Club statement

As everyone now knows, the Club’s involvement in the litigation has now come to an end.

It is important to restate that the Club is bound by confidentiality so can make no further comment on the details of the settlement agreement.

There are new arrangements in place with a special purpose partnership company that holds the freehold, Cambridge City Football Ground LLP. The Club has retained the benefit of the lease until 2010, and a share in the future planning gain. Importantly, the lease is no longer as restrictive as was historically the case and the club now essentially has a free hand with utilising the ground to its full potential, including sub-letting, until the lease expires – and it no longer has to pay any rent.

It is imperative that this time is spent wisely. The ground will still need to be developed to meet the cost of re-acquisition and in due course a joint planning application will be made to the City Council. The Club and its partners will be seeking support during that process.

Viable relocation alternatives are being identified and pursued, and the Directors will advise supporters of progress during what is intended to be an inclusive process.

Although there can be no guarantees in what is openly acknowledged as a difficult financial climate, at last Cambridge City Football Club has the opportunity to shape its own future. This will be taken forward through prudent commercial management and the continuing support of its loyal fan base.

The Club has recently begun to identify and act upon several new commercial objectives. Among these will be new and revitalised promotional efforts to raise the profile of the Club and to generate greater sponsorship. Supporters will have already seen some results of this over the past two weeks with the announcement of Anglia Traffic Management as main shirt sponsors and the link up with Cam-Mind on the community front. The financial constraints on football clubs are well known and dictate that we cannot stand still on raising finance. Now that we are free from the time-consuming burden of litigation we expect that the interaction of the board and supporters can be harnessed to greater effect.

It is now time for everyone at the Club and indeed everyone connected with the Club, to draw a line under this recent period of its off-the-field history and focus its energies and efforts in securing the long term future of Cambridge City Football Club.