Sarries will spend £20m on their new dream stadium

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10 April 2012

Saracens are ready to invest a significant sum to refurbish Barnet Copthall Stadium if granted planning permission by the local council.

The Aviva Premiership champions have received backing from the Rugby Football Union for their revised proposal which will be ruled on by Barnet Council within the next two weeks.

Club chairman Nigel Wray owns 50 per cent of Sarries with a South African investment company holding the rest of the shares and both parties are willing to put up £10m each to make the new stadium a reality.

Doing that would mean Wray, who has funded the club since they went professional in 1996, will have committed nearly £30m to make Sarries a major rugby force.

Key to the revised application has been improved provisions for matchday transport, including coach services from Hertfordshire and shuttle services from local rail and underground stations. The stadium will feature demountable stands for home games, along with an artificial pitch, and would also continue to be home to Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers athletics club.

Wray said: "Copthall Stadium will be of more use to the local community than the London Olympic stadium because it will have an artificial pitch along with a running track. When I consider our plans I do think 'Crikey, it is a lot of money!' but when I pop off, there will be stadium which is loved by the community and that would be a wonderful legacy."

When Wray, a major player in the London property market, insists that paying £10m of his own cash to upgrade Barnet Copthall is a better option than using the money to buy a Caribbean island, you start to understand how committed he is to the club.

The 63-year-old could have invested the £10m buying, for example, Petit Nevis in St Vincent & the Grenadines, a private tropical island over 70 acres close to Mustique. "I think my family will be delighted if I'm able to leave them a wonderful community stadium rather than a Caribbean island," said Wray, who accepts he could be viewed as "bonkers" for spending so much on the club he loves. "Good luck to Sir Richard Branson and his beautiful Necker Island but it's not for me."

Wray's association with Sarries has now reached a tipping point and he is clear about the importance of Barnet council's planning decision.

If Sarries are allowed to create a new multi-purpose stadium, it will allow the club to take the first step towards a more secure financial future.

Wray said: "What is unarguable about Copthall is that the current stadium needs work. We will be playing there for only about 14 days a year and for the rest of the time it will be available for community use with an indoor running track plus cricket nets. It will be the first genuinely community stadium with the Saracens Foundation based there to engage with local youngsters and create employment. The redevelopment may take until the start of 2013 to complete. The other scenario is not good because we have nowhere else to go."

Sarries' annual debt is north of £5m and they pay rent to play home games at Watford FC's Vicarage Road ground. Sarries will escape that venue on Saturday, when they take their Heineken Cup game with Ospreys to Wembley, where a 40,000 crowd is expected.

The disparity between Saturday's attendance and the 6,240 who turned up for Sunday's home win over London Irish highlights the pressing need for Sarries to create a permanent base, featuring state-of-the-art facilities and allow the commercial department to maximise match-day earnings.

Wray added: "Clubs who own their own grounds generate double the revenue of those who rent. Gloucester, Bath, Leicester, Harlequins and Northampton have expanded their grounds to cater for increased crowds because they control the finances.

"Wembley has been phenomenal for us as it's the best venue in the world. We aim to get 40,000 there again and while that is an incredible crowd for club rugby, we want to go even higher.

"We have to be concerned about crowds at Vicarage Road. Not many people would want to go to a dilapidated stadium like Vicarage Road, which you can compare to an old cinema. People now want a modern multi-screen experience."

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