Robins pin their hopes on a STAR
Jacqui Forster reports on developments at Altrincham
from the Supporters Direct Issue 10 April 2003
I have been to two Supporters Direct Conferences and told that there is an awful lot of work to set up a Supporters’ Trust and that the launch is only the beginning, not the end. Nothing however, could have prepared me for what has actually happened! The devoted group of people on our Working Group have suffered much through setting up Support the Altrincham Robins (STAR) and we are all on the point of collapse as I write the day after our spectacular launch!
It all seriously began back in August when my husband and I were celebrating my birthday on the Devon coast. I was sipping chilled white wine on the room balcony when my mobile rang and it was a fellow Altrincham supporter who explained his deep concerns about the football club and despite previously deciding against setting up a Supporters’ Trust at Altrincham, perhaps now was the time to do it. I promised to think about it and get back to him.
From there we set up a meeting at a local hotel, well, local to the majority of Altrincham fans, as I live 160 miles away from my beloved club in deepest Oxfordshire. The distance creates some problems but in the age of electronic communication, the problem now is too much correspondence!
We ran advertisements in the local press and in the matchday programme and around 100 people turned up for our meeting back in September. The panel consisted of our own chair, Brian Flynn, together with the wonderful Brian Lomax, himself an Altrincham fan as a young man, and Norman Beverley of the Independent Hatters Supporters’ Trust who generously gave up his time to help Altrincham achieve a positive vote to progress with a Supporters Trust.
The knowledgeable gathering asked many questions of the panel, including whether or not the existing supporters association, Save Altrincham’s Football Existence would continue. SAFE had been set up by Peter Read when the club was last threatened by extinction, when a former chairman decided to sell the club, providing little time provided to find a buyer before the league needed confirmation that the club would compete the following season. Ultimately, a vote was overwhelmingly carried to set up a trust. The hard work commenced.
Many meetings later, both ‘open’ to all Altrincham fans and ‘closed’ for the working group, who became the Board post-registration and we held our launch on Sunday, 9th March. This clashed with the FA Cup quarter-finals but Manchester United had heard about our plans and obligingly let Arsenal beat them in the fifth round!
The planning for an event like this took us all by surprise. We were from different working background and professions, and trying to formulate a professional presentation of which we could be proud. We decided on the location, speakers, a PowerPoint presentation, a raffle to get the fundraising started, and no distractions to the main business of the meeting would be allowed.
The presentation was given by the acting chair, a member of the working group, and the acting coordinator. They spoke about the reasons for setting up a Supporters’ Trust, how everyone can help, our membership package, our fundraising proposals, what the money we raise will be used for, and we unveiled our logo, designed by Michael Ward, a young man who had entered a competition we ran in our local newspaper. He was presented with a framed print of his logo and will be joining the team on the bench for a home match very soon.
We invited as many former players as we could find and advised attending supporters to buy autograph books in the Robins Shop in advance. Many of the former players treated the launch of the Supporters’ Trust as a player reunion, which suited us. Word got around the Alty legends even before I could telephone them, such was their eagerness to join in with the historic event for Altrincham Football Club. Of course, the history of the once best non-league football club is no good without a current club to support, so a blanket invitation also went out to the current squad and board of directors.
A great coup for STAR has been the recruitment of Brian Lomax as our patron. I am sure that many of the 74 Trusts formed before us had invited him in a similar capacity but he chose to accept our invitation due to his childhood roots. We feel very honoured and proud that Brian will be our patron and he greatly impressed the audience with his stories of watching Altrincham as a young man and at one time being the only away supporter travelling on the team coach.
STAR patron Brian Lomax addresses the launch
However, Brian was slightly overshadowed by our biggest coup of all. I had been trying to get in contact with the greatest player Altrincham of all for weeks and after an exhaustive search using newspaper and radio appeals, I got the telephone number of the man himself the day before the launch. Brian mentioned the legend as the reason for his burgeoning interest in Altrincham and football in general.
There is no other legend at Altrincham FC bigger than Jackie Swindells. Jackie scored 256 goals for the Robins over a seven year period, including 86 in one season, yet before arriving at Moss Lane in 1964 he had never played as a forward. A chain-smoker, Jackie was the fastest thing on earth over five yards rather than twenty, but all the fans were delighted to see him in the best of health – and still puffing away!
Given a standing ovation, everyone felt the presence of a true legend. His attendance set the whole gathering alight. Other former players in attendance had given up their Sunday to be with us and former players Paul Rowlands and Ken McKenna were first on their fee to applaud everyone’s hero.
Altrincham legends Jackie Swindells and Ken McKenna at the launch of STAR
We invited all the local schools as we realise that the future of football is with the younger members of the community. We invited all Altrincham FC shareholders, the local Chamber of Commerce and other local businesses. Most importantly, the launch was attended by large numbers of ordinary supporters of the club and encouraged full participation in the enhancement, progression and promotion of Altrincham FC and the idea of greater involvement in the decision-making through the election of a supporter’s representative on the board. As a result, many not only joined the trust, but joined as lifetime members to show their commitment. The chairman and the two directors both joined STAR on the day.
Through hard work and determination, it was not only a great success but a big day in the history of Altrincham Football club. We realise that must now build upon that success, fulfill our pledges and continue the good work. We now have the backing of the club, the former and current players, and the ordinary fans to do what we can to restore Altrincham Football Club to the forefront of non-league football.