Here is Part 3 of my 4 Part Exclusive from the Fan’s Forum on Thursday night. Attending the event was:
?Carlos Tevez
?Kolo Toure
?Danny Wilson, Supporters Officer
?John Stemp, Chief Infrastructure Officer
The evening was hosted by Hugh Ferris from Key 103 radio station and was kicked-off with a signing session. After the signing and photos finished the questions from the fans began (continued):
16) Fan: ‘A question for John. In the paper there has been a lot of coverage on our apparent £1billion redevelopment plans. I understand we had an important visitor at Eastlands today (Gordon Brown). However, what is going to happen? Is anything set in stone and are there any completion dates?’
John: ‘When the owners bought Manchester City Football Club, Sheik Mansour wanted the club to compete as a European super-power. At the moment, we don’t have what other clubs do (facilities). When I was hired, which happened to be the day of the take-over, the first thing for me to do was to fix the insufficient training ground. Also, we wanted to to fix the stadium because it had not been looked after properly. We wanted to learn from what is great around the world by viewing the facilities of other clubs. However, it is clear that this project requires partnership; to work with the council.’
‘The owners do not like to talk about what they like to do before they do it. They would prefer to talk about things after they have been completed. It is quite clear that we have plans, but they are not yet set in stone. Here is what we intend for the short term: We know that what we offer and the services provided for the fans is not good enough. A planning application has been released for everything to be completed before the beginning of next season. The project is called ‘City Street’ and this is for the short term. There isn’t enough soul around the stadium. This idea has not yet been confirmed. However, we are very close to a conformation.’
‘In the medium term: We want the stadium to be able to compete with the world’s best. We also intend to build the world’s greatest training facility on site at Eastlands. This is not a sprint, we want to nurture young talent. I can assure you all, there is commitment.’
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