This is anecdotal so don't treat it as gospel, but I knew someone who had good knowledge of the Council's dealings with FC United over the stadium. I was told that the club took the attitude that it was a community club and the Council thus had a duty to give it support (a position some in MCC also seem to have been willing to adopt). There seemed no genuine recognition (beyond paying lip service and ) of the fact that we were in a time of austerity and budgets were being cut across the board, so maybe FC should show why the community would be better off if MCC grant funding, a council loan and a stadium site were to be diverted their way rather than spent on other things. If true, that kind of attitude usually comes from the top. I can well imagine that he genuinely believed it, but I don't believe that MCC asked all the questions they should have done.
