Marine Football Club announce new stadium plans

National League North side Marine have announced full plans for a new 8.32 acre stadium.

The stadium, of 5,000 capacity, is one of the biggest community benefit projects in the North West. The plans include a Community Hub, classrooms, gymnasium, 3G pitch and Health & Wellbeing Hub including provision for a doctors, dentist and mental health nurse. A 20-bedroom accommodation will also be incorporated into the main stand. The existing site on College Road will be retained as a Community Hub. Up to 100 jobs will be created from the project.

Speaking on the club's official website, Marine FC CEO James Leary said “It was our aim to find a site within L23 that could become our new long-term home. I am delighted that we have made it this far in our aim to safeguard the future of Marine Football Club for the next 100+ years and create a project that will become a huge community asset.

"Our aim is to retain and improve our support from the Crosby/­Waterloo/­Thornton triangle whilst growing our supporter base from the surrounding areas of Formby, Maghull, Aintree and Netherton. With that, the expansion of Marine In The Community to these wider areas will also further improve the community impact."

"A soccer bus will be launched to support anybody living the opposite end of L23 or who use the railway to come to games departing from Crosby & Blundellsands Station passing through College Road, Crosby Village and onto Edge Lane."

"The work to making this a reality though is far from complete and it will need to be a huge effort from everybody to ensure we can raise the funds to make it happen. I would like to thank Bellway Homes for their support and contribution so far. We still have a huge 7-figure sum to raise though and I would like to urge anybody who wants to get involved with the club in any way andhelp with the funding of the stadium to email me confidentially at ceo@marinefc.com. I would also like to thank Sefton Council who have been supportive of the club from the outset”

The Merseyside club has seen great success in recent years, helped by their lucrative FA Cup tie with Tottenham in 2021, and two promotions have followed since then.