New claim issued on Birmingham City's new 62,000 seater stadium - Ibrox comparison made | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit outlines his wishes for the new 62,000 capacity stadium

The excitement for Birmingham City's new 62,000 capacity stadium in their £3 billion Sports Quarter was raised even further this week, as murmurs started to swirl around who the architect would be.

Mail Online reported that Dan Meis, the mastermind behind Everton's new stadium, "is in the hunt" to become the lead architect for the Blues' new ground, set to open in time for the 2030/31 season.

Meis is a well-renowned stadium designer, having worked on the likes of the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and the Lincoln Financial Field stadium in Philadelphia, over in America, and his design of the Hill Dickinson stadium has been well-received, too.

Now he's got his eyes set on Birmingham, and fans are starting to wonder what this new ground could truly look like. Jason Moore, Football League World's Blues fan pundit, has reacted positively to this news and has outlined what he hopes the new 62,000 capacity ground will feature.

Fan pundit reacts to Dan Meis, Birmingham City development

Moore reacted positively to the news that the architect behind the Hill Dickinson Stadium had expressed interest in being the man behind the new Birmingham stadium in the heart of their £3 billion Sports Quarter.

"It's the first I'm hearing of it, but to be fair, the new Everton stadium looks absolutely mint," he said.

The fan pundit credited the way the ground still has an old-school feel in terms of how the fans are situated close to the pitch. St Andrew's is one of the best grounds for that, and Moore hopes that the new stadium doesn't lose that closeness.

"The best thing about Everton's new stadium is that, from what I can see anyway, the fans are still close to the pitch, and you don't want to lose that, as a lot of the older stadiums are close to the pitch," he added.

"There's still a long while to go, as I know that the club has said quite openly that they've interviewed tonnes of architects, and they're nowhere near hiring someone, but if that's the chap they go for, I'm more than happy with it."

If it is Meis who is tasked with being the man behind the project which sees Birmingham hold the eighth-biggest stadium in England, Moore hopes that he doesn't follow similar traditional design models which are seen in modern stadiums.

"I do like Everton's stadium, but I don't want a bowl," he said. "I want something a little different, so if he does get it, hopefully he will do something different.

"Maybe something like Ibrox, with the bricks around the ground, that'd be cool, but yeah, overall I'd be happy with it."

Birmingham City will hope for something unique in their new stadium design

Whilst Birmingham has ambitions of hitting the top of the football pyramid and competing regularly in Europe, there'll be some fans who will hope that they do things somewhat differently from the Manchester City's in the world.

When a club undergoes a big investment both on and off the pitch, it can be easy to fall into a franchise model, but Blues fans will want to keep their rough-around-the-edges style and tough, gritty atmosphere inside their new ground.

If they can, then an already formidable home atmosphere will become almost unbearable for opposition players, and one of the most special places in England. St Andrew's is already a tough place to go to, so imagine what it would be like when the capacity is doubled?

All that can be taken away, however, if the new 62,000-capacity stadium is just a regular modernised ground. Birmingham needs to keep the current feel alive when they move homes, and whoever is tasked with creating the ground will have to ensure that happens.