The owner of a building that burned down in a suspected arson attack has said that diggers were preparing to demolish the derelict property this week.
The blaze at Emerald Park, which used to be the home ground of Gorleston FC, destroyed the club's former social club on Sunday night (November 13).
Fire crews from Great Yarmouth, Gorleston, Martham, Acle, Loddon and Mundesley rushed to the scene.
Albert Jones, who owns the land, said: "I've been liaising with the police and the fire service for the last three to four weeks.
"We've had constant problems with kids breaking the fence down and going into the site."
In December 2020, Great Yarmouth Borough Council gave the go-ahead for Pleasure and Leisure Limited, run by the Jones family, to build 97 houses at Emerald Park.
The plans also included the demolition of the buildings on the site, which included the stand and the former social club which was house in two portacabins.
Mr Jones said: "The building was ready to be demolished.
"But even though we'd secured the site, the kids were climbing over the fences."
The reason the landowners didn't demolish the building earlier was that Gorleston FC were still playing at the ground until May, he said.
"Then we offered the football club all the steel that was left in the grounds. We were waiting for that to be finished."
Once the club had cleared away all the steel, the demolition would have begun, Mr Jones said.
"The site is being cleared at the moment and most of the buildings are down. We'd arranged for diggers to go in this week and start taking the building down," he said.
Trevor Wainwright, borough councillor for Magdalen ward in Gorleston, said: "It's really disappointing. Once again, at enormous cost to the emergency services to come out.
"Luckily there was no loss of life or injuries to anybody. It could have been much worse."
Mr Wainwright said he could not understand why it has "taken so long" to demolish the building.
"It's for the site owners to get a grip on this," he said.
Gorleston FC had hoped to play their home games this season at a new ground at East Norfolk Sixth Form College but there are delays in the process with the college saying it is working with the football club to finish the development.
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