Supporters of Blue Square Conference side Weymouth are anxious about the club’s future after rumours that ownership of the land the Wessex Stadium sits on is to be transferred to Wessex Park Limited. Wessex Park Limited was set up by football club owner Malcolm Curtis in January 2007 when former chairman Martyn Harrison announced major cutbacks. Chief sponsor Dave Higson, from Park Engineering, warned the move could be the beginning of the end for the club.
Supporters of Blue Square Conference side Weymouth are anxious about the club’s future after rumours that ownership of the land the Wessex Stadium sits on is to be transferred to Wessex Park Limited. Wessex Park Limited was set up by football club owner Malcolm Curtis in January 2007 when former chairman Martyn Harrison announced major cutbacks. Chief sponsor Dave Higson, from Park Engineering, warned the move could be the beginning of the end for the club. A statement from the chairman of the Terras Trust confirmed that talks are ongoing for Wessex Park Limited to be granted an option to acquire the stadium in return for providing a new football stadium, capable of staging League football whilst generating year round income over and above football. Supporters are concerned that if the club doesn’t own the ground then it doesn’t have any assets. Should the club as a business fail, then Wessex Park Limited could still redevelop the ground without using the asset or the sale of it to support the club. The league football ambitions of the Dorset side have seen a succession of owners and crises in the last few years. Last summer Martyn Harrison wrote off the club’s debts and handed over the reins to pop promoter Mel Bush. He lasted four months before walking away due to other work commitments. He left the club debt free and put just under £100,000 in the club’s bank account as a goodwill gesture. Mr Curtis then took over, but his background as a property developer made fans wary about his intentions, but he emphasised at a press conference that he was not an asset stripper. In the months that followed he admitted that the club was suffering from weekly losses running into thousands of pounds and that utilising the land at the Wessex Stadium to generate new income was vital for the future of the club. It seems like another case of excessive ambition leading to problems.