Details from this week's Construction News

Looks like Barcelona will be selling Messi next year to generate funds for the stadium

I didn't see a projected price in the article, but it certainly won't be cheap!

Stadium look interesting. I hope it has 007/Dr Evil style floor that opens up and lets the hooligans fall into the water

I like that idea. It could open up all sorts of opportunities for crowd control.

Did that with Osaka Airport! Love it!

Any football club in theory should not be able to afford it but Barca and Real don't work under normal rules. Should be quite the sight if and when completed.

Of course, now that they have a shinier airport than Madrid, when they have their own Catalonian Airline its only right that they get a fancier stadium than Madrid as well. A stadium where they can wave the Catalonian flag in front of the cheering crowd and the King of Spain.

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/pro...2/default.aspx

Norman Foster and his crew announced a re-fit to the current Nou Camp in 2007 with work to start in '09. I'm not sure Barcelona are in the market for a new stadium.

In unrelated news Espanyol just moved out of Barcelona's Olympic Stadium and into their own smaller ground.

According to the same article I read:

Possibly this is an alternative proposal. It would be substantially larger at 150,000 seats instead of 106,000

The disagreements between catalans and a good part of the rest of Spain, as well as the growing of the independentist movement in Catalonia are quite well known around the world. I was born in Barcelona, hece I am a catalan, and when meeting people around the world have been asked many times about the reasons for such independence desire. Well, here is a good example to produce an anwer: I guess Tilia would have just given her opinion about how nice/ugly is the stadium, if only it had been planned in a different city. But since the city in question is Barcelona, why not taking the opportunity to belittle "them"? it is the hatred that *many* spanish distillate against us makes *many* of us think why must we be part of a country that dislikes us so much.

Their average attendance last year, in an historic treble winning year, was circa 74,000, less than Manchester United. They don't need an 150,000 seaster stadium and in any case, creating one on an island, where people can only approach it from one direction is a stupid idea.

Also in Construction News was another article regarding new stadiums.

I don't know if this really is a common cause of these clubs lack of success. If it is, Barcelona would be wise to forget the idea of a new stadium

If you have read some of my posts on this forum you will be aware of the fact that simple discussions about prettiness really isn't my thing.

I am not Spanish, I do however have enough insight into the country and it's problems to feel I can express my opinion on the phenomenons I see. Which is what I did. Your view will of course not correspond to mine which of course is your right and is totally coherent with my expectations. :-)

Personally, the dislike I have seen displayed by Catalans towards Spaniards are way above the dislike I have ever seen a Spaniard display to a Catalan. Of course, this is my personal experience and no fact but I still want to express it as an alternative to your view.

Or they could make a spectacle of it whereby the field opens up to a shark pool below and they can make the hooligans walk the plank