Relegation does not stop World Cup dream claim Plymouth

May 2 – Plymouth Argyle’s relegation from the Championship will not affect plans to redevelop its Home Park stadium in time to host matches if England are chosen to host the World Cup in 2018, club officials promised today.

Plymouth finished 23rd out of 24 clubs in the League and will return to League One next season, which will have a severe financial impact on Argyle, who reported a loss of £2.8 million ($4.2 million) for the year ending May 2009.

But Douglas Fletcher, the chairman of Plymouth World Cup Bid Ltd (PWCBL), the firm set up to oversee the club’s World Cup bid, insisted that they would push on with their plans to redevelop Home Park.

He said: “It’s disappointing the football club’s in the position it’s in, but from a World Cup perspective, nothing has changed.

“The World Cup bid was not dependent on the football team’s performance.”

Plymouth was one of 17 venues chosen by England 2018 as potential hosts if they host the tournament.

They will be joined in League One by several other venues, including Milton Keynes and Sheffield Wednesday, who like Plymouth have been relegated from the Championship.

Earlier this year a major World Cup seminar organised by the PWCBL, Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and Argyle was told entertainment giant AEG was linked to plans to redevelop Home Park into a 46,000-seater venue with a surrounding leisure complex, a key part of the World Cup bid.

At Argyle’s annual general meeting earlier last month the club’s chairman Sir Roy Gardner highlighted executive director Keith Todd’s five-year plan for the Greens’ future and claimed that they remained on course to bring Premier League football to the city.

He said: ”We have a vision of bringing Premier League football to Plymouth Argyle.”