Wiltshire | Archive | 2000 | July | 27
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Thursday 27th Jul 2000.
FOOTBALL
TERRY Brady has promised to give manager Colin Todd whatever cash he needs to make Swindon Town a Premiership force.
The millionaire printing tycoon says money will be no object once the club gains planning permission for a new stadium on the Front Garden.
Town's new majority shareholder took control of the club on Saturday and is expected to complete the formalities of his takeover when shareholders and creditors meet on Thursday August 10.
Once they agree with his investment terms then it will, at last, be full steam ahead for Town's Brady Bunch.
Swindon will be able to shed the restrictive skin of administration and set course for what everyone hopes is a blooming new era for the club.
For Brady it is the end of five long months of negotiations and now he cannot wait to get to work on planning the club's future starting with his vision for a new stadium.
A £37m project including a state-of-the-art ground, cinema, ski-slope and hotel is crucial to Mr Brady's plans for transforming the fortunes of the ailing club.
He predicts that once he has been granted permission to build on land near junction 16 at Blagrove, there will be no stopping Swindon Town.
Mr Brady all but took over as the club's majority shareholder on Saturday as he finalised his takeover proposals.
It has been quite a difficult job really, he said. Every corner that we turned we bumped into a lamp post. But I am pleased to say that the CVA has gone out to the creditors and shareholders and I have no doubt for one minute that they will be accepting that.
Once that has gone through, which is more or less a done thing, then we can go on from there. It gives me control of the club and we will be wanting to take the club forward.
It seems a lifetime since I first met Cliff on that snowy night in April, but I know that it is worth it.
Mr Brady will work on a two-pronged attack to bring the glory days back to Swindon.
Firstly, through the work of Colin Todd and his team we will get things right on the pitch, he said. Secondly, we must, must, get onto the Front Garden and build a new stadium for Swindon Town.
That is paramount for the future because the future of the club relies upon support and I realise we have lost a lot of support over the years and one of the ways to get that back is to create a new environment.
Good football will naturally bring back the fans but you can add to that when people see new stadiums and new environments for them. That is where we need to be going.
Swindon Borough Council will have the final decision on whether or not to grant the club permission.
But Mr Brady believes everyone in the town must get behind the proposals.
It won't be for the lack of trying from our part, but I will be looking for the support of the fans to go to the Front Garden, he said. I believe council chief executive Paul Doherty has told us that the Front Garden is now the preferred site and we want to stick with that. The council know the acreage we need to develop and cover our building costs.
Planning permission would not only see cash freed for manager Colin Todd, but it would also ensure that all creditors would get paid in full.
Once we get planning permission for the new stadium then let me tell you, money is no object, said Brady.
I cannot emphasise enough that the future of this club relies on me getting planning consent for an overall project that ends up funding a new stadium for us.
Once we get that Colin can have whatever money it takes to get us into the Premiership. That has got to be our aim.
I want to see us play our first game in the new stadium by June 1, 2003 and I would think that by 2004 I would like to be in the Premiership.
It cannot come quick enough.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008