Sheffield Wednesday CEO David Bruce outlines stance on Hillsborough Stadium and Middlewood Road
Sheffield Wednesday CEO David Bruce outlines stance on Hillsborough Stadium and the club’s Middlewood Road training ground
Sheffield Wednesday want to be “open-minded” over the possibility of modernising their Hillsborough home.
Hillsborough Stadium is one of the country’s most iconic sporting venues, but one that is undoubtedly showing its age.
The ground was a hot topic for discussion during the Dejphon Chansiri years, as fans debated whether it would be better to modernise it or consider a move away.
Newly-appointed Owls CEO David Bruce was questioned over the matter at a Supporters’ Trust’ AGM last night (May 19) and did not shy away from delving into the complexities.
Sheffield Wednesday CEO on Hillsborough Stadium
As reported by The Star, he said: “I don’t think we know yet. We want to be optimistic and to be open-minded to the opportunity. It is unbelievably historic and if you put any of us on the spot to ask what we’d ideally like to do, we’d like to redevelop Hillsborough and make it the stadium we all want it to be.
“Ultimately we have to think about two things; the two most important things when we think about the future of our home. One is how we can elevate and enhance the fan experience to be more engaging, a better place to be and a better atmosphere? That allows us to drive the football performance in that it’s a great place to be, it’s our stadium and it’s our club. There’s a heavy dose on being able to make the optimum fan experience in the building.
“And the second thing is whether you can generate the revenue in the stadium to be successful and compete. We all want to compete, we all want to drive this club forward. So one, the experience in the ground, but also, what’s the revenue mix that makes that appropriate?
“There are things we want to do here. It’s fan and commercial opportunity. We obviously want to work here first and look at that asset; can we make it what we want to make it? We heard earlier about making it a 40,000; but is it 40,000? Is it 45,000, is it 50? Who knows? What I do know is that coming off the West Brom game, that at 33 or 34,000 a week, if we can do it for that game, we can do it for any game.
“That’s what I’ve asked the commercial team - bottle that final game of the season and show it to people. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? It was unbelievable. That’s how I think about it.”
Middlewood Road training ground latest
There have also been question marks over the suitability of the Middlewood Road training ground, a two-pitch facility that has seen plenty of strain.
Work on quick-fix improvements has already commenced and Bruce is hoping they will benefit players during the 2026/27 League One campaign.
He said: “It’s about optimising football performance. We’re limited right now, so over the summer we’re going to do all the quick-fixes we can. There are a lot of cosmetic updates that we can do to elevate the space and there are some things we can do from a conditioning and a gym point of view so that lads can have better access to gym equipment and space.
“There are going to be a lot of games next season, it’s a physical league, a tough league, so we need our players to recover the right way and prepare themselves for a really challenging season on the pitch. We need our lads to be as ready as they can be for that and we’re working to see how we can optimise that.
“There’s work already being done on the pitches to that we’re ready to go when the lads report back for pre-season and also in the winter months when the weather becomes a bit more challenging.”