Harrogate days

I was brought up in Harrogate between 1978 to 1983 although my trips back to the town have been infrequent since my parents moved away in the late 90s. I even played at Wetherby Road on one occasion for Pannal sports in a cup final although the best side in the area was always Starbeck Sports. I do remember the place with a lot of affection. It is pleasing to see the club seem to have come so far since my days. When I moved to Harrogate in 1978 and was quite struck by the contrast between Harrogate and Blackburn where I moved from. It seemed very posh. Football came secondary to the activities at Claro Road back then. Even my school HGS played rugby which was quite annoying for a soccer buff. My father was a local politician in Pannal who used to attend a few games and played bowls at Wayside around the corner. I did catch one game this season with my mate against Bishops Stortford earlier in the season and really enjoyed it. I was quite impressed with Turnbull (recently departed)and the club set-up in particular. I'm hoping to pay another visit on Saturday.

Since 1992 I have lived in Darlington where I have regularly attended Darlo games in support of my LOCAL club and you will be aware of the current problems there. There is every chance after administration that we will be in the BSN next year which is not the end of the world (lovely trip to Gate/decent standard of BSN football)although some fear the impact of lower crowds on sustainability. Darlo are currently designing a community shares based club and this is a wholly new venture for us after the disastrous single proprietor models of the past. It is on this note that I am interested in how your commercial/volunteer/community schemes have worked and any general thoughts you can provide. Things perhaps to avoid? I think our model for the BSN is based on 1400 home crowds. Currently we are still raising funds through shares (about 300k out of 500k).

All the best for the season, great win last Saturday. David

If you read the other posts on the forum, you will quickly realise that fans are very frustrated at the current goings-on at Harrogate, myself included.

But we can't do much about it but support the club.

That is why I refuse to end my exile. Because although its a situation I cannot control. I would rather put my hard earned money to better use.

i hadn't appreciated things were quite as bad as this so probably didn't read the threads closely enough. The only thing I would say is that at least your chairman is trying to improve the infrastructure. This is something we are desperately trying to do at darlington, particularly re-engage the community who have fallen out of love with the club. It is a difficult one this balance between success on the pitch and getting things right off it. I'm disappointed that things seem to be falling away.

Does the volunteer system work well? this is something we are currently looking at to cut costs.

I think Harrogate is always gonna struggle, a lot of locals are Leeds fans, though I think the club would do well to offer Leeds season ticket holders a discount or something to get some more of them here when Leeds are playing away.

The main problem is that Harrogate is not a footballing town, so they can improve the infrastructure all they want, and also the ground at Wetherby Road is not up to BSP standards, so we cant get promoted. It's a bit of a catch 22 really. The only way it would improve is if they moved the club further out of Harrogate, but even if they did build a new stadium, where are the fans to fill it coming from? And also to add to this, there are whispers that Harrogate Town may go professional next season. On the current fan base and supporter numbers. How is this financially viable? Even Town cannot achieve or raise that level of sponsorship in order to make it viable.

More than whispers Neil, its going to happen (don't know if relegation would change things). The budget should not increase much, as the full time players will be youngsters probably not on much more full time as some of our 'part time' players are now. Remember we do have an owner who could, presumably, finance all sorts of things, although I think he is (quite rightly), not going to be throwing money at things. The pitch levelling this Summer and the alterations and improvements to the Wetherby Road terracing are quite major projects. I think most people are very pleased with Mr Weaver senior and his plans for the club. Simon comes as part of the package, so I guess we just have to wish him well.

If they level the pitch and improve the terracing. Would the ground be viable to host BSP football?

I think Big Lundy is the expert here! I believe that lack of car parking (as a non-driver an irrelevence to me) is a major issue. Ipersonally don't think it should be, but I don't make the rules!

There are plenty of parking spaces in the town, and plenty of buses from Harrogate Bus Station that would get close to the ground, so shouldnt be a factor really.

Any comments Big L?

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Some interesting stats.....

ChrisM wrote:I think Harrogate is always gonna struggle, a lot of locals are Leeds fans, though I think the club would do well to offer Leeds season ticket holders a discount or something to get some more of them here when Leeds are playing away.

how about Bradford City fans then? Or come to that York City fans?

Them too! I was just making an example, no bias here