Hartlepool United will next month launch ambitious plans named ‘Project 25’, with the vision to improve Victoria Park and generate new income streams.
It includes either a new stadium or new stand and to get back to League One, a division they haven’t played in since the 2012/13 season.
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Pools chief executive Mark Maguire revealed: “We’ll be launching [Project 25] in December, it’s not some giddy ridiculous vision of the future, it’s about improving the infrastructure at the stadium.
“Whether that be a new stadium or a new stand, we’ll announce that in due course.
“The idea is to improve the facilities we’ve got to generate new income streams and help create a sustainable business underneath the football side which allows us to get to League One by 2025 in what will effectively be a new stadium on the same site.
“That’s something we’re exploring because we’ve got to think of new income streams and we’ve got to reinvent the club but the most important aspect of it will be very community focused.
“Previous incarnations of these sort of visions have been about building training grounds, getting to the Premier League and spending money on players, this is about us solving some of the socio-economic issues within Hartlepool as is our responsibility as a club.
“By getting a new infrastructure at the club it provides a new platform for the club to succeed.
“We don’t want to talk too much about it at this stage but we’re hoping to make some big announcements in December because it could be huge.
“It’s not a white elephant project, it’s about staying where we are and building on what we’ve got.
“I’ve spent the best part of 14 months talking to so many people in the community looking at what the problems of Hartlepool are and how we can be at the centre of helping to solve them and live up to our responsibility.
“If that gives us the platform to be sustainable in a business sense but also compete, then it could be really exciting.
“People laugh at these visions but I think it’s important you do set a vision and a strategy.
“It can’t be pie in the sky stuff, it’s got to be realistic and achievable and we’ll try to give that some real momentum over the next couple of weeks.”
Fans have given their reaction with many pleased with the the exciting plans, others also put forward what they would change – check out what they said on the next page.
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