Three years ago I had to sit and listen to Karl Robinson banging on about how he thought we should just walk out and “play at a non-league ground for a couple of years to galvanise the fan base.” Despite not having an answer when I challenged him as to which local non-league ground would meet EFL requirements, or how many years we would have to wait for a new home to be secured. This was at a time when Tiger was stupidly telling everybody to start shouting at the other tiger in our lives, which has had our head in its mouth for 15 years. If we had done that (and we were absolutely threatening to for a hot minute) then we would’ve been homeless and completely f*cked as Kassam would’ve argued that we had voided the agreement, submitted plans to plough the stadium into the ground ASAP and left us with nowhere to go and nothing on the horizon. We would’ve probably been expelled from the league in the process. So let’s hope that whatever any ‘other options’ might be, none of them are anything as insane as that.
We either have to leave the current site to move straight to a new one, or with an absolutely cast iron guarantee that any sort of ground share would only be for a season, possibly two max. If we ever manage to leave, it has to be with certainty. You would like to think that the people we know are becoming more heavily involved will have several plans, and that none of them involve blindly marching out of the KS and figuring it out later. As long as that isn’t on the table then there’s no need to worry in the immediacy. The sound of the current deal ticking down does get a tiny bit louder on the first of every month, though. The terms we adhere to presently are completely unsustainable, so something will have to give sooner or later.
Let’s hope that we get what we want at the end of it all. At least there are people with the resources and experience trying to move the pieces. It’s certainly the best shot we’ve had at righting a few wrongs in some capacity.
