New football stadium for Blues

My football team. Chesterfield FC have leaked some more information regarding their new stadium. We've been meant to be moving to a new stadium for about 25 years now as our current home, Saltergate is falling to bits (literally). It's one of the last old football grounds left in the country and is a place with a great deal of history and character but it just can't hack the day to day running of a League One football team anymore.

We haven't had much success in recent years. We reached an FA Cup semi-final in 1997 but have been in the same division for all but one season, without reaching the top 6 ever since.

The new stadium is due to be ready by December 2007 but that remains to be seen. I presume the plans resemble the generic design that was drawn up last year but it seems on a smaller scale.

Chesterfield's current home has a capacity of around 8700 and although we rarely sell out and average crowds of 4500 the new suggested capacity of 10700 does seem a little small if we ever plan to get anywhere although my understanding is that the corners of the new ground can be filled in if it's needed.

One of my main concerns is the lack of flexibility for away supporters. Usually 3/4 times as season we have occasions where the visiting fans could sell more seats that are available to them. Teams like Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest have been in our league in the last few seasons and could have sold double the allocations given to them but weren't able to - even though there were empty seats in the home end.

Another concern is the lack of terracing. I know it's a requirement to have an all-seater stadium in the Championship (the league above Chesterfield) but we haven't been there for more than 30 years. Apparently it is far more expensive to put a terrace at one end of the ground for structural reasons, even though the capacity would have been raised to 11915 - providing much needed income were the club ever to be more successful or have a cup run. If Chesterfield were to be promoted to the Championship then within three years they would be required to convert the terracing into seats.

The Chesterfield fans are a traditional and fickle lot and a large minority like to stand at a football match and I think that they should be given the opportunity. I enjoy standing because you get a far better atmosphere than sat in front of a moaning granny and grandad with rugs on their knees and a pot of tea (yes, we do have these people). Terracing would also make the ground a bit more distinctive than the other new soulless grounds that our rivals have got. There are some really horrible new grounds and it would break my heart to see us get one like Northampton Town (which has no character) or Port Vale (which has a 20,000+ capacity for their 4500 fans).

I am excited by the new conference facilities which should get the club much needed revenue to be able to compete better at their current level and hopefully push onwards and upwards.