Friday, 13th December, 2013
Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp hopes his players can justify the need to build a new 40,000-seater stadium by reaching the Premier League, and staying there.
QPR yesterday announced plans to shift base some two-and-a-half miles away to an area called Old Oak.
Their current Loftus Road home can hold 18,000 something Redknapp feels is paltry if the ambition is to maintain their presence in the Premier League.
"If the club wants to be up there competing with the best, then it needs a stadium," Redknapp told a press conference. "With 18,000 people, it's impossible to make it pay. Let's hope it can happen.
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"But if you haven't got Premier League football, it's very difficult to fill a massive stadium – you don't need it. You've got to be in the Premier League really to have a stadium that can hold 40,000.
"18,000 stadiums are a thing of the past. If you were in the second division you'd build a new stadium that would hold 18-20,000. To be a premier league team of any note, you need a stadium that can hold 40,000.
"But you don't fill it unless you're in [the Premier League]. They go hand-in-hand. We can never guarantee that, but we're trying our best and hopefully we can achieve that.
"The long-term future of the club is going to be fantastic. If [the stadium] happens it will be great for QPR. It shows the ambition of the owner and the board."
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