Councillors ‘shun Shrews talks’
Tuesday 2nd October 2007, 11:45AM BST.
Bosses at Shrewsbury Town FC have offered to meet four senior councillors barred from the club’s £15 million stadium to discuss the ban, it has emerged.
But the councillors have not yet taken up the offer, the club said, as it spoke out for the first time about the ban which follows a bitter row over community facilities at the new ground in Oteley Road.
Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council (SABC) leader Peter Nutting, deputy leader David Roberts, sport portfolio holder Charles Armstrong and Councillor Tudor Bebb have been told they are not welcome at the stadium.
The move followed a letter sent to all 40 councillors by club chairman Roland Wycherley in August, in which he accused the council of forcing the club to build community pitches at the new stadium, rather than accept £350,000 for facilities elsewhere in the town.
Nobody from the club has been available to comment, but a statement was released on its website. It says: “On September 3, the chairman wrote to councillors in the ruling group asking them to examine their consciences before attending events at the stadium.
“This set out the club’s experiences in dealing with SABC over many years, not just in relation to the more recent difficulties. Following this, it became apparent matters did not change.
“For this reason, the chairman and chief executive of the club met with the chief executive of the council and explained certain councillors, who by their actions have not been supportive, are indeed not welcome.
“At the same time the chairman offered to meet with the councillors face to face to discuss this. To date no one has taken up this invitation.”
Councillor Armstrong said the offer was made through the council yesterday. He said he was more than happy to meet publicly to discuss any issue the club wanted, adding his offer has been “on the table for a long time”, but had “never been taken up” by the club.
By John Kirk
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i have the answer.. perhaps the councillors should shun the club as it is full of childish oiks and go to a more up market football stadium .where they can converse with people on the same level, becouse with stfc they will need to dress up in school shorts and get there pea shooters out.
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If the club have the letter they sent to Armstrong personally – but he maintains the offer came through the council, then that raises a few questions about the “facts” being stated by Mr Armstrong.
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Why the need to mention that no one from the club was available for comment?
Surely the journalists would have been better to contact ex-mayor Judith Williams who stated that the fantastic four were welcome to attend the Mayor’s charity banquet? Or does this spoil a good yarn?
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A very intelligent contribution from Andrew Finch!!!!
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To Mr Truth – I wonder in Cllr Armstrong means that the letter was sent via the council? Most people hardly know who their Councillor is – let alone a personal address. Often it’s easier to mail it direct to the council offices.
It’s always difficult to make judgements without the inside track, but when STFC signed the agreement to build the community pitches as part of the negotiations for planning permission, no-one was really holding a gun to their head.
Too many developers will happily promise the earth to get planning permission on a site – then decide afterwards that the conditions they agreed to are not what they want to deliver and then come back to “renegotiate”.
Come on STFC – you went into the deal with your eyes open and you are grown ups. Just deliver on what you promised………
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Why does Andrew Finch harp on about STFC being childish but then retort to name calling – who’s childish now Andrew?
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In answer to Mr Finch,perhaps the councillors should examine their consciences and behaviour with regard to their dealings over the football stadium issue. To accuse a business of being childish when it’s future is put in jeapordy by selfish behaviour is a bit rich. Which up market club should they visit, because they would not have been warmly received by any club that was treated in this manner.I would rather be an oik than a pompous ass.
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Oswestrian – you state that it is always difficult to make judgements without the inside track, yet them make your own assumption that the club sent a letter to the council offices.
In light of the barriers put up by the council I do not think if is rocket science to state that STFC probably knew the names of the councillors concerned and it is not exactly difficult to obtain a councillors address.
I think you will find that STFC did have a gun to their head as the council were dictating to them the operational logistics that they had to adhere to, so that they could not operate in a business like way and compete with other facilities in the town.
You clearly have no idea that the people of Shrewsbury are worse off having the theatre NOT on the site of the old ground, seem to have no inside track knowledge yourself, yet are prepared to make sweeping statements using your assumptions.
Over the past 5-6 years, STFC have acted in a dignified manner and have not bleated to the press when things have not gone their way.
Yet when a letter appears in the newspaper telling some home truths about the stadium being built on time and on budget, it obviously presses some buttons of certain councillors who then feel the need to go to the papers to gain much needed publicity.
