Tom Hughes
Player Valuation: £10m
Tbh, everything is relative, I'm sure the atmosphere will be good, especially when the fans are up for it like recent games. The new home stand will be like adding 20 rows to the back of the Park end and cranking around the corners to offer just over double the total capacity. The addition of safe standing in the front will hopefully add to that capacity further (but not going for larger tread depths there might limit that potential uplift). Whether the raised arch roof adds greatly to that is yet to be seen.... but at 60 rows it is smaller than say Spurs South stand (82 rows) and less depth than our friendly neighbours over the park.
The documents I read on the acoustics of the stadium weren't really that in depth. There was the usual stuff you get with many stadium designs about having a large traditional home end, and having no overhanging tiers to promote greater acoustic unity. There was a fare amount of emphasis put on this and of course there is some accuracy in those claims, but as ever there has to be context. Then again, some of the statements promoting the idea of designing for a good atmosphere could also be to distract from the rather basic internal configuration chosen, or for not adopting a more complex multi tiered format, more inkeeping with our traditions. That said.... sometimes less is more and perhaps that relative simplicity works better (and is almost always more cost-effective.
There is a subtle difference between overall noise retention in a whole stadium and say designing a home end that is great for generating chants and creating a big atmosphere. That has far more to do with proportions, capacity-density, roof geometry/proximity and how all those factors inter-relate. When Wembley was designed, a lot of talk was about getting rid of the track and how the architects were improving the acoustics for atmosphere. The American designers completely misunderstood the workings of a football home-end. While the noise is retained well, the end stands are nowhere near as good at generating atmosphere af cup finals as the end curves at the old Wembley which were brilliant at creating deafening chants. Even with a multi-tiered format, the smaller Millenium stadium is far superior to Wembley in this and most other respects too because they have better proportions and roof design (even before closing it, which takes it to a whole different level).
