UK soccer museums strike on

Organisers of a second soccer museum – to be operated in direct competition with the planned National Football Museum in Preston – are to hold an architectural competition for a 5m new-build project in Carlisle. And there is talk of opening a third football museum in Sheffield.

Graphic and exhibition design groups Stocks Austin Sice and Conceptor have already been appointed for the Carlisle project. SAS is also designing the identity.

The main backer for the Carlisle museum is Michael Knighton, Carlisle United’s chairman. But curator Jane Dalton says applications will be made for National Lottery funds. Competition details will be released within the next few weeks, says Dalton, and a touring exhibition is being planned for November.

Meanwhile, Preston’s National Football Museum, which has an interiors concept designed by Manchester’s The Chase (DW 12 May 1995), should hear whether it has been granted National Lottery funding next week.

In Sheffield, the World Football Museum is to stage a soccer expo to coincide with the Euro 96 tournament. Mansell Carr, an interior designer with IMS Office Fitting and Design, says strategies for a more permanent exhibition are being discussed.