September 16, 2010
This is the first glimpse of the multi-million pound FC United ground planned for Newton Heath.
The £3.5m Ten Acres Lane development includes a 5,000 capacity stadium plus sports hall, all weather surface and function rooms. The club aim for it to become a crucial community resource open to the public for sport and leisure.
Plans for the development go before the council in November, but FC United are still raising the £2M needed to meet costs and are urging fans to buy into their community share scheme.
Adam Brown, board director at the club which currently plays at Bury’s Gigg Lane ground, said: "We are really excited about these plans for the new ground. The response from people living in Newton Heath has been positive."
He added: "We are already used to working with schools in the area and the summer schools we have run this year shows the potential of what can be achieved between us and the community."
The development will be sited on the council-owned Ten Acres Astro Centre which currently has an all weather pitch and sports hall.
Under plans submitted by the club, the sports hall will be refurbished while the all weather surface will be re-located to another part of the site.
A new club house will also be built with multi-use function rooms which can be hired out for private functions, meeting rooms or offices.
"Our first priority is to deliver to the community," said Mr Brown.
"We want to make sure the facilities can be used by the public as much as possible and this will also help with the running costs of the club."
In total the development will cost £3.5m, with the club having to fund £2m of that.
So far fans’ donations to a development fund have totalled £300,000 but the club hopes to reach £500,000 by offering shares in the club.
In an innovative scheme, for a minimum of £200 people can buy a community share.
At the moment that is a one-off payment but the club is looking at ways of helping people pay in instalments.
"The club is a co-operative and the community share scheme is really important for maintaining our democratic structure," said Mr Brown. "People will be able to invest in community benefits which will have a positive impact over the long term."
Each shareholder gets one vote in the way the club is run with their money held for three years.
After that they can either remove it or take an interest payment, depending on the club’s performance. The scheme will be officially launched on Tuesday, September 21 at Manchester Town Hall.
The council will add a further £650,000 while the club is hoping to get the rest of the money from corporate sponsorship and grants from Sport England and the Football Foundation.
The £3.5m Ten Acres Lane development includes a 5,000 capacity stadium plus sports hall, all weather surface and function rooms. The club aim for it to become a crucial community resource open to the public for sport and leisure.
Plans for the development go before the council in November, but FC United are still raising the £2M needed to meet costs and are urging fans to buy into their community share scheme.
Adam Brown, board director at the club which currently plays at Bury’s Gigg Lane ground, said: "We are really excited about these plans for the new ground. The response from people living in Newton Heath has been positive."
He added: "We are already used to working with schools in the area and the summer schools we have run this year shows the potential of what can be achieved between us and the community."
The development will be sited on the council-owned Ten Acres Astro Centre which currently has an all weather pitch and sports hall.
Under plans submitted by the club, the sports hall will be refurbished while the all weather surface will be re-located to another part of the site.
A new club house will also be built with multi-use function rooms which can be hired out for private functions, meeting rooms or offices.
"Our first priority is to deliver to the community," said Mr Brown.
"We want to make sure the facilities can be used by the public as much as possible and this will also help with the running costs of the club."
In total the development will cost £3.5m, with the club having to fund £2m of that.
So far fans’ donations to a development fund have totalled £300,000 but the club hopes to reach £500,000 by offering shares in the club.
In an innovative scheme, for a minimum of £200 people can buy a community share.
At the moment that is a one-off payment but the club is looking at ways of helping people pay in instalments.
"The club is a co-operative and the community share scheme is really important for maintaining our democratic structure," said Mr Brown. "People will be able to invest in community benefits which will have a positive impact over the long term."
Each shareholder gets one vote in the way the club is run with their money held for three years.
After that they can either remove it or take an interest payment, depending on the club’s performance. The scheme will be officially launched on Tuesday, September 21 at Manchester Town Hall.
The council will add a further £650,000 while the club is hoping to get the rest of the money from corporate sponsorship and grants from Sport England and the Football Foundation.
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