Two of the companies at the centre of the FAI's plans for a new stadium in west Dublin were at it again yesterday when Coventry City unveiled their scheme to build a new ground for the club in the Foleshill area of the city.
The new development, initially titled Arena 2000, bears striking similarities to the FAI project which isn't too surprising considering that the architects, RHWL, and the builders, HBG, are the same companies that have been employed by the association to work on the development of their Citywest site.
Coventry City's new stadium will have around 45,000 seats and will also boast a retractable roof and removable pitch and is even similar in appearance to the new ground which the FAI intend to build.
The cost, however, is much greater with the English Premiership side expecting to spend around stg£120 million, just about twice as much as the £65 million talked of here, on the stadium which is also intended to be ready for use in time for the start of the 200102 season.
In fact, the developers maintain that the cost of constructing the stadium will be virtually the same as in the case of Dublin with all of the additional money being taken up by preparatory work on the site and infrastructural work around it.
Currently the area to be redeveloped is occupied by a disused gas works and this will have to be, dismantled, cleaned up and the ground decontaminated before work can go ahead on the new scheme. Part of the nearby Hales Park industrial estate has also been purchased and this too will be cleared in order to allow for the development.
As part of their project the club have also agreed to pay for major alterations to the local transport system with a roundabout being built on a major trunk road nearby and a new station being constructed on the Coventry to Nuneaton line to serve the ground.
When finished Coventry City's new home will have 45,000 seats with 6,200 car parking spaces. Unlike Dublin, however, the complex will also include 220,000 square feet of retail space and 150,000 square feet of leisure facilities to include bowling, gymnasium and other indoor sports areas.
Welcoming the announcement yesterday, local English MP Geoffrey Robinson said that the project was "very good news, I think it will give the club a new lease of life and it's also a tremendous boost for the city," but the whole plan will still have to be approved by the local city council before work can actually start on the site.
That shouldn't be too much of a problem for the club, however, as Environment Secretary, John Prescott had already instructed his department to look at the plans and, having been given the go ahead by central government, it would appear unlikely that anything more than minor changes to the scheme would be forced upon City at this stage. As in Bernard O'Byrne's case, Coventry City chairman Bryan Richardson has been working on getting the plan to this stage for the past 18 months or so and he said yesterday that it had all been "a hard slog".
He added, however, that he was delighted now that the development is set to go ahead and the club are optimistic that in the event that the English FA wins its campaign to stage the 2006 World Cup finals that the new stadium will have a good chance of making it onto the list of venues.
Coventry City must now finalise plans to finance the new development, although the sale of their current ground at Highfield Road will go some way towards meeting the cost of the move. There is also likely to be considerable public support for the development while the retail and leisure facilities will obviously reduce the overall burden on the club.
"First and foremost," said Richardson "we are a football club but to compete in the Premiership we must generate more income. Wherever new stadiums have been built either here or in Europe attendances have doubled and sometimes trebled. Our stadium will have facilities unrivalled in Europe."
The FAI may want to get on to him about this last bit.
