“It is a big moment for the club. I have always felt that if anyone came along with significant investment they would always consider letting new people get involved” Jon Palmer says.
Palmer is Cheltenham Town’s official Glos Live journalist. Jon was relaxed in his usual attire of a dress shirt and white undershirt. At the University of Gloucestershire, one of his working environments, we sat down to chat about a possible sale of his beloved club.
The setup of the Cheltenham Town owners and board is slightly different to most clubs. The club’s two majority shareholders consisting of Simon Keswick and CTFC Investments LTD are not on the board. They act more like sleeping partners and allow the board to do the day-to-day running of the club.
Simon Keswick has been involved with the club for a long time and is the majority shareholder. He has always been more involved in the infrastructure of the club, he helped build the away end and the training ground. He is more interested in trying to set the club up for the future.
“What’s changed now is the club actually needs investment. Sometimes people get frustrated because he is worth billions and he has not just pumped millions and millions of pounds into the club.
“It seems that he has decided to not put any more money in, it does not throw the club into financial problems because he is not taking any money out of the club he is just willing to let his shares go”
Most people you speak to around the club have come to the conclusion the club needs a new main stand and a new home end. The training ground they have just bought needs modernising and ideally the installation of a 3G pitch to help generate income.
Being a lifelong Cheltenham fan, Palmer believes he has a good idea in the direction the club are coming from.
“If you come in and you convince us you are going to be good for the club, you have the right intentions and you’re not going risk the future of a club that has been going since 1887, we would love to have you on board.”
Palmer believes in the fan base and the strength of the club to survive: “The fan base is decent enough to have a long-term football league club. Maybe not a League One club but it should be a solid League Two club.
“The club is going through a transitional stage on the pitch which will lead to a transitional period off the pitch. The good thing is there is no panic the current board is still there, although there have been one or two departures recently there is still a core that has been on the board a long time.”
The main stand is one of the hottest topics around the club and amongst the fan base: “The new stand does create a bit of frustration because that current structure was built in the sixties and it is not really fit for purpose anymore.
“But that is something that has been spoken about since I was a fan long before I became a journalist, we need a new main stand.
“We have never been able to bring in money on non-match days, they do have people hire out the current rooms but they are not very nice. It is a bit shabby and cheap for a business event,” Palmer continued.
The Cotswold journalist goes on to explain “If someone came in with money now it certainly would not be going to the player’s budget, unfortunately, that would be going to a new stand. That is what they think will safeguard the future of the club like they thought the purchase of the training ground could.”
The ground is not owned by the club it is on a long-term lease to the club, the club has refurbished three sides of the ground and there is only one side left to do. This final refurbishment would allow Cheltenham Town to compete with the likes of Burton Albion and allow the club to hold functions every day.
“They spoke significantly about moving to the race course in 2007 and the club was looking at plans to build a double-sided stand at Prestbury Park but they could not make it work financially,” Palmer says.
Whaddon Road is an old-fashioned ground, with it being just a short walk from town and surrounded by terrace houses, the capacity is 7000 and Cheltenham’s average tickets sold on match day is about 4000. Unless something massive changes, these numbers are fine for now.
“There is a decent amount of space on the car park side of the ground if they wanted to build a slightly bigger stand or full-length stand.”
Only if someone with really serious money comes in does Palmer think this would happen though.
“They are just not advanced off the pitch the football side of it has been very good for a long time relative to our position in the football pyramid people have gone on to bigger and better things after time at Cheltenham.”
Palmer is confident and thinks the future is bright and there is a lot to look forward to and thinks they have done alright up to now.
“Cheltenham never looked like they were going to get into the football league, they have managed to stay in there for all but one season. They have had Man City, Everton, Tottenham and played West Ham twice. They have had League Two titles, they have had playoff games at Wembley and they have had two wins at the Millenium Stadium. A lot of good moments” says Palmer.
He also thinks “if you try and play league one football on Cheltenham’s budget you are going to have a tough time. From my point of view, I have enjoyed amazing results against Portsmouth, Ipswich, and Bolton. Those days will go down in my memory bank forever.”
Palmer is a knowledgeable man who is passionate about his local side epitomizes Robin’s fans’ views around the speculation on the future of their club.