New board must give Poppies fans 'something to be confident about'

Ken Samuel insists the new board that is set to be installed at Kettering Town in the wake of owner Ritchie Jeune “stepping away” must give the club supporters “something to be confident about”.
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Jeune confirmed this week that he will step back from his role with immediate effect with the current board being dissolved and a new one being formed with the task being to, as Jeune put it, “sustainably running the club and looking for a new owner”.

Initially, that board looks set to be made up of members of the previous one and they are set to have a clean sheet of paper from which to start after Jeune said he will be leaving the club “debt free”.

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Club president Samuel was in the board meeting that was held on Tuesday night when Jeune confirmed his departure.

Kettering Town club president Ken Samuel. Picture by Peter ShortKettering Town club president Ken Samuel. Picture by Peter Short
Kettering Town club president Ken Samuel. Picture by Peter Short

And he said: “It’s a tribute to Ritchie himself that, as he told us in the meeting on Tuesday, that the club would be debt free and he would be doing so many things to ensure that, ongoing, the club could trade with a new board and maybe even a new owner.

“To do that and to know what he is doing financially for the club, I can’t speak highly enough of the man. When he says ‘debt free’, he means debt free.

“He went through the figures on Tuesday and that is absolutely phenomenal. He doesn’t have to do that. He could say to whoever runs the club or whoever takes over if someone does that there are these debts to pay.

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“But he’s not, he’s clearing them and you can’t ask for anything more than that.

“Immediately, those people who are on the new board have a task to undertake to keep the club running, to ensure there’s no crisis or panic in terms of player retention and acquisition and to ensure as far as possible during the next month or two that things remain stable, calm and hopefully give the supporters something to be confident about.

“There’s no doubt that support will be needed and I hang my hat out to the hundreds of Kettering fans who form the silent majority and who just come and support the club week in, week out and pay their money into the club and hope the club does well.

“Those are the people the new board and any new owner need to concentrate on because there are a lot of people with a lot of goodwill.

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“We are getting more involved with the business community with the great help of Silvano Geranio who has been helping us with the commercial side of things.

“I think there is a positive vibe around the club, one that hasn’t been there for a while.”

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