What happened to Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough expansion plans? | OneFootball

The Owls' famous stadium was the subject of ambitious plans that never came off

Sheffield Wednesday are one of English football's biggest 'sleeping giants', and alongside this, the Owls also call one of the country's most historic stadiums their home.

Hillsborough has been the home of Wednesday since the year 1889, and since then, has played host to several infamous matches for both good and extremely dark reasons.

The stadium often splits opinion due to its current facilities, although the atmosphere generated by supporters in this half of the Steel City remains one of the loudest, not just in the EFL, but English football as a whole when at full capacity.

The Owls have certainly fallen on hard times in the past quarter of a century, with Hillsborough yet to host a Premier League fixture since the year 2000, whilst the club are currently residing in League One.

New chairman, David Storch, has certainly made strong first impressions and has vowed to improve the matchday experience in S6 in the short and long-term.

However, it wasn't that long ago that Hillsborough was the subject of potentially major renovation works, but what exactly happened to those plans?

What were the expansion plans for Hillsborough in 2009?

Action Images

Hillsborough is by far, the largest stadium to be hosting League One football in 2026/27, boasting a working capacity of 39,859, over 7,000 greater than Leicester City's King Power Stadium.

As previously mentioned, though, not much has changed in terms of facilities for many years, with supporters often raising questions over a lack of safety, particularly in the Leppings Lane Stand, which was the scene of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster, which caused the unlawful deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters.

However, 20 years later, a £22m redevelopment proposal was announced by the Owls to revamp the Kop and West stands, which would have increased Hillsborough's capacity to over 45,000 in the process.

Such plans were submitted in August 2009 and were hoped to have been completed by 2013, in the hope that the stadium redevelopment would see Sheffield become a host city for the FIFA World Cup 2018, as England submitted their ambitious bid to FIFA.

The redevelopment was green-lighted less than two months later, but it would never become a reality, much to the frustration of many associated with the club.

England's failed 2018 World Cup bid halted Hillsborough redevelopment

Action Images

England, as well as Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland are, of course, hosting the upcoming UEFA Euro 28, which will be the first major tournament to be fully held on these shores since 1996, when Hillsborough was a host stadium.

However, England were unsuccessful in their aims of hosting the FIFA World Cup 2018, which, controversially, was awarded to Russia, with France winning that particular tournament.

Russia was given host status eight years before the tournament, and it was confirmed that the rejection of the nation's bid effectively ended any chance of a redevelopment in this part of Sheffield.

"I would like to thank the Sheffield bid team for all their hard work and acknowledge all the support we received from so many people and organisations across the city, including our two professional football clubs," said the city council leader, Paul Scrafton.

Sheffield Wednesday have since been urged to modernise Hillsborough several times

Action Images

Although the Owls' main focus in recent times has simply been ensuring the immediate and long-term future of the club as a whole, that doesn't mean that calls for a redevelopment of Hillsborough have been in short supply.

During a 2023 FA Cup tie against Newcastle United, visiting supporters were involved in a "near miss" of yet another fateful scenario in the Leppings Lane end, whilst a year later, West Bromwich Albion fan, Mark Townsend, sadly lost his life in the same stand after suffering a cardiac arrest.

His brother, Steve, later claimed that the stand should be reduced to rubble, which was the same viewpoint held by Sheffield South MP and lifelong Wednesday supporter, Clive Betts.

"I go to Hillsborough every home game, I go on the Kop, I look across at the West Stand, the Leppings Lane end where 97 people died 36 years ago, and it's still there, almost untouched," he said.