Editor's Blog: The Stones should play in Maidstone
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The nomadic existence of Maidstone United
Football Club appears to be continuing as the Kent Messenger
exclusively reveals today that the club are in discussions to play
their matches at Chatham Town. Groundsharing is a necessity
for some football clubs but in the long-term it is damaging. The
Stones are in a different situation from some others who have had
to temporarily shift due to a range of circumstances such as
financial difficulties and stadium rebuilds.
Since their rebirth
following the collapse of the club in the 1990s they’ve never
actually had a ground to call their own. The KM has been running a
campaign to ‘Bring the Stones Home’ because we recognise the hard
work and passion from a small but committed team of people who are
determined to see the dream come true. But we also see the benefits
to Maidstone as a whole. Football has a binding effect in a
community. A town needs a team to call its own, and a club needs a
town to call its own. To coin a phrase it’s a win-win situation.
Let’s hope the Chatham venture, which is marginally better than
current arrangement at Ashford, is as short-lived as possible.
There’ll be some new faces at the helm of our
top organisations in the County Town in the coming months. Our main
public sector institutions are coincidentally all welcoming new
chiefs in the space of a matter of months. At County Hall, we’ve
known for some time that chief executive Peter Gilroy will be
leaving with his gilt-edged pay-off and pension. Heading for the
hot seat and already £50,000 cheaper to the taxpayer is Katherine
Kerswell. A couple of hundred yards away in King Street at the
borough council offices, the long-serving chief executive David
Petford will be making way for his ‘director of prosperity’ Alison
Broom in June. Turn left, left again and right into Palace Avenue
and you might see area police commander Alastair Hope waving a
cheery goodbye as he hot foots it up to Coldharbour after seven
years running the police service locally. His successor is Matthew
Nix, who in turn will be welcoming a new boss at Sutton Road with
the arrival of a new chief constable in a couple of months. The KM
has the shortlist of five contenders to be interviewed in May. And
they talk about the football managers’ merry-go-round’!
Thursday, April 01 2010
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