WANDERERS fans are to be told tomorrow that the £12 million de vere whites hotel taking shape at the reebok stadium will have a real "wow" factor.

The match programme for the Tranmere game contains an interview with Mr Paul Dermody, Managing Director of De Vere Hotels, the company involved with Burnden Leisure plc in a pioneering joint venture.

Mr Dermody, aged 54, was confident of success when he visited the site and is convinced the stadium hotel concept - a departure for the company - will be a blueprint to be copied outside the region.

He is quoted as saying: "This hotel will have a real 'wow' factor.

"It is the first fully-integrated, high quality stadium hotel in the UK, but it certainly won't be the last.

"The design, the features and the premium rooms overlooking the pitch will be breathtaking.

He goes on: "It is a nonsense to suggest that we and Burnden Leisure or the club have pumped £12 million into this hotel which could have been spent on players.

"Let's be clear, we have formed a joint venture and borrowed the money on a robust business plan which proves that over a number of years we can pay back the bank and bring significant profits to the club and to the joint venture.

"Remember this project is both exciting and unique; we are building a good revenue-generating asset which in the short, medium and long-term will produce cash.

"Let's face it, the most successful football clubs in the UK are those that make money, so I think history will prove that it was a courageous and enlightened decision to build this jewel."

Mr Dermody, who has held top jobs at De Vere since the late 1980s, believes the hotel - on target to open next September - will be a major boost for the stadium and for the town.

He goes on in the interview: "Because our expertise is in conferencing and exhibitions, we will be able to accommodate larger conferences than the town currently enjoys and that will have a positive effect on the town and, of course, on the club which needs strong and healthy income streams."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.