MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: I can see where fans are coming from on this one (From South Wales Argus)

MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: I can see where fans are coming from on this one

6:20am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Sport

I COMPLETELY understand the ill-feeling some Newport County fans have shown after it was reported that the club were hopeful that supporters’ groups would raise the £50,000 needed to pay for the pitch improvements at Rodney Parade.

While I’m entirely convinced staying at Rodney Parade was essential for the Exiles to make any progress, there is absolutely no way supporters should be asked in a time of austerity and hardship to dig further into their pockets.

Or certainly not with nothing in return.

Newport County must completely remove the mindset (prevelant throughout the non-league scene) of it being acceptable to lean on your fans to such a degree you can resort to begging, fundraising by rattling a bucket.

We’ve moved on from that and while I’d agree fully that it would be a welcome relief if ALL the support groups could sit around a table and work together, a club like County should be able to raise £50,000 themselves through initiatives.

Have a golf day. A dinner. Come up with a ticket offer. You know, tap into the expertise at the club which now has a full time GM, a full time chief executive and a commercial manager.

But a word of caution to the online critics of the club.

I can guarantee (having been told exactly this as recently as yesterday) that in all likelihood chairman Les Scadding will be paying for some of the ground improvements. And as with the signings of Christian Jolley, Conor Washington and Rhys Griffiths, you’ll probably hear nothing about it.

But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t happening behind the scenes.

Every “what does Les do for us?” post is positively cringeworthy.

The chairman is already putting his money where his mouth is.