With the club having to inform the Football League where
they wish to play their games next season, should they get promoted, by the end
of the today (February 28), the deal has been confirmed publicly.
The agreement will see improvement works carried out at the
ground, which also hosts Newport RFC and Newport Gwent Dragons, including
Newport County paying for a new pitch surface to be laid, and the rugby club
investing in a new irrigation system.
There are also plans to further develop Rodney Parade over
the period of the lease, helping to improve a facility the Newport community
can use and be proud of.
Newport RFC CEO Chris Brown said: “We needed a 10-year lease
agreement in place in order for [Newport County] to go in to the play-offs, and
that’s the thing we’ve managed to do.
“The agreement, I believe, is really good for football at
Newport, I think it’s good for rugby at Newport, I think it’s good for the
sustainability of the rugby here in Newport, and we’re very excited about the
things we are going to be doing together.
“We are going to be doing some serious work on the playing
surface over the summer in order to have a flatter and better playing surface
available for next season, and for many years to come.
“That’s going to include increased drainage, a sprinkler
system and a new surface to some extent on the top. It will be a grass surface
and not a synthetic surface.”
Newport County CEO Dave Boddy reiterated the importance of
the deal for the football club, no matter which division they will be playing
in next year, and that there would be no worries regarding fixture clashes for
any of the clubs involved.
He said: “It’s our future here for 10 years, regardless of
which league we’re in. On the back of this first year's experience and the history of how
the club ran at Spytty (Park, County’s former ground), we decided some time
back that we wanted to be here for the foreseeable future.
“The requirement of the Football league to have a 10-year
lease has driven that. The detail of the lease has been that it’s had to work
for all the governing bodies.”
Rodney Parade director and former Dragons coach Jim McCreedy
believes the deal is mutually beneficial to both sides in terms of developing
the ground.
He said: “Since [Rodney Parade] was first built, there has
been dialogue about football coming here. When the [current] facilities were
built it was obviously a natural progression. The more use this gets, it
generates more money which, as has been documented, rugby needs. It’s
beneficial to both sides.
“County have got an opportunity for bigger gates if they go
up, and the beauty of this agreement is that there is an opportunity to improve
on what has always been known as one of the better pitches in Wales, even
further.
“It’s been hard work for the ground staff and for the
operations manager to play as many games as they have, but I think they’ve only
lost four games - two for the rugby and two for the football - which really is
a brilliant achievement.”
There will also be some joint ventures between the clubs
which they believe will benefit the local community and the city of Newport,
with details on those to be released at a later date.
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