Yesterday morning, I was shocked to read in The Sunderland Echo that the council’s plans to develop the Sheepfolds area may hinder the club’s potential plans to enlarge the Stadium of Light. This news well and truly rattled the cage of among others, Sir Bob Murray, and I for one certainly can’t blame him.
I read with great interest his book, I’d Do It All Again, and I urge any fan who hasn’t yet read it to do so. It’s a great read and his passion, commitment and love of the club shine through. I know
he wasn’t always everyone’s favourite, especially when he clashed with Peter Reid over some of his signings, and eventually sacked him.
However, there’s always two sides to every story and before then, there were many who disapproved of his decision to move away from Roker Park, but I think in hindsight, it was the only way forward.
The main reason for needing to move was of course the Taylor Report and the need for all-seater stadiums. Sunderland had no space around the ground to expand at all and we could’ve ended up with an all seater stadium with a capacity of around 16,000.
Most grounds in those days were built within the town or city as cars weren’t as affordable or used as much.
Fans would walk or cycle to games but with bigger stadiums and wider city development, many grounds are now moving outside the city centres, which is exactly what Sunderland did in 1997. It’s therefore frustrating that over a quarter of a century later, the council might be falling into the same trap of ‘locking’ the club in, unable to expand and extend.
Haway The Podcast interviewed Councillor Kevin Johnston — a cabinet member for a ‘dynamic city’ — back in June.
He was enthused by the growth and development of the city, and of course realised that this went hand in hand with the growth of the club back into the Premier League. In my own opinion, it is the stadium and the club that’s the main driving force behind the exciting growth around the city as a whole, creating employment and jobs, and is the fuel and driving force; the focal point of the city.
When I listened to Kevin, even though I’m not from Sunderland itself, I was excited and thrilled for the area and the forward planning of the council, as well as everyone pulling together.
How annoyed must Sir Bob be, therefore, when he read that the blueprint that he put in place when the stadium was first built, to protect the area around the ground, had been whitewashed by the council? Apparently, housing is planned to be developed close to the stadium, which would make any planning application made by the club to extend the ground and increase capacity null and void.
In his book, Sir Bob talked about how close they were to going ahead with extending the South Stand after our two seventh-placed finishes. Unfortunately these didn’t result in a European place, which may well have triggered such a decision, and I was also interested to read that any planning permission only lasts for three years.
That’s long gone but when Sir Bob met with Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, he was very keen and interested to hear any knowledge Sir Bob had to offer. Apparently they got on very well wand Mr Murray was very impressed with the plans and the intelligence of our new owner. I must admit that I was under the impression that the club had possibly already submitted a new planning application, but this is obviously not the case.
As Sir Bob said, “You don’t strangle your greatest asset and call it progress”. He’d helped to draw up the original protection plans and now they’ve been ignored.
The club, as I understand it, will be formally objecting to the plans, and I hope that for the benefit of the city and the growth of the club, a sensible agreement can be reached. To me, it’s a classic case of biting the hand that feeds you.
Get it sorted, lads!
