This new-look stadium will help Ebbsfleet United attract new players and supporters as well as changing people’s perceptions, according to club bosses.

Fleet will spend up to £8million transforming their traditional Stonebridge Road ground into a modern stadium fit for League 1 football within the next decade.

Plans for the PHB Stadium’s makeover were unveiled at a meeting on Monday night and the club’s Kuwaiti owner Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi was there to meet almost 400 of the club’s loyal supporters.

But as well as energising the Fleet’s existing fanbase, Dr Al-Humaidi wants to see it grow as the new stands go up.

He said: "With good facilities, we might attract more families and people. At the end of the day, even if you have a football match, if you have poor facilities such as bad food and bad bathrooms, people will be reluctant to come.

"But if you offer people the best facilities available, we don’t see any reason why they’ll not attend these football matches."

Vice-chairman Peter Varney targeted average home crowds of 1,500 when KEH Sports saved Ebbsfleet from extinction in summer 2013.

He knows the new £3.5million main stand, which will run parallel to Stonebridge Road itself, will be key in its role as the Fleet’s new shop window.

Mr Varney said: "This isn’t just a shanty stand, it’s a major development that would grace lots of Football League grounds.

"By the time we’ve finished, we want people to come here, yes, because we’re successful and we’re playing good football but also because the facilities here are good.

"At the moment, with all due respect, we can’t offer fantastic facilities to an audience that we’re probably failing to attract.

"But when you drive by, it’ll hopefully entice people to think ‘I’ll go and watch a game there’ because it’s attractive."

Read the full story in the Gravesend Messenger.