Rushden and Diamonds have appealed against their expulsion from the Blue Square Bet Premiership. Their potential Japanese investors are only interested if they retain their Conference status. However, it is difficult to see their appeal succeeding in which case Kettering will move into the Nene Park stadium at Irthlingborough, some eight miles from their current base at Rockingham Road.
Rushden and Diamonds have appealed against their expulsion from the Blue Square Bet Premiership. Their potential Japanese investors are only interested if they retain their Conference status. However, it is difficult to see their appeal succeeding in which case Kettering will move into the Nene Park stadium at Irthlingborough, some eight miles from their current base at Rockingham Road.
Owner Imran Ladek has promised to keep the name of the club as ‘Kettering Town FC’ as long as attendances remain above 1,000. They had already dwindled to around 1,300 at Kettering so it might be difficult to achieve this target at Nene Park. In that case what in effect would be a merger would take place in order to appeal to both sets of fans but perhaps not pleasing either of them given the intensity of their rivalry. As Mr Ladek admitted in a guest column in yesterday’s Non-League Paper, ‘Moving out of Kettering in many peoples view, threatens the very identity of a football club.’ Names for a merged club such as Rockingham Forest FC are already being bandied about locally.
The Non-League Paper had a Rushden and Diamonds day yesterday, making the club’s fate its lead story and carrying a major interview with manager Justin Edinburgh who urged the need for a more effective fit and proper person’s test for club owners. He pointed out that club owner Steve Beasant has been declared bankrupt, but Beasant responded that he was discharged from bankruptcy in 2009. He claimed that when he took over ‘certain things came out of the woodwork we were unaware of.’