Re: Save Staines Town FC - Important Club Statement

By Voicefromthepast12/6/2020 12:04Fri Jun 12 12:04:06 2020In response to Re: Save Staines Town FC - Important Club Statement

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I wasn’t ‘arguing’ over what has happened in the past but sometimes the history can have some relevance on the current situation particularly when a legal agreement (S106) was put in place with the specific intent of giving some protection to the football clubs tenure at Wheatsheaf Park!
My views:-
The suggestion that investors are poor pensioners that are being ‘mugged off’ needs to be put in context. Investors that use VCT’s are probably not poor, they use these vehicles to attempt to make high rate returns and maximise tax efficiencies on their money when they have maxed out their lifetime allowance on pension contributions. The limit in the tax year 20/21 is close to £1.1M! VCT’s are considered to be high risk and that’s the gamble they take. That being said, I agree totally that, why Downings continue to pump cash into what can only be described as a failing business remains a mystery to me too, I would question their motives and if I was an investor I would want the questions that have been raised to be answered. I am equally surprised that The Thames Club has continually failed to perform on a financial basis and must assume that this is largely down to poor management over the years. I don’t find the fact that The Thames Club has paid RFL management fees that strange as that this is merely a method of paying the Managing Director for the services he provides. Not unusual.
In terms of the way that the Thames Club is failing to maintain the facilities and handling the relationship with the Football Club, I am absolutely horrified. There were lots of individuals that were involved with the club from the 90’s and earlier who put huge amounts of both their time, experience and money into the club which made it the envy of all the other clubs in the league. Sadly a large number of them have now either passed away or have moved on through disillusionment with, relatively, recent changes and I feel that this type of input is now being sorely missed. The fact that the board room has been moved will appear ridiculous to visiting officials and will be an embarrassment to the current management. I recall the boardroom entertaining the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Trevor Brooking during the FA Cup run of 2007, I’m not sure they would be impressed by being accommodated in a broom cupboard!
Something must be done to re establish STFC as the proud club it once was and I am wholeheartedly behind that cause.
So that’s my views