Greetings and sorry to intrude. I won't stay long, but prompted by the interest in our plight I thought I'd give you a few facts - not the whole story, you've got a game to get to later so you haven't got time.
We left the Drill Field because it couldn't be brought up to Conference ground grading standards at the time. Basically too old etc. But the move is shrouded in controversy because the council then delayed the planning permission to the housing development, which delayed the money for the sale, which delayed the new ground building, etc etc. We ended up spending half the proceeds on ground sharing with Witton.
Since then we have had two owners verging on the criminal. Mike Connett came with lots of promises, then announced in a TV interview that the stadium was his pension fund, then went bankrupt. Jim Rushe arrived full of promises, but never divulged the finances, ran up debts everywhere, didn't pay the CVA from the previous owner, ended up with his own CVA, didn't pay that either, didn't (doesn't?) pay any bills, alienated the entire local business community, has run up numerous CCJs for unpaid bills, failed to buy the stadium from the administrators (rumours are that they wouldn't accept his money because the sources were dubious - allegedly), got us kicked out of the stadium, annoyed the league we were in by disputing absolutely everything, led to us being relegated for financial irregularities (a mild term in the circumstances), agreed a ground share 40 miles away (because nobody nearer would deal with him), then asked to move to Flixton (still 20+ miles away) and threw a hissy fit when the league told him to stick to his first agreement and stop messing them about.
He's now presiding over a team with Northwich in the name which has absolutely no connection with the town, and the majority of fans have stopped going. The Supporters Trust are making plans for when the sums finally don't add up - which on gates of 60-odd and monthly outgoings of several thousand was probably a few months ago. Where is the money coming from to keep him going? A good question with a murky answer - not least because there is a friendship with Stephen Vaughan (google him) to factor in.
To attract one unscrupulous owner may be unfortunate, to attract two in succession sounds like carelessness, as Oscar Wilde would have said - but what can the ordinary fan do? At the moment, sit and wait for it all to implode. Then try to ressurect football in Northwich.
Oh, and incidentally, Northwich Villa are officially nothing to do with Vics (one owner of two clubs is against FA rules). Yeah, right. They play at Flixton, where Rushe has signed a three year lease - and where he wants Vics to play. So, as you see, he is making every effort to bring the club back home. Yeah, right.
Sorry to go on at you. Have a good season.
