Work to start on installing football fan stones

Work will start next month on building an area outside a football ground that will have supporters' names engraved on to stones.

Fan Stones will be part of the Brian Lomax Fan Zone, outside Sixfields, the home of Northampton Town.

Each stone costs between £65 and £425 with proceeds invested back into the club's academy and other projects suggested by the fan advisory board.

The club said it had sold 700 stones so work could begin on its first panel.

Each stone will include either two or three lines of text, as a way of marking the fan's, or fans', support or to "remember a loved one".

The club said the first stones would be installed by the end of August.

Fan advisory board chairman Tom Cliffe said there was a "significant amount of work taking place" at Sixfields, including the resurfacing of the club's community pitch which was completed recently.

The club also said the installation of a canopy outside Carr's Bar started last week.

A new outside bar, new furniture and a permanent base for the matchday DJ will also be created.

It added that there were plans for a second panel "which will be installed when all stones on that panel have been sold".

Mr Cliffe said: "This is a real example of the fan advisory board and the club working hand-in-hand to ensure the views and wishes of supporters are not just listened to and taken in to consideration but are acted upon."

James Whiting, the club's chief executive, said: "We have listened to the views put forward by the fan advisory board."

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