Grounds for Concern

The latest, completely unsurprising twist in the seemingly eternal saga to prise us away from Rockingham Road has left us without a ground backer and looking for help from our ineffectual Council. It would be interesting to know if any Council in the country has assisted it's premier sporting club less than Kettering Borough Council? Have they ever lifted a finger to assist an institution which puts their town on the map more during one good cup run than they can manage with a couple of decade's worth of initiatives and website relaunches, and having cheese and biscuits with a bunch of Krauts we happen to be twinned with?

Without Asda's backing it would appear we are back to square one on the new ground front. Being on old bugger with dodgy recall (it'll come to you too, mark my words!) I can't actually recall why 2012 is the year we need to be out of Rockingham Road. What happens in 2012 other than the Olympics coming to London and the end of the world according to the Mayans? And don't we have the protection in law that our ground cannot be used for anything except hoofball until we have an alternative venue? I'm sure I remember this from somewhere in the past.... Has this changed too?

On the subject of a new ground a number of our former, future locations have been in the news recently. Remember Cohen's Yard? We couldn't go there because the traffic once every fortnight might impact upon the car park known as the A14. This didn't stop other developers being granted permission to build numerous retail and business units on the exact spot where our occasional use would have brought gridlock to the County. Perhaps our bribes weren't big enough?

The delightful old scrapyard was scrupulously buffed-up and infrastructure put in place. Then the credit crunch happened. Next thing, the developers are insisting every unit be sold BEFORE they start building. Mmm. The site could remain as it is for many years, unless an enterprising young Asian steps in....

Another mooted site was the Weekly Glebe playing fields, which now look like they are going to be concreted over to make a new Academy for numerous of our local delinquents. It would replace Montague school which is all of 30 years old, and obviously completely decrepit! When I was at Stamford Road school our textbooks were older than that!

I don't know if the area between the top of Deeble Road and Barton Seagrave was ever a serious contender, but it looks as though we'll lose out there too, to 5000 new houses that we are told are needed, although again, no one can quite remember why.

All in all, the land is disappearing pretty damned quickly. But hey, who knows. Maybe our Council will take a leaf from Ebbsfleet's Council and recognise that the town's football club, even a poor one, is worth saving?