DIE-hard fans of Guiseley AFC have launched a campaign to raise £150,000 to cover one of the terraces at their Nethermoor Park ground.

The fundraising efforts come as the club looks to carry out widespread works to the tune of £1.75 million but is not able to as yet include covering the terraces.

So the supporters have stepped in and launched the Raise The Roof campaign to provide cover for the terracing at the Railway End.

Club chairman Gary Douglas said: “Amazingly our wonderful supporters have taken it upon themselves to co-ordinate fund-raising to cover the terracing at the Railway End. We were approached by a group of fans who have offered to co-ordinate fund-raising for terrace cover and they have made some tentative enquiries. The ball park figure for 40 metres of terraced cover is £150,000 and they said that they would like to achieve this over one to two years.”

The chairman continued: “So, while the club might not be able to directly fund the roof we are delighted to have such fantastic support and will do all we can to facilitate and help this fundraising effort succeed. They have decided to call the campaign Raise The Roof and it was launched at our first pre-season friendly with a bucket collection.”

The supporters now plan a number of events in support of the campaign and are open to ideas from other supporters on how to raise funds and will shortly be holding a meeting to explore ideas. A Crowdfunder is to be set up and the bucket collections will continue on match days. A separate bank account will be set up by the fundraisers.

One of the organisers of the campaign, James Broome, said: “We started the Raise The Roof campaign after myself and other fans have, over a number of years, spoken about the lack of cover and elevation at the Railway End at Nethermoor Park. Going to other grounds and seeing the work they have done has always made me envious, especially after we have had multiple plans to develop Nethermoor fall through.”

Broome added: “We have always wanted to see a covered terrace behind one of the goals and we felt the time had come to do something about it.

"It is a massive ask to raise £150,000 but I believe that between ourselves, the supporters’ club and the club itself we can achieve it providing we all pull in the same direction.

“This will transform the spectator experience massively, giving much needed cover from the elements and a much improved view of the pitch from that end.”

On the wider improvements, Mr Douglas said: “The aim is to improve facilities for players at all levels of the club and supporters as well as provide opportunities to hire facilities to local community groups and football teams to raise revenue.”

Ilkley Gazette: Fans of Guiseley AFC have launched 'Raise the Roof'Fans of Guiseley AFC have launched 'Raise the Roof'

The first step, announced in April, is to install a 3G artificial playing surface to replace the grass pitch. In doing so it will provide its own training facilities for the first team, academy and its seven team Centre of Excellence as well as providing additional income for the club.

Douglas explained that the second step is to improve the changing facilities as the current ones are “cramped, dated, and in need of refurbishment”.

He added: “So, once the existing 3G pitch is no longer required we can look at developing this site to create a building that will house new changing facilities, disabled toilets, offices, the club shop, a new café and an improved match-day hospitality space.

“This work will require substantial investment. Current estimates for all of this development are in the region of £1.75 million.

“These are essential improvements and we have worked hard on a plan that can cover this through a variety of means – grants, loans, revenue generated through sell on clauses of young players and the increased income from the new pitch.

“However, even after exploiting all the funding opportunities available to us, the payback period will be at least five years and may be as long as 10 years, as increasing costs including interest rates may impact on the repayment plan.

“This means that, while we would love to be able to invest in other ground improvements such as covering the standing terraces (especially as around 70 per cent of our ground is currently uncovered), we just won’t have the money.”