Gravesham Council Leader's Comments

[smithyman]

I too wrote to Mr Burden and got back the standard letter. So I wrote back and thanked him for his response and got a further reply from him.

As follows:-

 

 

Thank you for your response which was welcomed. I have read your comments and share the desire for a new and improved leisure/sports stadium in our area which would be the example for Kent. My hopes for the area are probably larger than they should be but I want the best for Gravesham residents and am working towards this.

 

In due course, the master plan for the areas will be subject to public consultation, at which point I hope you will see a bright future not just for Gravesham but Gravesend and Northfleet Football Club.

 

On the issue of bad press reports this is a constant problem for us, the press print what they want as such I do not respond in these situations I just use the next opportunity to repeat the basic message that I only want the best for Gravesham and I leave it to the electors to decide.

 

John Burden

 

 

I wonder what size stadium he has in mind.

[Guest]

dunno, but I would hazard a guess at a stadium with about 25,000 blue seats for starters.

[smithyman]

That's what I wondered.

[Slartibartfast]

Quote:

dunno, but I would hazard a guess at a stadium with about 25,000 blue seats for starters.

Gillingham currently play in Medway ( pop. 250,000 ) and get 8,000 fans. How could they possibly move to Gravesham ( pop. 98,000 )and fill a 25,000 seat stadium?

Even allowing for the current expansion plans Gravesham will still be less than half the size of Medway.

[Guest]

Mate, Paul Scally is only interested about moving to Gravesham because of the Thames Gateway development and the money being poured into the regeneration of the area because of developments such as the international station at Ebbsfleet.

 

In short mate, I work within Kent County Council. I know the structure of the Council, who’s who, and have ‘friends’ within both strategic planning and at local council level. That’s all you need to know for now.

 

Don’t ask me to register. The fact that I haven’t already must tell you that I’m not in a position to do this and that’s not due to lack of technical know how.

 

A few years ago Kent County Council relocated its offices from Joynes House in Gravesend to 17 Kings Hill Avenue in West Malling. Why do you think this is? Just a change of scenery perhaps? No pal, Dartford and Gravesham have plans to go it alone from Kent County Council and become a unitary authority in much the same way that Medway has. Why would Dartford and Gravesham want to do this? I’ll tell you, the area’s going to change big-time. Like I hinted at before, Gravesend twenty years ago looks nothing like it does today, and it will change beyond recognition in another ten years time. Transport links in the area will be first class and the population will almost double.

 

Wait and see. Scally may or may not be receiving info from someone in the know, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this area is booming, and he wants a part of it.

 

Stop tying to kid yourselves that Gravesham has nothing for Scally because you couldn’t be more wrong. Gravesham will have everything and ambitious football club would want on its doorstep.

 

Forget about Gillingham having only 8,000 now trust me. I might irritate the [censored] out of you lot now, but I’m doing it because I care about my club. If you think I’m bad now, see what I’m like If I’m proved right.

[Graham S]

Quote:

Forget about my grammar for five minutes Graham, cos you’re going to need a lot more than your grammatical skills and a few emails to this numpty ... I ain’t saying threaten the fella, but a few emails, and then being fobbed of with some crap is a bit lame.

Yes. Agree with you, but I'm not suggesting we allow ourselves to be fobbed off. We have to be prepared to keep the pressure on over a very long haul, not just in a short burst now. I've already contacted other councillors, highlighting what appeared to be Mr Burden's ill-informed dangerous views & I know other people have contacted Chris Pond. OK, just emails again that can be "fobbed off" but better than doing nothing or being condescending about those that are doing something.

Quote:

And as for ‘be nice to him, cos he might be less mean to us’, turn it in eh? Were not going to win any support on a sympathy vote on this one.

Not a very fair translation of what I suggested if you read it properly. My point was that now we've made him express in writing what appears to be support for the club, we can use this to our advantage, even though we suspect his true intentions. If he finds himself quoted all the time as behind the concept of 'Fleet First' it's going to be all the harder for him to do a Judas on us, even though he is a politician. I fact, I believe it would be a good idea to contact The Reporter on this whole thing & see if they'll take up the issue of what the views of our local politicians are in the light of the GM article.

Quote:

Certain people wanna take a different approach.

If we just limit ourselves to emails we won't get anywhere, agreed. At the moment, we have to try & win the publicity war, so Johnny public is disabused of the notion that a big team in the Borough is a good thing. That's why having the Reporter onside now is such an advantage. People who make decisions do sit up & take notice of clear & widespread public opinion. They don't take notice of what they see as little groups with an irrelevant private agenda.

When things are more clear - remember this isn't even seen as newsworthy in the Medway Towns yet - then we really will have to be more obviously active. However, I think you'll find everybody is prepared to listen to anyone with good ideas for alternative approaches sooner rather than later (glad to see you're against issuing threats & such like.)

Perhaps the Club needs to organize a forum with this specifically on the agenda - or the Trust with Brian & other Club reps present. We have to work together & know that we are not actually doing things in little splinter groups which might undermine what has been done elsewhere.

Graham S

[Guest]

Quote:

I too wrote to Mr Burden and got back the standard letter. So I wrote back and thanked him for his response and got a further reply from him.

As follows:-

 

 

Thank you for your response which was welcomed. I have read your comments and share the desire for a new and improved leisure/sports stadium in our area which would be the example for Kent. My hopes for the area are probably larger than they should be but I want the best for Gravesham residents and am working towards this.

