Molineux Stadium - Stadium

Stadium

The stadium is located a few hundred yards north of Wolverhampton city centre, at the far side of the city's ring road, and is a prominent building due to its size in an area with predominantly low-rise buildings. It consists of four stands: the Steve Bull Stand (formerly the John Ireland stand), the Jack Harris Stand, the Stan Cullis Stand and the Billy Wright Stand. Both the Billy Wright and Stan Cullis stands feature statues of each man in front of them.

The total seated capacity of the stands is approximately 31,500, with a temporary seating area lifting the present official capacity to 31,700. The current stadium design stems from the early 1990s when it was extensively redeveloped to become a modern all-seater venue in accordance with the Taylor Report, which required British football stadia to provide seating for all those attending.

In the days before seating regulations, the ground could hold more than 60,000 spectators; the record attendance for a match at the ground is 61,315 for a Football League First Division game against Liverpool on 11 February 1939. The 1940s and 1950s saw average attendances for seasons regularly exceed 40,000, coinciding with the club's peak on the field.

Molineux has hosted England internationals. The first was a 6–1 win over Ireland on 7 March 1891. England again beat Ireland, this time 4–0, on 14 February 1903 and lost to Wales 2–1 on 5 February 1936. The last was a 5–2 defeat of Denmark in a 1958 World Cup qualifier on 5 December 1956. It has also hosted two England under-21 internationals (in 1996 and 2008) and, in 2005, hosted some European Youth Championship qualifying matches.

On 24 June 2003, Molineux also became Wolverhampton's biggest live concert venue, with Bon Jovi performing in front of 34,000 people.

Up until May 2011, the ground had a capacity of 29,400. However the 5,500 Stan Cullis Stand was knocked down for redevelopment and 230 seats in the lower tier of the Steve Bull Stand were taken out as part of the process taking temporary capacity down to 23,670. The lower tier of the new North Bank (holding 4,000) was opened for use in September 2011 for the home match against Tottenham Hotspur, this took the grounds capacity up to 27,670. The upper tier on the new stand will be completed by the end of the season taking capacity up to around 31,370. However the club have delayed the second phase of the redevelopment in rebuilding the Steve Bull Stand.

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