Swansea City plans new pounds 75m stadium

SWANSEA CITY football club are to have a new, pounds 75m 25,000-seater stadium, under plans unveiled yesterday by Silver Shield, the club's parent.

The complex will include a leisure centre and cinema as well as conference facilities, and will create 750 jobs. It will also be used for music events and Super League rugby fixtures. Swansea is even in talks with the Football Association about holding international matches there.

Neil McClure, chairman of Swansea, dismissed suggestions that the club, currently lying 18th in the third division, would struggle to fill the stadium. "We have big ambitions for Swansea City and want to make it a major force in football," he said.

Silver Shield, which bought an 80 per cent stake in Swansea last August, expects to get planning permission for a 75 acre site at Morfa, a mile west of the city.