St. Andrews is the home of Birmingham City F.C. who play in the FA Premier League. It has a capacity of just over 30,000.

Since World War II, redevelopments at St. Andrews had been very minimal, with the only big change being the rebuilding of the Railway End. Over the years, capacity at St. Andrews had gradually been reduced, from 68,000 before the war, down to 43,204 by 1963. By 1988, the capacity had dropped further, down to little over 38,000. However, after the tragedies at Hillsborough and Valley Parade, and the subsequent issuing of the Taylor Report, the capacity at St. Andrews dropped to 28,235. However, it became clear that it was time to completely renovate the stadium in order to bring it into the twenty-first century.

Initially, chairman at the time, Samesh Kumar, spoke of simply placing benches on top of the terracing, in order to comply with the Taylor ruling. However, after the takevoer of multi-millionaires, David Sullivan and the Gold Brothers, plans were quickly put forward to completely rebuild the stadium. However, the initial plans were quickly redrawn after Karren Brady has made a visit to Old Trafford, and saw what had been achieved there.

The first stage of the redevelopment began after a 'very emotional' last home game against Bristol City on 16 April 1994. After the game, supporters 'took what they could' from the old ground, including concrete, screws, bolts and even letters from the old scoreboard.

Work on the redevelopment began soon after, with Blues legends Bob Latchford, Bob Hatton and Trevor Francis officially 'breaking ground' on the new stand. The ?4.5 million redevelopment incorporated a 7,000 all-seater Tilton Road stand, and the Kop with an additional 9,500 seats. The Tilton Road end was open for the first game of the 1994/95 season against Chester City, while the Kop was finished in time for the Coca-Cola Cup clash against Blackburn Rovers on October 4th.

The 'New' ground was officially opened on 15 November 1994, when almost 20,000 witnessed Baroness Trumpington (a spokeswoman for the department of Heritage in the House of Lords !!) unveil a plaque, and witnessed a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.

Soon after the completion of the Tilton and Kop, plans were laid out for the development of the Railway Stand. However, once again, unforseen problems arose, when it was discovered that a small parcel of land that needed to be used belonged to RailTrack. After many months of wrangling, permission was eventually granted, and the building of the New Railway Stand got underway. The new stand 'officially opened' in February 1999, and houses 9,500 spectators and the new dressing rooms.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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