Angus Kinnear has reaffirmed Leeds United’s commitment to transforming Elland Road into one of Europe’s best stadiums following the trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
In the Brighton & Hove Albion programme, the Whites’ chief executive wrote about the trip to the capital a fortnight ago when Tottenham Hotspur Stadium blew the United contingent away.
Kinnear said work would begin this summer, starting with the reconstruction of the pitch, which was criticised during Leeds' 1-0 loss against the Seagulls.
The surface would have been relaid in the close season, but the tighter schedule between seasons made that process impossible.
“The visit to Spurs’ spectacular new stadium reinforced the infrastructure gap we face between where we are and where we need to be,” he said.
“The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium generates five times the revenue of Elland Road each and every matchday and this is a commercial advantage that transfers directly to the pitch.
“We left North London having reinforced our ambition to transform our home to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best stadia in Europe.
“The process will start in the summer with the key technical element, a full reconstruction of the Elland Road playing surface.
“We had intended to do this last summer, but the process takes 14 weeks and so simply couldn’t be executed in a close season so dramatically shortened by the pandemic.
“The current Elland Road surface received justifiable criticism last year as the ancient drainage system was unable to deal with the torrential rain we experienced across December.”
Kinnear made it clear any criticism should not be levelled at the club’s ground staff, who have done a marvellous job to even get the pitch playable.
