Molineux. Those discussions are continuing.”

The Express & Star understands those discussions include negotiating a deal to buy land behind the South Bank from Carillion, which could then see the stand almost doubled in size to a 10,000 all-seater single tier.

Dalrymple added: “The process is still being debated now in terms of what we think is the right order to do it.

“But we will be doing that through fan consultation and dialogue with architects and developers that will give us the right approach.

“If you were to look at it simplistically you’d say the Steve Bull stand needs to be razed to the ground tomorrow, but we need to look at a wider perspective in terms of what’ll have the least impact for bums on seats.

"We definitely want to keep the South Bank as a single tier.

“There’s a strong argument to say once we’ve got our land and bits and pieces tied up we would start with a build project that would incorporate a much bigger, newer South Bank that would allow us to have a lesser drop in terms of attendances when we came to sorting out the Steve Bull.”