Stephen Bettis on Sheffield United's Bramall Lane plans and priorities

But chief executive Stephen Bettis, pictured, hopes the end result can be an improved stadium, not simply a patched-up one.

And it means improvements to the Kop will have to wait.

The upper tier of the Bramall Lane End has been closed all season after safety issues were identified in the summer.

The Championship club, whose financial issues have taken the headlines since they lost their post-Premier League parachute payment, have invested heavily in addressing the problem in the short term but Bettis admits there is more to be done and spent in future.

“We do annual safety checks at the start of the season and there were some bits flagged up about the Bramall Lane stand and some structural elements to it which were a cause for concern for us,” he revealed.

“So we've done remedial works which probably cost £600,000-£700,000 that have been paid for and they've been going on in pre-season and again during the international break to make it structurally sound and a safe environment for the supporters to be in.

“We can get away with not using the upper tier at the moment and just fill the rest of the stadium but there are going to be further works that need to be done.

“We're still finalising what those works look like and what they're going to cost but I expect there to be significant work going on to it next summer so it's not a quick fix.

“We're really investigating the way it was built 20-plus years ago. If you built it that way now it wouldn't be passed and actually there needs to be significant changes to make it safe and stay there for the next 20, 30 years.

“I'm kind of going, 'Let's see where the costs come out' but if it's a significant cost and depending where the costs are I'd rather improvements we can add on at the same time to try and move us forward rather than just no one will really notice if we just put a new roof on there.

“I'm looking at all these options at the moment and seeing where they get to over the next couple of months.

“If we wanted to open it, we can open it so it's safe and people are just not covered well.

“We've got people in the lower tier so it's safe to open should we need to if we get Man United in the cup.

“We're not selling out the rest of the stadium at the moment so we can keep it shut.”

The Kop End is the most vocal part of the ground and has had safe standing and a singing area incorporated in recent years.

It too is a product of its time, and a new roof which would not need the supporting pillars which block views has long been a discussion, but is not a priority right now.

“It's on the list but it comes down to priorities,” said Bettis. “Bramall Lane's got to go before it because structurally it's got to be safe.

“I'd probably put Dore (the club's new training ground) before that as well.

“The Kop and the columns probably come after that.”