What happened to ambitious Derby County, Pride Park expansion plans? | OneFootball

In 2017, it was reported that Derby County were looking to expand Pride Park - nine years later, the stadium remains unchanged.

Stadium expansion is a goal for many clubs up and down the English footballing pyramid, with the likes of AFC Bournemouth, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest either in the process of building more seating, or planning to do so in the future.

Derby County have called Pride Park home since July 1997, and the stadium was the only of its kind to be opened by Queen Elizabeth II during her reign, as she cut the red ribbon in front of a sold out ground while Jim Smith was in charge of the Rams.

In recent years, the East Midlands outfit have regularly brought in attendances nearing the 30,000 mark and supporters have often queried the possibility of creating more space and increasing the capacity of their home.

In 2017, plans to do just that were drawn up and Football League World has taken a look back at how Pride Park would have changed and the current likelihood of an expansion to Derby's stadium.

Derby County had plans to expand Pride Park in 2017, they never came to fruition

The capacity of Pride Park is currently 33,597, but often attendances are restricted to around the 32,000 mark as segregation means that a full sell out is all but impossible.

However, nine years ago plans were drawn up to improve the matchday experience for those visiting the stadium by building a new concourse that would bring new retail, dining and drinking options for fans both when the team were playing, as well as throughout the rest of the week.

Matthew Montague Architects were the company who created these blueprints, and they hoped to start work as soon as they possibly could having brought the ideas to Derby City Council in November 2017.

The development was set to be completed by the end of 2018, and it would have cost the club £5m. However, any major redevelopment of Pride Park will only come when Derby are an established Premier League side, and after the Rams entered administration in 2021, these plans look to be dead in the water.

David Clowes has made improvements to Pride Park recently

Over the course of the summer in 2025, owener David Clowes set out to make major improvements to facilities at both the training ground and Pride Park itself.

A new pitch was laid, using SISGRASS fibres, which uses 95% natural grass with 5% fiber that allows for longer life and better recovery between use. The state of the grass in DE24 was alarming at the back end of last season, and this was a vital improvement for Derby.

Elsewhere, the front of the stadium (West Stand) had a major overhaul with the exterior paintwork changing from silver to black to align itself with the club's colours while the wording on the top of the main entracnce was updated for the first time since 1997.

The home changing rooms were also developed, and now there is a more modern touch with improved facilities.

While Derby are not planning on expanding any part of Pride Park, it is clear to see that Clowes is more than willing to improve the stadium.