Hornets nest to get Geordie makeover

Watford have requested planning permission to turn Vicarage Road stadium into a scaled down version of Newcastle`s St James Park when redevelopment work kicks off next season, according to the club`s top brass anyway.

CEO Boing Boing Mark Ashton has revealed that the facelift of the Hornets home patch is to be modelled on the Geordie`s home territory insisting "Once it`s done it will be a unique, proper football stadium. It will be on a much smaller scale, but very much like Newcastle`s".

The redevelopment is scheduled to include a complete rebuild of the current Family Enclosure to feature a 5,000 capacity, one-tier, three-levelled stand as well as relocation of matchday player and media facilities into the south west corner of the ground.

But Ashton knows the club`s ambitious plans won`t be straightforward and original concepts have had to be scaled back on budget.

He added "We`ve looked at taking a stand down and building a mini village. But the cost of that was just astronomical. This site is very very difficult. It`s land-locked, we`ve got allotments, we`ve got houses, hospitals, it`s in a hole and it`s twisted"

The Hornets will hear back from Watford Borough Council by the end of the May as to whether planning permission has been granted.