More skips block Boro turnstiles
MORE skips have been dumped outside Nuneaton Town Football Club.
There are now five skips at the Coombe Abbey Stadium – and Nuneaton RFC, which shares the facilities, has admitted it put them there.
An important FA Trophy game against Guiseley is due to be held today but the football club insists it will go ahead as planned and that it is doing “everything in its power” to fix the problem. Chairman Lee Thorn said: “Nuneaton Town Football Club would like to confirm to supporters in and around the town that we are doing everything in our power to try and rectify the current situation around the Coombe Abbey Arena.
“As has been reported in the media this week, there are now, as of 2pm on January 12, five skips currently blocking the turnstiles at the ground, but no impact has been made on our home matches moving forward as con- firmed by the safety advisory group. We would like to place on the record that as a football club we are considering all options available to us but to do nothing is not one of them.”
The rugby club has claimed full responsibility for the skips, claiming it has been forced to take the severe measures.
Nuns chairman Mark Mitchell said the skips had been placed to restrict access across the land following disagreements over the use of the ground.
The rugby club sold the ground to the football club in 2006 on the basis of a ground sharing agreement.
Mr Mitchell said: “Since 2008 the rugby club has had no permanent first team pitch from which to promote itself, and whilst we have shown a tremendous amount of patience and goodwill towards the football club over the years this has simply not been replicated.
“Whilst we appreciate there may be an impact on the fans we can assure you we have tried our best to avoid taking such actions and have worked with the local authorities to minimise the impact such as the recent Tamworth game. However, there comes a time when you have to stand up for the people you represent and the community at large.”
Now, the football club has hit back stating that it has offered the same terms as the previous ground share agreement that was in place from 2009 to 2015, but the rugby club has declined it stating that they see ‘no commercial value’ in it.
Mr Thorn said: “This would be on the basis that they remove all the current obstacles and both parties seek to repair the differences brought about by recent actions between the town’s two major sporting clubs.”
Mr Thorn has said that the original ground share agreement was null and void following the liquidation of Nuneaton Boro Football Club in 2008.
He added: “The original 2006 document cancelled this ground share agreement and not the newly formed NTFC under the T&Cs of the 2006 document.
“As most parties are aware the original ground share was heavily weighted in favour of the rugby club and after the football club purchased the stadium for £420,000, a further figure of £1.7million was spent on the stadium development, and in fact since 2007 a further £600,000 has been spent on the stadium. The original agreement included a pitch usage fee of £33 per game up to 30 games per year index linked for a period of 125 years from 2006 in favour of NRFC.”
The football club has said the rugby club has sent over a proposed agreement. Mr Thorn said that “all inter club correspondence has been answered within two days of receipt by NTFC” apart from an offer of a new ground share agreement sent by the rugby club. In the meantime, our games will be going ahead as per our league and cup fixture list, and we are planning and implementing the reconfiguration of the stadiums access and egress points to elevate this dispute on a permanent basis,” said Mr Thorn.”