Are you actually aware that ex-mayoress Judith Williams has stated that those concerned are NOT banned for the charity ball?
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Oh I do look forward to reading Andrew Finch’s comments everyday, For someone who rates all at STFC, as “oiks” he does indeed spend alot of time discussing them. STFC is allowed tom invite who they want and when they want. Perhaps one day, they might lower their standards and let you in mr Finch ..
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Oswestrian – The club has never tried to get out of building the community facilities at the New Meadow. They were preparing to build them their until a group of sports providers in the town (& representatives of SABC) approached them and suggested that the club providing a cash sum to build the facilities at other sites in the town would be a better use of the resources.
When the club put this proposal forward, the very same officials at SABC turned round and claimed the club were trying to overturn the planning agreement. This is why relations between the club and council broke down.
I have no idea why certain people within the council took this action. However you need to also keep in mind that Shrewsbury’s conservative councillors have also fallen out with the conservative led county council over the unitary issue. At the same time the football club has a very good relationship with the county council!
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Councillor Armstrong approached STFC with senior council officials in tow and asked the football club to provide the money instead. That was confirmed by Wayne Barrabel at the subsequent development and control meeting.
The “renegotiation” came from the council, not the football club. that is also confimred on SABC’s forum where Mr Barrabel stated on January 10th “I can confirm that at the meeting on tuesday the dev Control cttee were informed that initial contacts about the community facilities relocation were from the council to the club and this information did not form part of the report to members on the 5th Dec.”
STFC have always said they will either provide the facilities or provide the money. The issue, the debate, the argument here is that the council has asked the club to do it and then tried to publicly blame the club for doing so. The issue is that the council have now been caught red handed.
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It is so nice to see so many Shrewsbury Town fans providing more intelligent factually correct points to the discussion.
Why do so many clearly uneducated people write such nonsense like Mr Oswestrian telling STFC to abide by a decision when it is the council who have moved the goalposts?
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To be fair I don’t think any of you know what you are really talking about! You read something and just interpret it how you want to!
Councillor Nutting has never voted on the football ground and it is not an area he has ever been involved in!
As for STFC they should keep to what was agreed! They have not and were not forced into anything. Why should they be able to go back on what was agreed when planning permission was granted? Shurely it makes better sense having community pitches there- why should everything be up Harlescott and Sundourne! Its about time something was placed on that side of town!
I think people should not criticise the Council because if you open your eyes you will see that Shrewsbury is a much better town since Councillor Nutting and Roberts have been in charge! There is more life to the town! As for the theatre comment by “Town Fan” having the Theatre where it is is fantastic it will be people to the town and bring Shrewsbury more inline with the times like every other person under the age of 50 like myself wants it to be!
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Why should the football club be responsible for providing sports facilities anyway? surely this is the responsibility of the local council.
The football club is a private concern and a business not a registered charity
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Louise – the council’s own officers agreed that Gay Meadow was the best site for the theatre. That was voted against by councillors.
Peter Nutting leads the council. Therefore he is reponsible for Councillor Armstrong.
The COUNCIL first approached the football club asking to move the pitches because they were not needed there. That is proven, admitted in council chamber and ont he public record. The council asked for the facilities to be moved from Oteley road. Then they voted against their own suggestion!
£400k of funding for the SCAT site magically appeared in the council budget after the football club offered to help fund that development. In the council meeting on 15th February the SCAT money was not there. Armstrong claims it was never in doubt – in which case why was it not part of the council spending strategy!!!
Your point about Sundorne is valid, but this has nothing to do with Sundorne Sports Village, which incidentally is an under used and over budget, behind schedule, poorly constructed white elephant our council have left us with.
Let’s hope they have a little more success with the theatre.
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Louise…
I actually feel sorry for the likes of you who are proud of where you live and want to see things happen.
Many many residents and indeed Shrewsbury Town fans are proud of where they live and and subsequently have have attended council meeting to see for themselves what is going on.
This is why we know about the inner goings on because we care about our football club and our town.
My eyes have been opened by councillors first saying one thing and the next month going against a recommendation.
The Shropshire Star have the attitude of not printing all the facts to make a good story. The Shrewsbury Chronicle continue to publish letters from anti-stadium people saying the directors are pocketing money and that the rate payers paid for it all, but they are simply untrue.
