The K's In Point

Written Statement Following Fans’ Forum Last Week

By KsOllie4/4 11:40Sat Apr 4 11:40:01 2026

Views: 2538

As promised by Chairman George Vasilaras following last week’s online fans’ forum meeting, here is a brief summary of what was discussed during that meeting for those that couldn’t attend online.

“Firstly, I would like to thank Shaun Luzio (President) and Kevin Eagle (Vice-President) from the Kingstonian Supporters Club for arranging the Microsoft Teams online fans forum last week, and secondly I would like to thank all of the 60-plus supporters who joined the meeting. Finally, I would like to thank our fantastic management team of Scott Harris and Tom Williams, who joined the meeting from the start and provided a detailed update on the football front.

Ground Share Move to Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC:

We made meaningful enquiries and had discussions of varying different levels with a total of six clubs to discuss a ground share, all of which were geographically closer than Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC, including our current landlords Raynes Park Vale FC (RPV), who offered us terms to extend our current ground share agreement beyond the end of this current season.

Out of the six clubs approached, we also had a third option other than remaining at Grand Drive or moving to Ashford Town (Middlesex). That particular club also offered us terms to ground share with them on their 3g pitch too and to be honest it was a tight call between that club and Ashford in the end, especially as geographically they were a similar distance to Ashford from Kingston.

However, RPV FC wanted substantially more ground share rent money than our current deal in addition to a financial contribution towards the pitch maintenance, and, given the issues that both teams have encountered both last season and during this current season due in part to the bad weather (especially this season), but in the main due to the drainage issue that is the main cause of the problem, I did not want to commit the club financially to a greater cost without a guarantee that we would not end up in a similar situation to what we’ve experienced this season, where we’ve had to play four matches away from home - we did not play a “Home” match for around seven and a half weeks at RPV earlier this season, a period during which we still had to pay players and bills without any match day income and left to the benevolence of the Directors to keep the club financially afloat. Also, it was felt that with both teams having aspirations to be at the right end of the league table that the current grass pitch at Grand Drive was not up to both teams playing on it successfully over the course of a season.

When having discussions with other clubs about ground sharing, it’s not just location that has to be considered, it’s whether that ground has the right ground grading for us to play there (as an incoming ground-sharing tenant, we don’t get a year’s grace to get the ground up to the required level if it’s not at that level, only landlord clubs that get promoted receive that privilege). Secondly, if any club already has a current ground share that’s not due to expire at the conclusion of the current season, the league will not permit a 3-way ground share, therefore due to a combination of the above reasons, we were not in a position to continue negotiations with a number of the clubs that we had approached.

However, finally, what made the decision to go to Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC easier, was the following reasons:

1 - Firstly and most importantly, planning permission permitting, this will be our last ground share before we move in to our new permanent proposed home of our own in the Borough.

2 - We can pretty much guarantee that our “Home” matches won’t be postponed due to the weather, which ensures that we will play our scheduled matches without disruption and without the risk of having to worry about receiving vital “Home” match day income, we can produce a good, attractive, winning brand of football on the new and very high quality pitch at the Robert Parker Stadium consistently.

3 - Financially, we negotiated a great deal with Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC on firstly the ground share rent front and secondly for the first time ever since we left Kingsmeadow, we will receive a payment from Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC generated from each of our “Home” match days.

4 - Ashford Town (Middlesex) were really welcoming throughout all my dealings with them, and are really excited and enthusiastic about us playing our “Home” matches at the Robert Parker Stadium moving forward.

As I’ve previously said when announcing this move initially - I understand and appreciate that the distance to Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC is not ideal BUT for the reasons outlined above, I urge all Ks fans to back Scott, Tom and the team moving forward and get down to the Robert Parker Stadium to cheer us on. We will be announcing very competitive prices for minibus travel from local pick-up points to get as many supporters possible to the Robert Parker Stadium, not to mention incentivised “early bird” season ticket prices - so please keep an eye out on our official website and various social media channels during the off-season.

Finally, I would like to once again thank all at Raynes Park Vale FC, namely John Scales, Bob Finch, Bill Pollard, Marc Skinner and Danny Hamer for providing us with a home over the last two seasons and wish them nothing but the best moving forward.

New Ground Developments:

As mentioned on the fans’ forum internet-based meeting last week, we’re making slow but steady progress with regards to our proposed new stadium in the Borough of Kingstton, we expect to be in a position to update supporters with what I would call a detailed update between June and the start of the season in August, then hopefully again properly somewhere between December 2026 and February 2027. It goes without saying that although I appreciate supporters wanting to know more now, we have to respect the sensitive confidentiality agreements and the requirements of the planning process that we have agreed to honour with key parties concerning this very exciting and important project.

New Supporters Trust Update:

I can confirm that my co-Directors and myself are still fully committed to gifting an initial 10% shareholding to a newly set-up Kingstonian Supporters Trust, which is still in the process of being legally set up via the Football Supporters Association at the time of writing this. Once it is set up, we look forward to welcoming between 2 and 3 supporter Directors who will join our board in our quest to drive our great club forward together.

Finally, I would like to urge you to continue to support us in these remaining five matches as you always do. Please continue to be our 12th Man, as your support week-in and week-out makes a real difference. On that note, despite the scoreline on Wednesday night, I was immensely proud of the number of K’s supporters in attendance at Fetcham Grove and the atmosphere you created.

COYK’s

George Vasilaras
Chairman, Kingstonian FC

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