Slough Borough Council Motion 20 July 2004

[P Janik (personally)]

2. Motion ( – Slough Town Football Club

 

[color:"blue"]This Council re-affirms its commitment to our town’s football club and its proud 115 year history.[/color]

 

-> [color:"blue"]The Council acknowledges:

 

(a) the supporters enthusiasm for their club's future;[/color] and

 

( the club has been in financial difficulties on several occasions in the past and has received monies from this authority to enable the payment of its then liabilities; and

 

© a return to Wexham Park stadium, if possible, would be a good solution to the 6 years of confused indecisiveness by the previous administration.

 

-> This Council regrets that the Labour Group did not express its commitment to Slough Town Football Club in any practical and effective way during the two decades when it controlled the Council.

 

-> This Council regrets that discussions were held in secret, no comprehensive records of discussions were maintained, contradictory promises were made to different organisations and so-called “agreements” were never submitted to the Council for open discussion and consideration.

 

-> This Council regrets that suggestions to find a permanent home for Slough Town Football Club were arbitrarily rejected without any analysis or consideration because they originated from Opposition Councillors.

 

-> [color:"blue"]Notwithstanding these past failings by the Labour Group this Council resolves to meet representatives of Slough Town Football Club to discuss the problem openly with a view to reaching a practical solution.[/color]

 

[RebelsRUs]

Some good bits. Some OK bits.

 

Shame there's the usual "any excuse to bash Labour" nonsense yet again.

 

Change the record can't you? It's got very boring already

 

 

[Burnham Lad]

Councillor Janik,

 

Thank you for sharing this motion with us.

 

However, we recognise that the fun for politicians comes from hacking pieces off the opposition but we fear this may detract from the actual solution to the problem and lead to polarising views and compromising support which all parties seem to be saying they wish to give..

 

May I suggest an amended wording for the motion which hopefully will encourage all parties to seek a consensus to arrive at an agreement which will allow everyone involved to ensure they suffer no loss of face.

 

We, the fans, genuinely wish to be good citizens and we have to work with whoever is in control of local government.

 

2. Motion ( Slough Town Football Club

 

This Council re-affirms its commitment to our town’s football club and its proud 115 year history.

 

-> The Council acknowledging the supporters enthusiasm for their club's future; and that the club has received financial support from this authority in the past, resolves to meet representatives of Slough Town Football Club and the Slough Town Supporters Trust to discuss the problem openly and will work with every endeavour to reach a practical solution which will:

 

a)enable the club to succeed and develop on the field of play;

b)develop a role in the community in supporting youth football;

c)secure a ground of sufficient capacity with security of tenure and which will permit the Club to earn and raise money to support football activities, to avoid the need for such financial support in the future.

 

 

 

[Roger Rebel]

Nice one Andrew i second that Motion.

[BFR]

Perhaps it would be useful to see what the original motion was before Cllr Janik made his amendments and Cllr Stokes added an addendum.

 

It its original form the motion read

 

"This town re-affirms its commitment t our town's football club and its proud 155 year history.

Furthermore, this council resolves to honour its historic obligation to ensire that a football club with a status commensurate with the size of the town, continues to bear the proud badge of SLough Town Football Club."

 

Essentially, the new administration chose to hang the club out to dry and make sure that a motion was passed that admonished them of any blame for killing off the football club. It is an absolute cheek.

[P Janik (personally)]

Andrew your proposed motion would, I think, have had a good chance of being accepted at the council meeting this week.

 

Its a great pity you didn't give it to Cllr Rob Anderson, who has been so closely associated with the club, to propose at the council meeting.

 

I'll forward a copy of your motion to Richard Stokes.

 

Paul.

[Barry Scott]

but will it be enough to convince Deaner to stick around (I hope so)

[Burnham Lad]

Councillor Janik,

 

Unfortunately I, like many other bemused fans of the club, was unable to attend the meeting called at short notice on Monday, and certainly would not have been in a position to know what motions were to be proposed at the council's meeting on Tuesday. If so, we would have been only too pleased to have an opportunity to assist in the preparation of a motion, which we hope would have had cross-party support, rather than be divisive, for example, my version of the motion proposed by yourself and seconded by Councillor Anderson?

 

You do not say, but presumably the motion was passed in it's form which you posted? But you also said you would pass a copy of my version to Councillor Stokes, so would it's sentiments have a chance of going forward to be the basis of the meeting?

 

From the point of view of "the Club" and here I mean the general body of Officials, players, fans in general and the Trust, we would like to see a real solution achieved which will benefit the community of Slough. We have a considerable amount of support in the Town and around. (Although the match attendance averages at around 400 at the moment at a ground in another Borough, the number of people who actually attend any match is much larger, those who support success such as the 1000 plus attendances at cup games plus those who follow in the press and on the internet. This latter group includes many of the older generation of Slough people - it surprised me to find some amazing people (of both sexes)in their eighties and nineties who have supported Slough since before the second world war, who struggled to attend games at Wexham Park, but sadly find Stag Meadow a trip too far. They are much saddened by what has happened.)

 

So to me and many others, we see the need to win the support of all Parties on the Council, since we never know who may be the next party(ies) in power; the support of the community in general, because we believe that we have a part to play in offering pride and to share our facilities in developing youth football, as we used to do with the Football in the community scheme, and once, Youth teams; the support of benefactors such as Mr Deaner, who we desperately need to keep on board, as people like him are the great supporters of football at this and higher levels (look at Reading!); and the support of players, who at this level give inspiration to youngsters to train and develop their skills, to behave well and become the Lloyd Owusu's of the future. I cannot think of a better role model for young players than people such as the Captain of Slough Town, Steve Daly, who gives his all and yet behaves impeccably on the field.

 

You know that the supporters are behind the club - many give their time, talents and cash to support the club and have created the Supporters Trust, to put these things where their mouth is, so the club's fans are not just looking for public handouts.

 

Please can you as a council in total, recognise these things that we are one thread of the diversity of the people of Slough and their interests and enthusiasms, and support us, as you are the people who have the control, on behalf of the community as a whole, of the land and planning. Ultimately, I believe that the Club does not mind where the ground may be, be it land adjoining Kennedy Park, back to Wexham, or anywhere else as long as it meets the criteria I mentioned in the motion and is back in our own Borough. We want to be as self sufficient as we can be so we are not begging for handouts, to be able to develop the club and play our part in local community life giving Slough a club to be proud of and a force to be reckoned with on the field of play, in our national game.

 

So to you and all the other councillors, we just ask your goodwill and determination to help us solve this problem once and for all, and show us the will and the wit to find the solution. We have the problem now, despite what has happened in the past. The fans are more than prepared to play their part.

[evadne]

Impressive and heartfelt - well said, Andrew!

[Guest]

I may not live in Slough but I WORK in Slough developing the young adults of the area.

 

A club which engages the youth of Slough will only benifit the community as a whole and for the council to miss this oppertunity to partner an organisation who will have the facilities to engage young people is going against the concils own principles of developing oppertunities for all.

 

All we ask for is to be treated fairly and as outlined in Andrews post above to work WITH the concil - whatever their politics - to provide a tool for the promotion of Slough and its population - in this case the football club which takes the name of Slough all round the south east of England.

 

Any Council that kills off its towns football club would have to then justify that to the electorate!

 

[PJ-STFC]

Yes, thank you Andrew.

I think you accurately sum up how most of us supporters feel.

 

PJ <img src="/images/graemlins/chat.gif" alt="" />