"Carry on regardless" was the message that emerged from Sunday's Buy Stirling Albion supporters' meeting.
Nearly 100 campaign members gathered at the King Robert Hotel in Bannockburn to discuss the future of the campaign- which seeks to make Stirling Albion the UK's first 100% community owned senior team- with the Supporters' Trust steering group.
Albion's future seems somewhat uncertain at present. Stirling Council recently announced their intention to take court action if necessary, to recover the £90,000 owed in rents and rates by the club.
Further to that, in mid December, top surgeon Gordon Mackay announced his desire to take over running of the club and said that he expected a deal to be done within a few weeks. Since then however, little has been heard from Mackay. This had left the Trust uncertain of how best to continue their campaign.
Having heard the views of their members at the meeting, the Trust has decided that positive action is the only way forward.
Buy Stirling Albion spokesperson, Paul Goodwin said: "We've now reached the point where we have to step up our fundraising efforts once again. Should something go wrong with Mr Mackay's takeover bid, then the Trust will once again present the only viable option for the Stirling Albion's future."
At the meeting it was announced that the Trust now has 2119 members and 115 business members. Four businesses have each pledged £15,000pa for three years should the campaign succeed.
It was also announced that the Trust had gathered £2,500 through their raffle, which was drawn at the end of the night. A further significant figure unveiled was that the Supporters' Trust shop, in the Crawford Arcade has made almost £4,000 worth of profit to date.
Goodwin said: "We do have a healthy fighting fund. What we need to do now is keep going. If anything, we're planning for the worst but we'll do everything that we can to make sure that this club survives."
Concluding, he added that the Trust is working on new fundraising ideas, which he expects to unveil in the near future.
A full report of the meeting is attached as a PDF document.
