Per a new report from The Sun, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight could involve himself in Birmingham City's plans to build a sparkling new stadium in the middle of the city. The Championship club want to build a 62,000-seater ground, which could cost in excess of £3 billion ($4bn), under the stewardship of NFL legend Tom Brady.
St Andrews plans
Birmingham have unveiled plans to build a new, 62,000-seater stadium in the centre of Birmingham. The club announced their expansion project while they were still in League One but they have since won promotion to the Championship and are now targeting a spot in the Premier League. The new stadium is designed to be the centrepiece of a Birmingham Sports Quarter, and rival Aston Villa's Villa Park. Now, Knight has outlined his own plans to get involved.
AdvertisementGetty Images EntertainmentKnight to lend his ideas
Knight, the mastermind behind Peaky Blinders and SAS: Rogue Heroes, said during a regional investment summit at Edgsbaston Stadium: “I wanted to offer the architects some words of advice about what supporters will like and won’t like.“This stadium is a reflection of the past 150 years and hopefully it will be something that’s still around in 150 years from now.
“I think we’re going to do something internationally special.”
Tom Wagner, the club's owner, added: “We don’t have designs on becoming a national stadium. But we would certainly want it to be a place that hosts national level and international level events.
“The design will be worthy of that. It will be one of the most talked about stadium designs ever when we reveal it in about a month’s time.”
'Super exciting' future
Birmingham CEO Jeremy Dale said upon the announcement of their plans: "The centrepiece of this £3billion project is a 60,000-seat multi-purpose stadium, the like of which will not have been seen before.
“The world’s leading architects are competing for the contract to design the stadium, which will include a retractable pitch, to allow non-sporting events like concerts to take place.
“The vision is that it will become an iconic ‘sporting coliseum’, respectful of local heritage, and provide an all-year location for sport, culture, leisure, entertainment, retail and education.
“We have been on this for a year, with 75 consultants working on the project already, the master plan and business plan. It is super exciting.”
Heatherwick Studio has been appointed to design the new stadium, with Thomas Heatherwick, the company's founder, saying: “This is going to be an incredible piece of city built around the passions of the Blues fans and the community. Not another spaceship dropped in a car park which feels dead when there’s not a match, but somewhere that’s alive, connected, grown from the site and from the history of Birmingham itself. We couldn’t be prouder.”
David Manica, president and owner of Manica Architecture, added: “We’re thrilled to partner with Heatherwick Studio to design an extraordinary new home for
Birmingham City Football Club. This new stadium will not only usher in a new era for Birmingham fans
but will honour the Club’s passionate supporters and storied history.”
Getty Images SportWhat comes next?
Birmingham are currently 12th in the Championship and take on Bristol City this weekend. They come into the game on the back of a 1-0 victory over Preston North End, and are just three points off the play-off spots, while also sitting 10 points behind early pace-setters Coventry City.
At the start of the season, they were given just a "15 per cent" chance of winning promotion by pundit Don Goodman.
He said: “What we do know, is that Birmingham are a super ambitious club, the recruitment certainly reflects that ambition. They very much remind me of Ipswich, the project. With every passing signing, I find myself giving them a slightly better chance of a top-six finish, but I couldn't give them more than a 15 to 20% chance of promotion at this stage.
“The main reason for that would be the style of play that they had last season, which was complete domination of teams in League One. They won't be able to average 66% of the ball – they're simply not going to be having that in the Championship."