Council Question

[Ted]

I'd like to thank Jeremy for coming on here and putting his viewpoint. He certainly has a track record that makes him worth listening to, but that said, I cannot agree with him.

 

I suspect that Slough's local politics are very different to that of Dartford--for a variety of reasons which I won't bore you with, but to pick you up on a number of points:

 

By standing in the last elections the trust kept the issue fully in the public eye at a time when many local politicians would have been happy to see it die.

 

Some Independants responded to the move by saying that they supported the moves to get the club back to the borough.

 

Various local politicians have in the past made a big issue of the club's problems. The first announcement by the current administration was of how important it was for them to cancel the feasibility study that was looking at one possible solution to the club's plight, which they considered to be unimportant. It was not the trust who made the issue political, rather the ruling administration who decided to cancel, out of what many fans see as spite, all the outgoing administrations plans.

 

 

Slough was one of a very few towns in the country where a non Labour administration lost seats--could this have been down to the trust putting up candidates?

 

At the count, several Conservatives commented that we were doing the right thing by using the political route.

 

The club has in the past invited councillors to attend matches, most notably the Walsall cup tie. Only opposition councillors attended.

 

2 Chritmasses ago the club sent out free tickets for all councillors to give to less well off residents. One of the more outspoken anti football councillors sent them back with an abusive letter.

 

You are probably right that we should try again, and again and again to get all councillors onside, but until that happens I think the trust is doing the right thing by putting up candidates.

[Guest]

Hello Roger.

 

Ah. I appear to have gone from hero to zero in a week and a half!! lol

 

No. I've not been told or requested by a single person to come on the website or respond to your forum. In fact I have never knowingly met or spoken to a single Conservative councillor from your council. I live many miles from Slough and, to be brutally honest, have little interest in your local politics or its outcomes. You have a right to tell me not to involve myself in Slough's affairs but please remember it was a Slough Blogger who contacted us to ask about how we got the stadium project underway and I simply told him. My encouragements, which were offered in the spirit of football, were then disappointingly used in a Council debate to make some rather empty political point. Now, I'm a fan of empty political points ( I probably make a few myself) but it's a mistake to confuse them with progress!

 

My frustration is genuine because none of this takes your club any further forward and neither (and it's only my opinion!) does wading into the political melee yourselves. I'm a Politician. Dartford Football Club run football. I don't ask to play at Left Back and they don't ask to run a budget meeting.

 

But together, and in a spirit of partnership, we are rebuilding Dartford Football as a force for good in the community. It's about Trust. Goodwill. Tolerance.

 

A football club is about the community - the WHOLE community. That means people who vote Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and every other possible combination (and people who don't vote at all).

 

As an outsider, my radar just picked up more than a slight dose of political entryism in the debates and I was a bit disappointed to have my words - offered freely to the Slough Blogger as one football enthusiast to another - twisted to score a point or two on a wet Wednesday night in a Council Chamber. All it has done, is narrowed the list of people who might have been able to offer advice and help by one. I just did a historical search for the words 'Conservative' and 'Labour' on the Dartford FC Forum. Of the just NINE references since January 2005, only THREE had a political context and only ONE made a point about party politics - and a fairly humourous and good-natured one at that.

 

It's only a personal view, but I think that when a local team's football forum finds itself with a thread on "election tactics". it's probably a time to stop and take stock of just how you are gonna win the friends you need to bring Slough home.

 

Anyway, I think I had better butt out of your forum now. It's YOUR town and club. I'm sure I'll pop back to read it (I am sadly addicted to Football forums) and I wish you the very best of luck.

 

Thanks for the nice things you said a fortnight ago and if you are ever down Dartford way do pop in to see Princes Park. You're all very welcome.

 

But no, to answer your question Roger, no-one asked me to post on the Forum.

 

J

[Ted]

Quote:

Anonymous said:

A football club is about the community - the WHOLE community. That means people who vote Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and every other possible combination (and people who don't vote at all).

And as one of our candidates in the last election said



"And personally i would put my todger between two floury baps and shout 'dinner time fido' at a rabid alsation before going to 'bed' with labour."

[brighton_rebel]

I am that blogger that first contacted Dartford fans so I could write an article that would show Slough supporters what an amazing job Dartford council were doing supporting their club. I got that great reply from the leader of the council and so far it has led to two articles and an editorial in the Slough Observer helping to keep the issue of our homelessness in the news.

But i disagree with Jeremy Kite about standing in the elections. I think under the current administration it is the right thing to do, and as Ted points out has led to some councillors now lending support. The election campaign the Trust fought was not party political and the leaflet they put out was excellent.

Putting pressure thru the ballot box isn't new - as i've mentioned before both Brentford and Charlton fans did it, with one Brentford fan even getting elected. Charlton are back at the Valley and Brentford recently received a big loan and lots of support from their council. (go to my blog and type in Brentford and you can read the article again).

Unfortunately in Slough's case, I feel that unless their is a change in leadership then nothing will happen. But i think individually supporters should contact their councillors and ask them their position to keep up the pressure, especially with next Mays elections approaching.