The big news that had been rumbling all day on Twitter and the rest of the inter web has been revealed and it seems that it’s just the start of things to come. The news is that the Cobblers and the council have struck a deal to expand Sixfields in a £12 million deal that will see the authority loan the club money that will initially focus on expanding the East and West stands of Sixfields by August 2014.
David Cardoza has been waiting for eight long years to get this deal done and full credit to him and the powers that be for coming through all of those false starts and broken promises that have been handed to him in the past. Not only does this mean that our club can progress off the pitch but that on the pitch where it matters most we could see more revenue put in and hopefully better players being attracted here.
The particulars of the deal are set to be announced tomorrow but it’s a fantastic piece of news in the middle of a summer that had started to drag its heels a little. I’m thinking that corporate hospitality will be looked at with the redevelopment and the day to day income should also increase if we can offer the better facilities. It’s all simple to say but great to finally be talking about these things on the back of solid news rather than false hopes and words.
I remember the first drawings and plans that were revealed in the local news all those years ago when Mr Cardoza first began to put forward his ideas and the amount of time that’s passed has seen the club promoted and relegated before stalling in League Two for the last few seasons. Off the back of a campaign where we ended up just one game from promotion this is the time for our football club to finally move forward.
What we must avoid is the ‘Darlington effect’ of building a huge stadium that we can’t fill and ultimately falling to destruction. What we know is that we have a passionate town for football and if we can even start on bringing back some of the drifting supporters and businesses that may have been looking elsewhere for their football fix and sponsorship opportunities then this dream of ours can start to become a reality
Most importantly we must use this positive future to sell the club not just to the people in suits but to players who may be mulling over signing for us. This is the time to not just persuade potential new signings that next season will see us challenging but also to sell to them the vision for the season after that and the season after that.
Exciting times ahead as we go to within a month of the new season. More to come tomorrow…
A Load Of Cobblers 