To make clear, what I've posted are my own views. I'm not making accusations, but posting something as food for thought.
I was at the Trust meeting on Tuesday and I did not vote for the ‘wanting to see football carry on at Nene Park' option. A heavily weighted question, but it followed immediately on from allowing K*ttering to takeover Nene Park.
The Trust isn't exactly a secret society and it is only right that the wider fanbase are told what has gone on and as many Diamonds are clear about the situation. It is true that the majority voted for the K*ttering option. One comment from one of those for it was 'They'll all come back if we're at Wembley next year.'
The younger fans, those who had grown up with Rushden & Diamonds were pretty much for phoenix club, playing at a lower level. It is the older fans that are in favour of football at Nene Park at all costs.
There would definitely would need to be a name change to appease the locals, removing 'K*ttering' from the name over time, which was agreed at the Trust meeting. 'East Northants United was bandied about'. It is NOT a merger. In the previous Trust Meeting it was made clear that what Ladak was offering was for K*ttering Town ltd to take over Nene Park but to satisfy the locals by renaming the club K*ttering Diamonds. The plans was for RDFC ltd to be liquidated because a merger would mean that K*ttering Town would take on our debts. It would not be a new entity.
What we're essentially dealing with is a Franchise situation similar to that which befell the original Wimbledon. We are killed off to make way for K*ttering, and in time will lose their name, identity and history. They will be another MK Dons, only at a lower level.
It was also discussed and agreed that it would be asked at this evening's forum for more information about these Japanese investors, how things were progressing. I don't know about anybody on here, but we keeping hearing contradictions left right and centre from a variety of sources. You can’t blame the fans for not being able to make progress if they keep hearing contradictory information and don't have clear goals.
It almost seems like we’re being left in the dark whilst decisions are being made for us, and could be presented with a take or leave scenario.
If the above happens as I’ve described above, then does anyone really want to be involved in that kind of situation? As we’ve seen over the last seven months, we’ve been pretty much shafted. We had no say in the takeover in December (admittedly I was prepared to see what happened, obviously I’m not impressed with what happened), we’ve got no say or control now. K*ttering fans are in the same boat, the decisions are out of their hands and could very easily be in a take or leave it scenario on Friday night.
Who’s to say that the club that will play at Nene Park will not be in the same boat in a few years time?
My own view on what we, and the K*ttering fans, who I hope realise that I’m thinking beyond rivalries now and for future of both sets of fans, need to do. What we need to realise is that we don’t go to Nene Park. We are the true masters in this situation and we need to start realising it, just as the Chester fans did with Vaughan, and the Wimbledon fans after being told to support MK Dons and shut up. We don’t dance to a tune dictated to us, we’re all of a sudden not being held hostage.
I think a proper and long term view that will guarantee a far safer future would be to cut out anyone thinking of making decisions upon our behalf and head off on our own. Despite our rivalry, I think K*ttering fans deserve to have football in their town, for them it is a big part of their identity. If they are presented with a take it or leave scenario, they should plan and set up a phoenix club.
I believe that those who follow Rushden & Diamonds have the right to a football club and preserve the heart and soul of what Max created 19 years ago. It is not Nene Park, but the family of supporters that he created that binds us all, that is his legacy. He wanted to leave the people of this area a legacy, and to maintain that legacy, to let it thrive again, we owe it to Max to take control of our own destiny. It is the ties that binds us that are his legacy.
I would ignore what is being said about a phoenix club not being viable at all. It needed to have been planned from January onwards, the window for a phoenix club to be set up for this season was over before the end of April. We were also told about the club’s problems far too late in the day to raise the money expected of us (at least Kidderminster had games at which to collect money at).
My proposal is that we meet up early next season, at a Raunds game or elsewhere to take stock of the situation amongst ourselves and decide how to proceed. We then use next season planning, preparing and organising a phoenix club for the season after, that is run by the fans in a similar vein to that of AFC Wimbledon. They’ve protected themselves and ensured that there cannot be a rogue takeover because it is in their constitution that 99% of the membership must vote in favour of a change in ownership. It’s not going to happen, the fans will control the destiny of their club.
It’s going to be tough, a big learning experience, but one that I believe will pay off and be something that we, the fans will take a pride in. We’re not going to be able to play at Nene Park, costs aside, I don’t think we would be able to regain control of it, but we can found and build up our own football club, and we will be the ones to decide what happens with it, we can put lasting foundations in.
I also believe that we can generate interest in this scheme in the wider public on the back of AFC Wimbledon’s success. Our expulsion sent shockwaves around football. We were trending on Twitter for hours, which tells you something. I also know that on other boards there are voices of sympathy and support. I believe if we follow this up by making it clear our intent that we want to form our own side, we will get the publicity to galvanise people’s interest. We would be a people’s club.
One place that we could start off playing at is Raunds. It was mentioned at the Trust meeting in May that Raunds would likely welcome us with open arms (we’d have to ask them and negotiate with them, but I believe we would be able to come to something that would benefit us both). Over time the facilities could be developed to allow progression up the divisions. There’s apparently a pot of money that can be tapped to for co-operatives in Raunds. As long as any improvements benefited Raunds as well, that money could be tapped into.
I think lastly we need to remember that we wouldn’t be alone in doing this. I know Supporters Direct have problems at the moment, hopefully they will come out the other side, but we can talk to the likes of Chester, the likes of Wimbledon, Ilkeston, FC United and Telford among others to get advice on how to go about this. We would be supported if we went down the phoenix route, we wouldn’t be on our own in this.
Those are my thoughts. I really want us to take control of our destiny and make sure that we’re never again left in the dark. Remember that the main reason the Trust failed to run RDFC was because of the costs of Nene Park. We wouldn’t have that worry, we would be building from an initial base up. If 400 – 500 fans committed themselves to building this up as a founding fanbase (you’d be a founding fan), we’ll be able to build and get up the leagues.
So let’s plan and build over the next season and on what would have been the 20th anniversary of the foundation of Rushden & Diamonds, let’s take control of our destiny.