In the Go Cougars Barrow match programme the Cougar Chairman announced plans are underway leading to a new ground for Keighley Cougars. Anybody know if it will be an improved Cougar Park on the existing site or a completely new ground? It's hard to see that there would be enough parking at the current site unless the cricket ground was again made part of Cougar Park with the cricket club being relocated. If an atmospheric rugby ground with 10,000 capacity/2,000 seats is achieved, the current board might after all achieve super league status for Keighley so long as they can put out a team that wins virtually all matches for a two or three seasons and the matchday experience is improved.

Never happen will be more lies

Lets hope this is going to happen. I personally wouldnt care if it was a new ground or Cougar park done up.

Just so long as there is standing, I hate sitting down at grounds.

We can hope ..... As long as it isn't just hot air.

Can we have some more details please Mr Fawcett ?

If this does go ahead maybe the Board should be thinking of linking up
with all the smaller towns around KEIGHLEY . I.e. Bingley Ilkley Haworth
etc then maybe over into Lancashire With Colne etc ...... All fertile places to exploit the Cougar
brand.

One thing i do know. Is if there isnt no talk about it happening then it never will happen.

Glad to see we have a chairman that is trying to get the ball rolling.

It's one thing to talk about a new ground, another thing all together to get the bricks and mortar on the ground.

It's one thing to have a shiny new ground, it's another to have it packed full of fans. Look at Leigh and Darlington's football team as classic cases in point.

If it is a new stadium, where will it be built? Due to the topography of Keighley there are very few viable places. Utley near the union club has the space, but is vulnerable to flooding and a long way out of town for walk up fans. There's similar land around Marley, a little less vulnerable to flood but still a decent distance out of town and not served by public transport. The only decent sport I could think of would be the now demolished Airedale Spinners site behind the fire station.

I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.

I didn't see a programme to buy yesterday but this sounds like early April Fools !!!.

I really hope this true it will be great but I think it is probably fantasy island. Please Mr Fawcett can you give us some facts so we all can get behind you. Cougar Park is a brilliant ground but we need a modern stadium to move forward I just hope you are telling us the truth.

Several years ago, the Aire valley was designated as an area of high technology and as such was going to recieve funding for regeneration, part of this infrastructure was a large sports stadium for Keighley. I think there may even have been rudimentary plans. It would be interesting to find out what happened to this.

Personally I would like any new stadium to be on the current site but is this realistic? It would certainly mean having to obtain some of the land that surrounds the ground.

Then there is the big "F" word - Funding. I would have thought this would be difficult to come by in these hard times.

I suppose we can live in hope.

I can't recall ever having a response from Gary on here. Maybe if you have questions to ask there is more chance of an answer by asking him directly?

Does he have a direct email addy or is it just the club one that will be on the
website ?
**wanders off to investigate.

I've tended to e-mail the club and got his e-mail response from there.

I thought I had seen some plans and have just dug this outhttp://www.airedalepartnership.org/pdf/Airedale_Corridors_3.3.pdfrl
Scroll down to the last pagehttp://www.airedalepartnership.org/pdf/Airedale_Corridors_4.0.pdfrl
Scroll down to "long term interventions"

I don't know if the slush fund is still around, I think a lot of it ended when the Conservatives put the knife into Yorkshire Forward.

Quote: Stealth Comic " I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.'" Something along these lines? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ben_H ... tadium.jpg

Quote: Stealth Comic " I reckon redeveloping Cougar Park is far more likely. The east terrace was designed for a 2nd tier to be added later so put a new tier in with corporate boxes, new bars and 2,000 seats. Then demolish the Wooden Stand and the Hall of fame and build a new terrace with changing rooms and facilities sited underneath.'" Something along these lines? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ben_H ... tadium.jpg

I think he means more like this