Arsenal secure funding for stadium
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Premiership leaders Arsenal have secured funding for a new 357-million-pound ($673m) stadium which will open for the start of the 2006/2007 season.
The 60,000-capacity ground, a short distance from 38,500-seat Highbury in north London, will allow Arsenal to compete on a more equal financial footing with their top European rivals.
Manager Arsene Wenger called the announcement "very exciting news" and said he hoped still to be in charge when the team played their first game at Ashburton Grove.
"It has been a big target of mine to participate in pushing the club forward and relocating to a new stadium is a necessity as it will enable us to become of one the biggest clubs in the world," Wenger said in a statement.
"Also, I love the fact that the new site is so close to Highbury, it's where our heart is."
The chosen site at Ashburton Grove covers 372,000 square meters and the project will be one of the biggest regeneration plans in the capital.
Arsenal, unbeaten in the Premier League this season and leading the division by seven points, have been at Highbury since 1913.
"The gamble we are taking is that Arsene continues to work the miracles he has worked over the past seven years and we are confident he will," chairman Peter Hill-Wood told a news conference on Monday.
"We believe we have the best in our manager, we have the best in our team who display the best and most glorious in football and now we will have that in our stadium."
