Johnstone Burgh statement

[archieb]

https://twitter.com/johnstone_burgh/status/1680677142512775169?s=20

[parsforlife]

Someone is a tad upset that their egotistical project hasn’t been met with universal praise 

[Shanner]

why does the text get smaller? it was like reading one of these.

 

[PossilYM]

Pointless bringing in well known players and talking about football academies unless they have the infrastructure.

Common sense would be first up a plastic pitch and floodlights.

Aim for a licence and get in the big Scottish every year.

 

[jimbaxters]

One investment they need to make is a proof reader. "metal health" indeed.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

2 hours ago, jimbaxters said:

One investment they need to make is a proof reader. "metal health" indeed.

A steely determination needed to iron out their problems. 

[Hillonearth]

2 hours ago, jimbaxters said:

One investment they need to make is a proof reader. "metal health" indeed.

[GordonD]

2 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

A steely determination needed to iron out their problems. 

They've got a brass neck if you ask me.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

The right justification of the statement alone makes me hate it. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

16 minutes ago, GordonD said:

They've got a brass neck if you ask me.

Tinpot outfit.

[Mine Man]

Why all the animosity with a club who want to offer a bit more to the youth and the community. It doesn’t matter how little or how much is invested, the fact they are willing is more important.  Yes lots want to see it fail but we is anyone suprised give the WOS mentality about money and success.

[Johnny Sox]

I say the best of luck to them.

The rest of us just wish it was our team getting the investment.

[Lokloyal]

40 minutes ago, Hillonearth said:

Now there’s an album!Featuring a great cover of Cum on Feel the Noize by Slade

[Plantar fasciitis]

7 minutes ago, Johnny Sox said:

I say the best of luck to them.

The rest of us just wish it was our team getting the investment.

I suppose the worry for Burgh fans would be , like most clubs that suddenly get an injection of money from an investor, is how long it will be sustained. You only have to look at Kilwinning and Irvine meadow to see how this can have a massive affect on a club if the investor decides one days he has spent enough of his hard earned cash without getting any monetary benefits back and leaves. 
let's be honest clubs at our level will never make any money , realistically most clubs at premier league level don't make any money, so if the Burgh don't get up through the leagues and make it into the Scottish league in the next 5 years or so does the investors get fed up and pull out? Do they freefall like Kilwinning done a few years ago? 
if as they promise they build a sustainable infrastructure then great but that still won't pay the kind of wages been mentioned just now and could be the death knell . 
Personally I hope it does work out for them in the long term, despite disagreeing with their signing policy this season which I still think is unjustified at the level they are playing, and think it is great for the town of Johnstone
 

[cmontheloknow]

Prayers answered and a text version was provided:

Johnstone Burgh can today confirm that the club has been taken over by a recently formed consortium, led by investors involved mainly in the healthcare and engineering sectors, both of whom have a love of the game, and family ties to the local area and to the club.

Prior to the takeover, there was already a core of outstanding people working tirelessly within the club, some of whom have been involved for over 20yrs. Some recent additions to the committee have brought new energy and ideas, and helped to ensure the club has kept its head above water in recent years.

We hope the new investment will allow some of the dreams of long'standing members of the committee, and of the supporters, to be realised.

The intention is to build a sustainable community club, which can rise through the football pyramid as quickly and efficiently as possible, into professional football.

As part of the drive towards sustainability and progress, the consortium intends to purchase the stadium, redevelop the club-house and stand, along with the installation of state-of-the-art astroturf facilities. Talks have been ongoing in the background for several months now, with a focus on how, and indeed if, the current site can be developed, an issue on which we hope to update soon.

This will allow us to start the process of gaining our SFA licence, to run concurrently with the upcoming seasons, allowing us to be prepared as we try to step up each stage of the pyramid.

In addition to the purchase of the stadium, there will be investment into the youth set up within the club.

The club developed and has run a community club over the past 4-5yrs, with the focus on getting more kids in the area playing football. Presently, we have over 200 children playing, but unfortunately, due to the lack of local facilities, we have had to put the brakes on further growth until we can get access to, or build more, facilities that are usable all year round.

As part of our overarching plan to develop the best, local talent, we intend to create an academy that feeds into the development and thereafter first team squad.

To achieve this goal, the aim is to have all coaches within the academy holding a minimum of UEFA C coaching licence, with our academy teams working in conjunction with our community clubs to provide everyone in the local area the opportunity to play and enjoy football.

