The club scheduled consultation opening for next month in order to expand the south stand of Etihad Stadium for 2015.Eventually the ground will grow by 12,000 seats and these spots are hoped to be in affordable pricing.

Current size of Etihad Stadium is just under 48,000, with stands along the pitch having three tiers and those behind goals – two. As the club is growing, this season saw only two games not sold out. And this despite a 9% price increase, which caused displeasure of some fans.

To ease the deficit that might be growing in upcoming seasons the club decided on Saturday and now announced to begin consultations with local residents within the next month. The subject – a 6,000 capacity increase of the south end.

Based on the below rendering it seems the change would see not only a 3^rd tier, but also raising of the roof. With the image being a very initial attempt to visualise the changes, more solid plans should be shown soon as the club hope to file for planning permission in Autumn and begin works in January 2014. If nothing goes wrong, the expansion to 54,000 should be done ahead of the 2015/16 season.

Then a similar plan would be implemented on the opposite side, raising the size by another 6,000 and making Etihad Stadium the 3^rd biggest in Premier League, falling just a few hundred seats short of Emirates Stadium.

Interesting for City supporters is the expected pricing policy. New seats should be among the cheapest throughout Etihad Stadium, thought to be around £300 per season (current range at City games is £275-745).