On their first official day in charge, K's Web spoke to new owners Anup and Rajesh Khosla
|
|
| Can you let us know something of your background? |
| AK: We have a hotel in Wales, we have a travel agency in West London and we have a nationwide property investment business. |
| |
| What is your link with this area? |
| AK: I went to school here, at Kingston Grammar, where I did my A-Levels. I then went on to university at the London School of Economics from where I've just graduated with a degree in Economics. |
| |
| So how did you get involved with the bid for the club? |
| RK: Well, we are in business, so that's how we came to know about the club and that's why we started bidding. |
| |
| What sort of interest do you have in football? |
| AK: I was the team captain of my school, right up until GCSE level. Then I went to Kingston Grammar, where they don't have a football team. They play hockey and rowing, so I was left out of that scene. When I went to university I didn't bother pursuing football, but I'm very happy to be back into it! |
| |
| Which team(s) do you follow? |
| AK: Both me and my brother follow Tottenham Hotspur. We used to watch Steve Sedgley on the television, so it was a pleasure to meet him. He's a great guy. |
| |
| Had you been to the club before you entered the bidding? |
| AK: Well we were there at the Sutton and Aldershot games and on Saturday (Hampton away). When we knew that the club was available we came down and had a look at the facilities. |
| |
| What are your plans for the football club? |
| RK: Well we're in the Ryman Premier League at the moment, and hopefully we will get into the Conference. |
| |
| The place in the Ryman Premier depends on the £100,000 which everybody keeps talking about. What plans are in place to raise that money? |
| RK: We are talking to certain supporters, and I don't think that the supporters have to worry a lot. |
| |
| If I had £10,000 to invest - which I don't just by the way - what benefits would be there for me to invest that money in the club? |
| RK: The only thing we could really offer you would be a long-term season ticket. We are not at present looking for any investors. |
| |
| So there won't be any shares on offer? |
| AK: At the end of the day, if the supporters support their team then they would be doing it for the benefit of the club. |
| |
| Sure, but that's a lot of money to raise in - what is it - six weeks? |
| RK: No it's four weeks now. Twenty-eight days from today (22nd April). |
| |
| OK, but that's still a lot of money. Do you expect to raise that amount in that short a time? |
RK: Yes. We're 100% sure.
AK: We're hoping to hear from supporters about it, but shares in the company, at this stage, will not be available. |
| |
| And that £100,000 is to pay off the preferential creditors? |
| AK: The administrators are dealing with the creditors. |
| |
| So you're completely confident that the money will be raised in time? |
AK: Yes.
RK: We will not let Kingstonian go down, whatever happens. That's not only the players' and the supporters' wish - it's our wish too.
They've suffered enough going down from the Conference. |
| |
| What is the state of play with regards to current shares and shareholders? |
| RK: We don't know yet. We are still in touch with the receivers about that. |
| |
| Which of you has which position within the club? Do you have titles yet? |
| RK: Not yet. He (Anup) and his brother (Rishi) are the owners, and they will be directors of the club. That's of Kingstonian Football Club Limited. |
| |
| Do you have any idea of the composition of the new board? I'm presuming that you will both be directors? |
AK: It's still very early at the moment so we're still thinking of how to structure it. We're thinking that we might form an Honorary Committee, which would be formed of the senior people who have invested a lot of their time into the club.
RK: We still need to find out who they are, then we will ask their consent and pick them up. We will probably end up with an association of roughly ten people. It will be more of an advisory committee - they won't necessarily be shareholders. |
| |
| Do you envisage any supporter representation on the board? |
| RK: We'll probably give Colin Deadman (chairman of the Supporters' Club) some sort of position because they (supporters) must know something. It's not a one-man job - it's going to require teamwork to succeed. |
| |
| Do you know when your plans will be completed? |
| RK: Probably within a week or ten days. |
| |
| I understand that you're keen to meet with the supporters soon. Do you know when that will be? |
| AK: We hope to meet with the Supporters' Club Committee later this week, and then with the supporters as a whole early next week. |
| |
| You had a meeting with Steve Sedgley last week. How did that go? |
| RK: We offered him a contract of up to five years. I'm sure he's going to take it. |
| |
| I take it you were quite impressed when you met him then? |
| RK: Of course. We like him. He's a person with whom you can get on straight away. |
| |
| I understand that you also met up with the local council last week. How did that go? |
| RK: We met Chrissie Hitchcock. Yes it went very well. |
| |
| There was no problem between you seeing as she was such a public voice for the supporters' consortium and the petition? |
| AK: Not at all. And as I understand it, not even all of the supporters were behind the petition. Particularly Colin Deadman. They handed out the petition without even showing it to him. So if it was the "supporters' consortium" they should have been fully informed. |
| |
| Since going into administration the club has only bought one player - Tim Sills - and that was with money from the supporters. How do you see the future in terms of the playing budget? |
| RK: We are agreeing a budget with Steve. |
| |
| But the season is coming to an end very shortly, so do you have a time-frame of when the budget will be set? |
| RK: The budget will be set by May. So Steve will know what he has to deal with by the end of the season. |
| |
| Will there be major changes in how things are run behind the scenes? For example the club has often been criticised for its marketing strategy. |
RK: I think we have to market the club better. In particular the banqueting halls haven't been used as well as they might have been. The whole club needs cleaning up - you must have seen the entrance.
AK: The boards outside are a bit of a mystery. Unless there's a company called "white paint". |
| |
| You're obviously very interested in the banqueting facilities here. What plans do you have for them? |
RK: The price needs to be looked at, as does the structure of how they are being sold. We certainly don't want to sell a Saturday evening for £250, when you can make much more. The toilets need some work and there are some tiles missing. How much does it cost to replace a tile? £2? It may not cost much but the overall effect is great. We're already starting improvements anyway.
AK: We're getting some tables and chairs to put outside. Even during the close-season the athletics stadium is open, so by putting tables and chairs outside we should get business into the bar. It will create more of a family atmosphere too. |
| |