Feedback positive for Southern Utd
FEEDBACK has been largely positive, although the future of Southern United remains a work in progress.
The club’s national football premiership licence is due for renewal, although it is not jumping into any decisions as to whether it will carry on.
That decision will need to be made by June 1, when licence applications close.
It has been undergoing an extensive review since the end of the season in March, obtaining feedback from the community and examining its own position.
Most recently that included an open forum meeting on Tuesday night, but also involved public surveys and many other meetings.
While it was too early to say anything concrete, club CEO Chris Wright said feedback so far had been largely positive.
Likewise he was thrilled with the number of people who had come forward, showing they were willing to help the club progress.
‘‘The messages coming in are extremely encouraging of us continuing Southern United.
‘‘We’ve received lots of amaz ing feedback of experiences people have had with them over the season.
‘‘In general, most of our members want us to keep on that journey and want it to progress.
‘‘Football South and our coaching staff would, in an ideal world, like to do that too.’’
The main thing to consider in that was the financial state and Wright said it was a case of figuring out how and if the club could continue to do what it was doing.
Southern United was taken over by Football South two years ago, after previous models had proved unsustainable.
That meant it was structured differently to other clubs in the league.
Operating more like a club than a federationrun team was something Wright said summed up most of the criticisms and challenges.
That involved things such as improving initiatives to get children and families involved, looking to boost crowds, raising money and conducting more community involvement.