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Football stadiums
Getting planning permission to build a screen fence round a ground may not seem a major step forward, but it is nevertheless an important one for Highland League outfit Strathspey Thistle. The club plays at Seafield Park in Grantown-on-Spey. It is the first in a series of steps forward:
Scunthorpe United may lose out on a grant to turn Glandford Park into an all-seater stadium because the Football Foundation thinks they could fund it themselves. The club is not exactly a big money maker as it made a loss of £1.5m over the last two years, although that is low by the standards of Football League clubs even lower down the divisions. Even that is thought to have recouped from the sale of Garry Hooper to Celtic in the summer.
It is unclear where Mansfield Town will play at the weekend after they were locked out of their own ground. Alfreton’s Impact Arena, Eastwood Town and Notts County have all been considered. However, it looks increasingly likely that the Stags will use Ilkeston Town’s ground. It is not in use following the club’s dissolution earlier this year and it has a capacity of just over 3,000, although one stand is locked out
The decision not to allocate the 2018 World Cup to England will not affect Bristol City’s plans to build a new stadium. After all, you don’t build a stadium for just four games. Well, perhaps you do in Qatar, but they intend to dismantle them and send them to poor countries afterwards, one of the incentives they offered to boost their bid.
After a 17-year search Poole Town may have at last found an acceptable location for a new stadium. A proposal was turned down by the local council last year, but a new site has been found on the outskirts of the town where a £2m development could take place.
At one time it looked as if West Ham United were the clear favourites to become anchor tenants on the Olympic Stadium after 2012. But now there is a growing perception that the Spurs bid is more commercially viable. There is a fear that West Ham cannot afford the bid as they fight relegation. The Hammers are, however, fighting back.
Tottenham Hotspur are through to the knockout phase of the Champions League, but meanwhile fans are starting a campaign to stay at White Hart Lane. Spurs have planning permission to redevelop the Lane into a 56,000 seat stadium, but have also been short listed to take over the Olympic Stadium, along with West Ham United.
Switzerland’s oldest football club, the 131-year old St. Gallen, has been saved from the brink of bankruptcy after six businesmen combined to invest 10 million Swiss francs (about the same amount in dollars) in the club. The club faced going out of business and automatic demotion from the top division after the city council refused to contribute to a bailout last month. Five banks waived debts of nearly 5 million francs as part of the rescue.
Barnet have threatened to move out of the borough after 100 years following a row with the local council over a potential site for a new stadium. The club regards their ground at Underhill, which has a slope, as ageing and unsuitable as a basis for future development.
Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown has admitted that the club’s current balance sheet is ‘a mess’ after the club reported losses of £11.8m in the year ended 31 May 2010, almost double the record shortfall of £6.6m recorded a year earlier.