BAMBER Bridge Football Club plans to shoot itself into the new Millennium with a new 500-seater stand.

Club bosses at the Irongate ground plan to erect to the stand as part of their quest to climb into the Football Conference from the Unibond Premier League.

One of the requirements demanded by the Conference is that the ground has a stand to seat 499 people - and Brig plan to go one step further by including new dressing rooms, a boardroom and treatment room.

In total, the stand will cost £200,000, £140,000 of which is coming from the Football Association and other footballing organisations.

If South Ribble Borough Council's planning chiefs give it the go-ahead, work should begin in late August.

The side won the Unibond title in 1996 buy missed out on promotion because their rickety old stand - which blew down during last winter's storms - wasn't deemed to be up to Conference standard.

Since the storms, which left Brig with no seating for fans at the ground, the club has been raising funds towards the new stand, although much of Brig's contribution to the stand has been made up by loans.

Fans had been asked to sponsor individual seats while the club is looking for a big-name sponsor to support the stand.

A spokesman for the club said: "We want to make sure everything is up to Conference standard so we don't miss out again."

A further £20,000 is being spent on minor improvements including new steps, another turnstile and an eight FT perimeter fence near to neighbouring houses.

The club is still looking for funds. Contact Bamber Bridge FC, Irongate, Brownedge Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston.

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