The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

So, the Rank and File Poppies fans have voted to allow their club to be moved to Nene Park in the next stage of Cousins' plan, with only 30 voting against, and less than 10 saying they'd form a phoenix side. It seems like there are a lot of similarities between the two sets of fans, and any passion for remaining in K*ttering quickly waned when IL played his ace card by asking them to commit to put their hands in their pockets to save Rockingham Road.

I'm still not sure whether Keith Cousins (assisted by Helen Thompson) will just be their landlord, or whether that duo will again have a major say in running the club. I'm sure the vocal ones on their forum will have something to say about that - but as we've seen, the silent majority will probably just accept it without question.

It's rather ironic, given all the preaching that has come down the A6 about tradition, that they give up a major part of theirs so meekly.

Another ironic thing is that they'll be playing in a ground / complex owned by the Rushden & Diamonds Supporters Trust (the original one), as that was how KC took control - and he is now the sole member of that Trust.

I wonder how long it will take them to unearth all the intricacies of who owns what, who pays for what, and who is bound by what, in terms of the various buildings / utility functions / maintenance bills / buildings covenants / pitch covenants / AirWair stand covenants / clawback options etc- even after all these years I still don't fully understand it.

Who'd have thought when Cousins brought in the Beasants it would result in the demise of both local clubs ?

Well he did say that he would only sell the club to people who can take it further than he can, he certainly did that!

You have to admit Cousins is a very clever man. Since the meetings between the two Chairmen back in October (which he joked about), I would think the whole fiasco has gone perfectly to plan. I think the realisation set in when Calder was at that fans forum at the end of the season. Such an odd thing to happen amongst all the other things going on. It was obvious his resignation was planned when he and the Beasants took over in December last year. It was odd at the time that he should suggest Justin Edinbugh was sacked – why on earth would he do that other than to make his position untenable. So the Beasants were the fall guys and Cousins was the hero for pretending to try and save Diamonds.

I would think it is now certain that K*ttering Town will be gone by 2015 and once they move, there will be absolutely nothing they can do about it.

It appears to me that there has been a lot of behind the scenes dealing going on in the last few months and for some reason the powers behind RDFC wanted the club to fail but see a future for KTFC here at Nene Park. Do K*ttering have a better potential for attracting bigger crowds? I don't believe that especially as they will be playing miles from their own town. Could they attract more sponsors than Diamonds could? I can't see why that would be the case. I am stumped to see why RDFC are being allowed to die while on the other hand KTFC are being encouraged to take over here at N.P?

Noddy wrote:You have to admit Cousins is a very clever man. Since the meetings between the two Chairmen back in October (which he joked about), I would think the whole fiasco has gone perfectly to plan. I think the realisation set in when Calder was at that fans forum at the end of the season. Such an odd thing to happen amongst all the other things going on. It was obvious his resignation was planned when he and the Beasants took over in December last year. It was odd at the time that he should suggest Justin Edinbugh was sacked – why on earth would he do that other than to make his position untenable. So the Beasants were the fall guys and Cousins was the hero for pretending to try and save Diamonds.

I would think it is now certain that K*ttering Town will be gone by 2015 and once they move, there will be absolutely nothing they can do about it.

I dont post many messages on the forum but I do visit both the Rushden Forum and Poppynet on a regular basis to keep in touch with what is going on. I live in K*ttering and both my boys trained (note the past tense) under Mark starmer and his colleagues at Rushden, the eldest for nearly 10 continuous seasons. Having attended both fans forums at Nene Park I 100% agree with your comments Noddy. KC is a clever business man and as far as business goes he has done the right thing for himself. He could see that RDFC were not giving him the return he wanted so looked for alternatives and found one in KTFC moving into Nene Park. I cant critisise him for that. However, I feel that us simple people of the area (myself included) have been spoon fed a load of bollocks. Ok spend £100k on sorting the place out but for whos benefit?. Not a problem but dont keep telling the fans, who have just been told that their club is dead, about it. Why not put the money into RDFC when it needed it? No doubt it will be mentioned at a not too distant later date that the Rushden fans voted for KTFC to play at Nene Park during the last fans forum. I may be completley wrong but the above is my opinion. I am getting a bit wound up now so will end it there.

Were any of the Irthlingborough Trust (Tony Jones and the Megane crew) there on Thursday ? I wonder what their view is of all this - let's hope they cut off their donations pretty quickly. Perhaps they might advise the AFC group - clearly Tony Jones has a lot of relevant experience.

Formic wrote:Were any of the Irthlingborough Trust (Tony Jones and the Megane crew) there on Thursday ? I wonder what their view is of all this - let's hope they cut off their donations pretty quickly. Perhaps they might advise the AFC group - clearly Tony Jones has a lot of relevant experience.

I didn't see them. I think an invitation to an AFC meeting when it happens might be the best way to approach them. Does anyone know how to contact them?

Formic wrote:(Tony Jones and the Megane crew)

Sorry to be pedantic, but it was a Sharan. ;)

Formic wrote:Were any of the Irthlingborough Trust (Tony Jones and the Megane crew) there on Thursday ? I wonder what their view is of all this - let's hope they cut off their donations pretty quickly. Perhaps they might advise the AFC group - clearly Tony Jones has a lot of relevant experience.

I was thinking the same thing and I imagine that Jones, Smith & the Langleys et al, must feel largely as we all do.

I would be surprised if they want to get heavily involved day to day, but I would love to think they might act as figureheads and advisors to any phoenix process. If we can surround their experience with some willing worker-bees to do the graft, it might be sufficient to get things off the ground.

davealbon wrote:

Formic wrote:(Tony Jones and the Megane crew)

Sorry to be pedantic, but it was a Sharan. ;)

That always made me chuckle when they turned up at away games, I've always had a vision of them travelling to away games in the old VW drinking fine wines and smoking Cuban cigars.