The K's In Point

Re: Forum Meeting

By MC30/3 21:32Mon Mar 30 21:32:56 2026In response to Re: Forum Meeting

Views: 1011

Without wanting to be too pedantic in response to a very useful summary of the meeting, I think it's worth taking slight issue with the idea "Ashford was kinda forced upon us".

Yiorgos was very honest about the fact it was an option to remain at RPV. He said RPV would have charged more than previously, and obviously the pitch is still a concern. So Yiorgos and the board made the decision that it was not worth the rent increase with the uncertainty over fixtures, and decided to instead take a "very good" offer at Ashford.

So let's be honest: this is a financial decision more than a practical one.

Now, the pitch at RPV has suffered this season and there's no guarantee it would perform better next season, but January/February have been an outlier. England experienced its 8th-wettest winter since records began in 1836. It is unlikely things will be as bad next season. What this season does show is that it's viable, if undesirable and presumably expensive, to use Ashford as a back-up option.

Without specifics in terms of rent - which I woudn't expect the board to divulge - we cannot completely judge whether or not this is a reasonable decision. But Ashford is nowhere near Kingston, and even with the plan to run minibuses to the ground, our gates will surely be lower. Aside from the financial implications of lower attendances, it will further threaten the status of a club already on life support.

My suspicion is that this is a bad decision, and the overall harm from playing at Ashford will be much more severe than the board suspect. Hopefully I am wrong, but that's a side-issue - my main point here is merely that Ashford for 2-3 years (at least) is a choice the board have willingly made.

Edited by MC at 21:33:06 on 30th March 2026

reply to this article | return to the front page

13 people