I have followed Altrincham FC for sixty years but regrettably for the last forty, I have lived 200 miles away and thus my support has been from afar. Does this make me a ‘real’ supporter…..probably not ….but am I committed to the club doing well…..absolutely! This is the motivation behind this missive which is intended to be constructive, although it may be perceived, in all quarters as critical and thus I have my tin hat ready. I just hope the forum does allow free speech, as it says it does.
From afar there appears to be three elements to the situation. Firstly, the Board, as represented by Graham Rowley; secondly a vociferous group of say 100-200 supporters as depicted on this website and thirdly the silent majority of supporters, let’s say 500-600 who attend matches and a lot more that do not.
Let us examine these groups. The Board has been divided and has certainly made mistakes in their managerial appointments but has also had some good successes. The club still exists and is on a good financial footing and one has to be perverse to criticise the Community Hall project, when one sees the financial figures. These people are voluntary and spend considerable time and effort on behalf of the Club and although they are far from ideal it is counter- productive for them to be the butt of a barrage of criticism, often from those that do very little for the club in comparison.
The vociferous 100-200 regard themselves as true supporters and some of them will be but equally some may not. They pay their entry fee and they have the right to have their say but it was quite revealing that the discussion on the Strategic Review on this website, soon deteriorated into a commentary on keeping entry fees to a minimum, so that there would be more beer money. Is this the sentiment of a ‘real supporter’? Equally what voluntary effort do many of these ‘supporters’ put into the club apart from their entry fees and their vociferous comments. Those that do are exempt from my comments but I suspect that a lot of those who are most vociferous do little or nothing on a voluntary basis but nevertheless carp on at those that do spend their own time and efforts on behalf of the club. Are you one of those and do you regard yourself as a ‘real‘ supporter?
However they and every other form of supporter, including the ‘silent’ majority’, do have genuine grievances at the way the football side of the club has been allowed to slip, to a totally unacceptable level. So what should be done?
1) The Board should immediately stop trying to appease the ‘vociferous’ 100-200 supporters, as it is an impossible task at this club, as it is at every club in the land. There is no problem in supporters expressing their views and equally if they threaten not to support the club in the future, then so be it, it is their decision. The club will not succeed or fail due to this group and efforts to appease them are a waste of time and effort and could lead to wrong decisions being made. A typical WRONG decision to achieve ‘ apparent’ appeasement would be to appoint Graham Heathcote to the Board. He is not a Board member and is best suited to help the club in his present role and that was an astute piece of management by Matt Doughty. The Board has to have the courage to do what is right for the Club as a whole and for the vast majority of the supporters, (the silent majority ) and not do tactical first aid in the mistaken view that it would appease the vociferous minority. So my message to the Board is to have the courage of your convictions rather than be swayed by who shouts loudest.
2) The Board should critically look at itself and admit it does need to make some changes, purely because things are not working as they should. Firstly, are there any viable candidates, apart from Graham Rowley, for the Chairman role? If there are not or if Graham refuses to take a lesser role, then this ceases to be something that can be immediately addressed. If there is a viable candidate then in the best interests of the club, Graham should show his ’class’ by stepping down to be vice chairman as he is clearly been ‘flawed’ with the on field performances of the last two seasons. However the club cannot afford to lose his commitment or his knowledge and this would be a worse outcome than him staying as Chairman. He has done more for the Club than anyone else I can imagine and his reward has been to be sniped at rather than applauded. However, if at all possible a new ‘era’ is needed to galvanise the club, so that the past can be secondary to the future. Come on Graham stay and be counted but be prepared to move over if there is a better solution.
3) The Board has to make the first team the major priority and promotion next year is a necessity. We need a management team that is ‘Altrincham’ just as the John King and the Graham Heathcote appointments were at the time. Deciding if the present triumvirate have the abilities to galvanise the dressing room and succeed, is the first task. If they have not, are there any others that have ‘Alty’ in their blood stream with better qualifications? As to the playing budget, the Board need to take a measurable risk in ensuring any management team have the resources and if need be they need to appeal to the silent majority for funding, by being transparent about the financial realities facing the club and the choices to be made.
My tin hat is now on, as I have tried to take a dispassionate view of what is best for Altrincham FC and this does require some change. There will always be differing views in football clubs and rifts will never be completely healed, although inevitably the best way to achieve this will be by positive results on the field and some level headed decision of it.
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Strategic Review Meeting: Coverage
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