Chairman Rolls calls on Terras fans to back club as CVA-day arrives
By Derek Bish

Friday 26th March 2010

GEORGE Rolls has called for the town of Weymouth to unite behind the football club as the Terras attempt to enter into a Company Voluntary Arrange-ment (CVA) at noon today.

The Wessex Stadium outfit’s chairman urged fans to use the CVA as the perfect opportunity to start over, put an end to the warring factions and reintroduce the community to the club.

In return for their support, Rolls has promised transparency and not to overspend so he can one day hand Weymouth FC back to them on a firm financial footing.

Rolls said: “We have to unite the whole of the town and the whole community has to get involved at the football club.

“You only have to ask supporters of clubs that have disappeared down the years. Newport County had to come back but have been very lucky to come back strongly.

“Accrington Stanley struggled for a long time after they disappeared and so have Bradford Park Avenue.

“The whole community was affected by it and it’s only when you wake up and realise there won’t be a football club that people really realise what that means.”

He added: “We have to get people wanting to get involved and stop all the warring factions. Once we get that happening, people will come back.

“We also have to get a winning team and if that means regrouping down the leagues then so be it, but at least we will have a club to be proud of and support for the future.”

Two local businessmen are being lined up for places on the board should the CVA be successful, while Rolls was also happy the Terras Trust and Weymouth Supporters Club have merged together as Weymouth FC Supporters’ Association.

The fans' organisation is planning to set up a management committee to help the club.

“We will be transparent and they will know what is going on,” said Rolls. “Full accounts will be available to them and we will have nothing to hide.

“It will be great because we can start with a blank sheet of paper, except for the £1,500 per month towards the CVA.”

Should 75 per cent of creditors agree to nine per cent of monies owed over five years, the CVA will be approved and cut the Terras’ debt from around £900,000 to in the region of £80,000.

Steve Beasant, who is intersted in becoming co-owner of the Terras with Rolls, said in yesterday’s Echosport that he believed amendments should be made to allow former directors and the controversial land deal to be investigated.

Rolls added: “In a warped way I’m looking forward to the meeting today because it can put a lot of demons to bed once and for all, when it hopefully gets approved.

“The football club is going to be in its healthiest position for many a year and all I promise the fans is I won’t go down the route of overspending.

“I will be transparent – I will tell them what we can afford and they have to buy into that.

“If we’ve got a mid-table budget we will tell them that. I will have month-to-month accounts and if there is extra money to go into the pot for players then we can have a look at that.

“But we have to stand on our own two feet and the day we walk away from the club, hopefully we can hand it over to the fans without the need for investors to put their own money into it.”

Rolls also said talks with former manager Ian Hutchinson over a return to the club would be put on hold until the outcome of the CVA, and Terras legend Hutchinson has his fingers crossed that there will be a Weymouth FC for him to manage again in the future.

Hutchinson said: “I’ve been involved with the club for 15 years or so but I have talked to supporters who have been involved for 50, 60 or 70 years so I’m sure there would have been a few sleepless nights last night.