News from the meeting

[Guest]

[color:"yellow"] [/color] [color:"blue"] [/color] <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> yes hi dave here. if the entended site it would be good for most people because only a short drive away and reacently the buses have been possibly improved and maybe between 1600 and 1800 more buses direct to slough and burnham through the trading esttate. the only problem i have is vilence and vandelisom in the britwel area . will we get are balls back with amount of trublesome kids around. maybe there could be new projects to keep the trublesome ones off the street. i for one feel this could take up to five years for details and two years to build so are time at windsor is preasurce. why can,t with the help of other people not all us get back into agreement and get back to are propper home wexham park even if its only tempary while this hue har continues.

 

dave programes

[Guest]

Not if they cut them off Dave.

[PJ-STFC]

Now this proposal is on the table, what will be the response of the Thorne's?

 

Is it not possible that they might be galvanised into making some new proposals?

If they are relying on Slough Town being part of their football stadium planning applications (funny way of showing it!) and STFC move to Britwell, where does that leave them?

 

 

 

As for everyone's pessimism - very understandable, and there are some big questions to be answered (like how long?, and who pays?). Nevertheless, if this site does have Council backing it might just possibly indicate a turning point in the club's history.

 

Time will tell!

PJ

[Ian]

Why is everyone being so negative?! Two months ago we stood outside the Town Hall for three consecutive Monday's and at the end of it saw 'our' land allocated to the Sikh School. We were left with no home, no groundshare arrangement, no chairman and financial backer (whatever you think of him) and no obvious site for a new stadium.

 

Now we have a groundshare arrangement in place and paid for (and despite the fact it's not preferable to be away from Wexham Park, Windsor have been fantastic towards us), and been allocated a piece of land by the Council that Deaner is seemingly happy with. Yes there is still a long way to go but what exactly were people expecting? Yes here's some land that already has planning permission passed and your new stadium will be fully funded by the Council and be open in time for Boxing Day?! Get real.

 

As Chris has pointed out there are some fundamental things in our favour with this site. It's within the control of Slough Borough Council not South Bucks and the stadium will be part of a wider project that improves the whole area. Yes, people will have objections but there'll be significantly less than if the stadium was being proposed in isolation and you might find that some people are actually in favour of this.

 

Everyone has commented about how we should have done something five years ago. Well we can't control the last five years but we can control the next five if we're prepared to stay positive and keep fighting throughout the various stages of what will follow.

 

[Burnham Lad]

Well, we obviously have the debate going! But Ian, I think that realism is the name of the game rather than calling it negative, because there are still some very high hurdles to be jumped and my concern is that we may be looking at the wrong timetable.

 

OK, it's taken five years to get to nothing more than a "possibility", but it is a possibility could very easily get blown our of the water once the residents are stirred up by the crowd that opposed the Burnham proposal. I know it is Slough Council's control, but it was not South Bucks District Council that stopped it, but Burnham FC in the face of the opposition they met, quite a bit of which came from people who will be affected by this plan. Don't believe people will be dancing in the streets - Slough will have far more people attending matches than Burnham ever would have!

 

Furthermore I think many Slough Fans were expecting far more than a mere "possibility" after the hype on the Council website and announcements to the Press.

 

There have been statements that Mr Deaner is happy. Was Mr Deaner actually at the meeting - I have not heard? If so, does the proposal have enough in there for him to start putting the finances together, if not where do we go from there? Don't forget how far FRUS was in the red according to their last accounts! There has been no announcement from him at all and the Official Website pronouncement is just a repeat of what the council said, so we have absolutely no idea if this is a "goer" as far as the owners of the club are concerned, whatsoever. (Nothing new there then!)

 

Also, as I said above, I believe the timetable will not be driven for STFC by the consultation,planning, approval, finance, build cycle - it will be driven by the financial and ground requirements of the League and the new set-up. If we ain't there at the start, we are nowhere, and we have just ONE year's ground share at Windsor actually paid for at the 11th hour..........out of three.

 

The cycle that the council is going to go through is a very long one - worthwhile for Slough and its residents, of that there is no doubt, but it may not be fast enough to save STFC!

 

It is vital to be realistic and to make sure that the club keeps going - we cannot just exist in the hope that it will be alright when this ground finally arrives, if ever.

 

You only have to look at the Maidenhead Town Centre plan which included moving the Magpies - one year it is in public consultation phase, the next it is junked, with derelict properties around the ground. To get anywhere, we need a new ground fast, probably by the end of the three year groundshare. Will this new ground be achieved by then? I doubt it!

 

We need a plan B, but heaven only knows where from! Let's hope that the new Supporters Trust has some ideas..... I hope I am wrong, but it is better to be prepared to face what will inevitably go wrong than to think this proposal makes everything OK

[Guest]

To answer your question was Martin Deaner at the meeting,YES he was and I know this because I was there as well.

[Burnham Lad]

Quote:

Anonymous said:
To answer your question was Martin Deaner at the meeting,YES he was and I know this because I was there as well.

Thanks, Anon, that's good news - I don't suppose you had chance to talk to him and ask him for his view of the proposal and if so, share it with us? If not, did he seem happy with it - it seems a lot less is available than he said he wanted at the other site. At the last supporters meeting he said that the development had to have the financial legs to support the club - it will be interesting to see if a hotel in that location will be able to do it!

[Ian]

I didn't mean to imply that this proposal makes everything OK and totally agree we need to be realistic. But surely it’s better to go into something believing it’s possible than destined to fail? Believe me Andrew I’m the most pessimistic person you’ll ever meet. In fact, one of my previous managers actually went as far as entering it into my HR file. Cow!

