Saints City Trust make offer to club (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Trust confident offer to St Albans City will be accepted

11:20am Wednesday 24th March 2010 in Sport By Simon Mail

Saints City Trust is confident their conditional £4,000 offer to St Albans City will be approved by the club.

The trust held a vote last week where ten members voted in favour of the club's request for a £6,000 contribution but 56 people voted for the trust's proposal with one abstention.

Three conditions have been attached to the offer, with the trust wishing to pay bills directly for items which will ensure the club's long-term future. The trust also want recognition, either through advertising at the ground or via shares, and would like to play an active role in the club's business planning.

Acting trust chair Laura Graham said: "We feel those three things won't be a problem. We have the money and are willing to spend it.

"We are very happy because it was a chance for everyone to share their feelings. I think it was a good opportunity for members to debate what the role of the trust is. I thought it was really positive.

"We want the money to be spent on things that are sustainable, such as ground improvements making sure it is up to Conference standard."

But Saints manager Steve Castle fears his side's Blue Square South play-off hopes will be scuppered by their threadbare squad.

A registration embargo, understood to be for an unpaid tax bill, was imposed on the club earlier this month which prevents the club from signing new players. The manager has been unable to field a full bench in recent weeks and the situation is unlikely to improve with the registration deadline looming next Wednesday.

Castle said: "It is what it is. Could we have done with a Gary Cohen and a Paul Hakim? Yes we could. Can we get him back? Supporters Trust, would you do that for us? I don't know. It would be great if we could just bolster it up.

"Until it's mathematically impossible why don't we just keep going for it? This is the reason I drove 150 miles for. We are undefeated, everyone in there is still saying we have a chance.

"There is no getting round it but I fear we are going to run out of players. How pathetic is that? We are going to run out of players. I've got no one to call on at all other than college kids. They would need the experience and they haven't got the experience at the moment.

"It's tough and would be such a shame for all the supporters, me, Mark Peters and all the players. To get beat is one thing and to be out of it because we lost games, we can all accept that. But if we run out of bodies, which is very likely, it's going to be very frustrating."

The Saints extended their unbeaten run to five games after a goalless draw at strugglers Worcester City on Saturday. City kept their third consecutive clean sheet but Castle accepts they will need to improve to keep in touch with the top five.

He said: "If we've got any chance of doing what we want to do we've got to be better than that. I can't think of anyone apart from Paul Bastock and Adam Everitt, to a degree, who could come out of it with any credit.

"The main issue I've got with my group of lads is their belief. We just let them in it.

"Fair play to them. They got on every second ball and tackle and we were just second best all over the park. I think it's just a belief thing. We've just got to look at ourselves and perform better if we want to win games now. It was a messy game."

City host fourth-placed Dover Athletic this weekend and Castle knows his side require maximum points if they have realistic ambitions of reaching the play-offs.

He added: "It will be a big game and let's hope we can put on a performance and get a result.

"We did very well down there. They're a big team with a big budget. I went over and watched them against Bishop's Stortford, who were never in it. They've got strong players and very good delivery but it should make for a very good game.

"They're a very well-supported club but we're going to keep positive all the way through."