May 1987. Shooter was in charge, with myself, Sean Gallagher and Jim Rowley suspended.
So… what was Nuneaton Borough’s court-appointed, self-proclaimed saviour going to do to improve things at the club?
Nothing. In fact, the opposite.
Shooter’s first “contribution” was to vehemently criticise the condition of Manor Park.
At the start of the 1986-87 season, I was quite proud of the Manor Park ground. I installed new floodlights at a cost of £30,000; spent £25,000 on new terracing, plus £3,500 on safety barriers and segregation fences. I also had the external woodwork of the stand painted with fire-retardant paint and all the seats were taken out, re-varnished and re-installed.
I was aware of further needs, and before Shooter’s arrival I had obtained quotes for fireproofing and upgraded electrics in the stand. This work would have been completed had I not been disabled by the injunction.
I gave Shooter the quotes, which would have seen the main stand fully functional. But Shooter ignored them – and gave instructions to rip out all the seats! The seats were fine – they had been refurbished and fire-proofed by Community Industry!
Shooter’s actions rendered the stand unusable. Then Shooter called in the fire authority, who declared the main stand unsafe.
Hands tied by the injunction, I was powerless to prevent this. I was shocked and stunned by what I was seeing.
Under the stewardship of Shooter and an interim board acting outside the scope of its remit, demolishing and re-building the main stand led directly to the bankruptcy of Nuneaton Borough FC. Work done was not paid for, and the contractors issued writs. The club went into receivership, all as a result of actions taken by.
Shooter seemed pleased to see the stand condemned. He made great play in the press out of the fact that a fire certificate had been refused, and by the time league officials came to inspect the ground on 14 April 1987, half of the stand had been roped off.