SHAUN HARVEY says it made perfect sense to give more fans supporters the chance to see Wrexham's promotion challenge but he refuses to put a date on when work will begin on the new Kop stand at The Racecourse.
An application for the stand, which will be able to accommodate up to 5,500 seated fans when built, has been approved by Wrexham Council but there have been days on the start of its construction.
A temporary stand, which houses home fans with a capacity of 2,289 and accommodation for an additional 20 wheelchairs, has been installed behind the goal and was first in use for the 2-0 Welsh derby victory over Newport County on December 23.
Harvey, advisor to the board and recently appointed director of the club, welcomed the short-term solution as Wrexham, currently second in League Two and just two points behind leaders Stockport County, continue their push for a second successive promotion.
"The temporary stand will be in place for the rest of the season," said Harvey.
"It only went up when it went up because that was the only stage we could be certain that we weren't going to be able to get on site for the full development of the new Kop before the end of the season.
"It is there because we know it is not going to hold up a permanent development because that is the priority.
"There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to get the new Kop to fruition.
"There's a full evaluation of everything that we are doing to ensure that it meets all our requirements going forward."
The Racecourse is now four-sided but Harvey said the main aim was to allow more fans to see the Reds following increased ticket demand.
"It doesn't make financial sense from the club's perspective if you just consider the cost of the stand against the ticket receipts that we will receive," he said.
"What does make sense is being able to get an extra 2,289 people into The STóK Cae Ras for every home game.
"I think we were less motivated by the four-sided stadium than actually being able to increase the capacity. It just happens to achieve that fourth side.
"We would all have loved the new Kop to be there in use and not this interim stage but we were always going to look at the interim stage if that opportunity presented itself."
The new Kop stand was due to be in place for the start of next season but although Harvey refuses to put a new date on when the development will proceed, he reaffirmed the club's commitment to completing the project.
"I think we learnt a very important lesson and that was committing to a date," he added.
"We did it in good faith at the time because that's when we hoped we could get there.
"The levelling up fund bid didn't work, we've had to go down different avenues and are still progressing those avenues.
"We are going to stop short of a new date but just reaffirm the commitment to increasing the capacity as quickly as possible."
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