‘Menu of options’ to improve ground

Maidenhead United: Nothing being ruled in or out for York Road changes

Maidenhead United have confirmed they’re looking at a

‘menu of options’ to improve York Road and potentially transform the match-day experience for fans.

With the club’s proposed move to Braywick Park having been blocked by the council, the club are now focused on making the most of York Road – the oldest senior football ground continuously used by the same club in the county – while maximising their revenues.

With this in mind, they’re currently exploring a range of options for improving the ground, from putting in new crush barriers to meet safety and ground grading requirements, to a complete redevelopment of the York Road side of the ground.

They’re also set to look at whether it’s viable to replace the current grass surface with an artificial pitch, so it can be used by the club and community throughout the week while also providing a much-needed additional revenue stream.

CEO Jon Adams told fans at an open meeting last month that some of the projects would be feasible and others wouldn’t, however, they’re at a stage where nothing is being ruled in or ruled out.

He and chairman Peter Griffin also maintain that Braywick Park remains the only suitable option for the club to move to a new ground in the town, with the inference being the club could revive that project in the future with a more amenable local authority.

In December, Royal Borough cabinet members stood by their previous decision not to release the land at Braywick Park, citing concerns over the impact on open for public use.

At the meeting on March 21, Mr Adams said: “The reality is that there’s stuff we must do immediately. Our existing terracing needs investment and we’re being encouraged to put crush barriers around the ground. So, we’ll be looking at quite basic stuff, stuff that won’t transform the matchday experience.”

But the club have also been holding meetings with various organisations such as the Football Foundation to see what funding might be available to the club for different projects.

“The bigger picture is that we’ve been looking at options that might be available for us to invest in the development of York Road,” he said. “And what that really means is how do we start to invest in this side of the ground (the York Road side).

“We have an opportunity to create a bit more space by pushing the pitch in, because it is wider than it needs to be.

“But we’ve been exploring our options around knocking down all these facilities (the changing rooms, Stripes Bar etc) and building a second, smaller seated stand with new club house and bar facilities.

“We have a couple of versions of what that might look like. But as a minimum we’re probably talking £3-5m worth of investment so it’s not something that’s going to be cheap or be easily delivered.

“We also need to consider whether we need to convert the pitch to astroturf. Potentially, the conversion of the pitch to astroturf is something that we’re considering and that would be another £1m or £1.5m worth of investment.

“So, we’re exploring all those options, but at the moment, the only level of funding we have confidence of having access to is about £500,000 through the Football Foundation and we must prioritise that money in the first instance towards making sure the ground is safe.”

“We won’t rush into these decisions, and we need to make the right decision about where we spend the money.

“But ultimately, it’s about having improved terracing, improved seating, much better clubhouse facilities So, progress is being made, but the immediate solution is not determined currently. That’s the direction of travel.”

When asked if the York Road pitch could be turned 90 degrees – back to its original orientation in 1871 – to potentially facilitate further development, Mr Adams responded: “We’re looking at everything. We can’t just do the bare minimum. We must look at how we can improve the matchday experience.

“The Railway Side stand was the first major piece of work for several years. Crowds immediately went up because people like good, modern facilities.

“Everything will be looked at, up to and including a complete remodelling of the ground, but it’s about which part of the journey can we do and can we afford. This won’t be done in one summer, it’s part of a longer-term view as to how we can reach that point.

“Just doing the bare minimum you could spend £100,000 a year, and changing the crush barriers doesn’t improve your match-day experience or improve your revenue.

“But you can spend 10x that by doing a completely new bar for example or spend even more than that and put an astroturf in on the main pitch which could lead to you getting a lot more revenue back. Some things will be do-able, some things won’t be do-able and we’re at the stage where we’re looking at a menu of what could be done and getting the costs for all these different things.”