Peter Pannu has spoken about plans for the future development of St. Andrew's

Carson Yeung still has plans for an improved Birmingham City stadium - but needs the fans to work 'hand in hand' with the club for it to be a viable concern, writes Colin Tattum in the Birmingham Mail.

Blues' acting chairman and Yeung's right hand man at St. Andrew's, Peter Pannu, says that a major future objective of the regime (which this week celebrated a year in charge of the club) was to resolve the ground issue.

"Things are in the pipeline," Pannu told the Birmingham Mail.

"We are talking with the City Council, and doing project reports. Once they are available I'll study them and I'll discuss with Carson and our consultants on this issue.

"We will then determine the projected fan base. It is important to understand that this is a long-term plan, and eventually nothing may happen.

"The capacity at St Andrew's is 30,000. We are considerling pulling down our old stand as another option. What prompted this is the fact that I have considered lots of fans' feedback when we first came in.

"They said 'look, Peter, why don't you consider developing this ground, we have got an attachment to this area, rather than go to a new field'. That's made me look into this option as well.

"For us to build this extended capacity, the indication from our experts is that it would be a size increase to 45,000, 46,000.

"From 30,000 to that, an increase of 16,000 and with our current average capacity load of about 25,000, 26,000 - then we are 20,000 short of filling a redeveloped ground.

"That's why I call upon our fans to actively participate in making this dream a reality. It is far too easy to criticise Alex McLeish and sometimes the management too when things are not smooth.

"But I would urge that sometimes they can perhaps also reflect on themselves too and ask themselves the question as to what they can do to support the team and the club above and beyond constructive criticism.

An aerial view of St. Andrew's

"A suggested answer may be to come and fill the stadium and roar their support.

"There's no point in building a 46,000-capacity stadium if we're not going to fill it. Half of the stadium is going to be empty, and that's counter-productive to the team.

"I am not throwing down the gauntlet here. I am not saying it's not going to happen unless we reach that level of support.

"But this is the reality of the current situation and I am sure the fans appreciate that as well. So whatever plans we have for the future, it has to be synchronised with them, and I would be expecting next season fans to come out stronger than they have."

Pannu continued: "We are working very closely with the City Council on projects as well.

"The alternative would be the building of a new stadium. That would be 55,000-60,000 capacity.

"With our current average there would only be one-third of the stadium filled. I think it would be foolhardy to think about this.

"How we retain fans now and bring in new fans obviously depends upon the performance of the team - and quite often how they perform depends on the support the get, the noise they hear from the attending fans. So you can see the circular argument there."