How else can we get our points accross? People only like reading the headlines and some can not be bothered to read all the political goings on but believe me Louise, we are the ones that are right.
The town is and will be better off with a despeartely needed new theatre, however do some digging and find out how much more expensive it now is when the councillors voted NOT to allow it to be built on Gay Meadow.
I live in Sutton myself and we DO need more community pitches, the sports village would have been better off built in conjunction with the New Stadium but sadly it was not voted through.
Unfortunatley I live people who first demand that when STFC say they won’t build pitches as the council are not acting properly on behalf of their elected residents say that they need pitches in the south of the town and then bizzarely enought, the same people say it will cause more traffic and light pollution when STFC come to an agreement to build such facilities.
Its all very frustrating.
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“Handbags” READY!!!!
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If the punishment for not agreeing with STFC is banishment from their Club and premises then what are the rewards for agreeing with them?????
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I find it interesting that 15 miles up the A5 you have a council who have fully backed their local football club.
The club brings money from outside of the area into the town. How many businesses in the town can claim that.
And how many of those businesses put Shrewsbury on the map like the football club do.
Telford and Wrekin understand this and are happy to promote the club and all the community work they do.
It seems there are those on the SABC who are only interested in getting their name in the paper and not in promoting the town out side of the county.
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Louise, it always takes a woman to see the light. We have had a one sided debate on this from the football club why not have a public meeting to discuss both sides in public?
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Jaggs – why don’t we just wait for the legal action between the football club and the council to be concluded?
That way several “facts” will have to be proven or disproven.
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Matthew I am afraid is wrong the theatre built on the old meadow would have cost in excess of £40m by the time you had bought the land, built the theatre and provided flood defences,that is why theatre went to frankwell
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Brenda – there is no punishment for not agreeing with the football club. there is a concern that false and / or misleading statements have been made about the football club which are subject to legal investigation and possibly legal proceedings / libel action / / ombudsman / standards board.
During that time STFC have asked the people involved to stay away, which is standard practise while something is being investigated.
But Councillor Armstrong ran to the press complaining he had been banned and could not go to the Mayor’s Ball, even though 7 days earlier it was made clear that he could go to the Mayor’s Ball.
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Welshman – that council voted against a £28 million scheme. That included the land.
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What a load of drivel. I’d be most concerned if these people were councillors on my local council or if my football club was run by such childish and pathetic creatures.
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Had the newspaper contacted me I would have been more than happy to confirm that the ban would not prevail at the Mayors Civic dinner. In fact any loss of income to the charity due to conflict re-imbursement had been offered by the Chairman.
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Mr Truth please give the full details of your £28m scheme
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Truth
There are no legal proceedings. Or are you unaware of this??
The more I read the more Louise is making sense. Bring it all out into the public and lets see who said what and did what when.
Or is the truth too much for truth?
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could i suggest from a distance that stfc board of directors join or takeover Ludlow town council, 2 laughing stocks together!!
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to my critics on here, happy days no i have no interest in going to this stadium ie blot on the landscape so im happy to be banned, also i stand by my statement on this all being childish .
as for oiks its not name calling its what i choose to call this group of people oiks…
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Harold St. John Peasbody said: Oct 2nd, 2007 at 3:55 pm What a load of drivel. I’d be most concerned if these people were councillors on my local council or if my football club was run by such childish and pathetic creatures.
What a mature response to this issue! Could you explain exactly which facts presented by the football club and its supporters are “drival” and why?
The chairman and directors of the football club are all successful local businessmen who live and work in Shrewsbury and genuinely want the best for the Town. In many respects they should be typical Conservative supporters. If certain councilors want to treat such people in this way then fine – but they should think about the impact this has on attracting new business to the town.
The facts are that under the STFC Directors control the new ground was built on time, on budget, without local tax payers money and is being widely used by all sections of the community.
Under SABC control The New Theatre is already over budget, behind time and will costs each and every local tax payer money to run throughout its lifetime.
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was there not a dance called the oiky coiky, perhaps the board could perform on strictly come dancing,
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andrew finch said: Oct 2nd, 2007 at 4:44 pm to my critics on here, happy days no i have no interest in going to this stadium ie blot on the landscape so im happy to be banned, also i stand by my statement on this all being childish .
as for oiks its not name calling its what i choose to call this group of people oiks…
Another mature answer to genuine comments put on here by town fans.
