Derby County end up 'doing a Nottingham Forest'? Pride Park concern raised | OneFootball

FLW's Rams Fan Pundit shares his thoughts on whether the club need to expand the stadium

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

One worry involving Nottingham Forest has been raised regarding the potential future expansion of Derby County’s stadium, Pride Park.

This comes after FLW looked into what happened to the 2017 talk of said situation actually happening - and how it's quietened down in recent years.

Pride Park is currently the third-biggest stadium in the Championship, boasting a capacity of 33,597 seats, yet that number is lowered to around 32,000 on an actual matchday due to segregation of fans.

Then, using average home attendances from this season, via Football Ground Guide, the Rams sit third in that table as well, behind Coventry City and Leicester City.

With this in mind, FLW spoke to Shaun Woodward, our Derby County Fan Pundit, to share his thoughts on whether the club should be looking to expand their home in the near future.

Verdict on whether Pride Park expansion is needed at Derby County

Asked whether he feels like an expansion to Pride Park is needed at this point, Woodward’s initial thought is that Derby do not have to rush into adding more seats just yet.

"Personally, I don’t think Pride Park needs to expand at the moment, I think it’s about right," he explained to FLW.

"We have 20, 21 thousand season tickets sold on average most seasons, and then you give the away team three thousand and then there’s probably four to five thousand that pay. So, that probably adds up to or equates to about 30 thousand on average at home games," Woodward added.

Seeing as though the Rams average attendance for 25/26 is around 28,431, the club still has a buffer of a few thousand before hitting regular sell-outs, which has been the case every season since the infamous 07/08 campaign.

Given these numbers, it supports Woodward's concern about taking the stadium up to around 40,000 seats. He continued by saying: "I think if you went up to 40 thousand capacity then you could potentially be having ten thousand empty seats, which doesn’t look good. I’d much rather us be getting 30 thousand and having a feel of almost a sell-out each week."

In truth, the club have already confirmed increases in season-ticket pricing for the 26/27 campaign, so it will be worth tracking whether that has any impact on the 22,000 season tickets sold this season.

The Nottingham Forest warning regarding Derby County expanding Pride Park

Woodward does accept that his view could change if Derby were to establish themselves back in the Premier League. In that scenario, he can see the argument for a larger ground, but is wary of the risks that come with it.

The last time Forest were in the third tier, they averaged an attendance at the City Ground of 19,956. Derby's from two seasons ago was 27,278.

However, the Fan Pundit is quick to stress that his caution is not a dig at Derby’s fanbase - who have more than proved their loyalty in tough times, saying: "I’m not saying that would happen at Derby, because our fans are amazing, and we’ll always, I think, have that 25 thousand hardcore regardless of what league we’re in - as we showed when we were in League One, averaging 28, 29 thousand.

"But, there is the worry, you expand, you go up, and then you maybe drop back down and lose a few fans on the way. For me, it’s about right at the moment."

Ultimately, it’s not hard to see why Woodward wants a bit of caution when it comes to pushing the button on a Pride Park expansion, and perhaps the majority of Rams fans share this view.

Yes, those previous plans from 2017 show that there is a long-term vision for doing more with the ground when the conditions are right, but it’s not like there’s a massive waiting list for season tickets or every game this season is a sell-out.