December 26 – Plymouth Argyle being chosen as a potential venue for the 2018 World Cup if England’s bid is successful will act as the springboard for the club to get into the Premier League within five years, the Board claimed today.
That is the aim of Argyle, who are currently 23rd in the Coca-Cola Championship having won 1-0 at Cardiff City today to climb off the bottom, the club’s chairman Sir Roy Gardner announced.
He said: ”The Board’s short-term focus is to support [manager] Paul Mariner with the actions necessary to improve our league position.
“However, in addition, the Board believes that it is fundamentally important to lay down the foundations for long-term success.
“The board has agreed the framework for a new Five-year Plan - from January 2010-December 2014 - which we are pleased to announce today.
“The World Cup Host City win for Plymouth is great news for the city and region, as well as the club.
“It will provide an excellent context for the implementation of the five years plan.”
Plymouth, the most southern and western club league club in Britain, is the largest city in the country never to played in the top flight of English football.
Sir Roy said: “This [promotion to the Premier League ] can only be an aspiration, but the probability of success can be increased with an appropriate investment in facilities and coaching and the team.
“Without better facilities, it will remain very challenging to recruit and support the players we will need.”
The Board aims to get planning permission for a new stadium (pictured) on the site of current ground Home Park in 2010 with a capacity of 43,874, provide a new durable pitch for the 2010-2011 season, demolish the Mayflower grandstand in June 2011 and build Stage 1 for completion in time for 2012-13 season
Stages two and three of the rebuild will be complete by 2014-15.
The Board plans to build a new training facility to support the Championship team and youth programme in Devon or Cornwall broadly within 20 minutes of Home Park.
The target is to get the new training pitches available by the end of 2010.
The supporting training facilities will be developed in stages over two years.
The plans second objective is to create a Sports and Leisure “destination” within Central Park, working with partners.
Plymouth City Council’s Central Park Action Plan envisaged the creation of a leisure and sporting complex.
The PAFC Holding Company will take the lead to create the facilities to deliver this objective, including creating a stadium that can be used for other sports, the Board said.
The third objective is to build the fanbase in Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall and, in addition, an international fan base, initially focussed on Japan and the United States.
Sir Roy said: “While it is understood that results matter in driving attendances at games and general support, there is a need to better understand what makes a fan become committed to a team and what Plymouth Argyle needs to do to draw a larger percentage of fans from Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall.
“We have an immediate catchment area of more than 250,000 and a total of 1.7 million people in Devon and Cornwall, yet average gates in recent year’s average 12,000 and current attendance are less than 10,000.
“We will work with partners to survey attitudes of the general public and of businesses across the region.”
The fourth objective is to provide the business infrastructure and operational team to underpin the achievement of the business objectives
Sir Roy said: “To achieve our business objectives, we need to operate as a modern global business, with the appropriate tools, facilities, business and capital structure.”
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