Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Rovers are working to find site for new ground
BRISTOL Rovers president Wael Al-Qadi has revealed the club is exploring “several” sites in the city for a new stadium and that their training ground project at Almondsbury has been halted due to the uncertainty.
In an interview with BBC Radio Bristol’s weekly radio show Having a Gas, Al-Qadi confirmed to host Geoff Twentyman that the club are looking for a new site to build a ground away from the Memorial Stadium.
This comes as little surprise as Rovers have twice witnessed moves to develop a new ground beyond the Mem, their home since 1996, fall through in recent years.
In August 2017, the League One club announced long-term plans to build a new ground in partnership with University of the West of England ( UWE) had reached an impasse and they pulled the plug on the project. In December 2018, the club then confirmed their back-up plans had also been denied.
Al-Qadi confirmed the UWE project fell through because the university decided they wanted to use the land for other purposes.
Since then, the Pirates had been exploring alternative options but, to the frustration of fans, have been unable or unwilling to discuss them publicly.
“We need a new stadium and we have been working for two years now on a site and we had agreed every- thing, but like we issued a statement in December that we were disappointed that the other party decided not to go ahead with that,” Al-Qadi said. “We have spent two years at considerable cost to get this project up and going, but we were denied at the end. We are now focused on finding a new site to try and get this project up and going again.”
The Jordanian would not confirm where the new sites are, but said they were “close by”.
“There are several options (being explored) and there is a lot of working being done with considerable cost,” he added. “As soon as it is determined which site is a green light, we will announce it.”
The club purchased a 28-acre training ground site at Almondsbury in February 2017, which they boldly declared would be known as “The Colony”, however redevelopment work has ground to a standstill.
In December, Rovers CEO Martyn Starnes branded it an “aspiration” in light of departing manager Darrell Clarke’s pessimism surrounding the project. And Al-Qadi has confirmed any building work or redevelopment at Almondsbury has been put on hold until the issues surrounding a new stadium are solved.
Rovers host Charlton Athletic in League One this afternoon.