 

In due course, the master plan for the areas will be subject to public consultation, at which point I hope you will see a bright future not just for Gravesham but Gravesend and Northfleet Football Club.

 

On the issue of bad press reports this is a constant problem for us, the press print what they want as such I do not respond in these situations I just use the next opportunity to repeat the basic message that I only want the best for Gravesham and I leave it to the electors to decide.

 

John Burden

 

I got the same reply back to my 2nd email and have responded thus;

 

Dear Cllr Burden,

 

Thanks for your response, and I eagerly await the master plan for the area as it is only then that we can really ascertain what knock on effect that this will have on GNFC, and as you say the electors will also decide whom they think is best fit to represent Gravesham.

 

However, please bear in mind it will be football supporters that will make any new stadium work.

And if the result of the new stadium is that it requires a club from outside the area to make it viable, then it would be the death knell for all clubs involved.

Football fans detest franchised clubs with a passion ,and I truly hope that it doesn't come to that, as the 'Burden' stadium could end up being an very apt name for both Fleet and Gills fans.

 

regards,

[Guest]

I don’t want to be too critical of the club at this time Graham because they have a lot on their plate at the moment with Andy leaving, but sometimes I do think us supporters are very much isolated with what actually goes on.

 

You do speak some sense Graham, and apologies if I come across as being pedantic at times. Of course I condemn any threats towards anyone; it would do our campaign no good whatsoever.

 

The club cannot be relied upon to organise anything at the moment, so therefore any kind of meetings are going to have to be organised by ourselves.

 

Yes we must keep our campaign active on the emailing and letter writing front, but we must do more now to strengthen our position locally and get more local people on our side.

 

Forget the club running campaigns to attract new supporters because they are too busy at the moment. Please trust me, all the time that the Council and Mr Scally think that we are a small time club with only a thousand or so people in the town who care about us then they will see us as easy meat. Flyers must be given out, posters must be produced, and we must spread the name of GNFC as positively and as widely as possible throughout the town. What is a waste of time is moaning on these forums about how Gillingham only get 8,000 fans now, so how can they expect more when playing in Gravesham?

 

As I’ve said before Gillingham won’t fill a 25,000, but if they were to relocate, there support would dwarf our current support. We need to have a contingency plan in place if the worst does happen and they are playing in the same town and we need to increase our support to solidify our financial position.

[Graham S]

Mr Anonymous, re your last 2 postings:

 

Some interesting points. Clearly you do have some valuable input to provide.

 

3 things:

 

1. Unless the set up has been changed, registering does not mean you have to reveal your actual identity. I have another moniker which I have registerd & use when I want to express myself a little more forthrightly than would be appropriate for Graham S who is generally Captain Sensible (though the people in front of me during matches would disagree.) The trouble with just being anonymous is that people can't discriminate between one & another of these people sharing the same "name," which makes it difficult to enter into a meaningful exchange, unless it's really obvious as in this thread at the moment, where we don't have a string of different anonymous people chucking in their views.

 

2. It occured to me as I typed it that the Club will be very busy at the moment. However, if The Trust, as the supporters' official voice, did the organising I still feel we'd need Club representation at any meeting or forum. After all, Brian is in contact with these politicians on a regular basis. We could easily shoot ourselves in the foot if we went ahead without his having been involved in the consultation.

 

3. Your points on The Thames Gateway are spot on. As John Burden as good as admits, some people locally have gone way over the top in their excitement at what is on offer. At one point some of them were even talking of putting forward a new stadium as a venue for part of the bid for the 2012 games.

 

We can't let these people, for whom this is just an exciting diversion, ruin two football clubs which mean so much to a lot of people. Scally himself is a Millwall supporter who has said he wants to move onto "other projects" in a few years time. Because he has money he can play with the future of 2 football club & the hopes & dreams of all the people connected with them, in the same way that you or I might re-build a motorbike or plan & build a house extension. The councillors have had this apparently fabulous opportunity fall into their laps. We all know many of them are in the local politics game because it gives them a power trip. They have to be convinced that providing a home, in which a club with real roots in the community can grow to a level in keeping with the developments around it, is much more exciting than transporting in another one from outside, which will immediately become an ersatz creation, having been cut adrift from its own roots.

 

Graham S

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

Is it time for more direct action ?

 

How about a meet and demonstration in Gravesend prior to a home game, with a march to the ground to highlight our plight. In the very least it would get some publicity.

 

 

 

I take it I will be on my own then !

 

 

 

How about prior to the home game with Canvey, ( which will probably be our biggest gate out of the games that are left, and we may even get a few of them to join us as well.)

 

Bit of a demo outside some council building, a bit of disruption to traffic as the hordes march from there to the ground.

Should get us some publicity.

[chilled out entertainer]

lets smash up the renault garage, couldnt stop me parking if they were shut for repairs.

[Guest]

Please leave the Ford garage alone as thats where I park.

 

 

 

Up the Fleet -

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Quote:

lets smash up the renault garage, couldnt stop me parking if they were shut for repairs.

See............thats the French for you! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/argue.gif" alt="" />

[Harry J Allstars]

Lets not just smash it, lets burn it down. That'll get rid of Henrys Va Va Voom.

[chilled out entertainer]

eh bobby whats the french for i am a C***??

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