By Johnny Morton

Copyright newsletter

The Co Armagh club have received planning permission from Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council to redevelop their Shamrock Park base, including the introduction of an artificial pitch alongside increasing capacity and creating a state-of-the-art training facility. They had hoped to avail of finances from the NI Football Fund to help turn that dream vision into reality, but they were a notable omission from the list of 20 clubs who have progressed. Eight clubs applied for Tier Three funding, which was for projects valued at over £6million, but only Cliftonville and Glentoran were successful. Lyons has stated his willingness to meet with clubs who missed out to discuss the process, and the Ports have taken him up on that offer with a meeting scheduled for next Thursday (September 25). “Following last week’s decision around the allocation of the Northern Ireland Football Fund, Portadown Football Club feel our Ground Development Patrons as well as supporters deserve to be fully kept up to speed with the club’s next steps,” the club said. “A delegation from PFC will be meeting with the Communities Minister and officials in Belfast next Thursday afternoon (25 September) to discuss the process and decision not to take our club through to the next stage. “Following this meeting, the club will look at a suitable date to meet with our Ground Development Patrons to update them on said meeting and explore what as a club we plan to do next.” Portadown’s senior squad don’t currently train at Shamrock Park, making use of facilities in the local area, including the likes of Annagh United’s artificial pitch, and manager Niall Currie has previously spoken about how crucial redeveloping the stadium is for their future. Last week, they claimed their bid scored higher than certain projects which will now undergo due diligence checks. “Portadown Football Club welcomed the statement yesterday from Communities Minister Gordon Lyons,” the club posted. “The long-awaited process has promised on delivering the Northern Ireland Football Fund – something which we have all felt was long overdue. “Its purpose in assisting and progressing clubs who are at the forefront of communities throughout the country. “However, we as a club are bitterly disappointed to learn we have been unsuccessful in advancing to the next stage, this is devastating for our directors and supporters who have invested substantial time, money and effort in relation to our application. “Our application was submitted with the understanding that the best scoring bids would receive funding based purely on score, in line with the same scoring matrix for all three strands and the guidance notes, with no reference made of a weighting towards any tier over another or bids with significantly lower scores being advanced ahead of bids with much higher scores. “We are of the belief that our score was higher than many of those that have ended up progressing to the next stage which is shattering for the football club and especially the local community. “We believe this decision was made after the bids were submitted and scored and thereby as a result has favoured some other bids. We will now review the outcome along with our options and will update supporters in due course.”