Thomas welcomes Trust's support over East Stand deal and now hopes to 'press on' with council talks

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas has welcomed the support of the Northampton Town Supporters' Trust over their proposals for the East Stand and now hopes to 'press on' with a deal.

The Trust initially released a statement on July 28 in which they raised ‘reservations’ about the deal and called for ‘openness and transparency’ from the council when it came to negotiations.

Thomas wrote an open letter in response contesting parts of that statement and calling for a meeting to resolve any disagreements. That meeting has now taken place and the Trust confirmed this week they will support the club's plans.

"After meeting with David Bower, Kelvin Thomas and senior staff at Northampton Town Football Club, the Supporters Trust board has agreed to support the club's proposal for the East Stand completion and wider Sixfields land deal," said the statement.

"We hope the club and the council can now progress their negotiations as a matter of urgency so that a completed East Stand can begin delivering ongoing commercial benefits for the club in these challenging and uncertain times for football finances."

Having now got the Trust's backing, Thomas hopes to progress talks with the council.

"We had some very positive meetings with the Trust and there was a lot of discussion and they went through their own process," he said.

"The Trust have now been able to see everything. It's all on the table and we've shown why what we're proposing is in the best interests of the football club and it's great that the Trust's board unanimously agreed that it's in the best interests of the club.

"It doesn't solve everything because we still need to work it out with the council but it shows that we have the best interests of the club at heart and it highlights that.

"Over the next period of time we will try and talk to the council about what we can and can't release publicly and hopefully get some more information out to the wider fanbase.

"But this gives us a bit more confidence as a club because we're now talking as one voice and ultimately we're trying to get something done that will benefit the club.

"It's an important now in terms of the impact of COVID and it might be a good time to really push forward with a deal that could benefit the club over the next three to five years, if not longer.

"It's imperative now to press on and get it sorted. We've had good conversations with the council and we're just waiting for them to get back to us with a response to our offer. We're hoping that it'll be this week and then we can sit down afterwards and talk further.

"We've got to accept some responsibility as well and our communication needs to be better because it's like any relationship, good communication is positive for everyone."