IT’S THE END OF THE ROAD FOR MEAD
Clock ticking on club’s future...
THAMESMEAD TOWN will be liquidated this Tuesday unless an unlikely eleventh hour bid to save the club is lodged.
The proud Bostik League South East side unanimously decided to put the Mead into a creditors’ voluntary liquidation, with the cost of running the club becoming too much of a burden.
This day might have arrived a lot sooner had chairman Paul BowdenBrown not saved the club in 2012.
He has been financing players, management and other expenses on his own since 2015, but after taking a total of £11 over their last two home games, coupled with his failing health, the decision was made to close the club.
The devastating news was greeted by messages of support and tributes from former players and managers, and also from the wider Non-League community.
The Bostik League gave their full backing to Thamesmead by postponing last Tuesday’s fixture with Horsham and yesterday’s match with Whyteleafe to at least give them more time to find a solution.
Bowden had been trying to sell the club for some time, even offering to write off his shareholdings for just £1.
Thamesmead have been playing at Dartford’s Princes Park since last year after rent at their Bayliss Avenue home eventually became too extortionate.
Bowden has since been contacted this week by various parties who were interested in purchasing his shares but the approaches came to nothing and with time running out before Tuesday, the end looks nigh.
Heartbreak
“There’s been some interest where someone wanted to buy my shares for a nominal sum which is fair-dos but they didn’t realise that if you start doing that, you buy the club and so you buy the balance sheet,” BowdenBrown told The NLP.
“The loans I’ve got that I’m responsible for they didn’t want. You can’t have parts of it and not the others. I will make sure everyone gets paid. “As far as we’re concerned the creditors’ meeting is on the 23rd, the club is dead and buried. I think it hit me today. It is very sad news. I’ve had massive support from people thanking me for what I’ve done over the years which is great. “It’s a shame a lot of that support didn’t come to games but we’ve never had a big crowd. We needed support, I thought I did the right thing moving to Dartford. “The death knell was when someone decided to give the lease of Bayliss Avenue to Trust Thamesmead, who built a new ground. “No one agreed a rate of how much they would be paid, the first year was £1,000 and then it just went up and up and up. “I wish I could have carried it all on. I’m glad I could give all the people who watched a chance and I hope they enjoyed themselves. I appreciate everything the manager and players have done for me.” Just three days after Non-League Day, an initiative designed to boost crowds and put some extra cash into the lower league economy, this sad situation comes as a stark reminder of how vulnerable clubs are in Non-League.
“AS FAR AS WE’RE CONCERNED, THE CREDITORS THE MEETING IS ON 23RD, AND THE CLUB IS DEAD BURIED” AND Bowden-Brown Paul