The winding-up order brought against Rushden & Diamonds has been adjourned for 21 days. This will give potential Japanese investors a chance to show their hand. Having spent a long time now observing events of this kind, I am always cautious about mystery investors, but let’s hope for Diamonds fans that it works out.
The winding-up order brought against Rushden & Diamonds has been adjourned for 21 days. This will give potential Japanese investors a chance to show their hand. Having spent a long time now observing events of this kind, I am always cautious about mystery investors, but let’s hope for Diamonds fans that it works out.
From the point of view of the creditors, there would be little point in pursuing a winding-up order as long as there is a chance of new funds arriving. If a football club is wound up, creditors typically get a few pence in the pound, particularly as the ground is separately owned in this case.
A fans’ forum is to be held to discuss the desperate situation. Fans admit that it’s going to be difficult to get a phoenix club going for next season and in any case Nene Park would be too expensive as a location for a club way down the non-league pyramid.
What does one do with a football stadium in the Northamptonshire countryside, state-of-the-art for a small stadium when it was built but now incurring increasing maintenance costs and with rubbish piling up in the car park? Kettering will be without a home in a couple of years, but any kind of merger or even a move for the Poppies to Nene Park would be deeply unpopular with fans of both clubs.
Some feel sorry for Max Griggs and all the millions that have gone up in smoke, others say that his scheme was unrealistic in the first place. But if you have a dream and the money to carry it out, who is to say you shouldn’t do it? The Diamonds gave a lot of people pleasure, including me.