There seems little doubt if we can pull this off it will be the greatest act of escapology the game has seen, at least as far back as most of us can remember. To have only five points in Christmas week and still be in with a fighting chance of beating the drop is nothing short of miraculous. However it's not really down to a miracle that we are where we are but to sheer hard work and some very shrewd signings by Paul Simpson. A squad that looked totally out of its depth and rock-bottom on confidence has been transformed by nothing more than a bit of delicate pruning by the boss. Alan Titchmarsh would have been proud of what he's achieved. Finances have been tight but the careful acquisitions of Kevin Gray, Tom Cowan, Andy Preece, Paul Arnison and Peter Duffield have made a world of difference. With Craig Farrell returning to top form with five goals in 7 games it's been like having a new player around. With players like that firing on all cylinders, it's hard to believe we might still be running out in the Conference next season. At least we'd have a great chance of a quick return, but for the moment all thoughts must be turned to achieving 22nd position. So it is with some disappointment to note that the survival bid has not been making the headlines this week, but the goings-on behind the scenes between CCUIST, Alan Steel and John Courtenay. The players need to remain focused on maintaining their form, and I suspect that this little spat will not affect them at all. However the club do not need the sort of newspaper stories that have been circulating in the last fortnight. As someone who sits on the CCUIST board and knows Alan well, I have to say that he has put in a fantastic amount of time and effort over the last three years on behalf of the fans and the club and his commitment in this regard is beyond question. However there has always been another side to Alan that has tended to come out on occasion and he can be someone who is difficult to deal with when he wants his own way. In this instance, Alan had put together a proposal that CCUIST would give up their option to buying the second 20% tranche of shares in the holding company, with these shares going on general sale and the voting rights remaining with the Trust. It appeared that Alan and John Courtenay had agreed on this proposal and the CCUIST Board were all set to vote on whether to recommend it to their members but somewhere along the line there was a misunderstanding and what Alan believed to be unconditional voting rights had been interpreted by John as conditional, i.e. the buyers of the shares had the rights but could give them to CCUIST if they so wished. As far as I'm aware Alan just wouldn't accept this and decided to resign on the spot. This left CCUIST in a difficult position as we then had to make a rapid decision to accept the amended proposal without Alan around to put his point of view. However I am 100% confident the right decision has been reached and the members will almost certainly back it. This will allow several hundred thousand pounds worth of money to come into the club who need it quite badly right now. John Courtenay has funded the club out of his back pocket for nearly two years and that simply can't go on and it won't. There are several large investors out there ready to pump in £20,000 each and regardless of what Alan might claim, they'll do it whether CCUIST have the voting rights or not. If the vote on April 18 goes against accepting the CCUIST Board's recommendation, then John will simply put 20% of his own shareholding up for sale. Either way, Alan won't win this argument and if he succeeds in blocking the proposal on the 18th, he'll simply damage the Trust, the club and the community's role in CUFC in the future. Alan believes fervently that CCUIST can own the club outright one day and while it's too early to rule that totally out of the equation, in the short to medium term it's simply not going to happen and with over £250,000 to find just to pay for the first 20% of shares, never mind the other 31% we'd need to take control, we are clearly a million miles away from that scenario. I do understand and accept that the shares are practically worthless. If JC got bored and decided to give us all his shares for £1 tomorrow, we'd still have to find a way of funding it, of pumping in the £50,000s and £100,000s that are occasionly needed to keep the club afloat. I think 10 years down the line, things may look different but that's a long time in football terms and until then, the best thing for CCUIST to do is to knuckle down, work within the local community and alongside the club to help raise the funds to buy the shares we have today and to raise the profile of CUFC. As I say, it's an unwanted and totally unnecessary distraction at this stage in what's been a draining season, full of incident and drama. For me, everyone who's been to the home games this season has already had their money's worth (especially if you're a £5 concession) and the support in general has been outstanding. I looked at some figures the other week that showed the average home attendance of the last eight clubs to be relegated from the Football League was about 2,600. Our current average is 5,200 - twice that amount. With suport like that, we shouldn't be anywhere near the bottom. Hopefully, starting with next season, we'll finally begin to punch our weight again. Keep supporting the lads and I'm sure we'll come through! Al |
