National League North football club Marine FC is to move from its current Crosby home into a new 5,000-seater stadium in nearby Thornton. Tony McDonough reports
Marine Football Club has unveiled full details of its proposed new 5,000-capacity stadium.
Since its third round FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 the 130-year-old Crosby-based club has been on the up. Prior to the tie average attendances had been around 350. Now its games regularly attract 1,400 spectators.
In May 2023 chairman Paul Leary told LBN the club was at a “high point in its history” and just after securing promotion to the National League North in May 2024 it announced a £5m fundraising drive towards a new ground.
On Tuesday Marine said it would build the new ground on an 8,32-acre site in Edge Lane in Thornton in conjunction and with support from Bellway Homes and land-owner Craig Sneddon.
It will include a community hub, classrooms, gymnasium, 3G pitch and health & wellbeing Hub including provision for a doctors, dentist and mental health nurse. A 20-bedroom accommodation will also be incorporated into the main stand.
The club’s existing site on College Road will be retained as a community hub. Up to 100 jobs will be created from the project.
Marine In The Community, which launched in 2019, has grown exponentially and is now actively supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of thousands of people locally.
James Leary, chief executive of the club, said “It was our aim to find a site within L23 that could become our new long-term home.
“I am delighted that we have made it this far in our aim to safeguard the future of Marine Football Club for the next 100+ years and create a project that will become a huge community asset.
“Our aim is to retain and improve our support from the Crosby/Waterloo/Thornton triangle whilst growing our supporter base from the surrounding areas of Formby, Maghull, Aintree and Netherton.
“With that, the expansion of Marine In The Community to these wider areas will also further improve the community impact.”
A “soccer bus” will be launched to support anybody living the opposite end of L23 or who use the railway to come to games departing from Crosby & Blundellsands Station passing through College Road, Crosby Village and onto Edge Lane.
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“The work to make this a reality though is far from complete and it will need to be a huge effort from everybody to ensure we can raise the funds to make it happen,” James added. “I would like to thank Bellway Homes for their support and contribution so far.
“We still have a huge seven-figure sum to raise though and I would like to urge anybody who wants to get involved with the club in any way and help with the funding of the stadium to email me confidentially at [email protected].
“I would also like to thank Sefton Council who have been supportive of the club from the outset.”
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