Outside Investment

By Richard Church (legacy user)10/9/2014 16:00Wed Sep 10 16:00:32 2014

Views: 6018

I was reading the Wealdstone Forum after their game against bath. Amidst all the moans and groans about the team’s disappointing start in the Conference South, there were some interesting points about attracting outside investment.

The suggestion was that even a well-supported club like Wealdstone with good commercial income streams could not survive/prosper in the Conference South without outside investment, in order to attract players of sufficient quality to dispel relegation fears/push for promotion.

This set me to thinking about Hendon’s situation if the move to Silver Jubilee Park does go ahead. Putting to one side any question of promotion to the Conference South do people think that having a permanent/semi-permanent base will attract outside investment into the Club?

The Hendon and Harrow areas must house one of the largest collections of accumulated wealth in London not to say the whole country, yet neither Hendon nor Wealdstone have a queue of wealthy punters beating a path to their doors wanting to invest in the clubs. Witness the barren years at Claremont road following the glory days of the early to mid-1970s and no I won’t be mischievous enough to ask what happened to the Newcastle money!

Again, I read on the Wealdstone Forum at the time of their game against Ebbsfleet that the Kuwait business man(men?) that have invested heavily in the club are associated with some massive housing building project in the area. The theory being that acquiring a local identity via the football club will help promote commerce. Given the amount of building going on along and behind the Edgware Road and forthcoming redevelopment of Brent Cross does this hold similar potential for Hendon?

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