Unfortunately, the word 'dreams' seems far more appropriate to this venture than 'theatre' ever does, or will in some people's minds, but whilst the City Council have been accused for many years of dragging their heels on this project (and rightly so in my opinion in the earlier stages) there is certainly an undercurrent of events now that would make them, and possibly any potential commercial investor, remove and replace the top of their pens quite a few times before committing to this development.

The whole viability of this project, from the council's viewpoint, must rest on their ability to secure an acceptable number tenants for the retail commercial outlets at the Morfa, to generate rental income sufficient to enable the council to recoup its outlay in as reasonable a timescale as would be deemed acceptable.

The attraction to the potential commercial partners must largely be the location, which is in a prime position on the city outskirts, and the sporting facilities which will inevitably attract larger than normal crowds on weekends with the professional games that will be played there. Just quite how they are viewing local sporting developments and activities at the moment can only be guessed at, and maybe the word 'should' would be more appropriate than 'will inevitably', in the above comments.

Some of the commercial names mentioned as potential occupants, already have serious representation in Swansea and the surrounding areas, and the carrot for them to build further outlets in such close proximity will have to be sweet, surely.

This might be a very simplistic view, and please comment if you think that I am a bit off the pace with this analysis, but if the costings are correct as regards the spend and the income streams, and the futures of the two clubs were assured, then this development could prosper for many years, and possibly even expand if there were capacity within the surrounding area.

At least – that would be the view if the development was being carried out against a background of two reasonably successful professional clubs, ambitious for success and with robust plans for their futures, dovetailing into the council's own long term objectives for this whole creation.

Sadly we no longer have that scenario. The unfortunate reality is that we have a football club still in the grips of a Company Voluntary Agreement, fighting through to the end to retain Football League status, and a rugby club entering into temporary Administration with a view to, itself, seeking a CVA agreement to ease it through the troubled times which it knows are ahead.

In the case of the Swans, and without wishing to trawl old ground in any detail, the CVA was sought and agreed, as has been rightly pointed out by many people, following decades if financial mismanagement. Although the situation now appears, on the face of it, to be far more stable than in recent history, in the absence of a substantial cash injection, the coming seasons, assuming we are successful in our fight for survival, will no doubt be managed with some caution to ensure the longevity of this club.

The rugby situation is slightly different in as much as a substantial income stream (reported to be some £1 million per annum) is being lost due to the financial restructuring which is going hand in hand with the regionalisation of the game in Wales, and the directors at St Helens have been open from the outset as to the ramifications of this. Though supportive of the need for regionalisation in terms of the future of Welsh game at national level, the directors have taken a responsible approach to their own requirements in terms of insolvent trading, and sought some form of protection at a very early stage.

The game of rugby forced itself into professionalism at high speed, and cost, and many have long thought it only a matter of time before the situation would need addressing. I believe that the restructuring of the clubs has simply speeded the process and accentuated the financial crises that many of them will now face. The clubs in South Wales have partly survived on the back of benefactors (the Whites directors have apparently agreed to waive their claims over the £3 million that they have injected over the past 4 years), a position that the Swans would have dearly loved to have been in on many occasions, but it is the loss of the WRU income that has forced the issue now.

The circumstances may be different, but the end result is very similar in many ways, in that in both footballing codes we are left with teams struggling for survival with uncertain futures.

So where does this leave the Morfa Stadium plans? As it stands now, at best the Stadium would be host to a 3rd Division club with a period of consolidation in mind, and a number of European Cup rugby matches, still dependant on the eventual partnerships agreed on by the local clubs and the WRU. The Whites as we know them would, we must assume, mutate and become a pseudo second class feeder club into the new Regional side.

And a worse case? Well, were the Swans to fail in their current bid for relative glory, and fall through the two teams wide trap doors into the Conference, quite what crowds these two local sporting giants would draw to the Morfa is debatable, and this has to be a factor in the decision making process of the commercial entities who are considering occupancy terms at the site.

The decisions of the retailers will be paramount in the council's own assessment of when to progress and there must be merit in all parties involved, aside from the clubs themselves, now sitting tight and awaiting developments over the coming months. Unfortunately, the heel dragging by the council over the years has led to them being in the situation in which they now find themselves. You cannot help but feel that there are huge sighs of relief around County Hall that the rescue ship that they have been waiting for all this time has finally arrived.

Had the development been completed some years ago, as was the original plan, then it would have been established by now, and the situation in which we would now find ourselves can be considered only in hypothetical terms.

It is very sad that a city of Swansea's size and stature cannot progress a much needed development with some ambition, as if we were fortunate enough to have a determined and ambitious council, then we would already be sitting comfortably in our new seats, and not wondering why planning applications from retailers are apparently still awaiting a hearing. It is not a city known for its immediacy in decision making and taking, but they seem to have agreed the redevelopment of the docks area on a timescale considerably shorter that that being experienced by local sporting fans.

As I have mentioned in previous columns, other clubs who have redeveloped grounds have often done so on the back of private investment, where the individuals involved have possessed a more visionary and ambitious approach to life, and negotiations have probably been wrapped in less red tape than in our case.

A lot of what I have said is of course conjecture, and even more, my own opinions, but if we are to wait indefinitely for some upturn in our sporting fortunes before the contracts are signed, and delivered, then I fear the council will have to order up quite a few more litres of paint to keep the hoarding looking trim for a few more trips around the sun yet.

With the council's penchant for seeking short term income generation from every free square foot of land around the city, as opposed to considering planned and tasteful development, and the ever increasing problems of car parking, now exacerbated by the new construction at the bottom of Wind Street having removed several hundred spaces, we must be in serious danger of seeing our own little paradise being paved for another parking lot.

We have talked about and been promised this stadium for so many years, that even the dreams are starting to wear thin now, and we are in great danger in years to come of recalling the Morfa purely as a memory of what might have been.

The way local sport is progressing, is there a serious danger that with the great British pastime of turning large and varied superstores into Bank Holiday and weekend 'Family Days Out', it is they that will be the main attraction, and the on-field activities will be something to watch when the shopping is done. Maybe not, but possibly that's no more fictitious than our 20,000 seater theatre being built in the first place.

If anyone has any feedback to give me, I'd love to hear from you at pauly@scfc.co.uk