Eastwood Red
Grenville Morris
By Mark Arthur
I think the time has come for me as Chief Executive of Nottingham Forest Football Club to explain the club's stance on a proposed new stadium in tandem with Nottingham's bid process as a World Cup venue.
There is a particular need to answer the misleading - and at times outrageous - statements that have been made in recent days about the project.
To do that it is necessary for me to explain the history of the issue since we started out - with professional help - about six years ago to consider the long-term future of The City Ground.
We are aware that The City Ground is perfectly operational but major redevelopment will have to take place in the next 10-20 years to maintain it to the standards we and our supporters expect and underline our determination and ambition to remain in the forefront of English football.
We have realised for many years that in order for the club to move forward for the benefit of future generations and the prosperity of the football club, we either had to develop the stadium or look into the possibility of relocating.
Two years ago we were approached by a developer to see if we as a club wanted to become part of a major development at Clifton.
We agreed to look at the possibility of being involved but it quickly became apparent that this location was too far from the city centre and would affect not only our supporter base but also any potential economic impact from staging major matches at this particular venue.
There have been other football clubs who have moved out of their town and lost an element of their identity and that consideration is very much in the forefront of our thoughts.
Then, following the announcement of Nottingham's World Cup bid we were presented with an opportunity to look at the potential of relocating to a new state of the art stadium and at the same time providing our fans with a once in a lifetime experience of seeing the very best international football in Nottingham.
With that in mind we have been working with Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council for the last six months to give Nottingham every opportunity of playing its part in staging the largest sporting event in the world. Yes, this is bigger than the Olympics.
On receiving the FIFA requirements, via the bid team, it soon became apparent that the current City Ground would in no way be compliant to the infrastructure and facilities that were needed.
We then commissioned Benoy, a Newark-based world-wide firm of architects, to look at The City Ground with fresh eyes with regard to the possible redevelopment.
Their findings confirmed the views we had received previously from another group of architects and Benoy also reported to the bid team that the only option would be for us to move to another site.
The England 2018 bid team's own architects Populus, who were architects for the Olympic Stadium as well as the Emirates, agreed with this conclusion.
We could only move as part of a sustainable urban extension with development that would support the construction of a new stadium.
While we have reviewed, along with local authorities, other possible sites over recent years (including Holme Pierrepont), it was felt that the only realistic place was to relocate to a site south east of the A52 which has been referred to as Gamston.
Throughout the whole process we have received fantastic support from Jon Collins and his team at the City Council and Neil Clarke and his team at Rushcliffe Borough Council.
Both leaders have shown real determination to explore every opportunity of bringing the World Cup to Nottingham.
They both understand the strength of this unique opportunity at a time when Nottingham is looking to enhance its reputation as the capital of the East Midlands. They are mindful, too, of the competition for the bid that comes from both Derby and Leicester.
Many of us share the belief that this is a great opportunity for Forest to find a new home within a project that will provide a lasting legacy to the city. But to achieve that we had hoped all parties would be pulling in the same direction.
However, from the recent comments that Councillor Kay Cutts, leader of the County Council, has made in the media and from the dogmatic approach she took in a meeting that was held last Friday it seems evident that she is totally against the entire project.
It is clear to us all that Councillor Cutts, who has only recently come to power, has no interest in football and the fact that she continues to ignore the evidence about the non-compliance of The City Ground is just an inconvenient truth.
We can only guess what the real motivation is behind her statements and whether or not she has the support within her own party or indeed the people she represents.
Let me make it very clear that this is not a political debate between city and county or between labour and conservative. From a Forest point of view we will continue to work with the City Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council to bring the World Cup to Nottingham and explore the opportunity of the football club relocating to Gamston - with or without the County Council's support.
The County Council owns only a small proportion of the land that will be required for the proposed development at Gamston and it is not necessary for the stadium to be on their land.
We will go through the due planning process and fully engage with the community in the hope of delivering a stadium of international quality to the fans and stakeholders of Nottingham and Nottingham Forest.
The irony of this would be that the County Council's land may well also receive planning permission and produce a significant multi million pound capital receipt that the County Council can use elsewhere in Nottinghamshire.
We will continue to support the World Cup bid and I will endeavour to update you all as and when I can without breaking any confidentialities.
I have chosen to release this statement to our website, which has 260,000 unique users, as a means of reaching as many of our supporters as possible.
If you support the bid please let people know because we often only hear from the minority who have no interest in helping Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to prosper.
This is not a whim. We have been working on this for six years and when the World Cup bid came to light we saw it as an opportunity to benefit the football club and the people of Nottingham to move forward to an exciting future.
