{"id":1619,"date":"2011-12-29T19:38:14","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T19:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stadiumguide.nl\/?p=1619"},"modified":"2017-11-19T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T16:44:00","slug":"tynecastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stadiumguide.com\/tynecastle\/","title":{"rendered":"Tynecastle Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tynecastle<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: Heart of Midlothian FC | Opening: 1886 | Opening: 20,099 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

Tynecastle Stadium opened on 10 April 1886 with a match between Hearts and Bolton Wanderers (4-1). It\u00a0was built on a\u00a0meadow that was destined for housing and industry, but for which Hearts had secured rights.<\/p>\n

Tynecastle initially consisted of one wooden stand, but was soon expanded with two further wooden stands, bringing capacity of the stadium to about 10,000.<\/p>\n

Over the next three decades, capacity of Tynecastle further increased to over 61,000. New concrete stands were built and additional banking created. The highlight was the construction of the brick and steel main stand by Archibald Leitch in 1914.<\/p>\n

In the 1920s, the remaining banks were all terraced, and on the 14th of February 1932 a record crowd of 53,396 attended a Scottish Cup match between Hearts and Rangers.<\/p>\n

After the war the terraces were concreted and modernised, and in 1959 a new roofed enclosure was built.<\/p>\n

In the following decades attendances slowly declined, and due to safety measures the capacity of the stadium had to be brought down to 30,000.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, incremental improvements were made to the stadium, including the conversion of various terraces into seating areas, however it took until 1994 for major redevelopment works to begin.<\/p>\n

Works started with the construction of the Wheatfield Stand in 1994, and continued with the construction of another two new stands at both ends. Works were completed in 1997.<\/p>\n

From\u00a0the early 2000s, Hearts started looking at options to either move to a new stadium, move to nearby Murrayfield, or to redevelop Tynecastle through the reconstruction of the main stand, the only stand not rebuilt in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Various plans failed, but in 2016 plans for a new main stand were presented. Construction began during the 2016\/17 season and was completed in November 2017, raising capacity from 17,400 seats to over 20,000 seats.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t