TEAMtalk's Insider Mark Holmes has been to the Britannia Stadium to find out what improvements Stoke are planning should they avoid relegation.

Stoke moved into the Britannia Stadium at the start of the 1997/98 season after 119 years at the Victoria Ground but, until midway through last season, it was part-owned by the Council and Stoke-On-Trent Regeneration.

Chairman Peter Coates paid £6million to give the club full ownership, though, and he immediately announced plans for a major refurbishment of the ground. He was true to his word last summer as a vast amount of work was undertaken to improve all four stands, but Stoke want to continue the make-over and there will be further building work in and around the Britannia this summer.

At the moment only the north-east corner of the stadium is filled with seats but Coates is investigating the possibility of filling the south-east corner to increase the overall capacity by 1,800.

The club are likely to monitor crowds for another season before deciding whether to go ahead with the work, though, as it would take five to seven seasons of regular sell-outs to make money on the initial outlay, expected to be around £3million.

However, if the Potters avoid relegation from the Premier League and surveyors find the work can be done for less than £3million, Coates may give the go-ahead for the corner to be filled this summer.

Stoke have sold out the home ends on all but three occasions in the league this season and adding seats between the Seddon and SEAT Stands would give the Britannia Stadium a capacity of just 30,000. It is unclear where the club's giant screen would be moved to should the corner be filled, but the most likely home for it would be at the top of the new corner stand.

Meanwhile, the north-west corner definitely is getting filled this summer, with a windbreak covering the entire gap between the West Stand and Boothen End, similar to what West Brom have at The Hawthorns.

The windbreak had been set to go in for this season, with Sky agreeing to advertise on it, but it will now be built this summer instead with a giant club badge, red and white stripes, and advertising adorning both sides.

Stoke have also designed murals to run along the top of each stand, similar to those at Leicester's Walkers Stadium, but they were originally planned for this season before being held back and so it is unclear whether they will be installed this summer.

The club will, however, spray red the running track around the perimeter of the pitch. Again, there were plans to do this in the summer just gone but a lack of good weather meant the track was never actually completed. Some of the corners still need to be finished off, and it will be sprayed red once this is done.

Outside the ground, there will be further car parks built close to the ground, while a subway will be built to transport supporters from the back of the Boothen End across the busy main road, therefore easing traffic congestion.

Planning permission for this has been granted and the cost will be around £1million.

Your views

What are your views on the improvements the club are planning this summer? Is it money well spent? And is there anything else you'd love to see done at the Britannia Stadium? Use the story comment facility to let us know.