Keep your eye on us

Dave and Mick proposed certain compromises to me and convinced me that Terry Bennett and Peter Shaw were men who had a lot of experience to offer this club.

My original plan stated that Terry and Peter should step down simply because they have been chairmen associated with a previous regime, when we had lost money and hadn't done well on the pitch. I wanted a fresh start at the club.

I have a lot of admiration for Terry and how he has kept the Terras going over the last two years in very trying circumstances although there was some bad feeling between us.

I am willing to forgive, and work with Terry and Peter. I'm glad Terry stayed as chairman until the team was safe from relegation because he deserved the credit for that.

I compromised and in return, I think Dave and Mick sold my ideas to the other board members.

How much new money are you bringing to the club and will it be used to strengthen the

playing squad?

I am working on a consortium

of five people. I have three in place at the moment and two who I hope to get on board in the next week.

I am hoping that these five people, including myself and Steve Claridge, each will put in £10,000 in a new share capital within the next 10 days. I hope within the next fortnight to have £50,000 of new money paid in and then a further £50,000 will be made available over the next three months.

Initially there is a debt to pay. The overdraft and creditors are such that that money is needed, along with the £70,000 from developers Trent which is due next week, to satisfy the bank manager.

Without that money the club would be in dire straits within two weeks. It's fairly perilous as it is, but there's no danger of it folding.

The overdraft is such that something has to be done about it, and the list of creditors need to be satisfied. We hope to do that over the next two months. I don't want all our money to go on paying for the mistakes of the previous regime. We have to finance and manage the cash flow so that a considerable amount of the new money is earmarked for team building and development, otherwise I'm just giving money to pay off other's debts.

What are Tony Adams' and Steve Claridge's roles within the club?

Tony Adams and I are friends and he has agreed to be my and therefore the club's Football consultant.

He will recommend players, hopefully come down about three times a season, attend fundraising functions and home games. All of this he will be doing unpaid.

The idea with Steve is that he is a member of the consortium and will invest money. He has a soft spot for this club, and he wants to return. He is 37, and feels he can play for one more year at a very high

level.

The idea is that he sees out

another year probably in the First Division with Millwall.

At the end of that he is seriously thinking about coming down, joining the board and becoming the director of football. In the mean time, during this current year he will be advising me, and the club, on a wide range of matters including playing and financial issues.

Something else you wanted to do in January was get rid of manager Geoff Butler. Is that still the case?

I've met with Geoff and we've had a full and frank exchange.What I've said to him is that he has a contract and in the short term I simply want to evaluate everything in the club from top to bottom. He will take the team to Crawley on Saturday and we'll meet again after that.

I've thanked him for keeping the club up on a shoestring budget and for bringing in some good players. I also said I hadn't particularly enjoyed watching the football played this season and that we would be expecting better next year.

As chairman, where do you see the club in five years time?

The plan is Conference football in two seasons and League football within five years.

I'm tremendously excited by this. I get to do now what most fans would love to do. I guess some fans want to be manager, the kids would like to be players, and a few of us would like to be the chairman.

This has been my club for 40 years. I like watching Premiership football and I like the people in the Premiership, but this is where my heart is and always will be.

I'm finally in a position to do something about making this club what it can become and I'm looking forward to that. There are so many worrying things about it like the debt, but I want us all to have fun again.

I want to play football the Weymouth way, and I want people to realise this is a big club. It pains me to say this as a Weymouth

supporter, but I envy Yeovil Town.

For too long we've been talked of in the same breath as Dorchester, Salisbury, Weston-super-Mare and Bashley and that's got to stop.

We are now to be talked about in the same breath as Yeovil, Cheltenham and Kidderminster.

You live in St Albans and work weekends as a sports journalist for the Observer. How can you run Weymouth Football Club with those sort of commitments?

Initially I will be moving back to Weymouth, and will be in the town two to three days a week which means I'll attend all midweek games home and away.

I'll also be around to help the

manager at the start of the season.

I won't be available for every Saturday game, but I hope that other board members will represent the club on those days. I will devote as much time and

energy as I can.

As time goes on and life changes I will expect to be down here more.

I have children who are growing up in St Albans and I need to be with them for a few more years until they leave school.

Aside from the manager, are there any other personnel at the club whose positions are being reviewed?

The club can't be put on hold. We need to move on and things have to be dealt with fairly swiftly.

Everyone and everything is being reviewed. It's all under discussion and I'm already talking to the manager about the players and the

budget for next season.

I think most people are fearful of me, because most people fear change, but this is going to be change for the better.

The majority of people at this club should not be fearful. They should be as excited as I am about the future. We will be looking at the playing staff there's no doubt about it, it's not acceptable to go through another season like this season.

If we're not challenging to achieve promotion next season then we won't have achieved the things we're setting out to achieve.

What is your message to the town?

A new era starts at Crawley on Saturday. I will be meeting with the players and telling them that this club will be going places in the

next few years and the choice is theirs whether they want to come with us.

It's the same with the fans really although I know they've suffered a history of scepticism and false

stories over the last 15 years.

I'm not going to appeal to the town, fans or local businesses to support us. I'm going to appeal to them to keep their eye on us, see what we are doing and find out if we are worth your time, money and interest.

I'm confident that within six months they will decide that we are worth supporting.

Your first chance to meet the

majority of the fans comes next Wednesday at David Laws'

testimonial. Will you be out on the pitch juggling a ball, former Manchester United director Michael Knighton-style?

Definitely not! First and foremost next Wednesday is David Laws' night. He has been a fantastic servant to this club and will go down as a legend in our history.

When we do get into the Football League it will be because of the ground work done by people like Lawsy.

I don't want anything to detract from him that night. I will be at the game and I hope people will come along and support him.

People like Lawsy are invaluable and it's one of the reasons I'll

be reintroducing the 'season

ticket for former players' scheme that was scrapped a couple of years ago.