Turning the tide of debt
By Ky Capel

Friday 26th June 2009

WEYMOUTH director Shaun Hennessy has revealed that the club’s debt has been “substantially” reduced.

As a further boost the Terras have been given the go-ahead to enter a reserve team in next season’s Dorset Premier League after member clubs voted in favour of their inclusion.

Ex-Weymouth Reserves and Portland United boss Dave Kiteley will manage the new team with former player-manager and recently departed Bridport assistant Andy Mason acting as his right-hand man.

And it appears there is plenty of positive news regarding the club’s financial situation, including reaching an agreement with creditors Barclays Bank.

Hennessy said: “The recent publicity about us needing £50,000 was maybe a knee-jerk reaction from ourselves, and we didn’t need to panic our loyal supporters and sponsors.

“The club has not had a huge injection of cash but with prudent, fiscal management we have got ourselves into a situation where we are really looking forward to next season.

“We’re building up a fantastic first team, and with a reserve team as well we’ll have a decent squad.

“The club is going to survive, and we have decreased the debt substantially. We are walking in the right direction, we’re not sprinting but we are walking and the club is going to have some stability, which it hasn’t had for a long time.

"We’ve come to an agreement with Barclays that they are happy with and that we are happy with. We feel we are in a situation where outside forces will not be able to apply the pressures they have and that we can be free to do the job that we promised the fans we would do.”

Hennessy also confirmed that the Terras will enter next season’s Dorset Senior Cup, and that the recent demise of Setanta will not have an adverse effect on the club’s finances.

He added: “The Setanta money used to be a huge help and how some of the Blue Square Premier clubs are going to survive now is very questionable.

“Had we stayed up we might well have been banging our heads against a brick wall. But as a Blue Square South club we don’t get any money from Setanta at all so we haven’t lost anything.

“We have entered into the Dorset Senior Cup, as the manager wanted to enter it because it goes along the lines of our ethos of being a local football club.”

Hennessy hopes that the new reserve side will help bridge the gap between the Under-18s and first team.

He said: “We as a football club have a fantastic youth set-up, which is the envy of everywhere. Our Under-18s won South West Counties League Division Two last year but where do they go from there?

“Often players go to the likes of Portland and Chickerell but we want to have a policy of being a Dorset-based football club.

“We want to develop Dorset footballers. Some are slipping through the net so we want to build a Dorset-based reserve team, and being in the Dorset Premier League is the perfect starting.

“It has a fantastic quality of football with the likes of Portland, Chickerell, Swanage Town & Herston and Hamworthy Rec, and we’re looking forward to the local derbies as well.”

Of the new management duo, Hennessy added: “Dave and Andy are a very experienced footballing duo. Dave has fantastic local knowledge as does Andy from his days at Bridport, and we’re very grateful to Bridport for letting Andy join us. The first team and the reserves will not be separate entities though. The whole thing is part of a glove that fits together.

“The Wessex is empty every second Saturday and our fans sometimes watch other local teams when we’re away, so we’re giving them the option to come here and support another Weymouth side.

"We haven’t worked out the pricing for reserve team matches yet but I can promise that they will be very good value for money. As a board, the reserve team is an expense that we’re happy to have because the financial situation at the club is moving forward all the time.