Town chief calls for more home support (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Town chief calls for more home support

9:40am Thursday 26th January 2012 in Sport By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

KENDAL Town chairman Haydon Munslow has called for more supporters to attend the Black and Whites’ home matches as the club aims to invest in its future.

Attendances this season have dropped below 200 and Mr Munslow said an ongoing dispute with Parkside (Kendal) Ltd had meant the club was more financially dependent on its fans.

He said: “With the occupants of our clubhouse [The Park] this season refusing to contribute financially towards the upkeep of the football club, we are very dependent on fans coming through the turnstiles to watch our home games.

“The more our fans turn out, the better the atmosphere in the stadium and the easier the financial burden.”

The club also announced there would be free admission to under 16s for home games for the remainder of the season.

Earlier this month the club announced that it had had to reduce its budget for player’s wages.

Further details emerged this week of the disagreement between the club and Parkside (Kendal) Ltd.

Parkside (Kendal) Ltd told The Westmorland Gazette the club had demanded a 50 per cent rise in the ‘rent’ paid from the beginning of the 2011/12 season.

It said that while it had always made monthly donations, it had never paid rent.

The company – which is run by David Willan, Roy Nicholson and Ian Walker - said: “We have never paid a rent on the clubhouse but always made a donation. It had previously been a donation for the groundsman.

“But after the new chairman completed his first year with the club, he asked us for more money. We explained we don’t pay a rent. Obviously Parkside Ltd still wants to support the football club. The facilities have always been available for any supporters, not only on match days but also for fundraising events.”

Parkside (Kendal) Ltd said it understood the clubhouse was gifted to the supporters club in the 1950s and after its sale to Hayclose Leisure in the 1980s, it took over the rolling lease in 2004.

The company said it was happy to sit around a table and talk with Kendal Town FC, but said it first wanted the club to accept the history of the clubhouse.

Mr Munslow said it was ‘fantastic’ that Parkside (Kendal) Ltd was now prepared to enter negotiations but said that the club’s accounts had recorded a rent for both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons.

He added: “There are clearly two parties interpreting matters differently but I would ask them to produce the documents to support their allegations. If they then happen to be correct we will look at other sources of income from the clubhouse.”