Sales pitch can win new following

By Mark Currie, Daily Post

01 December 2005

WREXHAM are planning to install a new state-of-the-art all-weather pitch at the club's Colliers Park training facility, which will also be thrown open for community use.

The project will be largely funded from the £50,000 match fee waived by Premiership giants Liverpool when they played a pre-season friendly at the Racecourse in July and is set to become a major source of income for the club.

Chester businessman Geoff Moss, who was a patron of Wrexham's youth development programme for a number of years before joining forces with Neville Dickens in a bid to buy the club from owner Alex Hamilton, explained that the existing surface was long overdue for replacement.

"It's been there for eight years and has become so compacted that the rain no longer drains through, with the result that it's often flooded and unusable," he said..

"We are planning to put down a full-size synthetic pitch similar to that at Wigan Athletic. It's the very latest in technology and I would defy anyone to play on it and not think it's grass.

"The key to having a full-sized area is that the School of Excellence kids will only need to use it two or three nights a week and the rest of the time it will be available for community use.

"There is a huge demand for artificial pitches and we estimate that the facility could bring in revenue of around £50,000 a year. We envisage spending some of that money on new dressing room facilities and extending the gymnasium area so that we can open a fitness centre for use by the general public and provide a full physical and sports injury clinic.

"We need to improve the training facilities for everyone at the club, from Denis Smith's first team play-ers right down to the youngest children's teams because we have some very talented youngsters coming through.

"In addition to providing the very best facilities for the club we will also be helping to meet the huge public demand for this type of thing and we want the community as a whole to benefit as well."

Moss said the proposed Colliers Park improvements were not dependent on the success of his and Dickens' bid to buy the club, but admitted that the current impasse while legal issues have to be resolved was frustrating.

"There's not a lot we can do until the outcome of the court case," he added. "But we are continuing to do what we can. We remain slightly reluctant buyers, but we are pressing ahead with our plans to bring the club out of administration and put it on a firm financial footing.

"There is no white knight out there so in conjunction with the local council, who are supporting us 100%, we have our plans in place and could move relatively quickly if the legal issues are resolved in the club's favour."

In the interim, said Moss, initiatives to attract supporters were gathering pace.

Shoppers spending more than £30 at Sainsburys are being given £5 vouchers redeemable against the cost of stand tickets for the next two home games, while more than 500 schoolchildren are expected to take advantage of organised free admission trips to the Racecourse on December 10.

"We are hoping to repeat the voucher scheme at Asda and then at Tesco in the weeks to come and we have just sent out letters to season ticket holders inviting them to bring a friend at the reduced price of £10," he said..

"With the club reliant on as much gate income as possible it ' s terribly important we strive to keep attendances above 4,000 in the weeks ahead.

"I've told Denis Smith that we expect him and his players to do their bit by continuing to entertain the fans."