New noise at Camp Nou

Albert Ferrer gave the new Camp Nou his approval - and warned that the re-design will generate even more noise.

Roof will raise the decibel level at last, says Ferrer

Albert Ferrer believes decibels will be as important as the design itself when the Camp Nou undergoes a makeover. The former Barcelona full-back expects an already intimidating arena to turn into a cauldron of noise once Lord Foster's redesign drags the famous stadium into the 21st century. As well as a stunning exterior - inspired by the work of Gaudi in the colours of Catalunya - and an extended capacity of 104,000, the stadium will, for the first time in its 50-year history, have roofing. And says Ferrer, who played more than 200 games for Barca, that will mean even greater support for Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and co. "I love the design, it's great," he told Revista. "I think the Nou Camp needed a change, it's getting old. It still looks good, but it's going to look even better. "It will be more noisy. That's good because the supporters here are normally noisy only when the team is playing well."

Noisy

"We've got the fans, but not the noisy fans. It's a different culture to England. In my first year when we won the league, we won it four games before the end of the season and we came here to play and lost at home. "We were champions, but people were still whistling. I didn't understand what was going on - we won the league, why are they whistling? "If you play great football, they are with you. If you are a bit down and not playing great football, they're not going to support you as much." The improvements, which will begin in 2009 and are expected to cost around £175million, were unveiled last week by president Joan Laporta and Lord Foster. The renowned architect, who designed the new Wembley and the Collserola tower that stands tall in the Barcelona skyline, took his inspiration from one of the city's favourite sons (Gaudi) and crucially, seems to have been given the seal of approval by the club's supporters. Barca is of course, a club run by more than 136,000 members and says Ferrer, pleasing them is every bit as important as revamping the 50-year-old stadium. "They think it is a fantastic design," he said. "Basically what people are saying is OK, the design is good, but they don't want to lose the old atmosphere. "The Nou Camp is the Nou Camp and has been for 50 years. Ninety per cent of the people agree on the design, so it is good. And we need it!"

Representation

And, according to Revista's Guillem Balague, one man who loves it already is Ronaldinho. The Brazilian believes it not only encapsulates the Catalunyan pride but is the perfect representation of Barca's brand of football. "He loves it, he says it is perfect for what's in his head - the Samba, the lights, the colours, he loves it!" said Balague. "The players love it, so there's nothing wrong there. It's going to be bigger, it's going to cost 250m euros when for Wembley for instance there was a budget and in the end it was multiplied by three. "It's costing almost as much as a new stadium but this place, this city, deserves that kind of arena."