George Street-Bridge wrote:If Owlsabout is the ex-player people say he is, he is one of the first names on my team sheet for a best ever XI in the Newport AFC era. Maybe even the first.
But the idea that this adds value to his views about running a League 2 club as a business with a turnover in the millions a quarter of a century later is ludicrously inward- and backward-looking.
I am not adverse to his suggestion of investors, I would just like him to highlight who and why. In fact, you could argue our current situation (league position aside) is not dissimilar to that of 2003 when Chairman (Wallace Brown) and the board were heavily criticised for club finances despite having seemingly lucrative cup runs. Admittedly the support or social media was not quite as intense as it is today, but they were still criticised.
I may be wrong on this but from what I recall a strategic management team compromising of local investors and businessmen took charge of the club to manage the debt and were heralded as the solution. However, just four years on from this the Supporters trust was relaunched to ironically help them out as they were struggling to progress the club as they envisaged. The initial success of the trust revival meant that numbers and donations grew quickly enabling the then board to implement changes off the field, whilst having the safety net of the trust donations. This model of ownership seems the one that many want, a strong trust complimenting a strong board of investors. However, there is no guarantee this would work, my recollection is that within a matter a months of our promotion we soon reverted back to the petty squabbles and resignations that are symptomatic of our club. This left us in the relegation zone and threatened with a swift return to the conference south.
The Scadding era yielded yet more resignations and meant both businessmen and the trust understandably took their eye off the ball but the the Trust were once again revived after Les Scadding cut the purse strings. So here we again, a cup run seemingly not yielding the profit some expected and a minority calling for investors as the solution, despite the evidence proving otherwise.
My view is that In the last twenty years we have had over 25 directors all experiencing the same challenges, all bemoaning lack of funds and unless we all work together and cease the cyclical abuse, squabbling and incessant petty criticism we will head back to the conference no matter what the ownership model is.