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This is a repeat of a posting made to WISA chat by Kris Stewart
of WISA, outlining the details of a meeting with the club in December
2000.
On Saturday December 2, before the West Brom game at Selhurst, Peter
Bowles (WISA Club Liaison Officer) and I were invited to a Vice
Presidents' meeting which was due to be attended by David Barnard
(WFC Chief Executive) and one of the WFC owners. In the event, it
was Charles Koppel, Deputy Chairman of WFC and a significant shareholder
in WFC, who attended with David Barnard.
The following points are a summary of the views expressed by David
Barnard and Charles Koppel, on behalf of the club.
David Barnard started by giving the meeting his view of how the
club had come to the position it is currently in - this was very
similar to that given by him to the WISA General Committee meeting
of Thursday November 23 (see minutes elsewhere on the site).
Charles Koppel then explained the owners' current intentions. He
said that they are following a three-year plan, devised when Terry
Burton was confirmed in his position in the summer. They believe
that Terry is the right man for the job and are committed to him
as manager for the duration of the three-year plan.
The goal of the plan is to support Terry in building the right team
to achieve promotion to the Premiership, to maintain that status
and to challenge for honours. Promotion this season would be an
unexpected bonus.
A necessary part of this plan is to place WFC on a firm financial
footing. Currently WFC is a First Division club, receiving First
Division income (aside from the Sky "parachute" payments), but with
Premiership costs. This is not acceptable to the owners of WFC.
Although the club must be put on a sound financial footing, the
owners have not given Terry a list of players who must be sold to
achieve that.
Another important part of the plan is the building of a new training
facility on Prince George's Playing Fields in Raynes Park. The owners
purchased this land shortly after Sam Hammam sold his remaining
shareholding in WFC. The club has recently submitted a planning
framework document, outlining its intentions, to Merton Council.
The local residents have raised a number of objections to the building
of any kind of facility on the land, and there will be an inquiry
in May 2001. WFC cannot begin any building works until the outcome
of this inquiry is known.
The clubs which currently play at PGPF have been given permission
by WFC to continue playing there for the remainder of this season.
WFC are now conducting training sessions at top-quality facilities
at the Bank of England training ground in Roehampton.
The lease agreement on Selhurst Park has five years to run. The
owners expect to see out the term of the lease, although there is
a clause allowing WFC to leave sooner on payment of a fee.
The owners are aware of the importance of WFC's having its own ground.
There are many, well-known difficulties associated with finding
a suitable site. A new ground will take three years to build once
the site is identified and purchased. Finding an acceptable site
will get progressively more difficult as time goes on.
The owners realise that their communication with the fans has not
been as good as it should be. They intend to use formal and informal
channels, including the match programme, to correct this.
On behalf of WISA, I asked Charles Koppel about the situation which
arose earlier in the season regarding the proposed transfer of Richard
Dunne. Dunne appeared ready to sign for WFC, when according to reports,
Bjorn Rune Gjelsten vetoed the deal because of the level of wages
wanted by Dunne, which Dunne believed he had agreed with WFC.
Charles Koppel stated that the problem which was revealed by the
Dunne situation was one of communication between Norway and London.
Koppel, Gjelsten and Rokke take full responsibility for the breakdown
in communications and they have taken measures to ensure it doesn't
happen again.
I further suggested to Charles Koppel that, when rumours surface
about WFC being linked with a new ground in, for example, Milton
Keynes, what WISA would like is for a club spokesperson to state
publicly that such a move will not happen.
Koppel replied that the club would not make such a statement. He
wanted to emphasise that the owners want WFC to be located in Merton.
Should it prove impossible to find a suitable site in Merton, then
the owners want WFC to be based as close as possible to Merton.
Koppel then asked the question, should somewhere such as Milton
Keynes prove to be the nearest possible location to build a new
ground, what should the club do? This was a rhetorical question.
I did however answer, by saying that any club based in Milton Keynes
would simply not be WFC. WISA would campaign vigoorously against
any such plan, but should the club complete such a move, I would
wish them luck with their business venture and do what I could to
build a new Wimbledon Football Club, playing in Merton, in whichever
lowly league would be appropriate.
Koppel said that he understood this, but that we should also understand
their position, as owners of the club.
Due to a shortage of time, the meeting ended there.
Following the meeting, David Barnard informed us that, following
Peter's letter to the club complaining of discriminatory drinks
pricing at Selhurst, from the Bolton game, all bar prices will be
the same for Crystal Palace and for Wimbledon "home" games.
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