Paul Newman: City rack up losses hoping World Cup comes to Bristol

The Football League Column: The plan for Ashton Vale is to build a 30,000-capacity stadium which could be expanded to more than 40,000 for the World Cup

The outcome of years of work and a lobbying campaign costing millions will be known on Thursday when England learn the fate of their bid to stage the 2018 World Cup. The long-term prosperity of Bristol City Football Club could also depend on the decision taken in Zurich by the 22-member executive committee of Fifa, the world game's governing body.

Bristol is one of 12 English cities and towns hoping to stage 2018 World Cup matches. Its case is dependent on City's plans to build a new stadium on open land at Ashton Vale, not far from the club's current Ashton Gate home. Planning permission has been granted and much of the funding for the £92m project is in place, but City's ambitions may yet be thwarted.

An independent planning inspector has supported a move by some local residents to declare the 42-acre Ashton Vale site a "town green". To secure that status – and to prevent building on the land – applicants must prove that the site has been freely used for recreational purposes for at least 20 years.

Supporters of the stadium project hope to prove that a former rubbish tip at Ashton Vale was still being used in the early 1990s. Tomorrow is the last day for submissions to be made to Bristol City Council, which is likely to make its final decision early in the new year.

A powerful lobby is backing the project. Last week an open letter sent to the Bristol Evening Post by 50 local businessmen and women claimed that the World Cup could bring £150m to the area, while the development itself would generate 6,000 jobs.

City have played at Ashton Gate, which has a capacity of nearly 22,000, for 106 years, but Steve Lansdown, their chairman, believes a move is vital if the club are to thrive in the Championship or, better still, to achieve their ambition of establishing themselves in the Premier League. City are by no means the biggest spenders in the Championship – as Lansdown noted recently when he saw the wage bill of one of their rivals – but they made a club record loss of £11.8m in the last financial year, which was largely down to the budget for players.

The initial plan for Ashton Vale is to build a 30,000-capacity stadium which could be expanded to more than 40,000 for the World Cup. The arena could also be used for concerts or other sporting events, such as major rugby matches, while other facilities could bring in regular off-the-field revenue. There would also be amenities for community use, such as a study centre.

Funding for the project would come from a number of sources, including the sale of Ashton Gate, which has been earmarked as a site for a new supermarket, and corporate sponsorship deals, including naming rights for the new stadium. Lansdown, whose personal fortune was estimated at more than £450m earlier this year, will make up any shortfall. Hargreaves Lansdown, the financial services company he founded 29 years ago with his business partner, Peter Hargreaves, had at the last count £17.5bn of assets under administration or management on behalf of private investors.

Lansdown believes the new stadium is "crucial" to City's ambitions. "It would be wrong of me to say the club couldn't survive," he said. "Of course it would. But could it survive as a good Championship side or as a Premiership side? In my opinion it couldn't. We need the infrastructure, we need the corporate entertaining areas."

He also thinks the new stadium would be of huge benefit to the area. "An iconic stadium is something that every city needs," he said. "Old Trafford, St James' Park, the Emirates, even St Mary's at Southampton – they're a focal point. It creates civic pride and it also encourages local businesses to invest in sport in their area."

The earliest Lansdown could see City moving would be the 2013-14 season. Once in a new stadium he expects the club to become self-sufficient, though in the meantime losses will mount. Since the club's last official figures, David James is among those who have joined the payroll.

"We won't suddenly turn it around in 12 months," he said. "Money has been put into the playing squad to fund the gap. The gap is being funded mainly by myself. You have to take that on the chin."