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Post by avfo on Apr 29, 2018 13:58:41 GMT
Statement from the owner Stewart Donald
It is with great sadness and regret that I have to inform the Eastleigh fans that I have put our football club up for sale. I have spent over six years at the club and from the very first moment I arrived I have been welcomed and treated with great respect and kindness and I am truly grateful for the support everyone has given regardless of how well the team have performed at any given time.
It is an emotional decision for me and one that I did not expect to have to make. However, with my potential involvement in Sunderland, it is a condition that I must relinquish control of Eastleigh. If the rules were different I would have loved to remain with the club for many years to come.
Eastleigh has become, and will always be, extremely close to my heart. I have always tried to look after the club to the best of my ability and this will never be more important than now when considering perspective new owner/s.
The football club is in the strongest financial position it has ever been in. With a much-improved stadium and increased revenues enabling the club the ability to seriously compete in the top tier of non-league football and whilst I have been unable to deliver League football, I hope the fans will reflect on my chairmanship as a positive one.
My focus now must move to finding a suitable owner who will understand the ethos of the club. It is vital to ensure that the club continues to provide affordable football and progresses on the field whilst incurring absolutely no debt. I always ensured Eastleigh was run without debt and that any money provided was never going to create any debt.
I would like to assure the fans that I will not charge for the sale of the club and do my very best to ensure that the club is passed to an individual or group that understands these principles and is committed to continuing them.
I will obviously remain as owner for a short period and hopefully, I will get to see some of you before I depart and if not I will return and watch as many games as I can.
Thank you all again for making my ownership such an enjoyable experience.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Apr 29, 2018 14:07:38 GMT
Seems to me that he’s got bored with them being in the National League for another season. Still won’t forget the way we were treated last September as that postponement was a huge farce.
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Post by MPW on Apr 29, 2018 14:18:52 GMT
They’ll struggle to survive at this level now.
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Post by dmcnally on Apr 29, 2018 14:27:02 GMT
Back to being irrelevant in regional leagues now hopefully.
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Post by gezzer on Apr 29, 2018 14:33:11 GMT
Seems to me that he’s got bored with them being in the National League for another season. Still won’t forget the way we were treated last September as that postponement was a huge farce. This is the reason he is selling: However, with my potential involvement in Sunderland, it is a condition that I must relinquish control of Eastleigh. If the rules were different I would have loved to remain with the club for many years to come.
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Post by rjshbdhmtrm on Apr 29, 2018 14:39:11 GMT
£10,000,000 in seven seasons . . . nice!
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Apr 29, 2018 14:45:04 GMT
Heading up a consortium of "international investors" that have just purchased Sunderland.
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Post by Hannibal on Apr 29, 2018 16:03:51 GMT
I think that he realised that no amount of money (players wages) will instil any passion as witnessed by us when we beat them 3-1 a couple of months ago. Some of those players were on up to £2k a week allegedly.
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Post by bethnalblue on Apr 29, 2018 16:09:24 GMT
Another tinpot village team that epitomises all thats wrong with Football these days. Can add AFC Fylde, South Shields, Salford City, Ebbsfleet Utd, Harrogate Town and plenty more to that list.
Bankrolled unsustainable at the level they are at
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Post by Hannibal on Apr 29, 2018 16:27:49 GMT
Another tinpot village team that epitomises all thats wrong with Football these days. Can add AFC Fylde, South Shields, Salford City, Ebbsfleet Utd, Harrogate Town and plenty more to that list. Bankrolled unsustainable at the level they are at Not sure you can include South Shields in that? |
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Post by btb on Apr 29, 2018 16:57:33 GMT
I had a short spell working in Southampton in the early 90’s when Eastleigh were knocking around at Counties level and to be fair they had a decent support. There is room for a club around that area but you really do have to question where that money has been spent. Ground improvements? And what they’ve been spending on players has been insane. I hope they can survive.
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Post by chislenko on Apr 29, 2018 17:24:09 GMT
Looks like his first task at Sunderland was to cancel Coleman's contract.
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Post by bethnalblue on Apr 29, 2018 17:28:22 GMT
Another tinpot village team that epitomises all thats wrong with Football these days. Can add AFC Fylde, South Shields, Salford City, Ebbsfleet Utd, Harrogate Town and plenty more to that list. Bankrolled unsustainable at the level they are at Not sure you can include South Shields in that? Why's that? |
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Post by Hannibal on Apr 29, 2018 17:35:19 GMT
Not sure you can include South Shields in that? Why's that? I notice that they get crowds much bigger than other teams in that league and they have just walked to their 3rd consecutive promotion. I must admit I know little about them. Weren't they historically once a FL team? You could also include Borehamwood in that list as, despite reaching the play-offs they have little over 300 fans. |
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Post by Lobster on Apr 29, 2018 18:34:42 GMT
I notice that they get crowds much bigger than other teams in that league and they have just walked to their 3rd consecutive promotion. I must admit I know little about them. Weren't they historically once a FL team? You could also include Borehamwood in that list as, despite reaching the play-offs they have little over 300 fans. South Shields got over 2,000 yesterday. They’re a well supported club. The non-league pyramid makes it unfairly hard for clubs in the far north of the country to progress, which is probably the only reason they’re not further up the leagues. The biggest fancy dan, sugar daddy club around is probably Billericay Town. He seems a complete arsehole as well. Shaw Lane is another one - just a load of pub teams cobbled together and playing under the banner of a plumbing business |
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Post by ivawhopper on Apr 29, 2018 18:59:57 GMT
I notice that they get crowds much bigger than other teams in that league and they have just walked to their 3rd consecutive promotion. I must admit I know little about them. Weren't they historically once a FL team? You could also include Borehamwood in that list as, despite reaching the play-offs they have little over 300 fans. South Shields got over 2,000 yesterday. They’re a well supported club. The non-league pyramid makes it unfairly hard for clubs in the far north of the country to progress, which is probably the only reason they’re not further up the leagues. The biggest fancy dan, sugar daddy club around is probably Billericay Town. He seems a complete arsehole as well. Shaw Lane is another one - just a load of pub teams cobbled together and playing under the banner of a plumbing business Plumbing the depths you could say  |
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Post by bethnalblue on Apr 29, 2018 19:06:40 GMT
I notice that they get crowds much bigger than other teams in that league and they have just walked to their 3rd consecutive promotion. I must admit I know little about them. Weren't they historically once a FL team? You could also include Borehamwood in that list as, despite reaching the play-offs they have little over 300 fans. 4 years ago were playing out of the town in Peterlee infront of gates of 30 odd then new Chairman comes in...... |
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Post by agl on Apr 29, 2018 21:45:10 GMT
Will be interesting to see what happens at Eastleigh. They are ripe for fan ownership, as Donald has effectively said he will give the club away. The same happened at Rushden when their sugar daddy walked away and that ultimately ended in tears. Eastleighs crowds are about the same as ours, but they have been doing very good deals on season tickets, presumably subsidised by the owner. If I was a betting man I'd be looking at the relegation odds next season.
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Post by Mean Machine on Apr 29, 2018 21:57:27 GMT
Back to being irrelevant in regional leagues now hopefully. The words pot, kettle and black are springing to mind |
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Post by Al on Apr 29, 2018 22:20:39 GMT
I notice that they get crowds much bigger than other teams in that league and they have just walked to their 3rd consecutive promotion. I must admit I know little about them. Weren't they historically once a FL team? You could also include Borehamwood in that list as, despite reaching the play-offs they have little over 300 fans. 4 years ago were playing out of the town in Peterlee infront of gates of 30 odd then new Chairman comes in...... I also notice Julio Arca is club captain |
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