Scarborough Football Club

[Swissbloke]

FROM THE BBC - Click and help peeps, they helped us......

Link to petition
http://www.gopetition.com/online/10254.html

Link to the town council
http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/Default.a ... ontactForm



Boro will be extinct very soon unless the club sells its McCain Stadium ground for housing and builds a new ground on the outskirts of the town.

The plan is to sell the old stadium for about £4m and with the proceeds build a new one for £2m and use the remaining £2m to pay off all the debts and pay the bills.

The problem is that unless Scarborough Borough Council agrees to the proposal - and transfers the covenant that decrees the McCain Stadium site must be used for sporting purposes to the new stadium – the club will be liquidated.

Boro, who were relegated from the Football League in 1999, were chucked out of the Conference last season because of their financial problems and made to play in Conference North this season.

The Conference then added on a 10-point penalty and surprise, surprise, Boro find themselves bottom of that division and facing a drop into the UniBond Premier League next season.

That is if they survive that long.

Scarborough’s hardcore fans have responded to this crisis by using the internet to get support from around the nation.

If football is about community and the social benefits a club can bring to a town then hopefully the council will back the club and allow the ground move to take place.

The club’s fans have set-up an online petition to urge the council to support the ground move and and they’ve also formed a Trust with a view to taking over and running the club in the future.

A couple of mentions on national TV last week brought a rapid increase in the number of people signing the petition, many of them with no links whatsoever to Scarborough.

There were some great emotive postings on the Surfing Seadogs messageboard, such as this from a fan who watched Boro’s 2-1 win at Burscough in the FA Trophy on Saturday:

&quotGoing to Burscough today was odd because we had no idea whether it would be our last game ever or just a continuation of our long and proud history. Towards the end I was torn between wanting the game to end, so we’d win, and not wanting it to end ever! We can only hope and pray that things go right for us.&quot

I certainly hope things do go okay and the creditors who are circling around the club give the council the time it needs to make the right decision for the town of Scarborough.

In the meantime, I’d be grateful if fans out there from all clubs would consider signing the on-line petition.

[GodalmingYellow]

Good call Swiss

[Yorkie]

Thanks for this prompt. Living in York since 2002 (after 26 years in Headington), I've been hearing reports on the local BBC radio station - which covers Scarborough to Skipton - about the plight of Scarboro' FC without realising an online petition had been launched. I've now signed it. Supporters of all lower-league clubs whose survival has been threatened, including of course the Us and York City, ought to express their views about the value of such clubs to their communities.

Incidentally, looking forward to the final game of the season at 'KitKat Crescent', by when with luck Dag &amp Red will have run out of steam. I saw them win there last Saturday, thanks mainly to defensive lapses by York.

[A-Ro]

Hi Yorkie - I thought I hadn't seen you around for a while, I didn't realise it was 4 years though. We'll catch up for a beer at the York game, I'll be up there for the whole weekend so should manage to squeeze a pint in..

[Old Abingdonian]

Thanks for the link - I've signed. We would / have expected support in grim times.

[Yorkie]

The cabinet of Scarborough BC has today approved in principle the transfer of the covenant to the proposed new stadium (see http&#58//www&#46scarboroughfc&#46com/n ... ?news=2337 but reportedly 'remains unhappy about certain details'. The final decision rests with the full council on 8 January, so although the club has cleared today's hurdle they're not out of the woods yet (.... mixed metaphor - sorry.

The online petition gathered well over 12000 signatures, including quite a few from Oxon and many other exotic and/or far-flung locations, so may have had some influence.

Recent results have taken the club off the bottom of the Conf North table, but the 10-point penalty still leaves them a long way from safety.

[Yorkie]

The full council meeting has ratified the recommendation which enables the club to proceed with its plans - see http&#58//www&#46scarboroughfc&#46com/n ... ?news=2366. On the field, despite the 10-point penalty, the club is now 'only' 6 points off the lowest non-relegation place. But the other part of the punishment for financial irreglularities, exclusion from the transfer market, is still in force.

Meanwhile, it won't have escaped your notice that Scarboro's arch-rivals, York City, are rapidly reducing their goal difference and only four points behind the Us. After a disappointing afternoon on Saturday - only the second time I've managed to see the Us this season, and after Altrincham a similar experience - I almost began to wish I'd watched the entertainment at 'KitKat Crescent' instead. That final game of the season is starting to look threatening rather than an opportunity for a glorious celebration.

[GodalmingYellow]

The full council meeting has ratified the recommendation which enables the club to proceed with its plans - see http&#58//www&#46scarboroughfc&#46com/n ... ?news=2366. On the field, despite the 10-point penalty, the club is now 'only' 6 points off the lowest non-relegation place. But the other part of the punishment for financial irreglularities, exclusion from the transfer market, is still in force.

Meanwhile, it won't have escaped your notice that Scarboro's arch-rivals, York City, are rapidly reducing their goal difference and only four points behind the Us. After a disappointing afternoon on Saturday - only the second time I've managed to see the Us this season, and after Altrincham a similar experience - I almost began to wish I'd watched the entertainment at 'KitKat Crescent' instead. That final game of the season is starting to look threatening rather than an opportunity for a glorious celebration.

Good news about Scarborough.

I wouldn't be too worried about York, they are about to sell their leading goalscorer.

[Mally]

I wouldn't be too worried about York, they are about to sell their leading goalscorer.

I wish we were!

[Baboo]

I wouldn't be too worried about York, they are about to sell their leading goalscorer.

I wish we were!

Yes, you've really warmed to our penalty expert.