We see it as a catalyst for bringing the very best facilities and events to Nottingham - something that everyone in the area should be striving to achieve.
http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10308~1798082,00.html
I think the time has come for me as Chief Executive of Nottingham Forest Football Club to explain the club's stance on a proposed new stadium in tandem with Nottingham's bid process as a World Cup venue.
There is a particular need to answer the misleading - and at times outrageous - statements that have been made in recent days about the project.
To do that it is necessary for me to explain the history of the issue since we started out - with professional help - about six years ago to consider the long-term future of The City Ground.
We are aware that The City Ground is perfectly operational but major redevelopment will have to take place in the next 10-20 years to maintain it to the standards we and our supporters expect and underline our determination and ambition to remain in the forefront of English football.
We have realised for many years that in order for the club to move forward for the benefit of future generations and the prosperity of the football club, we either had to develop the stadium or look into the possibility of relocating.
Two years ago we were approached by a developer to see if we as a club wanted to become part of a major development at Clifton.
We agreed to look at the possibility of being involved but it quickly became apparent that this location was too far from the city centre and would affect not only our supporter base but also any potential economic impact from staging major matches at this particular venue.
There have been other football clubs who have moved out of their town and lost an element of their identity and that consideration is very much in the forefront of our thoughts.
Then, following the announcement of Nottingham's World Cup bid we were presented with an opportunity to look at the potential of relocating to a new state of the art stadium and at the same time providing our fans with a once in a lifetime experience of seeing the very best international football in Nottingham.
With that in mind we have been working with Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council for the last six months to give Nottingham every opportunity of playing its part in staging the largest sporting event in the world. Yes, this is bigger than the Olympics.
On receiving the FIFA requirements, via the bid team, it soon became apparent that the current City Ground would in no way be compliant to the infrastructure and facilities that were needed.
We then commissioned Benoy, a Newark-based world-wide firm of architects, to look at The City Ground with fresh eyes with regard to the possible redevelopment.
Their findings confirmed the views we had received previously from another group of architects and Benoy also reported to the bid team that the only option would be for us to move to another site.
The England 2018 bid team's own architects Populus, who were architects for the Olympic Stadium as well as the Emirates, agreed with this conclusion.
We could only move as part of a sustainable urban extension with development that would support the construction of a new stadium.
While we have reviewed, along with local authorities, other possible sites over recent years (including Holme Pierrepont), it was felt that the only realistic place was to relocate to a site south east of the A52 which has been referred to as Gamston.
Throughout the whole process we have received fantastic support from Jon Collins and his team at the City Council and Neil Clarke and his team at Rushcliffe Borough Council.
Both leaders have shown real determination to explore every opportunity of bringing the World Cup to Nottingham.
They both understand the strength of this unique opportunity at a time when Nottingham is looking to enhance its reputation as the capital of the East Midlands. They are mindful, too, of the competition for the bid that comes from both Derby and Leicester.
Many of us share the belief that this is a great opportunity for Forest to find a new home within a project that will provide a lasting legacy to the city. But to achieve that we had hoped all parties would be pulling in the same direction.
However, from the recent comments that Councillor Kay Cutts, leader of the County Council, has made in the media and from the dogmatic approach she took in a meeting that was held last Friday it seems evident that she is totally against the entire project.
It is clear to us all that Councillor Cutts, who has only recently come to power, has no interest in football and the fact that she continues to ignore the evidence about the non-compliance of The City Ground is just an inconvenient truth.
We can only guess what the real motivation is behind her statements and whether or not she has the support within her own party or indeed the people she represents.
Let me make it very clear that this is not a political debate between city and county or between labour and conservative. From a Forest point of view we will continue to work with the City Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council to bring the World Cup to Nottingham and explore the opportunity of the football club relocating to Gamston - with or without the County Council's support.
The County Council owns only a small proportion of the land that will be required for the proposed development at Gamston and it is not necessary for the stadium to be on their land.
We will go through the due planning process and fully engage with the community in the hope of delivering a stadium of international quality to the fans and stakeholders of Nottingham and Nottingham Forest.
The irony of this would be that the County Council's land may well also receive planning permission and produce a significant multi million pound capital receipt that the County Council can use elsewhere in Nottinghamshire.
We will continue to support the World Cup bid and I will endeavour to update you all as and when I can without breaking any confidentialities.
I have chosen to release this statement to our website, which has 260,000 unique users, as a means of reaching as many of our supporters as possible.
If you support the bid please let people know because we often only hear from the minority who have no interest in helping Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to prosper.
This is not a whim. We have been working on this for six years and when the World Cup bid came to light we saw it as an opportunity to benefit the football club and the people of Nottingham to move forward to an exciting future.
We see it as a catalyst for bringing the very best facilities and events to Nottingham - something that everyone in the area should be striving to achieve.
http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10308~1798082,00.html
