EAMONN McManus has described his excitement at witnessing a new era dawn at Saints after the club took ownership of their magnificent new £25m home.

The decade long pursuit for a modern stadium befitting the town’s rugby league team reached journey’s end late on Monday night when the keys were handed from developers to Saints chiefs.

A £2million fit out of the yet-to-be named stadium’s interior is swiftly underway and McManus, reflecting the emotions of thousands of loyal supporters, is already looking forward to a new chapter in the town’s sporting history being written at the Peasley Cross venue.

Speaking to the Star, McManus, Saints’ chairman, said: “Already I’m so looking forward to those first games there – that is for sure. That is when it will really hit people.

“I can see when it is full what an atmosphere it will generate. I’m looking forward to that Good Friday game against Wigan. It really is going to be amazing – you can anticipate that atmosphere.

“Everyone who goes up there and walks onto the pitch finds it quite breathtaking.”

On a tour of the stadium, key figures who have driven the project over the past seven years said that seeing long-held plans turned into reality had ‘exceeded expectations’.

McManus, who underlined the club’s ethos that it should strive to meet ‘its civic duties and responsibilities’ to St Helens, also revealed moves have been put in place to bring elements of Saints’ rich and illustrious history to the stadium.

Rugby posts that once stood at their former Knowsley Road home have been erected at the new stadium, bridging the gap between past and present.

He added: “The pitch looks as though you could play on it tomorrow, the posts are up and it’s marked out.

“We’ve transposed the posts from Knowsley Road because we’re very sensitive to ensuring as much of our history as possible goes with us to the new stadium without in anyway having a detrimental impact on its newness and its comfort.

“There has got to be certain symbols and the posts will be the first one of those.”

McManus, who achieved success as a businessman in the Far East before returning to his hometown, also spoke of his joy that this pivotal moment in the club’s history comes at a time when the squad is built on a foundation of local talent.

He added: “I must admit it is exactly 10 years this month since I came here and the proudest moment for me is not the winning of World Club Championships, Challenge Cups or Super Leagues, but undoubtedly at Harlequins this season when we had 17 English players and 14 from St Helens that had come from the academy – and we beat them.

“People within the game should be singing that from the rafters as the model every club should work from.

“It is something I prioritise, and will continue to do so. First and foremost it is local lads, secondly English lads and then a sprinkling of foreign stars.

“We come back to civic responsibility. We see ourselves as an employer that gives opportunities to rugby players.

“At the moment kids will see that if they are good enough they will get their chance.

“It is impossible to conceive anything other than that symbol up there getting more youngsters in St Helens wanting to get active.

“After such a long wait it is surreal that the stadium is finally here. (But) it has surpassed my expectations.

“Seeing something as architects’ plans and designs for numbers of years and then seeing in reality – it is a unique stadium.

“It has a unique design because of its halo-shaped roof and its rounded effect. It has a very substantial feel to it – as a major stadium would – and yet because of its capacity, at 18,000, which is what we as a club need, it’s going to be intimate and atmospheric.

“At this point in time we are scheduling for the second week in December, that season ticket holders will be invited to the stadium to test stewarding and turnstiles.

“We’ll probably have an open training session with the first team players on the pitch that day and a pre-season friendly will follow, against opponents still to be announced, but it probably won’t be full capacity yet (about 12 or 13,000). That is all part of getting a safety certificate for the full capacity.”