The fantastic reception John Courtenay (JC) and Roddy Collins (RC) got on Wednesday night at Brunton Park sums up what fans think of the two and also let's face it a sign of the pain they've gone through under the previous owner during five long years. Of course the hard work is only just starting and realistically, we won't be kicking off amongst the promotion favourites. Bookies odds have been clipped in recognition of the takeover but more tellingly as a reaction to all the bets placed by CUFC fans on the day that the news was announced. The squad as it stands is still a few players short of where we want to be. Peter Keen, Michael Jack, Jonny Allan, Trevor Molloy and Brian Shelley signing up is excellent news but losing a tireless workhorse like Steve Soley from midfield is a bit of a blow and RC will have to make a few dips into the marketplace before the season is over I expect. Meanwhile JC is telling us he has big plans for United and that stadium redevelopment although very much part of the picture will not impinge on the manager's playing budget. Speaking of the stadium, I was part of the CCUIST-organised clean-up on Saturday which saw over 30 volunteers give their time to help sweep out the East Stand. It's amazing how much muck accumulates. Hopefully fans next week will appreciate our efforts. It would have been nice to do the whole ground but we didn't have the time or the numbers. Attitudes amongst supporters still need to change a little. If you start taking your club for granted, it may not be there one day. CUFC came perilously close to going out of business under the previous regime and it's just as well some fans got off their backsides and decided to do something about it. The trust has now developed a first-class reputation and a good working relationship with the new owner which can only be a good thing. The off-field set-up will take time to pull around but JC has excellent ideas for the future, the fans are very much behind him and I expect a succesful first year on the commercial front. On-field success has to follow though and I thought the most telling comment made at the forum came from RC when he said the acid test would not be 10,000 at the opening game but 10,000 in the middle of January. As honeymoon periods go, this one will be longer than normal but I wouldn't expect it to go on forever without results to back it up. Fortunately the Third Division is not the hardest to escape from and if we aren't at least in the play-offs by the end of the season I know a lot of people will be disappointed, not least the two new brooms in charge. At the end of the day, its fans who will decide how well CUFC will do in the near future. As honest and refreshing a change as JC represents, he is one man and can't do it all on his own. The supporter effort both on and off the field of play will be more crucial than ever. If we help him, he'll give us something back. That didn't happen with the previous owner - but it will this time so the supporters need to do their bit. The club as a whole has a huge task to win new fans who are going to be just as important as the hard core. Win them - entertain them - keep them. It's a three-point plan and with it in hand, CUFC might just return to the higher echelons of the First Division - a position we haven't really enjoyed since 1984 and the high-water mark of the Bob Stokoe era. We'll need at least double the gates he had though. Financially, the goal posts have changed considerably. The Football League is in a cash crisis and its something of a relief and a bit of a privilege to have a guy like JC willing to come in and put his neck on the line the way he has. There will be no guaranteed profit for him and anyway he doesn't really need it in the way the previous regime did. With TV money much reduced, clubs will have to be run a lot more tightly and dare I say it realistically in future. I was never very comfortable with the size of the TV windfall anyway and I think in a few years time a better-run and better-organised picture will gradually emerge. There are now over sixty supporters' trusts in the country and together they have significant financial clout. A partnership between owners and fans must be the only way forward now for the ultimate potential of smaller clubs to be tapped, not to mention a means for their very survival. Al |