Its clearly up to you whether you visit the new ground or not, but I’d hope you would take a look some time. The facilities for conferences are excellent and the sunday lunch is one of the best in Shropshire!
Just out of interest. What are your view on SABC’s plans to sell off Shrewsbury golf course on Oteley Road and build houses on the site?
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There are two sides to most stories and the trust is usually somewhere in the middle, with a little bit of fault on both sides.
However, the club would probably never have had the new ground had it not been for the council waiving the covenant at Gay Meadow.
Bottom line is that two groups of adults are behaving like two groups of kids, each blaming the other. Everything is always someone else’s fault . . . I’d get more maturity out of some of my teenage pupils than these so called pillars of community.
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Sorry, I meant to say the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.
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Dear Mr Truth
thank you so much for putting the record straight on behalf of STFC. I entirely agree with all your comments and hope to receive my two free tickets for he next game in the post!
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Having read your comments i feel its about time you all realised there is more to Shrewsbury than STFC!
The only bad comment i have to say against the Council is that Judith Williams who is organising the Charity ball is obviously not very loyal to her political party if she is to go ahead arranging a bash at the ground when STFC have bad mouths her fellow councillors like this even if they are not banned from the event! If i was a councillor i would not for one moment consider holding an event there have the bad publicity the footbal club have given the Council over the last few days. Bet no one has considered that have they!
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ohh dear Im so very tired of it all.
What a lot of hot air about a Football club attended on average by 5000 people in a town of at least 96,000 .. Sods law he who shouts loudest gets and the money men get more than most.Come on guys put your rattles away sit back in your prams you got your stadium and the long walk to get to it. what did the other few residents left over when you deduct 5000 from 96000 well it seems like a lot of hot air from ducks in long grass thats what we got.
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meadow matt, i believe the stadium to be a blott on the landscape, i doubt i will visit no matter how excellent the services, my choice ,as is yours to visit and consider it to be excellent, my point has and always has been the councillors should not have been banned , but welcomed with open arms and yes pointed out to them by stfc why they thought some of there views requests etc were not wanted ,that is a mature and adult way to behave and an example to the young.
As for the sell off of the golf course no i do not agree with that. even though they have said they will relocate it there are other areas around shrewsbury that could be built on so i do not agree with councillors on all things .and to take away the golf course there would be a tragic shame especially for the wildlife around that area you can’t relocate that, you can recreate it some where else but is that the best thing to do no i do not think so .
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Judith Williams arranges many events for the Mayor and this is one of them. The Mayor has nothing to do with politics and should not be brought into it by either side nor dose the role of Mayor have any real power but reflects the Town and the area. Keep having a go at me if you feel the need but leave the Mayor out of it please.
As for the rest of the comments well lets say they are creative.
Charles
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Obviously Loise has never arranged a Civic charity event, or she would know that these have to be arranged months in advance. This one was no different, and was arranged 2 months prior to anyone knowing that the personal bans were even likely. As 160 tickets have been sold, it is extremely upsetting for the charities involved should it be cancelled.
Please dont question my loyalty, 24 years on the council has seen my loyalty, so have the very grateful charities who have benefitted from the huge amount I have raised with the help of my loyal friends and family. If you would like to send me a dontation Louise, the my address is on the SAB website.
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“Creative”
But no willingness to confirm or deny any details, or provide evidence to the contrary.
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Jaggs Said
The more I read the more Louise is making sense. Bring it all out into the public and lets see who said what and did what when.
