Boardroom Gutted In FC Blaze: Blast From The Past

By BoroGuide

Hot off the press, it’s the latest from our #Boro40 Blast From The Past series. As the legal battle for control of the Broadhall Way stadium rumbles on, local vandals have offered their input too! In fact, this is the second time in a short space of time the venue was targeted four decades ago. The first time (which we forgot! Ed.) saw the clubhouse smashed up in a wrecking spree worth a not-cheap-at-the-time £10,000. This one, however, moves further up the damage scale. The article we’re here for? Boardroom Gutted In FC Blaze

 

Article: Boardroom Gutted In FC Blaze

Boardroom Gutted In FC Blaze: Blast From The Past

Second act of vandalism at troubled club

A BLAZE which took firemen twenty minutes to control completely destroyed the boardroom at Stevenage Athletic’s Broadhall Way ground on Tuesday.

The fire happened in the same week that Athletic chairman Javier Revuelta started issuing High Court writs against former club officials alleging misuse of the club’s funds.

And it adds another twist to the bizarre story of Stevenage Athletic, which has seen a High Court battle culminating three weeks ago in Mr Revuelta paying £4,000 back rent.

It is believed vandals caused the blaze that completely gutted the wooden boardroom at the ground by setting fire to rubbish in the electrical switchroom there.

This follows £10,000 worth of vandalism at the clubhouse recently.

Surveying the debris on Tuesday, Station Officer Wally Chandler said that fireman believed the fires may have been started by children.

“We are still investigating the cause, however,” he says.

Told of the latest damage, Mr Revuelta commented: “This is diabolical. I’m due to meet the development corporation and the borough council on May 11, and we’re so near having a settlement that will be for the benefit of everyone.

“Whoever is responsible is clearly someone who doesn’t want to see a successful solution there – it woundn’t (sic) surprise me if something didn’t happen again.”

Meanwhile, Mr Revuelta has served a writ on former Athletic youth team manager and pools organiser Vic Folbigg seeking to recover money allegedly lost by the club’s pools fund.

And Mr Revuelta announced this week that writs would also be served on three other ex-offiers of the club.

Mr Revuelta refused to comment on the writs.

But Mr Folbigg, who now runs the pools fund for Stevenage Borough FC – a group formed in opposition to Mr Revuelta in an attempt to restart senior football at Broadhall Way – said this week he had “nothing to worry about” from the writ.

“Every penny is accounted for,” he said.

Unattributed, The Comet – 05 May 1977


How You Can Help…

Our best efforts from the British Library have got us so far. Our quest is to provide you with the complete history of Stevenage FC. We now have results dating back to pre-United Counties League. There are still, however, some gaps in our knowledge between 1980 and 1992. That’s where you might be able to help. We’ve exhausted the newspaper route at the British Library, so now our attention is on programmes. If you have some old programmes and think you can help, check out our missing match data page. Until next time…