Damned if you do....

http://www.poppiestrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=304&Itemid=1


So, after all, the Trust will not be setting up a break away, AFC, or Phoenix football club. Despite the vote to do so at the recent EGM, the Trust board have decided not to create a brand new team.


And to be honest, I don’t blame them for a second.

Did the people who voted for the Trust to create a new club give any thought whatsoever as to just how this would happen? New clubs aren’t set up every day, or decade come to that, and if you took a moment to consider what would be entailed, this is no surprise. Registering with the FA and the Northants FA. Setting up a company to oversee the club. Convincing enough people to buy into the prospect of setting up a team in opposition to the Poppies. Employing people to organise the new club. Funding the off-field staff. Finding the players and agreeing contracts. Convincing a League that the club is a genuine outfit, with the backing and substance to be a credit to their organisation, and not just a bunch of angry fans. Convincing local companies to give us credit, even though professionally run clubs are defaulting every day.

Oh, and finding somewhere to actually play football! Which, when you think about it, is the problem that has got us here in the first place.

I don’t doubt the passion on display at the EGM with regard to going it alone, and keeping football in the Borough. Unfortunately a room of disgruntled supporters and a possible pitch in Burton Latimer do not a football club make.

As Poppies fans we are far too used to other people sorting things out for us. We like turning up for a bit of a moan on a Saturday, providing of course, everything has been laid on for us.

We expect the Chairman to fund our unrealistic ambitions. We expect people to be employed to serve our food and drinks, sell us our Klondikes, and clear our litter after us. We demand that our players play like a more skillful version of Brazil, under the expert guidance of our management team. And all for a very reasonable price!

I doubt the desire is there for those people demanding a new club to take on any of these tasks themselves. This is no criticism, I know I wouldn’t. But do they really expect the Trust to drop everything and do this?  Just in the hope that supporters who were shouting the odds a few months earlier turn up and watch this new team rather than continue to watch the Poppies, or drift away to the Walkers Stadium, Sixfields or Tesco?

This is a difficult enough time for the Supporters Trust. Amongst their main remits is supporting both Kettering Town FC, and football IN Kettering. Your guess is as good as mine as to how those two directives can both be accommodated currently!

It is tragic that a number of dedicated supporters on the Trust board are likely to be stepping down from their positions as a result of the ongoing situation and proposed relocation. Most of these people do untold amounts of unpaid work behind the scenes on match days and at other times. They have managed to raise thousands of pounds to fund various improvements at the club – everything from plugging funding holes to paying for new goalposts. Running the Tin Hat Social Club entirely separately from the football club, through to sponsoring the youth teams.

If they now choose not to now take on the onerous task of setting up of a brand new club, then fair enough. If the will is there amongst those arguing for a Phoenix club at the EGM then it may still happen. Unfortunately it will take an amount of selfless dedication and hard work that are in incredibly small supply these days.