FLEETWOOD Town are set to launch arguably their biggest ever season this Saturday.
Newly promoted Town play their opening game in the Blue Square North League at the highest level of football in their history.
And their match against Hucknall Town is being staged at a Highbury stadium which has been transformed in the past two m
onths thanks to a bumper £1m investment.
It is expected that the new 550-seater West Stand, including disabled facilities, will be ready for Saturday's match. The soon-to-be completed North Stand, with a 2,000-capacity, will hopefully be ready by Saturday, August 23.
It follows the opening of the Percy Ronson stand, accommodating 900 standing supporters, last season, and a further all-seater stand is planned on the east side of the ground.
Fleetwood Town's ambitious chairman Andy Pilley hailed the investment as one of the biggest and most important recent developments in the town itself, not just the club.
And he urged fans to pack Highbury out on Saturday to help kick-start the big new season.
He said: "I'd like to encourage as many people as possible to come down and enjoy what will be an historic and proud day.
"The new-look Highbury is something for the whole community, which everyone can enjoy.
"The stadium will improve the overall quality recreational choice in the town and the Fylde coast.
"It is something of which people in the whole area can be proud. Not only Fleetwood people come to matches. We have supporters from Thornton, Poulton, Cleveleys, Bispham, Blackpool and all over this coast.
"Fleetwood Town is a club they can be a part of and can have some quality entertainment and enjoyable times."
Mr Pilley praised the team of local volunteers who had tidied and painted the ground over the last few weeks.
He added: "It's the start of an exciting new era for Fleetwood Town."
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