PERHAPS one day we’ll be able to focus on the football, when it comes to Newport County AFC, but that day is not today. This week is about the future of the club.

Without question the result of Thursday’s Community Share issue meeting at the Riverfront Arts Centre, 7pm, will shape the future.

Without question, County’s supporters need to come together and ensure that this is a success. It is, without a doubt, your best option.

I don’t want anyone reading this to be confused and think I’m suddenly flip-flopping on the issue of the Supporters Trust, after a column last week that was far from well received by that group.

It prompted not one, but two statements on their website mentioning yours truly, which wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I called for them to communicate more with supporters.

Perhaps I should be more careful what I wish for. I once wished for Tottenham to get a new manager and to sign a left back, a priority position at the time, and Spurs opted for Arsenal man George Graham and perennial red card waiting to happen, Ben Thatcher.

However, my position hasn’t changed an iota from what I wrote last week, nor as it turns out, will I be withdrawing a single word, or offering an apology for anything written.

As I wrote on social media shortly after the first Trust statement indicating their disappointment at my piece, I reject outright the claims that it was either ‘inaccurate’ or ‘ill-informed’. It seems fair to accept the accusation of it being speculative, because opinion pieces are by their very nature.

Despite twice condemning the column and having a full and frank discussion with this reporter, the Trust has not taken me up on my offer to retract and apologise for, or simply correct, any inaccuracies. I take that as meaning there are no specific objections.

I think the disappointment came in being criticised at a delicate point in the process, but I felt it was appropriate after an extraordinarily unusual week at the club and considered long and hard how to put my point across.

If it served as a reminder that our role in this is to scrutinise and ask questions, rather than be cheerleaders, I will take that. If it also spurred the Trust into being more proactive concerning PR, all the better.

But that needs to be water under the bridge. My basic stance hasn’t changed, which is simply, the Trust has to work and we have to make it work. I wrote that last week as well. And the weeks before, every week since Mr Scadding announced his intentions to retire.

Whatever the sum is and whatever figure the supporters are going to be asked to cough up on Thursday, together, however long it may take, County’s fans need to raise the total. You need to safeguard the future of the club.

And as I wrote clearly last week, I do have some sympathy for the guys currently atop of the Trust. They are caught in the middle of an increasingly fraught break-up of the previous board.

If you’re now shaking your fist at your computer, or raging staring at your copy of the Argus, asking why you should Trust the people at the top of this operation, bearing in mind genuine scepticism shared by this reporter over how they’ve handled the process so far, I would emphasis the point that this takeover is no more about them than it is you. They don’t, in the long-run, get a bigger say.

Once this takeover is completed and the fans run the show, elections will be held to appoint a board. If you are a Trust member, you’ll get just as much of a say as a Tony Pring or a Gavin Foxall. And that’s the way they want it.

A fan owned club is the right option for Newport County AFC, right now. Safeguard a long term future as a Football League club while you can.

It might mean a period where the Exiles struggle on the field, as you find your feet and budgets remain on the low side, but it will mean a future for your football club shaped by the vision and enthusiasm of the people who care about it most.

Not businessmen, or lottery winners, or a group looking to flip for a profit. Not an eccentric and rich person, who just wants a new toy to play with. No thanks. The best bet is you, the fans. You are the lifeblood of the club and the most natural custodians.

This brings us neatly to the question of what happens if the Trust is unsuccessful in raising the sums required to take control of Newport County AFC.

The answer is abundantly obvious. No one can possibly know. And only Les Scadding would be able to decide.

If the Trust fail, Mr Scadding will by rights have the option to sell the club to whomever he desires. It might work out fantastically as the Exiles power their way through divisions spending generously and playing good football to boot as he picks the perfect party. Or it might be Jerry Sherman part deux, which is unthinkable.

It is not a risk worth taking.

It’s going to be fascinating on Thursday to hear the exact state of affairs of the club, because my mouth is still agape at some of the revelations from the last public Trust meeting, where Supporters Direct representative Nick Igoe explained how County’s wage budget in 2014 was the tenth highest in League Two, propped up by the 20th highest turnover. The figures didn’t stack up and it is clearly financial irresponsibility that means the total required was estimated to be between £300-500,000.

If this doesn’t work, if the Trust takeover doesn’t happen, what is there to ensure this sort of financial misjudgement and mismanagement doesn’t happen in the future? How is it possible to safeguard against someone spending money in an out of control manner? Or just as bad, to seemingly go against all wishes of supporters and turn the atmosphere at Rodney Parade positively toxic, as is the situation at Blackpool, not so long ago a Premier League club and soon enough, perhaps a non-league one.

Again, you know the answer.

There will be no safeguard at all.

Newport County were onto a good thing with Mr Scadding, but they’ve clearly over extended. To quote one fan, he offered them an apple and County tried to take the orchard. Now there is nothing on the trees.

The club hasn’t been sustainable and now the fans must steady the ship and define the future.

There is no other option. County need to become the sixth club in the Football League to be supporter-owned or your future will be entirely unclear and at the whim of people whose primary interest may not be what is best for the club.

It’s time for action and Thursday is the beginning. Hopefully I’ll see you there.