9:00am Friday 18th May 2012
By Alan Feldberg
WANDERERS legend Keith Scott believes the imminent supporters trust takeover represents a return to the club’s roots.
Scott, who enjoyed two highly productive spells at the club in the 1990s, says he felt Wanderers has drifted away from its fans in recent years but sees the change of ownership as an opportunity to rekindle its community links.
He said: “What was good when I was there is that the football club was part of the community and the supporters felt closer to the players. I’ve just felt in the last few years – and I don’t include Gary [Waddock] in this – that the club was drifting away from the community.
“I don’t know if it did or didn’t, but that’s what I felt. I just felt the atmosphere wasn’t the same. The closeness wasn’t the same.
“The football club is a big part of the community and it’s important the supporters feel involved in some way. If it’s run by supporters, it will encourage the club to engage with fans and cut their cloth accordingly.”
Scott also believes the takeover will result in a greater emphasis on youth, following the Crewe Alexandra model.
He said: “Wycombe has a fanbase of a certain amount and as much as the manager at the time wants to get the club up the pyramid, there is only so much a club that size can do, because of its fanbase and resources. But you look at Crewe, they always produce players and you never hear of them having financial problems. It’s a good model to follow.
“Obviously you can’t put all your emphasis on youth. You have to introduce it slowly. The emphasis has to be on bringing the youngsters through.
“I think the supporters trust focuses the club to do that, to get a production line of youngsters.”
It might be a case of taking a step back to take two steps forward, admits Scott, but he believes the end will justify the means. He said: “It can be very dangerous to have one person running the club because you don’t know what’s around the corner.
“When I joined, you could pay as much money as you wanted into the club and it was still one man, one vote.
“The club was very well-run then and I think in the long term this will be a very, very positive move for the football club.”
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