by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

STOKE chairman Peter Coates says a decision on expanding the Britannia Stadium’s capacity by more than 3,000 to over 30,000 remains in the balance.

Stoke attracted the Britannia’s biggest-ever home support of nearly 27,000 on Sunday after extra seating was set aside for City fans in conjunction with a one-off ticket offer.

But Coates remains open-minded on extending the stadium’s capacity while he awaits the results of a thorough appraisal into the feasibility of filling in the scoreboard corner between the East and South stands.

“We are doing our homework and will probably make a decision this season, but everything is conditional on us staying up,” he said.

“We have to take into account the cost factor and whether we believe we will fill the extra seating.

“I think it’s unlikely anything would be done in time for next season, but then again prices in the building industry are low at the moment and so you never know.

“I think the scoreboard corner is the one we would look after first,” he continued, “because the foundations are already in place there, aesthetically it would work well by finishing off that corner and the scoreboard could easily be moved.”

Coates said one major change already agreed for the start of next season is the construction of a pedestrian underpass beneath the road running between the stadium and the Harvester pub.

This will allow fans on foot to safely leave vacate the area after games without holding up traffic, as they do at present.

Meanwhile, Coates has not ruled out further departures on loan to the Championship before Thursday’s transfer deadline, which will prevent any subsequent transactions until January 1.

Stoke already have eight players out on loan following last week’s departures of Dave Kitson and Michael Tonge to Middlesbrough and Preston respectively, but could still entertain offers for the likes of ex-skipper Andy Griffin, defender Leon Cort and winger Tom Soares.

All three were in line to play for Stoke’s reserves against West Ham at Bishop’s Stortford this evening (7pm).