Norwich City’s chief operating officer, Ben Kensell, has confirmed that the English Premier League club has purchased land around Carrow Road, paving the way for future expansion of the stadium.
Kensell told shareholders at the club’s annual meeting that a strip of land adjacent to the City Stand and another plot behind the Barclay Stand had been acquired. The total investment was less than £1m, he added.
At just over 27,300, Carrow Road’s capacity is currently in the bottom five of the Premier League.
“We have purchased two parcels of land outside the ground. There was an opportunity and we took it,” said Kensell, who added that the deals had been agreed following the club’s promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2018-19 season.
“Both the parcels are way under the £500,000 mark. We have a strip between the City Stand and Koblenz Avenue. That would allow us to erect a stand, because you are not allowed to do that and hang over a piece of land you don’t own.”
Last summer, Norwich introduced in-stadium Wi-Fi and replaced thousands of seats as part of several improvements marking the club’s return to the Premier League.
“It represented excellent value so we took that opportunity for the club,” he added to the Pink Un newspaper.
“What that now does is allow us to pull together a true feasibility study for what we need to do over the next three to five years, but we can now deliver against those plans because we have the footprint around the stadium.
“What we don’t want to do is deliver pipe dreams; we want to deliver achievable aims as part of the club’s plan to grow. It is a long-term plan. As a self-funded club, we need a strategy to move forward on and off the pitch.”
Image: Nick
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