Faversham Town have unveiled their ambitious plans to redevelop the Shepherd Neame Stadium.

The rebuild will be done in five phases, “each phase will be done as and when time and finances allow” says the Stadium Manager Stephen Hall.

The first phase will consist of three new stands opposite the current main stand, which will increase the ground’s capacity by just over 300, this initial expansion will also include new changing rooms as well as a new function and bar area. The club will apply for a grant for this first phase from the football foundation for £150,000 and hope for this to be started in the summer and completed by the end of the year.

The second phase will include a clubhouse, “this will incorporate a bar, two function rooms which will be let out to the community, upstairs there will be a second bar as well as a kitchen facility” explains Hall, “we want this to be a place where the community are able to come”

Faversham have needed to rebuild in the past, in 2003 the club were forced to resign from the Kent League after turbulence on and off the field, the club looked dead with the ground going into disrepair. Since then, however, the club has been improving every year, football returned to Salters Lane in 2005 and the club has risen ever since as thy now find themselves fighting for a playoff position in the Ryman League South.

The third phase of the development will consist of a cafe and the main turnstiles; this part of the ground will also include the club’s offices, the club shop and further space for function rooms, these function rooms will also have an open area overlooking the pitch.

“The fourth phase is where we are looking for outside investors” says Hall, we are hoping to build a fitness centre with rooms to be let out and changing facilities, “what we are looking for is someone to come in wanting to buy this, this will be rent free, and in return they will buy us a stand, this stand will be found behind the goal at the Salters Lane end of the ground”.

The fifth phase, the club are hoping, will be a large sports hall which is able to be used by the community, but, if the club are able to find an investor, they will allow them to use this area as the investor wishes, “whoever wants to invest in this, as long as their plans are fitting with the ground, we will work with them, we want this to be a multi-purpose site for the community”.

The club have also recently merged with Faversham Town Youth, one of the biggest youth football teams in the area, “because of this we would like to accommodate them at Salters Lane” says Hall, “this could include a small 3G pitch”. This will be positioned where the current pitches are behind the far goal at the ground. This will be used for training, but will not be a full sized 3G pitch due to the amount of these new pitches in the local area, as well as their cost to maintain.

This news regarding the 3G pitch will also be carried onto the main pitch at the Shepherd Neame Stadium due to the cost of its maintenance.

The full cost of the redevelopment is expected to be around 2.5 million pounds. “If we are able to complete the first two phases, this will be where we will be getting a lot of money, the potential from that, could help us to finance the parts ourselves, but it would take a lot longer”.

The club are still unsure on how long it will take for the club to fully complete this redevelopment, “we are hoping that the first two stages will be completed over a five year period, this this is dependent on finances, the rest of is more open”. Each phase is seen as a block, because of this, the ground will be able to stay in full use between stages, meaning that the club are not wasting any valuable space.

When asked about how the club will be developed with the stadium, Hall said “if we are able to get the clubhouse up and running, it will give us the best chance of competing for a place in the Ryman Premier, a place which we would be able to hold, the Premier is a tough league, so we need these finances coming in is we want to get as far as we can”. “You can never say never, but the Conference Premier is a big jump for us, but in the long run, I would like to think we may, one day reach the Conference South”.

Our new youth setup will also help the club, “with more and more young players seeing that there is a chance to play for a successful team in a good league, it may encourage them to stay in football”.