I WAS interested to read your recent interview with Chris Pugsley, chairman of WFC. As he says, a great deal of progress has been made in the last two years and the club is in a much healthier state, financially and football wise, compared to two years ago, when it was yet again on the verge of collapse.

However I note that Mr Pugsley has concerns about the off field structure of the club which he believes needs to be much stronger, and he goes on to say that the club needs to engage more with the community.

In this he is absolutely right.

It is interesting to contrast the situation at Dorchester, which has managed the transition from the unsuccessful model of a “businessman run club” to a genuine supporters owned and run club.

It is interesting to contrast this with the situation at WFC, where the division between the hierarchy and the club is so great that the Supporters Association is not even allowed board representation.

Despite the good things that have happened in the last two years, in my opinion there is no future for small semi-professional football clubs to continue to be run this way.

Why on earth should small businessmen be expected consistently to put their hands in their pockets to keep football clubs afloat?

At this level, the only viable future is to have a much greater degree of supporter involvement.

I, personally, would like to see WFC in due course take the same step as that taken by Dorchester.

This, I am sure, would lead to a much greater degree of community involvement and transparency, and help the club to re-engage with the public.

Paul Cocks

Newberry Road

Weymouth