Oh dear...where to start????
no wonder this forum is entitled "chat, rumours, reports"
As it stands, from what has been posted, the Supporters' Trust appear to be the ones to save the Club. and how exactly will they do that. The various debts under the mismanagement of Nick McCormack are rumoured to be around eighty to a hundred thousand pounds! Any ideas how that will be cleared by The Trust? If we wait for them to swing into action then the club will already be shut down!
I'm certainly no advocate of property developers, but if they are as hard-nosed as people on here believe (& yes, they probably are, to an extent, as that's what their job ebtails) they would not lift a finger to help the Club and simply let it die. but it appears they are not doing that and are keen to help the Club out. right now we need a Club to support! First and foremost...that is the most important for me.
I understand they will be holding a public meeting at the ground in the near future, and while it will have a Trust presence I also understand it's not a Trust meeting, but an open one for everyone at the Football Club, be that the trust, The Football Club itself, and many, many individual supporters who are not members of the Trust, and who do not want them to be their mouthpiece.
With regard to Greendale....well people are very keen on quoting elected representatives from the Council...who they might not have the time of day for, or turst, on any other matter. It's well known that politicians can say one thin publically, while having totally opposite private views.
Greendales IS Metropolitan Open Land, and yes that is protected by law. But...it can be de-designated and built on, on built on sensitively. I have no idea what plans might be, but for example...the old all-weather pitch behind the ground, which we lease from the Council is in effect already built on that open space. The rest of it is a crap bit of scrubland. Nobody is suggesting building housing on there, merely modern sports facilities for the 21st century for our Club. I am sure there will be land around it that can be used for other community uses, that can benefit the area too.
With regard to our current ground being 'adequate'...no it's certainly not! It might look ok, but it is an extremely poorly designed building, on three levels, which is very expensive to maintain. And we have NO SECURITY OF TENURE. If we have a new ground built, it can be all on the one level, easier to maintain, and we can get a long term lease, which would secure the long-term future of our Club. With a long lease we can apply for grants from various football & non-footballing bodies for lot of projects too.
I, for one, tentatively back the new ground owners, and their willingness to work with us as a Club. Instead of going on about where we might or might not play just as important is who will run the Club. This is the perfect opportunity to force McCormack OUT & to push for a community run club that will ensure that our Club survives for the next hundred years.
So what if the ground is 'next door'? The current stadium holds no emotional attachments, for watching football it's a half-decent ONE SIDED GROUND. Give me a similar, or more basic one, next door with a long-term lease, with a bit of cover behind the goals anyday.
To suggest our Trust will be saviours, is i'm sorry, totally pie in the sky. They don't even have any representatives on the current Football Club committee, which tries to run the football side of things, on a day to day basis.
With regard to other locations in the area, Southwark Sports ground/Peckham Town FC; Pynners Close/wherever...these venues are VERY BASIC and would as hard to build up and to develop, if not harder, to the standard we need to stage Ryman League football, than it would to build on Greendales. Greendales IS our best option. The new ground owners will be happy, and the Football Club will have a long term future.
If we need to stay where we are I will only consider that as a 'fall-back' option, if plans to build on our current site fall through. And it IS somewhere where we have played before, as Greendales was a previous Champion Hill ground for us from 1912 until 1931, & we had huge crowds there, in the high thousands, even reaching five figure gates, on the rare occasion, according to contemporary match reports.
There is no 'spirit' of the Club at the current ground...the 'Spirit' is in the current ground, the old one on the same site, and the previous one which I have just mentioned. As far as I am concerned a ground on Greendales will STILL be Champion Hill...BUT for the first time we have a chance for supporters to have democratic control of our Club through it being run as a community club. Posh houses will be built left, right and centre anyway. Like it or not, no matter how unpalatible that might be, that is modern London in the 21st Century. i can cope with that, if it ensures the future of our Football Club.
It might not sit with one or two of you out there...but you seem happy to have our shirts adorned with Winkworths estate agents, who themselves fuel the private property gentrification of East Dulwich, Peckham & Brixton. So how 'principled' are you really?
With regard to a more 'militant' DHST...well i personally think one of ours must be one of the most poorly led ones in the country, but they seem keen to sign up lots of new members in this 'sudden' time of crisis. There's no need for an alternative one...if you are a member that contact them & call for an extraordinary meeting of members to discuss things, not just one with the developers. An organisation is only as strong as its members, so if you want change within that body and want it to be more pro-active...then push for it from within!
Personally speaking, if people lobby their local MP/councillors/vicars about all this I sincerely hope that it's in favour of a new ground first & foremost which ensures the future of our Club, with community (Ie: fan) ownership. Anything else will be opposed by many other Hamlet fans and split our fans irrevocably, and in my opinion, will lead to the demise of the Club.
