Ridiculous headlines have absolutely no Foundation

IT hurts, when you are only trying to help, to read local newspaper headlines saying I’m embroiled in a “row” over the Savage Foundation’s role in the community.

I’m not trying to start a fight or have an argument with anybody. The Savage Foundation was set up to give every child from five to 12-year-old, regardless of background or ability, access to organised coaching at a football club as a hub of the local community.

No hidden agendas, no hijacking of grassroots football teams or leagues, no ‘stealing’ players from existing clubs.

It’s about a level playing field and a pathway into the grassroots system for everyone.

Yes, we would like to start a league affiliated to the Cheshire FA featuring teams drawn from Savage Foundation kids with grassroots clubs joining for free. But it’s not a league to rival existing divisions. It would simply give kids who might not have played football at all a chance to win, lose or draw like anyone else.

The Savage Foundation is almost at capacity for our pilot scheme in Macclesfield. The FA are happy with our motives, happy with the project and happy with our plans to roll it out nationwide. It does not help when an open letter to the local paper from grassroots clubs, asking questions about our plans, is turned into a “row.”

And I’ve already had calls from grassroots clubs who were signatories to the open letter saying they are embarrassed that a scheme fuelled only by good intentions has been turned into friction.