Former club member hits out at committee

Feb 4 2009 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

EAST Kilbride Thistle’s committee has come under fire from a former club member after the club rejected a £100m deal last week.

The former club member, who didn’t want to be named, criticised the working of the committee and insisted it was no great shock that they decided to snub the consortium’s plans.

Last week, the club rejected the big money deal after the committee memebers – who include chairman John Drummond and director of football Darren Waugh – voted against a deal to bring a consortium into the Showpark.

But this week, the source, who spent years with the junior club, contacted the News and expressed his disappointment at the deal falling through.

He said: ”This doesn’t come as a surprise to me because there have always been people at East Kilbride Thistle who have just been interested in their little bit of power, their free drink on a Saturday afternoon and the fact they are able to say they are part of the committee.

“What was good for the club or football in the town has always been of less importance.

“There are many other junior clubs being run this way and some people run the clubs like tyrants.

“I don’t think East Kilbride Thistle are the only badly run club in the country, but this kind of deal has never happened before. When has a junior club made it from junior to senior? There must be a reason for this.

“I just think many of the big teams don’t want it to happen and as soon as you go senior you have to think about policing and stewards and things like that and some clubs don’t want to deal with that.

“It’s a shame the club haven’t gone through with this deal.”

But Jags chairman John Drummond hit back, saying: “We have tried to take this club forward and do a good job. When I took over four years ago there were free drinks on a Saturday, but I stopped that when I came in.

“All the committee members are volunteers and there’s nobody here on a power trip. The people here are trying to make the right decisions for the club and when the coaches are trying to tell you this deal is not right for the club, you have to listen to them.”