Broadhurst Park chosen as name of new home

FC United of Manchester’s fanbase has chosen Broadhurst Park as the name for the new ground and community facility the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League club is moving into in north Manchester next season.

With the stadium in Moston due for completion in September this year, the member run club announced the result of a specially commissioned poll on Friday.

The Premier Division promotion-chasers say they are proud to have bucked the trend of clubs selling naming rights to their stadiums after asking their members, all of whom are co-owners, to choose the name of the new ground from a shortlist of seven names, whittled down from more than 100 suggestions from the club’s supporters and members of the local community in Moston.

Voting on the name for their 5,000 capacity stadium, pictured, took place at a general meeting of FCUM members in Manchester on Thursday with Broadhurst Park easily topping the poll.Despite using the alternative vote system, Broadhurst Park was selected outright after receiving more than 50 per cent of the vote after the vote was counted and verified.

The other shortlisted suggestions were Broadhurst, Broadhurst Park, Lightbowne Road, Ronald Johnson Ground, The Boardwalk, United of Manchester Stadium and one tongue in cheek suggestion, FCUM Hall.

Club and company secretary Lindsey Howard said: "Naming the ground is something that is important not just to our football club and our partners Moston Juniors, but also to the people in the surrounding community who will use the facilities.

"The sheer number of names originally put forward shows how engaged our membership is in democratically shaping the direction of the club they own.

"At FC United, supporters are at the centre of everything that we do as a club. Our supporters have been instrumental in getting us to a point where we are building our own ground; they have helped to finance it and now they have given our new home a name.

"Giving the ground a name is another staging post along the road to us finally opening the facility later this year. We still have much to do and funds to raise to make our dream a reality, but being able to finally talk about Broadhurst Park makes that reality a step closer."