FOLLOWING the 'shock' departure of the Kingfishers from Pen-y-Pound because of the perceived "complete lack of respect" shown by Abergavenny Town, Ray Warren of the Thursdays Trust has hit back, telling the Chronicle, "The best way of dealing with a mistake is to recognise it."

Branding Monmouth Town Football Club's decision to play their home games at Pen-y-Pound for the 2014/15 season a bold, brave, but ultimately mistaken one, even though it was "welcomed by the Thursdays Trust," Warren felt obliged to respond to MTFC Chairman Lee Robson's inflammatory comments on Facebook about ATFC's allegedly unsavoury approach to football.

Citing MTFC Chairman Lee Robson's stated grievance of fixture clashes with ATFC always falling in Abergavenny's favour, Warren explained, "Ultimately the decision lay with Trust not with ATFC. The fact that ATFC had precedence when two fixtures clashed was always an accepted fact and was set out in the original meeting with all interested parties and the Trust. It should also be remembered that this was only enforced where the first team fixture clashed. When MTFC had a fixture that clashed with the development team of ATFC, the latter always conceded and as a result had to pay to use a far less appropriate adjacent pitch.

"So ironically MTFC would be using Pen-y-Pound for free when ATFC were forced to pay £55 to use a council pitch."

keen to clarify Robson's statement that any grant application to the FAW by MTFC for ground improvements were refused because of a lack of security of tenure at Pen-y-Pound despite "assurances to the contrary" by ATFC, Warren said, "The offer of a grant presupposes that the grant represents 70% of the total spend. The Trust asked MTFC where the £40,000 would be coming from. No satisfactory answer was ever given save a suggestion that it would be taken up by the self help portion of the work.

"None of the recent improvements (despite assumptions to the same) were funded by or undertaken by anyone from MTFC. Not a single penny or an hours work. With that in mind the Trust had no confidence that MTFC could fulfil its 30% obligation.

"Of course the Trust would welcome such an injection of cash to realise it's aims of restoring Pen-y-Pound to a respectable standard and beyond. But nothing in the last twelve months indicates an appetite on the part of MTFC to get stuck in. Even to the extent that on match days no one from MTFC would be seen until shortly before kick off."

Warren also points out that, although, as Robson indicates in his statement, the Thursdays Trust are often seen as a barrier to the provision of a 4G pitch in Abergavenny, they are not, but

they do not wish to see one at Pen-y-Pound for a number of reasons.

"Monmouthshire County Council, the FAW Trust and all the other local clubs had a meeting where it was decided a 4G pitch at Pen-y-Pound would not be feasible.

"Who would pay for it and how much would it cost ? Neither MCC nor the Trust has the money for it at the moment and other local clubs could not afford it.

"I asked Lee Robson ( an advocate of such a facility) who would run it? The grand plan, whilst fuzzy in its detail, would apparently be to operate in a liaison with the school (I.e. The local authority ) a partnership where effectively Pen-y-Pound would lose its autonomy, the very reason the Trust was formed in the first place."

Warren points out that although the Trust suggested both MTFC and ATFC should concentrate on approaching the council to secure a second pitch at Lower Meadow which could be developed to a suitable standard by the Trust and provide a suitable ground for ATFC Welsh League Reserves and MTFC Under 19s to play was entirely ignored.

"The concentration of thought on a 4G that has no funding source , to my mind prevented a far more feasible option being properly investigated. The irony of it being even with a 4G the problem still exists because still only one team can kick off at 3pm on a Saturday.

"Ultimately it was always about making a decision that was best for football in the area.

"That said we still seek to support MTFC and its development of young footballers through its academy and for that reason we have agreed to make available Pen-y-Pound for midweek fixtures for its development team."