This is a newsletter dated February 2005


Major Deal Successfully Completed with London Interspace and Active England

In the past few months the committee has been in negotiation with London Interspace and Active England to come up with a deal that will secure the future of the football club.

Since the move from Sandy Lane the club has done everything in its power to secure its future at Bishopsford Road. All concerned had hoped that a contract for the franchises would have been found by now, but this has proved to be very difficult to achieve. Although it has been successful with the all weather pitches, it has struggled to survive financially.

The new deal which has been set up between London Interspace and the club will mean that the football club will now work in partnership with LI and Active England. Active England is a government body which has been set up to promote sport in deprived areas and the proposal is that the four units will be let-out offering this facility. This will be a commercial venture with London Interspace managing the franchises together with Active England`s and the Football clubs input.

The franchises are phase one of the proposal with a view to phase two, the reserve team pitch being completed and used by the football club and the community, and finally phase three which will be to build a stand on the waste land side of the ground with a sports complex behind. This is a long term project, but would look to be completed within the next seven years.

The board of directors of the organisation, which will be made up of two representatives from London Interspace, one from Active England and one from T&M, will decide the running of activities excluding football. The football will remain in Tooting`s sole control. This will work by a budget being set within the organisation which will be discussed and negotiated in the very near future.

Chairman John Buffoni`s View

As chairman of this football club I am pleased to announce a deal which will secure the future of T & M. In the past six months we, the committee, have been working hard to take the club forward in ever increasing difficult circumstances. The achievement to move from Sandy Lane to Bishopsford Road has been a great success, but the clubs debt and overheads at the new ground have proved to be financially difficult.

There is no doubt in my mind that if nothing is done the club would continue to move nearer to a dramatic financial crisis.

This deal will now allow the club to plan with proper stability for the future. The partnership of the football club, London Interspace and Active England is dependant on working together and there are plans to further develop the facilities. Active England have given a grant of £1.1 million pounds to the football club in order that the franchises can be fitted out to promote in-novative community projects. This money will be managed by London Interspace as part of the “Hub” which forms the basis of the partnership.

I wish to stress that the football club will be run by the football club, and all decisions relating to it will be made by the committee on behalf of the club. The budget for this will be linked to the clubs position, related to inflation and will be reviewed annually. This money will come from the “Hub” and in return all monies will go to the “Hub”. The “Hub” will be a central holding ground for all the partnerships capital and the directors will decide in consultation how the money is used.

Most importantly, London Interspace will agree to write off all the clubs dept and manage the day to day running of the facilities.

I know there will be concerns about the what ifs and I want to reassure everyone that careful consideration has been given to this. All parties are committed to moving forward together and no individual element can succeed without the other, so its important that this is seen as a partnership working for the same good. I know that together, this will be the best opportunity for this football club and that I will do everything in my power to make sure it happens.







 

Last edited by zonecross (19/6/2013 7:43 pm)