Saints Submit Plans For New Stadium Complex At Staplewood Wednesday, 1st Apr 2020 10:00 With space at a premium in the Southampton City boundary, Saints have been looking farther afield and have found the solution to their plans to build a new stadium complex to rival anything in Europe. Saints at an online press conference scheduled for 11.45 am this morning will announce ambitious plans to build a brand new stadium not in Southampton itself but on their Staplewood campus at Marchwood. They have been aware for some time that St Mary's will not be sufficient for their needs going forward and with little space around it to expand, they have looked elsewhere. But they have found the answer on their own doorstep, the Staplewood training complex is massive and with the move towards home training players brought forward due to the Corona Virus and this being seen as the future, they have the room to not only build a stadium with an initial capacity of 80,000, four times that of Fratton Park, but with the scope to expand to 100,000 should the demand be there. A top secret meeting of Marchwood Village council last night hastily rubber stamped the plans knowing that this could turn their village into one of the most sought after spots in Hampshire. The plans of course funded by Chinese investment not only include the stadium and training complex, but a large Avenue that will go down to the waterfront lined with shops and high end housing. The club see that the extra 30,000 spectators needed can be found in the newly populated Waterside area, Marchwood currently has a population of 6.141, but that is expected to rise to around £250,000 once the development is complete. The main stumbling block of building stadiums in the last 20 years has been transport links but this is not seen as an issue. Saints CEO Martin Semmens in an exclusive interview with TUI said: The Staplewood transport hub will be one of the most most modern in Europe, it will be A. Rail- The Waterside train track will be reopened and expanded to 6 tracks it will also connect directly to Southampton Central Station via an underground system with further stops at the Bargate, Ocean Village and Gao Landing . B. Road - The Marchwood bypass will be a smart motorway connecting with the M27, where space does not allow overhead sections will be built . C. Air - With airlines shares due to the Corona Pandemic dropping, the intention is we buy up a major airline cheaply and become the first Football club in the World to own one. We have already submitted plans to build a new airport just outside Hythe currently just used by a few New Forest Ponies. D. Hover Board, obviously we can't say much about this but we are Chinese owned and they are a fw decades ahead of us on this one (Semmens winked a lot here) E. Ferry - Hythe Pier will be renamed Gao Landing and will serve high speed ferries from all across Hampshire, if we build this stadium we know we will need to fill it and we are told that there are around 200,000 football fans in the Portsmouth area, only around 10% of these actually attend football matches, so there is scope there to attract those individuals. Managing Director Toby Steele added: This stadium will be the bestest and most hi tech in the World, it will be built in the style of an Ocean Liner to reflect our city's maritime heritage, I know that has been done at Fratton Park, as they seem to have built their stadium mainly out of wood to look like HMS Victory, but ours will be all steel glass and concrete as well as a few surprises not yet known outside of China. One I can reveal is that it will have a water slide and climbing wall on the top deck to look like Harmony Of The Seas. This is going to be fantastic and there will be discounts for all season ticket holders and they will be encouraged to open ticket touting agencies on line and sell tickets at a discount to their friends earning a £5 voucher at the club shop for every ticket sold. The last word goes to Martin Semmens: We have had to bite our lips over the past couple of years as the fans have been revolting, but that revolting will turn to tears of happiness when they see the plans on April 1st, I expect their first instinct will be to carry Toby, Chairman Gao and Myself shoulder high around the City, but sadly that won't be possible due to the restrictions currently in place, so I would suggest that instead they go online and buy a replica shirt currently half price on the official website. So there you have it, Saints do have ambition, in payment for our silence we have been allowed to hold a competition to name the stands. Three of the stands have already been named, the Chairman Gao Stand, The Four Nil In Your Own Backyard Stand & The Ted, Lawrie & Markus Stand, but what should we call the other, give your suggestions in the comments section below and we will then put out a poll. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 31 bloggersSouthampton Polls[ Vote here ] |
