New Meadow

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New Meadow (provisional name)

Full name	New Meadow
Built	2006/2007 (Currently under construction)
Opened	Scheduled for Summer 2007
Capacity	10,000
Home of	Shrewsbury Town F.C.
Pitch size	TBC

The New Meadow is the provisional name for a new football stadium being built for Shrewsbury Town Football Club. The ground is situated on the south-western outskirts of Shrewsbury, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm. It will replace the Gay Meadow stadium, home of Shrewsbury Town since 1910.

The ground is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2007, in time for the 2007-08 football season. The name 'New Meadow' is currently provisional, an official name has not been decided.

1 The Stadium
2 Reasons for moving to the New Meadow
3 Controversy
4 Future
5 External links

[edit] The Stadium

The stadium is currently being constructed by Hall Construction, a construction company who have built several Football League stadiums and grandstands. It will have a capacity for 10,000 seated spectators, with on site supporter's bars. In addition, there will be several corporate and hospitality suites, which the club states will be used both on match days and for general community use.

Following consultation with supporters groups, the stadium will consist of blue seating, with the club's initials (STFC) spelt out in amber. This is following considerable outcry when the club initially stated that seating would consist of the club's original blue and white colour scheme. Despite originally being blue and white, the club has adopted a distinctive blue and amber colour scheme since the 1970s, which many supporters feel is a unique and distinctive part of the club.

The ground will have good access to the A5 road/A49 road (at the Shrewsbury by-pass), and also sits adjacent to the Shrewsbury to Hereford railway line (plans for a small halt for football supporters have been mentioned but there have been no firm plans for this.)

The ground is adjacent to the large Meole Brace Retail Park and the Bannatyne's Health Club and Municipal Golf course complex, however spokespersons from both sites have stated no car-parking will be available on match days. Although parking will be limited, there will be more car parking and far better vehicular access than at the club's current Gay Meadow home.

The club has also unveiled plans for a "Buy a Brick" scheme at the new ground. Under the scheme, supporters can pay to have their own name, or the name of a deceased friend or family member, engraved onto one of the bricks at the ground.

[edit] Reasons for moving to the New Meadow

Shrewsbury Town chairman Roland Wycherley has been the driving force behind the move, as he first submitted planning application for the new ground as early as 1999 (considerable local opposition amongst other things meant building did not commence until mid 2006)

Whilst the Gay Meadow ground is homely with a good atmosphere, access to the ground is very poor, via a small back-street known as 'The Narrows'. This poor access meant that the capacity at Gay Meadow was slashed from 14,500 to 8,000 following the Taylor Report. This is in stark contrast to the official record attendance at Gay Meadow, 18,917 for the league match against Walsall on 26 April 1961. Local legend says over 22,000 were estimated to be inside the stadium in the league match against Wrexham on 21 August 1950, despite the official figure given as 16,000.

It has been stated that if the Stadium was accessible on all sides of the stadium with exit through the neighbouring Abbey Gardens, the stadium capacity could still only rise to no more than 10,000, the current capacity for the New Meadow.

In addition, the Gay Meadow's location on the banks of the River Severn, whilst picturesque, meant the club suffered with flooding. Severe floods in 1998, 2000 and frequently since have affected the club badly, with several matches postponed, a flooded pitch and flooded offices and changing rooms.

Supporters of the move claim that the risk of flooding along with the Gay Meadow's cramped location, mean that a move to a new ground is essential in order for the club to remain as a Football League club.

[edit] Controversy

The proposed move to the new ground has been controversial, with some fans feeling the club is disregarding its history and should remain at Gay Meadow. However the majority of fans are keen to move to the new ground, and see it as an essential move if the club are to remain as a Football League club. Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters, has often claimed that the prospect of playing at the new ground has helped entice many of his players to the club.

Most opposition to the move has come from outside of the football club, in particular from local residents who are concerned about disruption and extra traffic on match days. Many residents of the neighbouring Sutton Farm housing estate are against the move, and formed a protest group known as the Sutton Area Residents Association (SARA), protesting against the move.

Since the initial planning applications were drawn up in 1999, SARA members have fought a campaign against the move, gathering petitions from the local residents, attending local council meetings and writing many letters to the local papers. Recently, SARA has criticised the football club after it controversially asked for permission to scrap plans to build community football pitches on the site, offering instead to donate £350,000 towards building them elsewhere in the town, where is it stated by the club they will be more widely used.

Since building work has begun, SARA themselves have been heavily criticised, with many Shrewsbury supporters voicing a long-standing criticism that they are merely a NIMBY association, who having lost their campaign to stop the ground being built, are now obstructing the club wherever possible. To this effect, members of "Blue and Amber" an unofficial Shrewsbury Town website, collected a petition urging SARA to work with the football club as opposed to standing in their way.

With SARA spokespersons regarding this as a publicity stunt and claiming they are in fact working with the football club during the building process, the controversy over the New Meadow and the long war of words within the letters page of the Shrewsbury Chronicle looks set to continue.

[edit] Future

The ground is currently well under construction, with handover to the club scheduled for June 2007. The first match to be played at the New Meadow will be a friendly match against Manchester City F.C. This match was arranged as part of a transfer deal involving former Shrewsbury Town goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was sold to Manchester City in the summer of 2006.

Barring injury, Joe Hart will almost certainly be playing for the visitors, in a highly-anticipated match that will surely be a sell out, with Shrewsbury Town fans eagerly anticipating the first match in the club's new home.