WOuld you still go if Town moved to J17?

[Spud]

Move it out of Swindon and it's just not the same, fuck Franchise Football.

[STFCBird]

nope

[Lumps]

How would Chippenham Town feel about this do you think.

A growing club with ambitions of Conference and maybe one day league football, having a league club plonked down a few miles from them.

I think they'd have a few words to say to the FA about it. And I seem to remember that all the noises that came out from the FA and FL in the aftermath of the MKd's move intimated that they weren't gong to allow that sort of thing again.

I think they might find that difficult to enforce if soneone came along prepared to fight a lengthy legal battle, as some sort of precedent does seem to have been set, but I doubt that our board would be up for that sort of thing

[DiV]

This is weird one really...

I dont think right now I can give a yes or no answer.

If the football club did move to J17 it wouldnt be the same, it just wouldnt....but I dont think I could just turn off my love for STFC just like that.....I'd be lost without football on a saturday thats for sure.

But, as I said it wouldnt be the same...

However, if it turns out the move to j17 is the only possible answer to keep the club going no matter what...then I'd be tempted to keep the faith. If all other avenues had tried and declined, but seen as the current re-development of the County Ground (which is at an advanced stage isnt it Mr. Bodwen....so advanced that you're still looking at plans Bs....stupid dickhead!) has got such a decent backing I see no reason as to why that cant go ahead....there is no need to move to J17

If our current board took us to J17 that would be the end of the line for me

[Simon Pieman]

No from me, I'll support another Swindon team i.e. Supermarine.

The day we move that far from Swindon is the day the management kill our club, it simply won't be Swindon anymore. Plus I doubt I could stand the franchise piss taking we'd receive from other fans.

[herthab]

In all honesty, I don't know. I'd be gutted if they did move out of Swindon, even though it would take less time for me to get to Chippenham, But following my team is the only real interest I've got (Pathetic as that sounds).

Hopefully this will remain a mute point, the board will be kicked out, the consortium will take over, we'll stay at the CG (Albeit upgraded) and we'll be in the championship in 3 years.

[RobertT]

if we moved but there were other options (as we know there are) then no.

[Rich Pullen]

My dad is an associate director at Chippenham Town and that would mean being closer to the cunt.

Then again maybe he'd start watching Swindon again. Doubtful.

[Lumps]

I think it's worth considering that the move is unlikely to take place without a fairly protracted battle with fans groups, protests etc. All that's bound to get a bit nasty. I think even those of you who might now think that you'd still go might have been completely alienated from the club by the time that's over.

Frankly I think they'd be mental to even consider it. It's moot point as to whether it's far enough away from Swindon for the new FA rules that Reg has mentioned to be applicable, but it's fairly clear that they'd loose a good chunk of the fan base through it. If people who live in Bath and Chippenham wouldn't go, and people who already travel from Oxfordshire, Sussex and other distant parts also think they can fuck off, that's not a good sign.

And on a good day CTFC get a couple of thousand, who I can't see suddenly deserting for the bright lights of the M4 and lower league football.

Meh! Bluffing!

[Rich Pullen]

I used to go to Chippenham Town games when it was one man and his dog attendeces.

If Swindon had the ocassional big game then CTFC would suffer because so many of their fans are un-usually fickle for Non-League.

[pauld]

This is just one of many parts of the interview where Diamandis drifted off into total fantasy land. After the MK Franchise debacle, the League made it very plain they would take a much harsher look at such proposals in future. In particular, they'd fail on the following three counts:

1) Fans totally opposed to it
2) They have an existing ground
3) They have a viable alternative with council backing (redevelop the CG along the lines we outlined last week - sorry, no huge profit from using sporting/council land for houses, but there you go)
4) There's an existing senior (not League but would still be taken into account) club in the area

On those grounds alone, they couldn't claim they had no alternative etc and the League would laugh them out of the building.

What's worrying is that he really seems to think that la-la land plans like this and rescheduling the CVA over 10 years are anything other than a deranged fantasy - if this is the level of the "5-year plan" they keep talking about, things are worse than we thought.

[mjad]

did not hear the interview, but did md mention how this new club in chippenham was to be financed, unless they want to share with chippenham town they will need a new ground.

they do not own the land at the cg & so moving will not release any capital there.

[Batch]

I guess there is always bath rugby club looking to redevelop their ground too. I think their supporters would be equally happy at the move.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Junction 17 my arse! Diamandis was making that stuff up as he went along!

[STFC Village]

I'm with DV on this one