East Kilbride winning promotion would spark new stadium and top Darvel's win over Aberdeen, says Mick Kennedy
East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy has revealed winning promotion to League Two would finally spark the construction of a long-awaited £4.5m new stadium in the town.
Plans for a new stadium go back to 2016 when an East Kilbride News-backed campaign involving Rangers legend and EK's famous son, Ally McCoist, urged councillors to give the go-ahead to a 4,000-seater stadium in Langlands.
The blueprint for the facility was given the green light but Kilby have been holding off on the club reaching League Two to put the first spade in the ground. Eight years later, that could finally come to fruition if East Kilbride defeat Stranraer in the second leg of the pyramid play-off final on Saturday.
Kilby are one game away from glory after the sides drew 2-2 at K-Park in last week's first leg and if they pull it off, the club will be celebrating the start of a new era in a new stadium.
Appearing on the Scottish Football Show podcast, Kennedy said: "The owners' plan is to build a £4.5million stadium as soon as we reach League Two and K-Park will become the club's training base, so there are massive plans there in terms of infrastructure and investment.
"It is just up to myself, Simon [Ferry, his assistant] and the players to do it on the pitch.
"In terms of what the club could do on the pitch, the club could go into League Two and be a well-established part-time club at that level. But I think you need to earn the right to be there and, unfortunately, the club have fell short on a number of occasions over the last 10 years."
Kennedy, who masterminded Darvel's famous win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup last season, joined Kilby at the start of the season and led them to the Lowland League title in April.
And he says taking the club to the SPFL for the first time would surpass his cup shock over the Dons.
He added: "People have asked me if it would be bigger occasion than beating Aberdeen and I think for what it would mean to the people of East Kilbride, the owners and me on a personal level, I certainly think it would be. It would be so significant."
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