19 May 2008
Adam Thomas, Managing Director of Red City Developments, sits down with Steve McNally to talk stadiums, and more specifically, the Reds magnificent new home at the Western gateway into Salford. |
From conception to conclusion, Adam Thomas will have been living and breathing the City of Salford Stadium for an entire decade. When the doors are flung open on day one in early 2010 it will be the end of a long and winding road that has encompassed the whole gamut of emotions – from despair and doubt to unbridled elation and pride.
You would expect him to be exhausted.
You would be wrong.
Talking to Adam is always an uplifting and enlightening experience – he speaks with a passion and enthusiasm for the project that many would struggle to maintain after such a long and strife-strewn process. Dig deeper into his character and there are a couple of key pointers as to why, at this point in particular, he is effusive and almost evangelical in his championing of this stadium as not just a rebirth for Salford City Reds, but also the cherry on top of the 30 year long transformation of our great city – perhaps the most important moment for the city of Salford since the closing of the Docks.
And even as a turning point for the sport of Rugby League.
We’ll get to those reasons later though, first the question everyone wants to know the answer too – where exactly are we at right now?
“I am delighted to say that we are 100% on track for completion in early 2010. Since we began the construction phase all deadlines have been hit, and that is something we intend and expect to keep doing right the way throughout the build. What people may not fully grasp is that our planning consent came with a list of conditions as long as your arm, and each one has to be fully satisfied and dealt with along the way.
The detailed plans for the site are now complete in accordance with these stipulations, along with the required geological surveys. This is necessary in all developments where planning consent has been granted with conditions attached, and all that remains is for the Council to review that the enforced conditions have actually been applied correctly. The good news is that we have now satisfied each and every one of the imposed conditions, and have worked in partnership with Salford Council and Urban Vision to do so, and as a result no problems are envisaged and we fully expect to get the final green light before the end of July. That’s where we’re at right now. It’s an exciting time. Hard but thrilling work.”
Listening to the enormous amount of detail and effort that has gone into the project so far you have to wonder whether it would have been wise to take the easy route and jump into bed with a supermarket, or perhaps ask the council to simply build us a stadium? We would certainly have been in situ by now had we gone down the road so many other clubs have in order to better themselves by proxy. Was there ever a temptation to take the easy way out?
“I can honestly say that we were never tempted to compromise on the original vision, and that lends immense credit to John Wilkinson’s unstinting courage and desire to secure the long-term future of the club for another 100 years – to create a lasting legacy for the club and the city - as well as to the foresight and determination of the local authority who recognised right from the very start the importance of an iconic, world class venue hosting thrilling, world class sport within the borders of Salford. I have to say the Council have been brilliant – they really couldn’t have been more supportive, and I’m sure other clubs are casting envious glances our way and wishing their own local authorities recognised the importance of sport for their own regions.
Yes, it would have been easier to take a different route and build a lesser stadium, especially with the additional pressures of the licensing in 2009 and being ready for that, but the City of Salford Stadium has never been just about improving on The Willows – it has always been the intention, and is now the reality, to set a new, previously thought unattainable standard for Super League. To blow people away. It will have taken us ten years to do it but when it is ready I know for sure that every single day will have been worth it. And the fact that it is all being achieved via private investment is quite simply unprecedented in Rugby League.
Everyone who walks into that stadium, whether they are Reds fans or visiting with another club will realise at that moment why we have done it the way we have done – there will be no doubt about what was the right path to take anymore.”
For some reason I find myself fighting the urge to shout ‘Hallelujah brother!’ As alluded to earlier, Adam’s background goes some way to explaining his ability to stir faith from somewhere deep within – originally in training to be a Catholic Priest (getting married put paid to that particular career path) he then found himself deep within the bowels of Salford Council as their Principal Strategy & Resources Officer in charge of strategic planning of Council projects.
From there he moved to Salford in 1999 and became the club’s Community Development Manager, always with one eye on changing the Reds profile in order to agitate for a move to such a high profile new venue. He memorably sang YMCA on the pitch on one occasion, and was ridiculed roundly by the Shed for asking supporters not to swear quite so much. Behind the scenes though was where the more serious work was going on.
Within seven months he had the club on the agendas of such influential people as Gordon Brown and Charles Clarke, who both visited and expressed their support for John Wilkinson’s lofty ambitions for the Reds. With that the ball was rolling, Red City Developments was setup to facilitate the development and Adam was swiftly made Managing Director.
How will he feel on the day the stadium opens having been involved right from the start?
“I’ve dreamt many times of what it will be like. In my dreams I watch, filled with pride and emotion as everything falls into place, my family and friends around me, all enjoying this massive moment in our lives. In reality I expect it will be very different and that I will be so busy that it will all just happen around me and it won’t be until I get home that night that the enormity of what we have achieved will hit home. I expect that will be the same for John Wilkinson, David Tarry and all the other directors and staff. I hope not – I hope everyone, fans and officials, gets the chance to take a moment and take it all in. It really is going to be a very special day for the Salford City Reds.”
We’ve all seen the ‘pretty pictures’ of what the stadium will look like, but what will the actual experience be like? Is it even possible to speculate?
“In my head I can see the view from every seat in the stadium. One word will sum up the experience for everyone – whether they are fans, sponsors, club staff, players, referees, press – it won’t matter. That word is ‘spectacular’. It’s easy to say that, but it’s easier to prove. The pictures you have all seen do not do the stadium justice – it will be even better.
Here are some facts for you. The view from each seat in any stadium is given what is called a C Value – apologies for the technical speak, but it is an important point. What the C Value tells you is how good your view will be from that seat. We’ll use Old Trafford and The Emirates Stadium for comparison. At Old Trafford the average C Value for the seats is in the 60s, while at The Emirates it is, as you would expect in a newer venue, higher and is in the 70s. The average C Value in the City of Salford Stadium is over 120. The lowest C Value seat in the whole stadium ranks in the 90s. It really is a magnificent achievement – we know we have the highest average C Value of any UK stadium, and we are confident that we have the highest average value of any stadium in the world. That is the standard we are talking about. This isn’t just any stadium; it has the best viewing lines of any stadium in the country, in any sport.
There is, quite simply, nowhere that is as good in those terms.
Without getting too detailed, this is achieved by the stadium being cranked and curved specifically with viewing in mind – no matter where you sit you will be able to see all four corners of the pitch clearly. It is considerably more expensive to build to this specification, but a decision was taken that it would be worth it. It is worth remembering that from day one the stadium has been conceived, designed and will be built specifically for Rugby League and its unique requirements.
We are absolutely certain that this is a venue that the RFL will want to use for internationals, semi-finals and other prestige occasions. It’s not a football stadium where Rugby will be played. It’s not an ‘off the shelf’ stadium that is no more than four stands and a pitch.
It is a purpose built, painstakingly designed Rugby League stadium, and it will be genuinely unique.”
To read the second part of this interview click here
