Sixfields Stadium progress 'excites' club chairman

Kelvin Thomas said supporters attending Saturday's pre-season friendly at Sixfields Stadium would "certainly see a difference"

The chairman of a League One football club has said "it's exciting to see" the progress being made on a long-awaited new stand at the club's ground.

Northampton Town's East Stand has remained incomplete since construction work stopped in 2014 due to a contractual dispute.

However, work is now back under way, with completion targeted for the "first quarter of 2025".

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas said supporters attending Saturday's pre-season friendly against Norwich City at Sixfields Stadium would "certainly see a difference".

Once completed, the stand would increase the stadium's capacity by about 400 to more than 8,200 and give the club its first pitch-facing hospitality with executive boxes.

More parking spaces, new dining areas and the return of the accessible viewing platform for supporters who use wheelchairs are also in the plans.

The club formally completed a deal to allow it to finish work after West Northamptonshire Council agreed to sell land to the club in February.

The new East Stand will see the installation of a link road around the stadium and a concourse area with kiosks and screens.

"It is a massive operation taking place on this site," said Mr Thomas.

"A lot of the early work is unseen - clearing land, drainage, underground work etc - and you don't really notice too much. Then, all of a sudden, a lot of visible work takes place.

"The concourse is taking shape and we are expecting the cladding on the outside to go up in the next few weeks - certainly before the start of the season.

Mr Thomas added that "nothing has been decided" on the wider land which the club owns around Sixfields Stadium but any development "would be for the benefit of the club".

He also revealed he had a "positive conversation" about the Football Governance Bill with new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who visited the club during the election campaign.

Mr Thomas said: "I don't think he will rush - his words to me were that he wants to make sure we get a bill passed when it is the right bill - but I think it will make progress under his government, which is good news for the game."

The legislation would grant powers to an independent body to oversee clubs in England's top five men's tiers.

The East Stand at Sixfields has remained unfinished since 2014