Sam Hammam's vision of a new £40m 30,000 all-seater home and Premiership soccer for Cardiff took a quantum leap forward on Thursday night.
City powerbrokers including Cardiff Lord Mayor Russell Goodway, a clutch of influential councillors plus top Cops David Francis and Jeff Cooksley have given a cautious green light to the Bluebirds quitting Ninian Park for a new site at Leckwith by summer 2004.
Ex-Wimbledon owner Hammam successfully argued Cardiff's case at a four-hour summit and was secretly given verbal assurances - providing the Welsh club round up their notorious hooligan minority.
And a go-ahead for a new arena could provide boss Lennie Lawrence with a mind-boggling £10m transfer chest - as 56-year-old Hammam pushes for Premier League football within two seasons.
City, who splashed out almost £500,000 on upgrading their state-of-the-art security cameras at Ninian and reinforcing fencing at the Grange End of their stadium, will implement a strict photo-identity procedure for club members next season.
And the move has been approved by Cardiff police. Said a force spokesperson, "The meeting with Mr Hammam which Assistant Chief Constable David Francis and Chief Superintendent Jeff Cooksley attended was very productive.
"It's always been acknowledged that Cardiff's reputation has suffered because of a minority element - we're talking about a small amount of people who are trying to ruin the football club.
"Cardiff are making positive steps to address the problem, they know hooliganism must be stamped out - they are also aware of Russell Goodway's 'zero tolerance' to hooligans.
"But all parties concerned acknowledge that a new stadium for Cardiff City is necessary."
The Bluebirds and Hammam's reputation was undoubtedly damaged through the 60-minute BBC documentary Hooligans screened in May. This, coming as the Welsh club received a £20,000 FA of Wales misconduct fine for pitch invasions after the stormy FA Cup war with Leeds last January.
And Hammam has repeated his threat to walk out on the Bluebirds if City's thugs continue their reign of terror snapping, "There'll be no stadium if the trouble continues - and if that happens there'll be no Sam either.
"My dream of bringing top class football to Wales will be destroyed, it'll be strangled at birth."
But an impeccable Ninian source insists the Lebanese businessman is now prepared to add a bank-busting £50m to the £15m investment he's made in the Bluebirds since September 2000. They said, "Sam was walking on air after the summit.
"He told me he feels he's seeing beyond the trees at long last. It's a reward for all the hours he's put into to the whole project. The football club will give up it's lease at Ninian Park for the 80-acre Leckwith site which will include a hotel, shopping complex and 5,000-capacity car park.
"About 69 of Hammam's 70 proposals have been verbally approved by the authorities - he's expecting to get things in writing by the start of the Football League season."
The source went on, "Now you'll see Sam open the cheque book for players. Expect to see unprecedented spending at Cardiff. All the money is in place from a Swiss Bank, Hammam dreams of seeing his club alongside Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool - it's what motivates him."
