Glentoran has rejected a plan proposed by the Northern Ireland Football League Premiership club’s vice-president, David Long, to construct a new stadium as part of a redevelopment of Tommy Patton Park, a series of playing fields in East Belfast.
Long was lobbying for a £17m (€20m/$21m) revamp of the Belfast City Council-owned park off Holywood Road that would have included a 5,000-seat stadium, outdoor grass and 3G floodlit pitches, as well as other facilities, such as lecture rooms, a restaurant and a sports medicine centre.
The club has played at the Oval since 1892 and is looking to redevelop the stadium into a 6,000-seat, £9.2m facility.
“I have supported Glentoran for 65 years,” Long told BBC One’s programme, The View.
“In recent times I've put a lot of money into the Glentoran Academy, so I have a great interest in the club and I did share my plans with the club but it would appear that, of the various potential stakeholders in this project who I've shared it with, sadly Glentoran are the only ones who have given it a thumbs down.
“It's their prerogative to make their choice. I can only opine that I don't think the Mersey Street redevelopment stacks up.”
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