Report: What sources close to Nottingham Forest are now saying about the City Ground

09/26/2024 08:45 AM

The City Ground was a leading topic of conversation at Nottingham Forest last season.

There were rumours that Nottingham Forest would be moving to Toton to build a new 50,000 seater stadium, after hitting an impasse with the council over expanding on the current site.

Then, Nottingham Forest fans made their feelings loud and clear during the 3-2 defeat to Chelsea in May, chanting against a move away from the City Ground.

Now – according to the Daily Mail – there has been a fresh development regarding the City Ground at Nottingham Forest…

What Nottingham Forest sources are saying about the City Ground

The Nottingham City Council eventually agreed to sell the land housing the City Ground to Nottingham Forest back in July – and Evangelos Marinakis is now putting plans in place to capitalise on that decision.

A new story from Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail states that Nottingham Forest want to have planning permission secured by the end of 2024 to turn the City Ground into a 50,000 seater stadium.

These fresh plans are actually more ambitious than the original idea, which was to increase the capacity up to 42,000.

Sources close to the project have told the Daily Mail that Nottingham Forest hope to have the green light to push on with stadium plans before 2025 begins.

It comes after a story from The Athletic in June stated that Marinakis has been inspired by the 2022 World Cup Stadium 974 in Qatar – which was built using shipping containers.

However, that has since gone cold, and the latest update makes no suggestion that this idea is still being considered.

Exciting news

It was a concern when a move to Toton was being discussed as a genuine option for Nottingham Forest towards the end of last season, as the City Ground – which Noel Gallagher likes – is a historic venue, and it would have been awful to leave it behind.

However, this new update is extremely exciting – transforming the City Ground into a 50,000 seater stadium should help to take Nottingham Forest up a level, thanks to the added income.

Be sure to keep an eye on this situation, as Marinakis pushes for planning permission before the New Year.