Birmingham City fans have been ecstatic about their new £3 billion stadium plans, as has one of their most famous sons.
The Championship side revealed spectacular images of their planned new arena, with massive chimneys that immediately set it apart from anything we’ve seen before.
Several prominent faces appeared in the commercial video, including Real Madrid and England megastar Jude Bellingham.
When the former Birmingham midfielder saw prints for the first time, he just murmured, “Oh wow,” evidently taken aback beyond words.
There was then a moment that may have enthralled some attendees more than the stadium itself: Bellingham said, “When’s it going to be ready?”
When a woman behind the camera said ‘five years’, the music stopped and Bellingham stared back, deep in concentration.
Naturally, many have interpreted the moment as him thinking when he plans to depart Real Madrid and potentially staging an explosive return to the club he left in 2020 for Borussia Dortmund.
Shortly after the ex-Blues’ arrival, the newly titled Birmingham City Powerhouse Stadium is revealed, complete with 12 gigantic chimneys towering into the sky.
Designer David Manica explains the inspiration behind the 62,000 seater, saying, “Chairman Tom Wagner was clear: it had to be four-sided, bold, and distinctive.
“Compared to other stadiums, it needed to be steeper, louder, and closer.” We’ve never pushed the envelope like we did with this stadium.
“All four stands hug the pitch, as close to the action as possible, there’s not a bad seat in the house.”
Wagner himself adds, “It’s not high just to be high. Because the stadium is so large, the engineers advised we’d need some really tall structures to support the roof from above.
“We also need entry points, ventilation shafts and elevators, so our guys said, ‘let’s combine the two, make the roof supports do some work, and make them mean something.”
One presenter explains the design in a local context to schoolchildren, saying, “The reason it’s like this is because there were dozens of different brickworks here in this section of Birmingham, and they all had these magnificent brick chimneys, and we were just so fascinated by those towers.
“This stadium is so tall that it will be visible from 40 miles away.” “This will be the beating heart of Birmingham.”
Another celebrity visit comes from Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur Shelby from Peaky Blinders and simply says, “Holy f***.”
And there’s clearly time for stockholder and American football legend Tom Brady, who says, “Yeah, I’ve seen it, and you’re in for a treat.
“NFL games will come soon after that [2030 opening] and the world’s biggest music stars will be heading here too.”
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