Fans and board make their peace (From Redditch Advertiser)

Fans and board make their peace

11:00am Wednesday 3rd February 2010

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REPRESENTATIVES of a breakaway group who considered setting up a supporters trust for Redditch United have met with the club officials to discuss ways of promoting the club.

The two sides came together after an impasse of well over a year during which some members of the group have boycotted games at the Valley.

The truce came about as only 174 attended the last home game against Eastwood Town, and Redditch were the subject of a winding up order from former chairman Neil Pagett recently.

Amongst the resolutions to come out of the meeting with chairman Ken Rae and general manager Steve Shannon was to investigate ways of increasing match day attendance, building links with town businesses and the community, and improving the information flow so people can learn more about what the club is doing.

Supporters group spokesman Andy Mitchell, who chaired the breakaway meeting in November 2008, said both sides had agreed at the meeting that a lot of time had passed and it was time for things to move forward.

He said: “Another thing that came out of the meeting is that this season is very much one of the club getting through and managing the financial situation as best they can.

“The club recognise that dealing with current liabilities has took precedence over long term plans, something they need help with, and the supporters club will be helping set up and implement initiatives to boost gates and bring revenue into the club whilst remaining an independent entity.

“This is something both sides agreed was for the best and although we are at an early stage, the supporters club are slowly going to get more involved over the next few months.”

On the field, it was a busy week at Redditch, with Jerry Gill leaving for Weymouth and midfielder Jamie Sheldon for NK Interblock of Slovenia.

But Redditch put the problems of losing players behind them as they swept away bottom side Vauxhall Motors 5-0, with youth team prospect Dan Carter scoring on his full debut as well as Joszef Jakab getting a hat-trick. and Liam Francis the other (see full report in the Redditch United section).

It came as a welcome relief for Redditch, who had suffered three consecutive defeats and Gary Whild was pleased with the performance of his team, particularly Carter.

He said: “ Dan has a fantastic attitude and is prepared to work hard at his game to make the step up to Conference North football. He was a credit to himself at Vauxhall and showed that at 18 he can make the step up, which is what we need players to do at Redditch.

“Jamie leaving for a professional club has shown yet again we we can bring in good players and help develop them into better players, capable of playing at a much higher level and that applies to a lot of the youngsters at the club.

Redditch now face two vital home games as they look to pull away from the lower reaches of Blue Square North.

They are at home to 19th placed Hyde United on Saturday (3PM) and then 12th placed Northwich Victoria next Tuesday (7.45pm).

Whild said: “Hyde are in the drop zone and Northwich just above us on points so it should be a really good opportunity for us to pick up some points.

“If we can keep playing like we did at Vauxhall Motors during our home games then hopefully we can also get a few more through the gates.

“At the moment we could do with the people of the town to come out and support the team in numbers.”

Carl Heggs and Thomas Birch missed the Vauxhall game with illness but are likely to be back for Saturday and Tuesday.

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