But that's just my opinion, what do I know eh? Perhaps we should stop the 'rumours' and wait until we can hear and challenge whatever the Hadley property people put on the table.
no wonder this forum is entitled "chat, rumours, reports"
As it stands, from what has been posted, the Supporters' Trust appear to be the ones to save the Club. and how exactly will they do that. The various debts under the mismanagement of Nick McCormack are rumoured to be around eighty to a hundred thousand pounds! Any ideas how that will be cleared by The Trust? If we wait for them to swing into action then the club will already be shut down!
I'm certainly no advocate of property developers, but if they are as hard-nosed as people on here believe (& yes, they probably are, to an extent, as that's what their job ebtails) they would not lift a finger to help the Club and simply let it die. but it appears they are not doing that and are keen to help the Club out. right now we need a Club to support! First and foremost...that is the most important for me.
I understand they will be holding a public meeting at the ground in the near future, and while it will have a Trust presence I also understand it's not a Trust meeting, but an open one for everyone at the Football Club, be that the trust, The Football Club itself, and many, many individual supporters who are not members of the Trust, and who do not want them to be their mouthpiece.
With regard to Greendale....well people are very keen on quoting elected representatives from the Council...who they might not have the time of day for, or turst, on any other matter. It's well known that politicians can say one thin publically, while having totally opposite private views.
Greendales IS Metropolitan Open Land, and yes that is protected by law. But...it can be de-designated and built on, on built on sensitively. I have no idea what plans might be, but for example...the old all-weather pitch behind the ground, which we lease from the Council is in effect already built on that open space. The rest of it is a crap bit of scrubland. Nobody is suggesting building housing on there, merely modern sports facilities for the 21st century for our Club. I am sure there will be land around it that can be used for other community uses, that can benefit the area too.
With regard to our current ground being 'adequate'...no it's certainly not! It might look ok, but it is an extremely poorly designed building, on three levels, which is very expensive to maintain. And we have NO SECURITY OF TENURE. If we have a new ground built, it can be all on the one level, easier to maintain, and we can get a long term lease, which would secure the long-term future of our Club. With a long lease we can apply for grants from various football & non-footballing bodies for lot of projects too.
I, for one, tentatively back the new ground owners, and their willingness to work with us as a Club. Instead of going on about where we might or might not play just as important is who will run the Club. This is the perfect opportunity to force McCormack OUT & to push for a community run club that will ensure that our Club survives for the next hundred years.
So what if the ground is 'next door'? The current stadium holds no emotional attachments, for watching football it's a half-decent ONE SIDED GROUND. Give me a similar, or more basic one, next door with a long-term lease, with a bit of cover behind the goals anyday.
To suggest our Trust will be saviours, is i'm sorry, totally pie in the sky. They don't even have any representatives on the current Football Club committee, which tries to run the football side of things, on a day to day basis.
With regard to other locations in the area, Southwark Sports ground/Peckham Town FC; Pynners Close/wherever...these venues are VERY BASIC and would as hard to build up and to develop, if not harder, to the standard we need to stage Ryman League football, than it would to build on Greendales. Greendales IS our best option. The new ground owners will be happy, and the Football Club will have a long term future.
If we need to stay where we are I will only consider that as a 'fall-back' option, if plans to build on our current site fall through. And it IS somewhere where we have played before, as Greendales was a previous Champion Hill ground for us from 1912 until 1931, & we had huge crowds there, in the high thousands, even reaching five figure gates, on the rare occasion, according to contemporary match reports.
There is no 'spirit' of the Club at the current ground...the 'Spirit' is in the current ground, the old one on the same site, and the previous one which I have just mentioned. As far as I am concerned a ground on Greendales will STILL be Champion Hill...BUT for the first time we have a chance for supporters to have democratic control of our Club through it being run as a community club. Posh houses will be built left, right and centre anyway. Like it or not, no matter how unpalatible that might be, that is modern London in the 21st Century. i can cope with that, if it ensures the future of our Football Club.
It might not sit with one or two of you out there...but you seem happy to have our shirts adorned with Winkworths estate agents, who themselves fuel the private property gentrification of East Dulwich, Peckham & Brixton. So how 'principled' are you really?
With regard to a more 'militant' DHST...well i personally think one of ours must be one of the most poorly led ones in the country, but they seem keen to sign up lots of new members in this 'sudden' time of crisis. There's no need for an alternative one...if you are a member that contact them & call for an extraordinary meeting of members to discuss things, not just one with the developers. An organisation is only as strong as its members, so if you want change within that body and want it to be more pro-active...then push for it from within!
Personally speaking, if people lobby their local MP/councillors/vicars about all this I sincerely hope that it's in favour of a new ground first & foremost which ensures the future of our Club, with community (Ie: fan) ownership. Anything else will be opposed by many other Hamlet fans and split our fans irrevocably, and in my opinion, will lead to the demise of the Club.
But that's just my opinion, what do I know eh? Perhaps we should stop the 'rumours' and wait until we can hear and challenge whatever the Hadley property people put on the table.
