The stadium

This is where we sit as a club.

The powers that be at the Asian Football Confederation wanted the 2014 Asian Champions League final, that we ended up winning, to be played at the ANZ stadium.

They wanted it to be a big event.

At the time we had not played at ANZ Stadium before, so the supporters of our club loved Paramatta, they wanted us to play the final at Paramatta Stadium.

We could have gone to the bigger venue and played in front of 83,000 supporters and the club would have made a stack load of money.

But we settled for 16,000 even though the capacity is 18,000 as we had to provide ticketing for the dignitaries.

So, the club forgo the opportunity to make a killing at this final - and we would have.

Instead we wanted to ensure that we remained loyal and true to the football element of our club, to our supporters, and to our team.

We could have done a short take and taken the money. But I don't  think it would have provided us with the opportunity of winning.

The night of the Asian Champions League final when we went to Parramatta Stadium there was only one lift for people to get up to the corporate seating areas and higher section of the stadium.

So you had dignitaries from all over the world and I said to the NSW Premier at the time, “this is embarrassing we can’t have dignitaries from overseas waiting for a lift to go to their seats.”

So we kept the lift fairly occupied upstairs so we could ensure that the Premier was waiting. Then when the Premier went upstairs there was a conversation of what do we do about this situation here?

So there certainly was a conversation of renovating the venue and in the next few months after that it became about knocking the venue down and then building a new one.

Wanderers and New Stadium Legacy

Building a new stadium at Parramatta could not have been done without the Wanderers.

This a legacy from the club and its supporters that have made a difference in a very short period of time. To ensure that such infrastructure as a sports stadium at Western Sydney can be done.

This brings a raft of opportunities whether it’s concerts or cultural elements to Parramatta and surrounding regions.

Players will be playing in a state of the art football stadium. Not a sports stadium, but a football stadium where it will have the biggest rating in Australian sport.

The supporters will feel intimately involved in the match and will be able to bring that passion closer to the team and support it.

As a football administrator I also advocated very strongly for safe standing areas to make it as authentic a football stadium as can be.

So, It will be the first of its kind in Australia and it will also have the country's steepest stand and have a safe standing area for about 1200 people which will add to the atmosphere.

This story will continue and we will keep making sure that we are at the forefront of discussions for football and for Western Sydney and this another example of it.

As told to Con Stamocostas