Post by chris pratt on May 13, 2014 14:05:43 GMT
There is not a supporter of Banbury United who does not talk or think about that piece of paper. You know the one, the one that said The Spencer Stadium would remain in the club`s hands for years. Do you remember those Hellenic years when the clubhouse was not owned by the club and noisy discos etc went on while we entertained our Hellenic League opponent on the pitch. So many ruomours abound, what state was the club in when the seller(Mr Stone?) sold it and was it the only option. It seams to me that apart from those early Southern League days under Len Goulden and later Mr Jennings, all sorts of things were going on. During those years regular attendences for the Midland Fllodlit Cup reached well over 1,000 at times and were always good. The Saturday matches were also well attended. Before this Banbury Spencer attracted anything from 400 to 900 regularly with the record attendence in 1947 being 7,126? and other matches against Oxford City(in 59) 5,900. Hereford Utd(FA Cup) 5,000. Villa in Birmingham Cup over 3,000. What happened to the transfer monies from the limited number of players we were able to sell. This included, I believe, 55,000 for my second cousin, Kevin Wilson. Shadders will perhaps have any details of any other transfers, Mick Kearns,(I played with him on a couple of ocassions in The St John`s School Team) and also his brothers. What about Kevin Cornwall, any transfer fee involved there.
Whilst I am rambling on, St John`s RC School had a successful number of years under Mr Jim Mcarthy(Liverpool and Banbury Spencer) and my dad who assisted him. I digress.
Builders were often involved in the ownership of Spencer and United. Timms, Townley, Gilkes and A N Others, why? Many felt that their main interest was in the land. The strange and unusual goings on throughout the years led to the town not trusting the club? and in other cases, not supporting the club. There have been those who have been most supportive, John Nichols, to name just one. The top five businesses I have written to regarding sponsorship have still not replied and may never do so. I am trying once more to win The European Lottery tonight and If I do a Million or so will be to take over Banbury, or I might buy the Villa in stead. We do not know who owns Banbury and nobody owns the Villa, so not good prospects.
If the ownership situation at both is sorted then perhaps Sponsorship will be more forthcoming, especially for Banbury. In the meantime we may never know what happened to that piece of paper.