Flagship stand public presentation tonight
21 October, 2009

Fleetwood Town are set to publicly launch plans for the new flagship stand at Highbury Stadium this evening.  Local residents and supporters are invited to Jim's Sports Bar at the ground from 7:00pm to hear from a variety of speakers including club chairman Andy Pilley.

Project mangers Partington and Associates, alongside architects Frank Whittle Partnership will provide an overview of the structure which will house community facilities, offices and club shop.

The 2000 seater facility will provide a base for match day operations with new changing rooms and hospitality suites. Plans will be displayed on TV screens and presentation boards and a question & answer will take place.

Chairman Andy Pilley : undeveloped side of Highbury in the background

Andy Pilley said the club is ready to move forward once planning permission is granted. “The funds are already in place through private investment.  They will be released immediately to start construction work as soon as we are given the go ahead. This project is not only important for the football club, but for the 100 jobs which will be created through the non-football business accommodation.”

The chairman also outlined the plans for the junior members of Fleetwood Town, who play and train on the adjacent Memorial Park. The juniors currently use the club’s older bar next to Park Avenue as their base and use the toilets as changing facilities.

“The new stand will include significant community facilities for the juniors. These include changing rooms and are likely to have some sort of learning centre,” added Pilley.

Steve Beane, junior secretary, Fleetwood Town FC said “The news about the community changing facilities is a huge boost for Fleetwood Town Juniors. We use the Memorial Park for a large number of our weekend home games as well as mid-week training. In addition, our popular Saturday Morning and School Holiday Soccer clubs also use the park and the old clubhouse.

“There are over 200 youngsters in 13 junior teams as well as an average of around 80 children each Saturday morning. To have no changing room, apart from using the toilets in the old clubhouse, isn’t ideal for us or visiting teams.  This move, and other parts of the redevelopment, will help us move forward and achieve even more with the local youngsters.”    

The latest redevelopment project will see Highbury Stadium enclosed on all four sides with new structures and spectator facilities.  The Highbury and Memorial stands were completed last summer and they joined the Percy Ronson stand which was officially opened in 2007.