Rebuilt Tynecastle stadium will seat 40,000

Scottish Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov announced Tynecastle will be rebuilt as a 40,000-seat stadium to accommodate European matches.

Romanov intends to submit a planning application for a new 12,000 seat main stand.

His future goal is to rebuild the Wheatfield and Roseburn stands and eventually increase the capacity to 40,000.

Hearts has used Murrayfield, a 67,500-seat rugby stadium, for UEFA Cup and Champions League qualifying games.

The fans, though, have not been happy there.

"I absolutely agree that Murrayfield is not a good stadium for the league at least," Romanov said. "But we needed to make sure that was the case. It can be used properly if it is full. [But] even then it is not as comfortable as Tynecastle."

"We do not have suitable accommodation for the players. We need to improve the restaurant and hospitality facilities too."

Hearts first played UEFA Cup matches at Murrayfield in 2004 under Chris Robinson who claimed the pitch was too small to stage European contests.

Robinson wanted to move the club full time to the rugby stadium and struck a deal to sell Tynecastle for housing. He was unable to follow through on that plan when Romanov bought out Robinson's stake in the Edinburgh club.

Hearts returned to Murrayfield this season attracting over 100,000 fans in total.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.