IT'S the biggest victory for Lancaster City for years - they've finally secured the money to make the £200,000 plans to rebuild the Giant Axe a reality.

The Football Trust confirmed that they recommend Lancaster City be granted £64,250 for the redevelopment. According to club management it is now just a question of the lottery body 'Sport England' rubber stamping the pay out.

That grant releases other monies including a £50,000 grant from Lancaster City Council. After hearing of the Football Trust decision chairman Ian Sharp gave the nod to start work this Monday - despite being more than £60,000 short of the full amount needed to build the ground.

First part of the ground to be redeveloped will be the main stand. The final part to be worked on will be the east side of the ground. Commercial manager of the club Dave Horner was overjoyed at the news. He commented: "We now hope to have everything done by Christmas. We had hoped that this would have been sorted before now but we were waiting for everything to be right first."

Club secretary Mike Sparks added: "This is excellent news for us. There's been a lot of hard work put into this. Now nobody can doubt that our plans are true."

THERE was yet more good news for City this week. They secured a deal for every family in the area with McDonald's whereby every city fan under 16 can have a FREE hamburger.

All the children have to do is take along an adult and they will receive a free voucher for the hamburger at the turnstile. The good news for the fans, City and McDonald's is the deal is going to last ALL season.

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