Apparently, planning permission has been granted and work will be starting very shortly!!!

It is a brilliant facility and Sir Mac & Co should be greatly thanked and congratulated but this is a bit more than a snag.

I was talking to an ex-saints player who is a season ticket holder in the west stand (I'm in the north stand) and he said he saw at the widnes game an older woman have a nasty fall bacause of the wetness and cut her open quite badly which was not good news for her or the club.

The club obviously hopes that the cladding in the west and east stands will be sufficient. I hope it is but I am right in the middle of the north stand and in the concourse the rain was coming in over the top of the turnstyles etc, mainly directly from the north and not from the west so I'm not sure how cladding in the two ends will help the north stand especially near the middle.

If I am wrong I will obviously recant my heresy and do some penance.

I honestly think this is post of the year. Its an insecure tribal attitude and its unhealthy given these are forums to air ones views in a constructive manner, and that's all it is - a constructive opinion about the cladding. To conform to some pandering, patriotic minion that must obey to some loyalty act is degrading for our freedom and its this attitude from your fellow man that prevents certain objective discussion in this country.

I am exceptionally happy with our new stadium and have heaped so much praise Saints way. This cladding is an issue that needs to be discussed though - and I think I'm guilty of caring too much when I complain about it, because I want to see a fantastic project finished. Whereas currently the open stands blemish the look and feel of a whole stadium and spawn contentious safety and logistical issues - this must be addressed, please nobody feel threatened on here to criticise.

They will have taken plenty of engineering and other specialist advice on this. The last thing the club will want is (a) bad press, and (b) law suits (not to mention injury to fans). The club has clearly stated that the ends are to be clad first and if that doesn't keep the rain out of the North Stand then the North Stand will also be clad. That the corners are being clad means there is a good chance the prevailing winds will be redirected away from the North Stand and if this does happen - something which will only be finally established once the cladding is fixed - then why should the club spend money when it doesn't need to? The North Stand has the lift building in the middle of it so there will be hardly any open space left anyway once both ends and corners are clad.

Given that there were men on the roof recently it would appear that the cladding has turned out to be a more complex proposition than first thought following on from the roof damage. Hopefully the engineers have been able to advise on appropriate cladding that won't put the roof structure under too much strain otherwise the club is going to be in serious bother.

Someone needs to answer why they envisaged a stadium without cladding in the first place? Surely to god it would have been far cheaper and cost effective to don the whole of the outside in cheap plastic cladding and have a cheaper roof?

indeed - the person who approved the designs in the current state as being suitable needs to get back to stadium design school.