It was a significant day for Cardiff City on Friday, 2nd November 2007 with the official start of the demolition of the Leckwith Athletic Stadium, the first step in the construction of our new football stadium which will open in August 2009. A large number of Press and Media were present at the ceremony when a JCB dug the first sod on the football stadium site.

Council Leader Rodney Berman, who attended the occasion, said - "This is a big day for the City of Cardiff. The new stadium and associated projects will add significantly to the facilities of the city. It's a day that we have been waiting for over many years - we've all been working very hard to make sure that the stadium project can go ahead, now we are at that point and it's fantastic.

It's a great thing for the City of Cardiff because one of things that we've lacked in comparison to other places in the country is a Premiership football club, and if Cardiff City are to reach that level, then they need a new stadium which will be something that the city as a whole can benefit from.

There's a great deal going on in Cardiff at this time - the big development in the City Centre, the Sports Village in the Bay with its 50-metre swimming-pool to be completed shortly, and now this new stadium. This is a city that's really on the up, and here is another key project starting to take shape."

Cardiff City Chairman Peter Ridsdale is delighted that the stadium-project itself is now on stream - "I think that it's a massive leap for Cardiff City today. It's been frustrating watching a lot of the building work associated with the area around the site of the stadium taking place since last April - the retail park, the new athletics track and stadium. This all had to be well underway before we could start on the football stadium, but today is the day, and our new ground has now become a reality because we are now taking down the old athletics stadium. I'm very excited for our supporters because they deserve a new stadium, and this gives us the financial platform to give us a team that can truly compete at the top of the Championship and reach the Premiership. So it's a very very important day in Cardiff City's history. In life there are people who are sceptical about things you try to do, sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not. Anyone who had any doubts about this stadium being built need doubt no longer."