Histon, whose fans have revelled in singing “not bad for a village team” after notable victories, including a five one win over nearby Cambridge United and beating Leeds United in the FA Cup, have done well to reach this level on their limited resources. At one point, it looked as though they could have made the play offs for promotion to the Football League.
Whilst I’m not suggesting this is the case with Histon, many ambitious non league clubs have had serious financial problems, often when the main shareholder or owner has withdrawn support or their main business venture has failed. Punishment is harsh down here, as it should be in the Premiership and Football League. Clubs face several demotions after liquidation and many relegation issues have been settled by points deductions. All the years of hard work that volunteers have put in over previous years is then wiped out by a profiteer or land developer with another agenda.
I know our own Chairman has his detractors, but even the fiercest wouldn’t suggest he isn’t a fan or that he doesn’t have the Club’s best interests at heart. I’m personally thankful I don’t have any doubts on that front. Having also met Mike Parker, I’m happy to say that we have two good backers who continue to financially support the club. I’ve heard fans talking about other potential investors, but that is all it is, talk.
Of course, if supporters feel that they don’t have enough say in the way that their club is run, they could always do something else. When the Histon chairman was talking about people doing things for their club out of love, I doubt he was referring just to season ticket renewals. That isn’t to detract from fans putting their money up front. However, GTST would like to have more input into the way GTFC is run but continue to be stymied by supporter apathy. Most of the Board don’t even live locally. We’ve supported the Youth set up for a number of years and this has paid dividends with silverware in the last two seasons. Given the withdrawal of Football League funding for this, should we not regain our status soon, it would be helpful to have more members to strengthen our support.
We are fortunate that John and Mike intend to maintain our set up but directing funds to this will lessen funds for first team building. For the price of a half pint a month, you could become a Trust member. Given the visible thirst of our fans on away trips, it would be a relatively small proportion of overall intake to give up! With some enthusiasm, you can join the Board. We are desperate for assistance. However, please feel free to carp (sorry about the fishy pun) but bear in mind you’ve always had the opportunity to have a bigger say and get involved in the Club in a way that isn’t just a financial transaction.
The last two home games have been disappointing. We did enough to win the York match but only got going against Hayes and Yeading with the game already looking lost. However, having seen a lot of games at this standard, I wasn’t going to take anything for granted. Many of our opponents won’t have our resources but will make up for that with determination and commitment along with no little skill. If a bigger proportion of our fan base could become more active as they have had to be at smaller clubs, GTFC could only benefit.
Again, it comes down to perceived circumstances. We haven’t had to fight our chairman to stop him from selling the ground from beneath us as they had to do at Wrexham. The goings on at Mansfield have beggared belief (incidentally, they have had to finish with their youth team). We haven’t had to do bucket collections either, which spring to mind at Brentford and Bury, to name but a few. Weymouth were a top non league side (with high attendances) who lurch from relegation to relegation and sit at the bottom of their Step 3 league with a minus ten points deduction. It’s just as well we don’t appear to have a crisis off the field. We do have some blessings to count.
