Fresh reaction given as Sheffield Wednesday told to make big Hillsborough change - 'it is ridiculous' | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium future is back in focus after renewed calls for change

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…

The debate over what should happen to Sheffield Wednesday's Leppings Lane end at Hillsborough has never fully gone away, but Clive Betts MP has given it a new and uncomfortable urgency.

The Sheffield South East MP, a regular on the Kop, has condemned the continued use of the West Stand more than three decades after 97 Liverpool supporters were unlawfully killed there.

To Betts, the structure is no longer just an ageing stand, but “a memorial of itself to that terrible tragedy”, and he is clear that its demolition should now be a priority.

Betts’ intervention did not arrive in a vacuum. It came in the same week as the long-awaited Independent Office for Police Conduct report, which concluded that 12 retired officers would have faced gross misconduct proceedings under today’s rules and set out the “fundamental failures” and “concerted efforts” to blame supporters for what happened on 15 April 1989.

For families, survivors and campaigners, the report brought vindication but not justice; a confirmation of truths they have carried for decades, without the accountability many believe is long overdue.

Against that backdrop, questions about the physical fabric of Hillsborough have taken on renewed urgency.

Survivors’ groups such as the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance have long argued that Leppings Lane should have been demolished “a long time ago”, while Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram has spoken of the need for a “poignant tribute” that properly reflects the scale of the loss.

A special report from The Athletic last year also highlighted ongoing concerns about crowd management, concourse capacity, stewarding standards and the basic condition of an ageing stand where asbestos and spalling concrete have been identified.

Sheffield Wednesday expert on the case for demolishing Leppings Lane end after Clive Betts’ comments

Many supporters, including Wednesday fans, feel strongly that the stand should finally come down and be rebuilt; others are wary of symbolic gestures that cannot heal the trauma of those affected.

With Hillsborough itself now 125 years old and Wednesday in administration, it raises a difficult, practical question amid all the emotion: if a new owner does arrive, should tearing down Leppings Lane be at the top of their to-do list?

Football League World spoke to resident Owls expert Patrick McKenna on the topic, asking if he agreed with Betts’ comments - and if it was realistic for a new owner to get the Leppings Lane end rebuilt.

“In regards to Leppings Lane at Hillsborough, I totally agree with Clive Betts that yeah, it should be torn down and rebuilt,” McKenna told FLW.

“Indeed, this should have been done years ago, it's ridiculous that the same stand is still there, with the same concourses.

“It's a reminder of a very dark day in football where 97 people lost their lives as innocent victims and I would just love it if we could rebuild that end of the ground.

“But I think the danger is that the cat has been kicked down the road for so long that you look at us now in our current state - there's a huge rebuilding job in general at the club. So, unfortunately, it may not be at the top of the list.

“I would love it if it is something we could address sooner rather than later and we could get a new away end, while keeping a memorial outside to the innocent victims of the disaster.

“Obviously, nothing could offer real closure for the family of those who did lose their lives, but I just think it would be a really positive step if that end was finally rebuilt.

“Of course, there are rumours that some of the new owners would be looking at building a new Hillsborough, or even re-developing Hillsborough, so, yeah, it would be something that needs to be done.

“But the stark reality is that yet again, it might slip down the list of priorities at Hillsborough. It's something that may not be done for a few more years.”

What a Sheffield Wednesday takeover could mean for the future of Hillsborough and Leppings Lane

There is a tension at the heart of the Leppings Lane debate. On the one hand, there is a clear desire to see a decisive, tangible change: a new away end, modern concourses, and a memorial space that properly honours the 97 and those still living with the consequences of that day.

On the other, there is the reality of a club in crisis, playing a Championship season on a negative points balance after two separate EFL deductions and operating under the constraints of administration.

Any incoming Owls owner will inherit not just a famous old stadium but a long list of urgent problems.

The Wednesday administrators are weighing up multiple bids, with at least one party already sounding out local authorities about the possibility of a new ground away from Hillsborough altogether. Others may prefer a significant redevelopment of the existing site.

In either scenario, Leppings Lane is impossible to treat as just another stand. It is the physical setting of the UK’s worst sporting disaster, the focus of repeated safety warnings in recent years and a symbol that still carries enormous emotional weight far beyond Sheffield.

That symbolism complicates the discussion about what is realistic. Demolishing and rebuilding the end would be expensive and logistically complex, especially for a club seeking to stabilise its finances and repair trust with its own supporters.

But the idea that Leppings Lane can sit indefinitely in a holding pattern - patched up, capacity tweaked, language managed - looks increasingly untenable in light of the IOPC’s findings and the steady drumbeat of concerns raised by visiting fans, safety experts and supporters’ groups.

For a credible new Wednesday ownership group, a plan for Hillsborough’s future will not just be judged on sightlines, hospitality revenue and transport links, but on how it responds to this history. That could mean a new stadium, designed from the outset with best-practice crowd management and a prominent, thoughtfully designed memorial at its heart.

Or it could mean a phased redevelopment that starts with the most sensitive and problematic area of the ground and treats its demolition and replacement as a non-negotiable early step, not a distant aspiration.

Betts’ comments, the IOPC report and the club’s precarious ownership situation have brought these questions back into sharp focus.

The next owner of Sheffield Wednesday will not only be buying a football club; they will be inheriting a responsibility. Whether that future lies at a new stadium or a transformed Hillsborough, the Leppings Lane end cannot simply be allowed to fade into the background.