MORECAMBE'S Christie Park will boast a brand new, £300,000 cantilever stand at the start of next season as the club continues to plan for promotion to the Football League. Officials at the club unveiled the plans this week. The new, covered stand at the Lancaster Road School end of the ground will have a capacity for 3,100 standing spectators. Plans for the complex also include a fitness suite, club shop, lounge bar and car-park. Director in charge of the development, Peter McGuigan, said: "The plans really are quite outstanding but there is a lot of hard work to do for the team, the management, the supporters and the board.

"It is an extremely exciting challenge but the stand will be built by the start of next season."

That news comes just days after it was announced that clubs looking for promotion to the Football League have until April 1997 to get their grounds ready rather than December as it had been in the past.

The new Christie Park stand will go a long way towards helping Morecambe's ground reach the League's requirements. A third of the cost could be met with a grant from the Sports Ground Initiative leaving the club with a further £200,000 to find.

Supporters wishing to know more can attend an open meeting at the club on Tuesday December 17.

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