FC United of Manchester, the Red Rebels, is stepping up a bid to build a new stadium this week. The breakaway club will present plans for a 5,000 capcity stadium at Moston, near Newton Heath, at Moston Methodist Church on Tuesday evening, in the face of local opposition. Moston is FC United’s second attempt at building a permanent home for the six-year-old club, after plans to build at Ten Acres Lane, Newton Heath, fell through earlier this year.
However, strong local opposition to FC United’s plans could thwart the club’s ambitions before ground is broken, with more than 3,000 people having reportedly signed a petition opposing the stadium’s development. The City council is due to make a planning decision in July, with FC United stepping up its efforts to win over both local government and residents.
In addition to presenting plans tonight, club management will hold a series of consultation sessions in Moston next week, while delivering 10,000 leaflets to local residents.
FC will submit final plans for a £3.5 million stadium later this summer, with the club hoping to raise around half the development costs from a long-running community shares scheme.
The stadium, which includes both terracing and seats for up to 5,000 fans, will include a range of community facilities, according to the club. IT and teaching rooms, a full-sized artificial pitch and medical treatment facilities will be made available to the public.
“As part of our pre-planning consultation we want to give residents as much information as possible about the proposals,” said general manager and former fanzine editor Andy Walsh.
“We have had a very positive response from local people and we are continuing to discuss any remaining matters of concern that residents have.
“This development isn’t just about football, it’s about creating a community facility with open access to the people of Moston and north Manchester. It’s about proposals that create the opportunity to enhance the existing provision in the local area.
“FC United are trying to minimise the impact on the local area and we want to reassure residents that their concerns will be listened to.”
FC currently play home matches at Bury’s Gigg Lane but need a permanent home to curtail prohibitive rental costs associated with crowds that average more than 2,000 in the seventh tier of the English football pyramid.
old news
it’s 5000 capacity, not 5000 seats. very few seats. safe standing, as a football ground should be.
and while i’m being pedantic 😉
surely it should be “The Red Rebels, FC United of Manchester, ARE stepping up a bid”?
Sixkiller – yes the capacity arrangements are clarified later in the post.
If you want to be a pedant on a point of grammar I’m afraid I’m willing to correct you. Answer me this: is there more than one FC United of Manchester? No. It’s an organisation, not a collective noun. Then why write about them in the plural?
It’s a quirk of British English that so many people talk about clubs in the plural… “Manchester United are the Premier League champions…” when the grammatically correct version is “Manchester United is the Premier League champion…”
Sixkiller IS a pedant. Not Sixkiller are a pedant.
What is it with the internet that attracts smart arses not smart people, I wonder?
Then shouldn’t it be “The Red REBEL”?
another pedant – no because that’s a nickname not a description of contents!
you and sixkiller should get on to them about their shocking lack of grammatical correctness with their nickname then. i fear for the state of the English language.
You’re correct on the grammar, but I’m weary of this ‘British English’nonsense. There is English – just English. That’s it. Label variations like American English, Australian English, Indian English and so on if you wish but this is the original and should be recognized as such. We don’t need the ‘British’ tag, not least since other British nations have their own versions, which makes stupid references to ‘scottish’ as a distinct language all the more annoying really. Again ‘Scottish’ is just English spoken with a scottish accent. The lowland scots dialect – ‘lallands’ – is almost pure German (Anglo Saxon) anyway. Imagine speaking modern German with a heavy English accent and calling it English!
I hope FC United get their ground. They’ve come a long way in a short time, but they’ll never develop an identity without a permanent base. Good luck to them I say.
HA SIXKILLER
PWND!!
moderate me, god damn you
I’d like to bum you in the face if you are willing kind sir.
i’m not sure of the mechanics of that but bum away, good sir
To be honest this is the first time I heard of fc united (but I obviously know newton Heath) interesting read nevertheless
FFS We are Rant and don’t give a fook about the english language… this forum is a forum for grammaer school kiddies?
now grammer that and post a corrected version on knobs&whimps.com