National Football Museum still coming to Manchester?
Article published: Thursday, October 15th 2009
A new report from the City Council suggests that the proposed relocation of the National Football Museum (NFM), from Preston North End’s Deepdale stadium to the Urbis exhibition centre in Manchester, will cost £8 million. But a last ditch bid has been made by Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council and the University of Central Lancashire to fight the move.
According to the report, Manchester City Council were approached by the NFM’s board of trustees during the summer about the possible move, after the museum lost its main funder, the Football Foundation. The figures come from a feasibility study carried out by KPMG and Locum Destination Consulting on behalf of the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA).
The overall cost of £8 million is would be mostly funded by “external stakeholders in a partnership arrangement to include a City Council contribution which could potentially be linked to financial contributions from new developments in the area”. It doesn’t get much more precise than that. Some sources suggest that £5 million will come from the NWDA itself. This begs the question: why not spend that money on the museum in Preston?
The reasoning behind the proposed move is to generate more revenue for the museum through a higher profile and extra visitors in the larger city, home to two Premier League clubs. The NFM – which includes exhibits such as the 1966 World Cup final ball and Diego Maradona’s shirt from the ‘Hand of God’ match – does need money. And it was, after all, the museum’s board that made the initial move.
However, there is much opposition to the plan. This is why a rescue plan has been put in by Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council and the University of Central Lancashire to halt the move. The bid looks to put £3 million into renovating and expanding the present NFM and to plug the £400,000 per year funding gap.
Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council, said: “Preston is the first and only true home of football and the National Football Museum is an important part of the life of the county.
“We are not going to let the museum leave without a fight.”
Nearly 3,000 have signed an online petition to No. 10 Downing Street while approaching 3,500 have joined the ‘Keep the National Football Museum in Preston’ Facebook group. Celebrity football figures such as Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson have also opposed the relocation.
Lawrenson has welcomed the rescue package, explaining that the NFM “is a Preston idea, a Preston exhibition and now we are saying we have the money to keep it here.”
Manchester City Council proposes to continue the £2 million funding it currently gives to Urbis “to cover all the costs of the overall operation”. But one staff member of the exhibition centre told MULE that the majority of the building would given over to the NFM and other exhibitions would likely “be football orientated”. This is not good news for those who have come to enjoy Urbis as a centre of contemporary art and its diverse events.
Local paper designer Jennifer Collier, who has held craft stalls at Urbis, thinks the space is one artists can ill-afford to lose.
“It would be a shame to lose Urbis as there are few spaces dedicated to contemporary arts in the city centre,” she said. “While football does means a lot to the city, there are already museums at Old Trafford and one for Manchester City.”
The proposed bid is expected to be given the green light by the City Council’s Executive this coming Wednesday, while the NFM’s trustees is to make a final decision two days later, on 23 October.
Andy Lockhart
More: Manchester, News
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[…] the currently loss-making NFM will become highly profitable, the Council have struggled to find external funders to underwrite the sum. Their hoped-for backers, the North West Development Agency, stated last year that NFM trustees […]
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