Falcons' facilities set to rank with best in Europe

After years of resistance from Newcastle City Council, the club are optimistic that their latest plan will gain approval.

It involves an investment of £8m in developing a 70-acre site which involves linking up Kingston Park with Bullocksteads, the home of Northumbria University.

Eight acres of farmland separating the sites has been bought and will be used to create a second show ground separated from the current pitch by a new grandstand with seating on either side.

The new ground could be used by Northumberland and Gosforth, strengthening a link with the past which was severed when Newcastle became a professional club backed by Sir John Hall.

The Falcons will have a 10,000 capacity stadium and apart from the two main pitches, there will be two floodlit all-weather pitches, a training shed, an extension to the Bullocksteads clubhouse, plus additional car parking and entrances.

"It's not pie-in-the-sky," said Andrew, whose dream of creating a centre of rugby excellence for the region is shared by David Thompson, who took over ownership from Hall two years ago.

"It has taken a year to get the planning application right and we're now at the stage where I'd love to be able to press the fast forward button and get everything in place.

"We got a bit lost at the end of the Hall era. We knew our facilities weren't good enough, but going to Gateshead Stadium didn't work out and we lost all our momentum.

"Instead of pushing on after we won the league we went backwards and if Dave Thompson hadn't stepped in it would have been the end of professional rugby in the North-East. He wants this to be the ultimate rugby community.

"With his involvement we have spent a long time standing back and asking where we are going. We were determined to take our time and get it right."

Partly to help with the planning, Newcastle brought in John Parkinson, the man behind the rise of Darlington Mowden Park, as director of business and development.

"John currently has the most important job in the club," said Andrew, who as a former chartered surveyor in London has known Parkinson for some time.

"Once we get all this in place you will not be able to go to any city in Europe and find better facilities. It will be a rugby campus with a stadium for the professional team and training pitches for all the kids.

"In Jonny Wilkinson we have the best fly half in the world and we have to make sure that once we have created top quality players we can hang on to them."

Kingston Park's current capacity is just short of 7,000, but the Premiership clubs have agreed that grounds must hold a minimum of 10,000.

Failure to comply would mean no place in the Premiership and in the past it has seemed that Newcastle would be unable to expand.

"This is part of the green belt," explained Parkinson. "We also exist cheek by jowl with a residential area and we have to minimise the impact of traffic and congestion.

"We have had a lot of dialogue with the council and have to satisfy them and the local residents that on the 20-odd days a year when top-level rugby is played here there will be minimal congestion.

"We have produced a master plan with more detail than in the past and in planning terms what we are proposing is largely uncontroversial. We are pretty optimistic it will get through.

"Initially there will be just over 4,000 seats, but we will get everything under cover as quickly as we can do it. The aim is to have the West Stand built by September 2,002.

"Because community involvement is writ large in this we are eligible for grants, and the Sports Minister, Kate Hoey, has already waxed lyrical about the project.

"We will also find funding through loans, debentures, long-term deals with the brewery and a possible share issue. We have a very good relationship with our main sponsors, Northern Rock."

Although, with a huge marketing effort, the Falcons attracted a crowd of 11,000 the first time they took a match to Gateshead Stadium, the 6,257 who watched the recent Tetley's Bitter Cup semi-final against Sale was a record for Kingston Park.

So what guarantee is there that crowds will increase to justify the creation of the stadium and sustain the club's ambitions?

Andrew has no worries on that score.

"Three things will generate bigger crowds," he said. "Success on the field, facilities off the field and our community programme.

"We are sending players and other club representatives into schools, clubs and the community in general all the time and because of that our gates are already up 50 to 60 per cent.

"The average crowd this season is 4,000. In two years we hope that will be up to 6,000, and after that if we get 6,000-10,000 on a regular basis we will be OK."

It's clear that Andrew gets a big buzz out of developing young players, even more so than the satisfaction gained from intially gathering his old mates in an effort to win the First Division.

"We did it, but it was always going to be a short-term hit," he said. "The average age of that side was 30, now it's 24 and it will be even younger next year.

"We have about 30 players in our academy and we like to give them a minimum of three years to prove themselves.

"We have to be conscious that they might not become professional players, so we always ask them what else they would want to do and hope to assist them in other ways.

"At the moment we are taking five or six a year from the academy on to the professional staff, but that will probably fall and hopefully other clubs in the region will benefit.

"They are happy for their best young players to come here and see how far they can get, knowing there is always a chance they will return.

"We had an awful year last year, but we knew it was a year we had to go through while we put all these bits in place.

"Part of the excitement now is seeing everything unfold and the most satisfying part is seeing the young players coming on.

"I see myself in all of them. They are 20-21 and desperate to be as good as they can be.

"As we move forward we are saying anyone who comes into the senior squad has to be a potential international. They have to have the ability but also the personal drive that makes you a better player.

"Without that you slip into a comfort zone and the next kid along comes past you.

"The squad will be stronger next season because the current players will be more experienced and the next wave in will strengthen it as well."

Andrew may not be able to press the fast forward button, but if the plans are approved on Friday the dream he had when he arrived at Kingston Park in September, 1995, will have taken a significant step towards full fruition.