All of the blood, sweat and tears will be worth it on Saturday when Winchester City step out at their redeveloped Charters Community Stadium home for the first time.
An extensive programme of work has taken place at the Pitching In Southern League Premier South club, with a 3G playing surface laid, new LED floodlights installed, stand redevelopment and improvements of the surrounds with new fencing dug-outs and hard standing areas.
“This is a project that has been six or seven years in the making,” Club Director, Stuart Munro, told us. “The current committee has taken it on and now we are about to see it finally come to fruition with our first competitive game, which is extremely exciting.
“I am very proud of what has been achieved. There have been plenty of hurdles to overcome and we’ve had to jump through many hoops, but the ground grading inspection took place earlier this week and we are good to go!
“There are so many people who have played their part in getting us to this point and we are eternally grateful to them. Winchester City Council have also been extremely supportive and so too has the Football Foundation.
“This project is not just about the here-and-now, it’s about building a sustainable future for the football club and reaching out to provide a first-class facility for the whole community.
“We have so many different teams affiliated to us already and we are now able to extend this even further and have an even greater reach within our local area.
“We’re already up to 85% capacity; the hope is that if we bring more members of the local community into the club via the various activities and teams that we offer, they will return to watch the first-team and that secondary spend, allied to getting new sponsors on board because the stadium will be in use every day, will then allow us to invest in continuing to build and develop the infrastructure of the club.
“There is a stand that we would like to redevelop as well as improvements to our hospitality facilities, so this is very much an ongoing project, which we intend to build over time.”
The club has a mouth-watering game in which to open the new facilities as they take on Vanarama National League South outfit, Weymouth, in the third round qualifying of the Emirates FA Cup.
“This is a Cup tie that will really capture the imagination as we go head-to-head with higher level opponents in the greatest domestic cup competition of them all,” added Munro. “We are looking forward to the occasion and welcoming a large crowd, with a special atmosphere.
“We’ve done better in the cup competitions so far this season. Our League form has not quite got up to scratch yet, but hopefully returning home will be the catalyst we need.
“Saturday’s game is the first of four in a row here. We’ve got six home matches by the end of October, so this could be a turning point for us and see us start building some momentum to get our season up-and-running.
“We finished last season in the middle of the table, in 11th position, and we are confident that we can do the same again this time around and maybe get into that top ten.
“This is an opportunity for us to really start moving forward both on and off the pitch. We’re not going to try to run before we can walk, though. It will be done in a considered, controlled and sustainable manner.”
IMAGE: Winchester City FC
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