This season looks to be lucky one for clubs either looking to expand their existing home grounds or looking for a shift to somewhere else. After Barcelona’s more talked about proposal to expand the capacity of Camp Nou, English club Queens Park Rangers seems to be following their Spanish rival’s footstep and looking for an alternate for their one-hundred-year old home ground. Reportedly, English Championship club announced their plans to leave Loftus Road for a new 40000 seater ground somewhere in West London. Location wise, their new home is not far away from old one, coz it is just few minutes’ drive away, but since it would have almost double sitting space to that of Loftus Road, it fits into their future plans as well. However, as far their performance is concerned, they could never be a big league club on English circuit, in fact, they were relegated in the EPL last season, but promises to come back with a bang this time and this could be their first step in that direction. Notably, this not so famous English club has ever been a target of critics because of its rising conflicts in the board meetings, in fact, every big decision only comes out after facing several differences at the top.
If everything works as planned, Old Oak would be the new address for QPR fans. There could be a debate why they chose Old Oak, rather an undeveloped area for their future home, but those, who know about the exaggerated plans revealed by the Mayor, consider this a good move by West London club. Their chairman informed about their swift from Loftus Road quite emotionally, he said, “Loftus Road is – and always will be – a special place for the club and our supporters, but we need more than an 18,000 capacity.
“With no option of expanding here, we have to look elsewhere and we welcome the Mayor’s and Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s commitment to regenerate the area, which includes an option to develop a new stadium at Old Oak as a key catalyst to bring forward redevelopment, cementing our future in this part of West London.
“Not only will this give us a top quality stadium to cater for QPR’s needs as the club progresses and grows over the years ahead, but we are very excited about being the driving force behind creating one of the best new urban places in the world. This will be the catalyst for the regeneration of a forgotten area – ultimately bringing new transport, 24,000 homes and at least 50,000 jobs.”