Manchester City news: Plans in place to extend Etihad to 61,000 – making it second largest club stadium after rivals Manchester United

MANCHESTER City are set to press ahead with plans to extend the Etihad next summer – making it the second largest club stadium in Britain.

City chiefs want to add an extra 7,000 seats to each end of the ground pushing capacity up to more than 61,000.

The club spent around £60m last year adding a third tier to the South Stand, increasing the Etihad to just under a 55,000 all-seater.

And City have been delighted with attendances so far this season – with Premier League matches 98 per cent full.

A source said: “The club feel the time is right to extend the stadium even further to mark the Pep Guardiola era.

"Planning permission was sought to extend both ends of the stadium when the expansion scheme was first started.

"Talks are now on-going to find the best possible time for contractors to start moving in to begin the work."

Manchester City have 41,000 season ticket holders, with around 10,000 more on the waiting list.

The increase in capacity would make the Etihad the second biggest club stadium in the UK after bitter rivals United's Old Trafford.

City's owners also have plans to eventually extend the East and West, taking it past the Red Devil's76,000 capacity.

The Etihad has become a huge concert venue in recent years, with Take That poised to play a number of gigs there next summer.

City owner Sheikh Mansour has spent around £200m developing the Etihad Campus, which includes the City Football Academy.

A further increase in capacity will mean he has roughly spent £120m on installing 15,000 extra seats.

That is £10m more than it originally cost the council to build the stadium for the Commonwealth Games back in 2002.