Morning all,
Firstly I’d like to say a quick thank you to everyone that’s reached out to myself or any of the lads within the last week or so.
I’m sure that you can understand that we’ve all been bombarded with several suggestions and ideas ahead of this weekend, and we’ve had plenty of people asking us to arrange ‘official’ boycotts and or protests, while also being asked by some to try and prevent a boycott or protest taking place and encourage people to still attend home matches.
Ultimately though across the entire fanbase, it’s very clear that we all have a lot of concerns about the running of the football club and the direction in which it’s going.
Thanks to the feedback and questions provided by yourselves though, we have now been able to present the football club with a written and formal set of questions – to give them an opportunity to address supporters concerns. We expect these to be answered in person, at a public and open forum that is set to be scheduled within the next few weeks.
Until an Open Forum and AGM is organised though, many of us simply feel like we cannot bring ourselves to attend home games until the issues between the football club’s hierarchy and supporters have been addressed – and that some pressure does need to still put onto the football club to ensure they take supporters concerns seriously and address them in a timely manner.
To demonstrate the seriousness and urgency of the matter, we are advocating that supporters boycott this Saturday’s home game against Stockton Town.
Instead of attending Croft Park this Saturday, we encourage supporters to continue to support grassroots and local football by attending another local game. You can find plenty of games across the Northern League and Northern Alliance taking place this weekend, should you choose to search one out.
A group of us will be heading up to support Robbie Dale’s Blyth Town side on Saturday, who take on Tow Law Town at Gateway Park – and you’re more than welcome to join us. Some of you have probably ventured up there in recent times or been involved in junior football with Town at some point, so you’ll know how welcoming the likes of Jeff and Sandra Orr and Scott Douglas etc are. Plus, you’ll get to see King Rob strut his stuff once again.
For some this may some like a bit of a drastic step and for others, simply boycotting is not enough. We respect everyone has different opinions on the matter and even for ourselves, this is a difficult course of action to take. Blyth Spartans is in our blood and the idea of actively missing a matchday at Croft Park is a strange feeling.
However this is a course of action we feel as though we have to take. False promises have been made, supporters, former players and volunteers have all been disrespected and the football club have maintained a wall of silence for months – and now is the time to take action.
Cheers,
Dan Rolls
Cosignatories – Michael Soulsby, Dan Hume, Matt Justice, Jack Morton