 

The good thing is that we know what to expect. People will voice their disapproval but we need to be there contradicting them and presenting the positives in the same way that the backers of the Sikh School did to be allocated the land adjoining Wexham Park despite our reasoned objections. In addition to the Sikh School there’s been other examples in the local papers to know that if the Council want to do something they will, irrespective of the objections. We need to be putting that pressure on the Council now to ensure that if they make a decision to jump one way it’s on our side.

 

With regards to Deaner I’ve gone beyond expecting any sort of normal communication channels from him but the fact that he’s still around is a positive indication of sorts. My biggest fear is his ability to see the whole thing through from a business perspective because his ability to manage people is non existent.

 

Yes it’s a long road but it’s one worth taking and if we are proactive now we can manage the outcome. Unfortunately, standing outside the Town Hall earlier this year was too late to change a course of action that was effectively predetermined. However, if we start similar efforts now then we have a chance of influencing the outcome of the next three or four years to our advantage.

 

I also completely agree we need a plan B but let’s not be solely dependent on the Trust to come up with something. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas so people can start thinking about things now rather than unjustifiably pointing the finger at the Trust in five years as happened recently with the STSA. Maybe this whole situation enables us to put more pressure on Mayfair over Wexham Park?

 

I agree with most of what you say but let’s at least be cautiously optimistic rather than resigned to defeat before we’ve started. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

 

[Guest]

First I'm sorry I forgot to log on.Yes I was at the meeting and Mr Deaner was there and was very happy with the proposed site the council has offered.I didn't get a chance to actually talk to him because there was a meeting arranged with the press.He gave a 10-15 minute talk of what his plans were and everything mentioned on the Slough Borough web site http://www.slough.gov.uk/News/britwell.asp was mentioned, there was no mention of any hotel or lodge. My opinion is that the council are 100% with Mr Deaner,Kennedy Park has been a major problem for the council with the many complaints from local residents about the state of the area and the things that happen on this piece of land.I believe the council see the plans that Mr Deaner has is a way forward, not only for the football club but also for the local community and after looking at the site myself,they desperately need this regeneration program.

[Burnham Lad]

Thanks Cougar - it is great to find somebody who was actually there. Sorry but more questions!!

 

Were you at the Meeting where he presented his plans at Wexham Park and if so, how did what he said at the Council meeting stack up against his original proposal? His intention as I'm sure you know was to build a series of practice grounds and facilities for visiting teams - I am not sure the Council would be too keen on him using that amount of land in a regeneration project, but I could be wrong.

 

My second question is that there is another thread running which Ian started on writing letters of support for the project - perhaps you could give some guidance from your observations as to what the council's real hot buttons are, and which the letters of support should mention? Might as well get them on our side if they are not already!

 

Thanks for responding and giving us some light - I am sure Mr Deaner will keep his usual close counsel!

 

[Guest]

No I was not at the previous meetings with the Council and Mr Deaner but I did see the plans he had done for Wexham Park.At the meeting No actually plans were put on the table, only a map showing the proposed site Kennedy Park.On the plans for Wexham Park it showed a number of training pitches which would be used by visiting clubs etc.In the meeting Mr Deaner mentioned that there would be training pitches which would be used by visiting clubs and also by the Community of Slough.How many pitches he didn't say.I feel these pitches will be part of a leisure complex.

 

From my observation at the meeting the council want to close this gap between Britwell, Northborough and the rest of Slough.Apart from helping to support the long term future of Slough Town FC, they want to give the the local community and the surrounding area something it really needs A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.The council are hot on the ideas of improved shopping facilities,leisure facilities,improved park areas and improved housing.Anything that the local people will benefit from.

[Guest]

After all these years of being let down has the time come when optimism takes over from pessimisn we wait with baited breath that all parties concerned have the interests of Slough Town Football Club at heart.

Sports facilities for the young people of Slough especialy Britwell need to be included in the plans.

UP THE REBELS

[PJ-STFC]

We do need to feel some optimism over these proposals as otherwise we cannot enthuse to other people that it is a good idea!

 

 

 

An interesting thought struck me earlier today...

It is possible that Slough Council 'need' something large to fill a big chunk of the space available at Kennnedy Park - something like a football stadium, perhaps? (Rather than just lots more housing).

If this is the case, it is just as possible that they have been considering this matter for some time and had already pencilled-in a ground-move for STFC. This would also explain why the Sikh school application had been progressed at such speed - allowing STFC to acquire the Wexham Park land would have scuppered their Kennedy Park plans.

 

OK so this may be an over-optimistic extrapolation of known facts - but I think it is plausible.

 

If we progress this thought a little further (that SBC 'need' the STFC stadium at Kennnedy Park) it is good grounds for optimism that the planning stages will be tackled as fast as possible, and that the Council will be 'on our side' throughout.

 

 

Another thought (2 in one posting - help!):

Traffic management is likely to be a major bugbear for the local residents. However, the Park is on the north side of the Trading Estate, so if it were possible to link the stadium car park directly to the Estate, traffic could be directed away from the residential roads and minimise any nuisance.

I don't know the northern edge of the Estate well - can anyone tell me whether the park is bordered by housing or factories?

 

 

[Also 'Slough Estates' as a possible shirt sponsor??]

 

PJ

[Guest]

there is only one way - long furlong drive

[Guest]

Chris,

 

What are the next steps in getting progress on this? Are any meetings planned and do we have some indication of timescale ?