wexham park

[the optimist]

has anyone visited the old stadium recently , some strange goings on

pitch has been cut , weeds been gotten rid off

basically preparing the old ground for football again

could it be a back up if arbour vale falls thru

[chris sliski]

why and what for ? is my question ...

[RodB]

Sure you're not just looking at an old version of Google Earth?

[Bernie Gogan]

Sure you're not just looking at an old version of Google Earth?

If you owned the freehold and knew you couldn't get planning perm out of S Bucks council, what would you do? Might as well tart it up a bit in the hope that some outfit might want to use the site. Who'd want to go to that old run down tip whether for football or not? Anyway did I here there was a problem with Mayfair in these tough economic times?

[the optimist]

Sure you're not just looking at an old version of Google Earth?

 

 

take a look for yourself

[Tom]

Apparently a piece in the Observer about this, so must be something up.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

Anyone seen the Observer today? What is the story behind this?

[Ian]

It's a bit of a nothing story really. A load of quotes from Martin Blake mainly. There's supposedly £10,000 been spent on WP so far and at least one professional club has expressed an interest in using it for their academy. There's also other groups interested but "it's all top secret but once the renovation is complete all will be revealed".

 

It's going to take a big six figure sum to get the place even habitable I would guess. Steve Easterbrook is quoted as saying we're not interested as we already have another site. I'm pleased we've made our position very clear straight away. We want Orchard Park, not Wexham Park.

[3spirit]

Seems a bit fishy that Byron Thorne has waited all this time to do anything with Wexham Park and then chooses to 'tart up' the ground when Steve Easterbrook and co are about to commence with the new stadium.Perhaps he's going to be a Thorne by name and a thorn by nature !

Edited August 12, 2011 by 3spirit

[Bernie Gogan]

Must say it looks dodgy, why indeed leave it to rot to pieces for 8 years then spend a whole bunch of money to bring it back up to scratch? Apparently it's OK to waste money in that way but not to waste money supporting the football club that you own because you've had a row with the council.

[Mr Rebel]

seems to me that they are doing it purely to take some attention away from our new ground and the facilities it would provide to the community

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

Not to mention putting any person/group that wishes to oppose the new development in a position to deploy the argument that it is not needed any more because there is already a perfectly usable football ground available in the town.

[Tom]

Heres a snippet of the article, which is much larger in the paper itself.

 

http://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2011/08/13/53606-footballs-coming-home-/

[Irishadrian]

KGB I think youve hit the nail on the head. Restored to its former condition it would be difficult for us to credibly claim that it wasnt suitable for our use since for many years it was!.

[brighton_rebel]

It does all seem very fishy. Why do it now? Just how much would it cost to get it up and running again? I thought Steve Easterbrook was very diplomatic with his quote and be interested to see what Rob Anderson reckons.

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

IF there is a problem, you have to depend upon the council holding its nerve. The existence of another serviceable ground is an issue for us in Horsham but some sort of facility over which it has primary control is essential for the longer term sustainability of our sort of football club. While we have just undertaken a massive retrenchment, we still have the rent from the sports/social club we own to provide baseline support for our footballing activities. When Slough rented at the Dolphin their activities were, I assume, at least in part underpinned by revenues from the Supporters' Club facilities at the Grapes and, latterly, adjacent to the ground itself. Without some form of external funding-usually the proverbial "sugar daddy" or "money man"-it is virtually impossible to make any real progress at this level when playing on someone else's ground.

[grandad]

What the public at large don't remember, or are ignorant of anyway, is that we do not own that ground. We would still be at the whims of an outside landlord, who in the past showed how much he/they cared! Not up a lot, but on saturday heard lots of comments about this article, most on the lines of be good to see Slough back at their home again soon! Was not our home at the end and is not now - there is a big pr issue here that needs addressing. It is assumed that once Wexham Park is ok again, it becomes ours!

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

Absolutely, Grandad. Your comments about the now freeholders of Wexham Park are spot on. Essential to avoid potentially disastrous distractions and proceed with the current proposals, to the timescale outlined in the Chairman's notes on Saturday.

[3spirit]

Alan Thorne,Byron's father cared about Slough Town FC and was the instigator/backer to get us in the Conference for the 2nd time until he died.Unfortunately for the club and us, supporters, Byron Thorne wasn't interested in running a football club and with him and that Council twit, Geoff Cutting,offering no help whatsoever, we were sold down the river until Martyn Deaner stepped in.

Whatever you think of Martyn Deaner,he has to be thanked for keeping Slough Town FC going for a number of years with little support from anyone,apart from Roy Merryweather/commitee and the fans,of course.

This doing up of the Wexham Park Stadium stinks and the timing of it sucks.There seems to be an underhanded motive going on.

Let's hope justice will prevail and we get the new stadium under the assured guidance of Steve Easterbrook.

Talk about flies in ointments,Slough FC never seem to get straight forward solutions!

[Bernie Gogan]

One thing we should never forget is that Wexham Park is in South Bucks NOT Slough Borough and that Slough Council sold the freehold to Mr. Thorne's organisation after we'd gone to Windsor.

 

I can't see how Wexham Park can rival our new stadium given the massive cost to return it to public use, the advanced nature of our plans and the council's vow to return us to the borough (not S. Bucks) and to have a community sports facility under their auspices.

 

Hopefully Mr. Thorne will loose interest in his dead duck facility refurb like he did with the football club.