If Louise is making sense when she says this town is a better place with this council I feel you are very misguided
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how dare you us this post to bang your own drum ms williams, the huge amount of money you have raised?? through friends and family? and the general public remember them? . you may have been a councillor for 24 years but many people who would like to have a go at being a councillor cant, due to work commitments it is impossible as the two young councillors from up north found out when they had to stand down from there posts. i think ms williams needs to learn not every one courts the press for the good they have done for there community’s unlike the select few councillors we have thrust upon us on a weekly basis through the chronical. all the above said i still support the 4 who were banned it is wrong and childish of stfc to do such a thing
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So it would appear that the football club DID NOT BAN anyone! Their letter asks councillors to examine their own conscience before attending. When asked for clarification the club confirmed that they all could attend the Mayor’s Ball but if any of the councillors found a conscience the Club would pay for any loss to the charitable event. So conclusions are: 1. The Shropshire Star blows up a story to get a headline and fill blank space (one wonders how many papers they would sell if the football club didnt exist!); 2. They make no meaningful attempt to corroborate the story (hardly the first time that has happened!) 3. Certain councillors have no consciences!! 4. Some people will have a pop at anything to do with STFC just because they dont want it and without any regard to the facts or the truth.
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Yep, thanks for telling us how long you’ve been ‘on the council’ for Judith – really interesting. Equally off the point, I thought it worth mentioning that the only memory I have of you was when you tried (unsuccessfully) to stop people from enjoying live music in the town. Bit of a kill-joy then really so I’m not surprised you’ve only sold 160 tickets if there’s no live music on offer.
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i will have money on all the so called fact put up in this discussion being false i think people involved in this areare obviously biased and ill informed
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Mr Finch get a life and get off STFC based sites you are clogging them up and boring us all silly you “toff”.Bye !
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daveg get of stfc sites?? i have a wondereful life thanks it how ever does not revolve around footie oik bye
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“Examine their own conscience” – blimey, I would think that should be reserved for something important, like wars in Iraq, Burma, Zimbabwe etc etc.
Bottom line is surely this:
Thin skinned football club directors + thin skinned councillors = very childish war of words + severl “adults” looking rather foolish
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What I can’t get over is the level of misspellings, punctuation and grammar that our representatives possess!
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Has STFC actually provided a reason why they do not want to build the pitches? What do they plan to do with the land?
Perhaps the club realise that the cost of the pitches is likely to be well in excess of £350,000. A large area of land would certainly go some way to make up for the woeful parking provision (that is the parking that ordinary town fans and visiting supporters could use – not the always half empty car park for permit holders).
The club is welching on an agreement that they agreed to before and during the stadium construction even asking for deadline extensions on completion of the pitches (playing or time it would now appear). Now the stadium is open for business they are trying to bully their way out.
The residents of Meole and Sutton have had to endure road closures, additional traffic, speed restrictions, noise and other inconvience. Is i not fair that they should have easy access to decent facilities? Come on STFC – try to be a good neighbour for once.
I’ve asked this question before on similar comments/ stories but somehow they always seems to disappear. Lets see if this one gets to stay on the message board.
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Well done to Shrewsbury council. How often do those in government u-turn and back down on issues. Its refreshing to see a council not afraid to stand by a decision or back down to avoid creating waves.
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So interesting to read comments from all sides of the argumen – some logical and sensible, others tainted with complete and utter rubbish and littered with inane & childish, school yard style use of the English language.
As an outsider and non Salopian it’s interesting to note that the debate and/or argument is far more tangible and believable with well constructed comments and points made by the so called ‘OIKS’. The use of the English language and in particular the use of correct grammar etc is sadly lacking in a rather embarrassing way when put forward by the presumably well educated few representing the council and the apparent 91,000 inhabitants of Shrewsbury who don’t visit the new stadium.
Thankfully I no longer have to live as an adult in Shrewsbury, my father was a police officer there many years ago and it was a joyous place to live, somewhere I was very proud to be associated with but now…..As a man who travels far and wide throughout the UK with my job I have to say I don’t think I have ever witnessed such a town with a backwards approach to moving forward and progressing within the 21st Century.
It’s time for the NIMBYs’ to rid themselves of the old school ties, cast off the well balanced chips they seemingly carry on each shoulder and take a first positive step into the future. The New Meadow is a fantastic addition and great advertisement for the town, the inhabitants of Shrewsbury and more so the local council and councilors should be proud of the stadium and make use of it as a positive selling point when attracting progressive businesses to the town.
We live in a climate of mobile phones, digital TV and a world dominated by the internet etc – For pity’s sake wake up to the modern world and accept, move on, promote and enjoy.
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Hey! Here’s an idea! We’ve got the stadium, we’re in sound financial hands! LET’S JUST PLAY FOOTBALL AND ENJOY IT!
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