The recent signings of Kyle Lafferty and Graham Dorrans have been real coups, and have accomplished the goal of raising the profile of the club. We hope that the additional media coverage which included Sky Sports visiting the club, will bring increased interest in Johnstone Burgh and an increase in crowds with more local people becoming involved in the day-to-day running of the club. This was stage 1 of the project when we first got together and developed a strategy for moving forward.

Much has been said about the money involved in bringing these players in, all of it being untrue and coming from individuals with no knowledge of the facts or processes or circumstances involved.

These players will give the club a platform to progress quickly and professionally while passing onto the younger players, coaching staff, development team and community club their vast experience of playing at the highest level.

People may choose to look at this as overkill for our current level; however we are looking at it as the foundation of the project. Quick progress, allowing us to build a squad, capable of challenging as the club tries to progress through the leagues, is our target. People who know about football at our level will know we have also signed the best young players available. With their huge collective potential still to be realised, and continuing to develop this alongside more established and experienced players in the prime of their career, we will not require wholesale changes each season as we progress, as we have seen other ambitious clubs do.

Johnstone Burgh is and always will be a club for all members of the community regardless of age, race, religion or gender.

If people want to use previous clubs of our marquee signings as reason to stay away from the club then unfortunately that’s up to them.

These were the players that were identified who were available and we negotiated with and struck deals with.

They have over 100 international caps between them and played at the highest level in both England and Scotland and abroad, you cannot put a price on that experience.

We intend to bring the glory years back to club and give the town a successful club to be proud of which it has sorely missed for many years.

The negativity we have received, and the lies posted on social media - based on gossip, only makes us more determined to build this club to be a proper community club where everyone is welcome, regardless of what other colours they may wear or may have worn.

We will also continue with the fantastic charity work the club has been involved in, in recent years, partnering up with the local foodbank, arranging Easter, Christmas and fun days for the local kids, creating a boot swap for the kids in our community club teams meaning less pressure on parents to fork out large sums of money and most recently our mental health group that will be up and running very soon.

Should anyone like any further information on future plans then feel free to contact the club directly and we will be more than happy to answer any questions.

[Hillonearth]

1 hour ago, Lokloyal said:

Now there’s an album!Featuring a great cover of Cum on Feel the Noize by Slade

Yeah, saw them opening for somebody (Judas Priest?) at the Apollo around the time that came out - it was huge in the States, but they seem to have been a bit of a one album wonder.

[Bad Wolf]

It gets a tad whiny and defensive on the third page, but I don't see much there to criticise. Being a Killie fan, I'm all too aware that Lafferty is far from universally popular, but as I don't do social media I can only guess as to the nature of the "lies" referred to. 

 

I see no problem with any team trying to raise it's profile and/or progress up the leagues in a sustainable fashion, and it's surely too early to judge whether this is the case here or not.

[Josuke Higashikata]

I mean no harm to Johnstone Burgh and wish them well. But this long statement is better for a website than social media.

Yes, websites are still useful!

Edited July 17, 2023 by Josuke Higashikata

[Shanner]

3 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

It gets a tad whiny and defensive on the third page, but I don't see much there to criticise. Being a Killie fan, I'm all too aware that Lafferty is far from universally popular, but as I don't do social media I can only guess as to the nature of the "lies" referred to. 

 

I see no problem with any team trying to raise it's profile and/or progress up the leagues in a sustainable fashion, and it's surely too early to judge whether this is the case here or not.

You reckon there's a chance this approach will be sustainable beyond the interest of the folk chucking the money in?

[Jan Vojáček]

6 hours ago, PossilYM said:

Pointless bringing in well known players and talking about football academies unless they have the infrastructure.

Common sense would be first up a plastic pitch and floodlights.

Aim for a licence and get in the big Scottish every year.

I'd agree with this. If a big money investor came into the Sons (if anyone is reading this with several million kicking about, my DMs are open) then the first thing I'd want would an infrastructure put in place; astro park and improvements to the stadium to get it back up to scratch. That's worth far, far more than spending a grand a week (or whatever, the amount is irrelevant) on a 36-year-old player in the longer term. Even if Lafferty and Dorrans might help get some extra interest and bodies through the door.

Fwiw, Johnstone's U20s won their Development League last year I think, so there's clearly plenty of young talent coming through. It would be a shame if they get punted out for guys coming in on big bucks.