| Duncan: We were undermined and had to go |
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Departing Buckie Thistle president Mark Duncan believes all of his hard work at the club has been undermined as he stepped down from his position at Victoria Park late last night following a meeting to takeover the Jags' old social club, that Mr Duncan claims took place without his knowledge. The meeting came barely a week after Buckie had won a first league championship in over half a century when they beat Wick Academy on Saturday May 1st and involved some of the club's former committee members, to the shock of Mr Duncan. Speaking to http://www.highlandleague.net/ this morning, he takes up the story: "We went to Wick and we won the league. A few days after that, someone approached me in the street and told me to watch my back with what was going on. I never really paid much attention to it because we had a (Fosters Highland League) Cup final arrange. "We had the final between Forres and Rothes and it was a fantastic day. It was our busiest day of the season at the bar and we were rushed off our feet. I was in work on the Sunday morning that week because I had been so busy through the week organising everything for the final. I phoned my brother (Murray) and he asked if I knew there was a meeting at the old social club. "He told me who was going to it and I thought ‘what the hell's going on here'. I made a couple of phone calls and found out there was another meeting before the meeting at the old social club. I decided to go along to it and I was quite shocked because a lot of people at the meeting were former committee members from 30 years ago when the club almost went bust." Mr Duncan was clearly disappointed by the timing of the whole episode and feels he should have been informed that the meeting was taking place. He also believes the group's plans are disruptive to the club and revealed that the developments almost led to the abandonment of the Marquee on the Park celebration event that went ahead on Saturday May 22nd. He explained: "The thing that disappoints me is that the two former chairmen who asked me to get involved in the club on day one were there at the meeting. They never told us there was going to be any meetings and it was all done behind our backs. They had 28 years to sort out the old social club but they decided to do it a week after we won the league. "It is disruptive, creating problems and undermining our position without any shadow of a doubt. If they can come in and do that just one week after the season's finished then our position is untenable for me and I am disgusted. "I was as straightforward as I always am at the meeting and I went in and told them that if they were going ahead with their plans then we were going to consider our position. They still went ahead and then one of the former chairmen told me that this was always going to happen. "I feel as if they have waited for the right moment to strike and take the club over. We have pondered our position for the last few weeks and at one point, we were going to scrap the marquee on the park event. It has been nagging at us though and we thought, morally, we just had to go." Mr Duncan feels the group's actions have made his position at Victoria Park untenable but is still struggling to get his head around the timing of the developments that have ended his eight-year involvement with the club he has supported for the last 35 years. He added: "The club had three chairmen in 12 months before we came in and the place was a shambles. We didn't want to get involved at the level we were at, we just wanted to help them out at committee level but within five minutes, one of these guys asked me to take over. Originally, I didn't want to but I agreed to it and to find out they have done this to me eight years later just gob smacks me. "The team are at the highest point in the last 52 years and the whole town is united behind us. I cannot continue to run this football club after doing all the work we have and put all the money in if these guys think they can just come in the back door like this." Although not worried about the potential competition from the takeover of the old social club, Mr Duncan thought such a venture would be a divisive factor around the football club and prove be an unhealthy element. He explained: "The thing doesn't make any sense because the old social club has never made any money. I don't see it as being competition (for the Victoria Park Functional Hall) but we spent £350,000 on the facilities here and then we found out they made an approach to one of our bar staff so straight away you have an envious situation. It splits your club in two and you have no future like that. "They never did anything until we were Highland League champions and it is as if they want to give themselves some status now and be able to say that they are running the social club of the Highland League champions. "As far as I can see, they have wanted to do this for years and they have just been waiting for the right time to strike. We just had to say we have to knock this on the head because there is no future for us." Although he has put a lot of his own finances into the club through his Planwell Roofing business, Mr Duncan believes time spent working behind the scenes is more important and had a chilling warning on the potential future of his now former club. He said: "Money is one thing but we have spent a lot of personal time on the club as well. It is four or five times bigger than what it was when we took it over. I cannot understand it because we have spent £350,000 on a building at the ground which is making money. I feel we have no option but to go because I am running the football club and we have been totally undermined. "It doesn't make any sense to me and people might think we are stupid to do what we are doing but whether I am here, my brother's here, or Gregg Carrol's here, this club will never be anything if someone can just walk in the back door and undermine everything. It just doesn't work that way. "They don't want to come in and run the club. The way I see it, they want to ride on the back of all my hard work and we are saying that we are not prepared to work as hard as we have for them to do that. What we are saying is ‘here's the club, on you go.' If they want to run the club then they can do it, why should I do it for them? It is a moral stand we have to take." |
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