Dear Trust member,
Your Supporters Trust has enjoyed a productive year – while the relationship with the owners of the football club remain at an impasse, in spite of an intervention by the Football Supporters Association, good progress was made in a number of other areas last year.
A few headlines, the Supporters Trust has…
The progress on the East Stand development is extremely welcome but we will continue to challenge the owners with questions as they arise and continue to press the case for development behind the stand which will guarantee ongoing and long-term investment benefit to the football club, in the interests of a progressive and sustainable club.
Contrary to what club chairman Kelvin Thomas might say in interviews, there is no conspiracy-led vendetta against the club. If that is his perception of the Trust reasonably questioning the club’s governance and development plans, then it is an absurd overreaction and the questions will continue until we receive satisfactory answers.
The chairman has also repeatedly said that the Trust are rival bidders to the club. To be clear, two years ago we were rival bidders for land behind the East Stand which we were looking to secure as a club asset, generating investment benefit. We took this very difficult decision in the absence of any guarantees from the club that the land in question wouldn't be sold off, so depriving the club of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It was something that, as a community group, we were perfectly entitled to do under the Localism Act and as part of the Asset of Community Value bid process and we did so in accordance with the Supporters Trust’s long-held mission statement to protect professional football in Northampton for the long-term. We did so believing, naively it would appear, the one thing the club’s owners and the Supporters Trust actually have in common is the safeguarding of the football club.
In 2015, with the club in crisis, we supported the club financially and several board members attended a council meeting three years ago to urge the council to back the club’s plans for the East Stand. This is hardly the behaviour of an organisation that is anti-club.
Thank you for your continuing support and please support our Club 500 lottery and Cobblers Travel if you do not already do so.
We have never walked away from the football club. And we never will. Our town, our club and your Supporters Trust.
Up the Cobblers!
Andy
Andy Roberts, Chair, Northampton Town Supporters Trust
