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The rebirth of Nuneaton football club with new crest picked from fan vote ready for 2024/25

There’s been an update on the rebirth of Nuneaton football club with a new crest picked from a fan vote ready for the 2024/25 season.

A lot of work is going on behind the scenes in order to get Nuneaton Town back playing in the English football pyramid after the demise of Nuneaton Borough at the end of 2023.

Nuneaton Town FC is now incorporated as a registered Community Interest Company (CIC), meaning they can now look forward to finding out from the Football Association (FA) which level the team will play at.

They’ve already confirmed that they’ll play home matches at The Oval, of Bedworth United FC until a permanent home in Nuneaton can be found.

BBC CWR‘s Clive Eakin spoke with club’s vice chair, Ian Cook…

Ian: Round the back of it is to give the fans something back and also get the fans more involved within the club so we can build up the relationship and make it stronger, to be honest.

Interviewer: So how does the club get run, then? Is it going to be, you know, one sort of chair running everything, or is the idea that it’s going to be run by the fans and by groups of people?

Ian: Yeah, we form the CRC. The directors of the CRC is a combination, the business community group, and then we’ve got the cooperative side of it and we’ve got an independent director and a fans. We’ve got a spokesman for the fans as part of the board. So there’s five of us directors, so we can cover all angles and hopefully touch everybody, really, to be involved.

Interviewer: So I’ll get the cynical bit out of the way early and there will be people listening to this. They will say, here we go again. One club’s gone, another club’s form. You’ll be splashing the cash, moving up the divisions again until you go bust again. Can you reassure people that is not going to happen this time?

Ian: No. We’ve now got a treasurer, part of the club, which, old days we didn’t really have a treasurer. We’ve got, you know, we’ve. We’ve got a more realistic grip on the demand and sort of the players budget, coaching budget, which is set and that’s it. And the purpose behind it all the money, the money that goes into the club is there for the club. You know, there’s no shareholders and nothing. So, yeah, it’s money gained is for the Nuneaton Town football club and to thrive it towards, you know, we want to get back into the Nuneaton. We want to get a ground, our own ground back. So that’s the main drive of, especially from, you know, mine, and there’s two directors, part of the board. That’s a part of the old business. You know, we’ve got some very good business groups with us and, yes, they were part of the old regime that we had as sponsors at the Nuneaton Borough. We’ve got a large proportion of them behind us with the community, with the co op and with the fans generating funds for the new club. So all the right interests are there and the money will go back into the club.

Interviewer: Yeah. You mentioned, obviously, the first paramount thing, I guess, is the ground. I know you’ll be sharing at Bedworth for at least a couple of seasons, possibly three, but where are you in terms of finding new ground?  Because it’s a big… as Leamington have found, of course, and did find all those years ago. It’s one thing to say we’re going to find a new ground. It’s quite difficult to do, though. How far down the road are you on that?

Ian: Well, to be honest, we’ve got everything else, sort of. We’ve made other things priorities, let’s say. You know, we’ve. We’re interviewing for a new manager. A massive response, real positive response of applicants. And obviously we’ve got to get the team formed. We just want to get all the basics done. And we’ve got an amazing. We’ve got an amazing steering group part of this venture back. The rebirth and the steering group behind the back of the scenes have done wonders. And we’ve now just formed another, what we call a subgroup, which will be driving towards working and getting back, finding land and finding somewhere back in the nether to start the sort of growth and the rebuild of the ground.

Interviewer: And do you have a sense you’ve got a lot of support locally from. From football fans in Nuneaton?

Ian: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. You know, it’s been massive. You know, when you start looking at the badge. When we decided to send out, you know, pick your badge, the new football badge and whatnot the actual response to that, there was only between 900-1,000 that sort of had a vote on that. So we do feel that we’ve got very good support. And the ones that are sort of a bit more I’m hoping they’re going to look at it and say, do you know what? We’ve got some good foundations and we have very positive foundations, to be honest, for the rebirth.

Interviewer: And in terms of what level you play at, you’re still waiting to hear on that. 

Ian: Yeah, we sort of prepared, if it’s going to be step six, were hoping that. We feel it won’t be any lower than that. We’re hoping that might be a very slim chance. Could be step five. But again, we just got a waiting game. We’ve got to wait till, I think it’s around mid June to get a definite defined answer. But it’s nice to see that we are part of this lengthy list. And it’s. We sort of mentioned there at the bottom of the list in step six, which, you know, we’re just saying, at least now that we’re there, we’ve been noticed. We just got to wait now long wait.

STATEMENT:

Nuneaton Town FC is now an officially registered Community Interest Company, marking the rebirth of the town’s historic football club.

Following the demise of Nuneaton Borough FC at the end of 2023, supporters and former sponsors have come together and worked hard to create a new football club, Nuneaton Town FC, which is now a registered Community Interest Company (CIC).  

“The club you’ve supported all your life has withdrawn from the league and has no manager, no players and no ground. So, what do you do? Accept that it’s the end of 130 years of the town’s proud footballing heritage? No chance,” said long-time Boro fan and one of the club’s new directors, Jim Evans. 

