Arsenal's £357m new stadium gets funding go ahead

Arsenal today announced the official go ahead for their ambitious new stadium at Ashburton Grove, north London.

Arsenal today announced the official go ahead for their ambitious new stadium at Ashburton Grove, north London.

The Gunners have been locked in in-depth discussions over financing and planning matters relating to the proposed new site for many months.

However, the club today announced that they had secured funding for the £357million project and work can now start in earnest, with a projected opening date of 2006.

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said: "Today is an historic day for Arsenal Football Club. Highbury has been a stage for many fantastic matches for many years - and we'll be sad to leave there.

"But our club needs to grow and by moving to a new stadium it will give many thousands of supporters the chance to watch the team and give us the chance to sustain as one of the world's leading clubs."

Director Danny Fiszman continued: "After four and a half years our dream becomes reality. All is in place to enable us to build the new stadium.

"We have only been able to get to this stage thanks to the dedication, tenacity, commitment and hard work of our whole project team - it has taken substantial sacrifices to get as far as we have."

Gunners' boss Arsene Wenger added: "This proves the board share the ambition to push forward and try to be the best.

"We need to take a risk, a gamble - and we have done that together.

"The board are giving us the chance to compete with the best.

"They've not accepted defeat and this project reflects what the club wants to be."