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Football stadiums
FC United, the club founded by Manchester United fans, are going ahead with plans to build their own stadium. The team currently plays at Bury’s ground where they attract crowds of more than 2,000. The stadium will have a 5,000 capacity and cost £3.5m. It will be located in the Newton Heath area where Manchester United originated. Most of the money will be raised through a community share fund which will offer a financial return, of up to 2 per cent above base ra
Bristol City have suffered a setback in a scheme to build a new 30,000-seat stadium but are determined to press ahead. The £92m stadium was planned as a venue for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
Campaigners have won a significant victory to protect the site in fhe Ashton Vale area of the city. Following a public inquiry, the inspector said that the land should be given town green status.
The Football Association is facing a series of financial challenges. Some of these are not of its own making, including the collapse of Setanta and the general condition of the economy. However, there is also no doubt that there has been poor decision-making at the FA which has been widely criticised as a dysfunctional organisation. In partcular, the pursuit of the Wembley project may have been at the expense of grass roots
Plymouth Argyle face the dual challenge of trying to get their finances stabilised while also mounting a challenge to return to the Championship. The Pilgrims’ executive director Keith Todd admits that he is finding it more difficult than he anticipated to get the club’s finances sorted.
Majority shareholder Yasukai Hagami has not yet been to a game, but is said to ‘follow’ the club’s results which is what any casual armchair ‘fan’ might do.
Football in England has come through the recession relatively unscathed. There have been some spectacular collapses, not least at Portsmouth, but these are arguably more the result of poor management than the condition of the game as a whole. There have been some losses of corporate hospitality revenue and season ticket sales have fallen. The transfer market this summer was more subdued, although still quiet resilient. On the whole, football, particularly at the highest level, has been remarkably recession proof.
Following an extraordinary general meeting yesterday which led to the dissolution of existing companies and the creation of a new one Richard Murray is now in effective charge of Charlton Athletic. It is hoped that his assuming personal responsibility for the club will give it a more stable financial platform and a more attractive basis for bringing in new investors.
Hibernian open their new East Stand with the visit of Rangers today. It takes the capacity of Easter Road to 20,250. It will be the biggest stadium outside the Old Firm. They had enough money left over to build a £5m training centre on the outskirts of Edinburgh as well.
Hungarian football faces many challenges. We are therefore grateful to Jagoditis Rómeó who runs a football website in Hungary for translating out of Hungarian for us an article on some recent developments. The original contribution has been edited because of its length.
As the formal bidding process for moving into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 games begins, West Ham United look like the front runners. There have been around 150 expressions of interest, but some of these are undoubtedly not very serious and bidders now have six weeks in which to finalise their plans. Spurs have expressed an interest, but this is thought to be primarily a tactical manoeuvre to exert leverage on Haringey Council in relation to their plans to develop White Hart Lane.
Everton are planning a £9m office and retail development at Goodison Park. The scheme will be self-funding as the costs will be met by partners. The new complex will include a shop, museum and corporate hospitality facilities which have not been up to the standard of other clubs.