“As fans all over the country have done in similar circumstances, you come together as a fan base, as a community, and you rebuild. This is the start of the journey. We want you to come along with us.”

Supporters on board 

Following an open meeting held by the Nuneaton Borough Supporters’ Co-Operative back in January, around twenty Boro fans formed a Steering Group that has met weekly to create the new club and ensure everything is in place for the start of the 2024/25 season.

The Steering Group has agreed a Board of Directors: Ian Cook (chair), Derek Dunnachie, Stuart Elliott, Jim Evans and Mark Lacrouts, with Lee Hayward as the club’s treasurer and Richard Dean as secretary. 

Cook and Elliott represent Nuneaton’s football business community. Dunnachie is an independent representative. Evans and Lacrouts represent the Nuneaton Borough Supporters’ Co-Operative and were appointed by the Co-op’s elected board. This structure ensures that fans are at the heart of decision making within the new club. 

All have years of relevant experience, garnered from their professional lives and time spent on the Boro terraces, which will be put to good use running a football club with a sustainable ethos centred around the local community.  

Chair Ian Cook says “I feel honoured to have been asked to represent the club as a CIC director and chair. I will show huge passion and dedication to help drive our club back towards where we belong.”

Supporters’ Co-Operative representative Lacrouts says he “is so proud and privileged to be selected as a director. I want to ensure that we have a well-managed and ambitious team that is sustainably financed that can stand on its own two feet”.

Ahead of the new season, Nuneaton Town FC will be sharing updates so fans can get an insight into what is happening behind-the-scenes. Simply follow Nuneaton Borough Supporters’ Co-Operative on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) or the just launched Nuneaton Town FC WhatsApp Channel, where news will be shared first. 

Pre-season preparations

The FA has yet to determine which level Nuneaton Town FC will be playing at but the Steering Group has created financial models and plans for each of the potential leagues. The Steering Group has also started the process of recruiting a new manager and arranging pre-season friendlies, while the wider fan and club community has helped select a club badge and kit.

“I am honoured to be working with a group of people who are so passionate in delivering what the fans want and deserve,” says Steering Group member and now Director, Dunnachie. 

“I would like to thank the Steering Group for all of their hard work to date,” adds club director Stuart Elliott. “What a great team you all are off the pitch after a turbulent time towards the end of the Boro.”

Football’s coming home – almost

With Nuneaton Town FC moving into an operational phase, the Steering Group will continue its work through sub-groups focused on different aspects of running a football club. 

One thing already decided is where the team will be playing – in the short term, at least. The club has an agreement with Bedworth United to use The Oval for upcoming seasons. All involved with Nuneaton Town FC are, however, determined to bring home games back to the town itself. As board member Stuart Elliott puts it, “As a long-time fan and sponsor, I am committed to seeing Nuneaton Town FC playing back in Nuneaton.”

Find out more

Keep up to date with club news by following Nuneaton Borough Supporters’ Co-Operative on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) or the Nuneaton Town FC WhatsApp Channel. This new website (www.nuneatontownfc.co.uk) is under development and we will update fans when it is ready.

Fans gave their reaction amid the rebirth of Nuneaton football club with a new crest picked from a fan vote ready for 2024/25…

@quietisolation: Stockport fan here – wishing you guys all the best with the new club. Good to see you back in business.

@MichaelRealReed: Welcome back 👏💙

@JonCollett: Good news for Nuneaton!

@MarkA_SW: “The club you’ve supported all your life has withdrawn from the league and has no manager, no players and no ground. So, what do you do? Accept that it’s the end of 130 years of the town’s proud footballing heritage? No chance.” Nail. Head.👏

@PetarBalac: Support the rebirth of your club. Help out, muck in and support your team. It’ll be a great journey for all of us, but we all need to muck in together. Learn from the past, let’s make small steps for our new journey. #NuneatonTown

@wayne_goss_: “The club you’ve supported all your life has withdrawn from the league and has no manager, no players and no ground. So, what do you do? Accept that it’s the end of 130 years of the town’s proud footballing heritage? No chance.” 💙🤍😉

Patrick Tiernan: Good luck Boro. Other clubs have been in this situation and recovered. I can’t see why Boro can’t do it.

Mark Lacrouts: I’m so optimistic about next season and our club in a very long time.we have so much to share with the entire fan base in the coming weeks and months. I’m overwhelmed by the personal messages I have received over the past few weeks . Myself, like everyone involved are so determined to make this club be exactly what we know it is … with fans being front and centre of everything we deliver. Much love 💙🤍💙

Matt Jones: Whilst many are asking valid questions I would urge patience. The current season for everyone else is not yet over, and thus we won’t know what league we’ll be in until the FA release their allocations probably in early June. I would think season tickets can be bought once league allocation is known. The future begins now. Boro are BACK!

Anthony Cahalin: Now a manager who can get the team and the town back to its former glory

 

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