Stadium Decision: The Aftermath

Last updated : 01 June 2005 By Stuart Gillespie

The simple answer is not a lot. Last Tuesday night saw the expected coverage on the main Scottish news bulletins, both Scotland Today and Reporting Scotland giving it some decent exposure and talking to a few Saints fans. The same, sadly, cannot be said for The Scottish Sun, which gave it just a few paragraphs in last Wednesday’s paper. Admittedly, they had to cover Martin O’Neill’s departure from Celtic, but when you consider the coverage that some papers gave to Partick Thistle sacking a few players (one paper made it front-page news!), the coverage our news received in the press was woeful. Did Partick sacking a few players for nipping off to the pub have any effect on whether the club will exist in a few years time? No. So why didn’t our news get a bit more exposure? At least Saints fan Bill Leckie made up for The Sun’s poor coverage with a good column on Friday.

Anyway, what actual developments have their been since last week’s joyous announcement? Well, because the decision went against various local plans and recommendations, it has to be referred to the Scottish Executive. I had previously thought this would delay things a lot; however it seems that they need to call a public enquiry within 28 days or we are home free. Seven days have already passed, fingers crossed that the remaining 21 days pass and we can move on to the next stage of the process. From reading the web, it seems that it is only the applications to build a stadium on Greenhill Road that can be called in, and this seems unlikely, even according to councillors!. More good news is that the people who objected to the applications cannot appeal, unless they go through the courts, so at the moment we are looking fairly good.

It was widely expected that if planning permission was given for a supermarket to be built on Love Street, finding a buyer would be a doddle. This seems to be the case, with reports that a few supermarkets are going to be in a biding way for the site. Wal-Mart have been linked to a purchase over the past few months, a bit strange considering they have a big Asda out at the Phoenix. Also linked with a bid are Tesco, who have had plans to build a supermarket at Reid Kerr College knocked back. I have no idea what other supermarkets, if any, want it but a bidding war is good news for us as we should get a bit more money!

Saints chairman Stewart Gilmour has posted on one Saints website that we’re looking at another two years at Love Street whilst everything is sorted out, with a year being needed to sort out the cost of the project and then a year being needed to build it. The various lengths of time we have left have varied depending on what you read, but as this comes from the chairman I think we can assume he is right. Various obstacles, such as purchasing the land and finding a buyer for Love Street, still have to be overcome which is why we still have a wee while to go. It has not yet been revealed yet what will happen if Saints manage to win the first division next season, with Love Street needing undersoil heating t allow us to be promoted. Previously I had thought the new ground would be ready and we wouldn’t have a problem. Hopefully something can be sorted out if we do manage to win the league.

Stewart Gilmour also speaks about the stadium in today's Daily Record, click on http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/sportsweek/tm_objectid=15577670%26method=full%26siteid=89488-name_page.html to read what he has to say.

With planning permission for the two sites now granted (as long as we get approval from the Executive) it is expected various parts of the process will fall into place pretty quickly. Whatever happens, it seems that Mirren Mad will be a place to keep an eye on over the next 12 months as I post news nicked from elsewhere.