DEVELOPMENT WORK STOPS

So far the terracing at the Hospital End of the ground has been demolished along with the club’s front entrance, both sets of turnstiles, part of the social club and the back wall of the Crescent End stand.

The club had hoped that a new entrance and turnstiles would be completed this month as well as a match-day control room at the back of the Crescent End for stewards and the police to monitor crowd behaviour.

However, the work has had to be stopped due to the predicament in which the contractors currently find themselves.

As chairman Adrian Teer revealed the club are as yet unsure when developments will be resumed but that contractors have been asked to submit tenders by tomorrow (Friday).

He said: “Jameson’s have gone into administration and as we understand it, the contractors who tendered unsuccessfully initially have now been asked to submit tenders for the rebuilding of the gates, the installation of the turnstiles and associated work. Those tenders have to be in by Friday.

“This is our understanding. We haven’t been officially told of this but we have it in good authority.

“The problem with restarting the work is with the Easter holiday period which is traditionally a close-down for the construction industry but once a new contractor is appointed we will be pushing them to carry out this work with haste.”

The set-backs are however unlikely to affect the club financially as the initial funding on offer from SportNI to carry out the developments will still be available despite a move to the new financial year at the end of this month.

“We expect that money will be found within the 2010/2011 financial year to enable the project to be completed. Our understanding is that the cross-over of financial years will not affect the completion of the overall programme,” said Teer

“It’s an absolute nightmare. The work should have been completed and paid for in March.

“ Apart from the inconvenience and the impact it has on our match-day organisation it’s an unnecessary burden for the directors to have to carry.”