AMBITIOUS SAINTS CAN PLOUGH ON
IAN ALLINSON reckons ambitious plans for a new stadium will take St Albans City to the next level.
The Saints boss was reacting to plans to build a brand new 6,000-capacity ground which the club say can help them fulfil their dream of playing in the Football League by 2025.
Allinson has already worked wonders since taking over the Clarence Park hotseat three years ago, taking the Hertfordshire club from a relegation dogfight in National League North to promotion contention.
Now the former Arsenal player believes these plans can help cement the club’s ambitions to be among the Non-League elite.
“It’s got to be a positive because the club has been crying out for it for a long time,” Allinson said. “It will go a long way in bringing players to the club as well as helping secure players we’ve already got, as they will see there is a plan in place.
“It will help in terms of training facilities. We currently train at Nicholas Breakspear and the University of Hertfordshire, which has its difficulties in how we plan and prepare for games.
“It will allow us to reach a better standard and a better level and should help us compete with other clubs around us.”
Meanwhile, co-owner Lawrence Levy insists the club’s move to the new Noke Lane Community Stadium should not necessarily mean the end to football at Clarence Park.
“It will be down to the Council’s agreement but this is my idea,” Levy explained. “We’ve got a thriving disability section, a thriving girls section, so I would like to have a professional ladies team who would play at a combination of stadiums, including ours and maybe even Clarence Park.
“We would look to redevelop it sympathetically, but this would all be done with the agreement of the Council, who are the owners.
“We would be prepared to help St Albans District Council and make it a community pitch for the ever-growing ladies and inclusive teams that we will have.
“We haven’t gone into that in detail because we’re not on the map yet.”