This is what Vicarage Road will look like by the start of the 2009/10 season.

As this artist's impression shows, the Rookery Stand and south west corner of the ground will be totally transformed as part of what Watford FC chairman Graham Simpson has hailed as a "momentous" stadium redevelopment programme.

There will be 164 one and two-bedroom flats, which will wrap around the south of the stadium.

These will be affordable homes for staff at Watford General Hospital.

The planning application for the keyworker housing submitted to Watford Borough Council says: "The residential accommodation has been designed to the highest standards both internally and externally.

"Development will provide a visually interesting and modern exterior to the existing stadium."

Click here for more artist's impressions of the Old Vic's makeover.

HORNETS fans forced to move seats next season have been contacting the Watford Observer this week, angry at the way they are being treated by Watford FC.

Hundreds of season ticket holders at Vicarage Road have already received letters informing them that they will lose their seats due to the redevelopment of the stadium.

In total, 3,000 season ticket holders will have to be relocated over the next few months.

Fans sitting in the middle of the Upper Rous Stand will be most affected by the building work that will begin at the end of this season.

The directors and press box, currently both in the dilapidated East Stand, will be moved to the Upper Rous. Two hundred and seventy fans with seats in the middle block of the Upper Rous will be forced to move while redevelopment work takes place and most will be unable to return.

One long-serving Watford fan has sat in the same seat in the centre of the Upper Rous since the stand opened in 1987. Before that, he sat in the same position in the former Shroddells Stand.

The 61-year-old fan, who makes a 100-mile round trip from Basingstoke to see every Watford home game, said he is disappointed that fans were not told earlier of the upheaval.

He said: "To be turfing out season ticket holders to give it to business clients is frankly appalling. I spoke to Mark Ashton at this season's AGM and wrote asking him for the seat numbers of people affected so I could arrange a meeting.

"But despite ringing the club several times, the first I heard back from them was the letter this week.

"We have built up friendships over all these years with fans sitting near us. I do not see how people who bought season tickets for the first time last summer can end up with better seats than us."

Affected season ticket holders contacting the Watford Observer appreciate that the stadium needs to be redeveloped. Most said that the real issue is the way long-standing fans are being treated.

In the letter sent to Upper Rous season ticket holders this week, Paddy Flavin, Watford FC operations director, assured fans that the club will do "everything possible" to keep them seated in the Rous Stand. When the new East Stand opens in 2010, these fans will also be given priority to choose a seat there.

The majority of fans commenting on the Watford Observer website think that the club has done everything they can to inform season ticket holders of the situation.

Daniel from Northampton wrote: "Some people are never happy. We have been waiting for years for this development yet when we are finally making huge strides off the pitch supporters are still wanting to whinge. It's common sense, get over it."

Watford FC spokesman Iain Moody said that all fans appreciate the need for Vicarage Road to have a much-needed facelift.

He said: "Unfortunately, as a down side to this work, some groups of fans are going to be inconvenienced, for which we can only apologise. We have been careful to consult very closely with the Supporters' Trust to take on board their input on the changes and truly believe that some pain is necessary for the gain of far brighter and better facilities for all our fans at Vicarage Road."

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