New club to form at Stag Meadow after Windsor FC's rolling lease is terminated

A new football club is set to be formed in Windsor, and it seems certain they'll be playing their home matches at Stag Meadow after Windsor FC were handed notice terminating their rolling monthly lease by the Crown Estate this week.

Windsor Youth Football Club and former Windsor FC manager Mark Cooper are establishing a brand-new club after coming to an agreement with the Crown Estate to take on a 25-year lease for Stag Meadow from the beginning of next season.

At least publicly, the new club doesn't yet have a name and details of which league they'll play in, or what level of the non-league pyramid they'll start at is yet to be ratified by the Berks & Bucks FA.

News of Cooper's plan came out of the blue via a press release on Tuesday afternoon. The statement added that there are plans to install a new artificial playing surface at Stag Meadow so 'youth and senior players alike can use the ground more intensively'.

The Crown Estate confirmed this week that Windsor's tenancy at will was being terminated.

Windsor FC's director of football, Kevin Stott, added that while he wasn't surprised by the move, the way it’s' been handled disappointed him and caught him off guard. He found out that Windsor's lease for the ground was being terminated on Tuesday, having had no prior word from Cooper or the Crown Estate on the matter.

He will take legal advice on the matter, however, at this stage, he does still plan to enter a Windsor FC team into next season’s Combined Counties Premier Division 1 irrespective of whether they'll play home matches at Stag Meadow or ground share with a nearby club.

Stott added that while it's an unwanted hurdle to overcome, he doesn't believe the move will dissuade entrepreneurs Andrew Stalbow and Franklin Leonard in their bid to takeover Windsor FC.

In the past 24 hours they've informed the Crown Estate they're still interested in purchasing the club and Stott believes they plan to invest around $10m in Windsor FC and local community.

While Stott believes the move by Cooper and the Crown Estate is ‘divisive' for Windsor FC fans, the prospect of a new club does appear to have the backing of many Royalists.

Michael Gegg, spokesperson for the 'Windsor FC Supporters Group', said he believed the fans would welcome the new ownership structure.

He said:  "This is the only viable and, importantly, realistic plan for football in Windsor. It's community focused, it's ambitious, but in a way that is measured, achievable and can be sustainable for many years to come. Vitally, the partnership between Mark and Windsor Youth ensures that the club will be run by local people for the community."

Cooper said he’s excited by the prospect of creating a new club in the town and, with a longer-term lease confirmed, expects they'll be able to access the funding needed to develop the facility.  

  Cooper said: "The ambition is to build a club and team that the town can be proud of and get Windsor competing with the likes of Slough and Maidenhead again. But it's more than just wanting to win football matches, the aim here is to develop a community club that embraces senior, youth, women’s, disabled and veterans’ football.”

Windsor Youth FC has 550 players, almost 50 teams and 120 coaches. Paul Mitchell, chairman of the club, said: "The Youth Club committee members are unanimously behind this, as we look to establish a main hub with one club working together for the benefit of the community.   The makeup of the club won't change, but we'll have a new name and base, and the chance to develop much better facilities.”

In response to the developments this week, Stott said: “For a myriad of legal reasons, this is far from a foregone conclusion.  Meanwhile, I must work with the things that are within my control. For now, it’s business as usual and until such times as it’s not possible, we will be entering a team into the Combined Counties League Division 1 next season, whether that’s at Stag Meadow or another ground. Andrew Stalbow and Destination Football are still keen to invest in Windsor FC and the community, whether that be at Stag Meadow or some other location. They wrote to the Crown Estate last night reconfirming that they’re still interested.  There can be no doubt that the Crown Estate know that potential investment in Windsor FC and the community is still sitting there. I’ve reached out to the very highest levels in the Crown Estate to unblock this opportunity. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It would take a special kind of madness to turn that kind of opportunity down, or at the very least, not to explore it incredibly thoroughly.”

In response the Crown Estate said it had 'considered all of the investment options put forward' and added that it believes 'the new football club, led by Mark Cooper and Windsor Youth FC, will provide the most social value to the Windsor community and be best placed to drive the club forward in the long term. The future football club will be a community asset run by local community members with support from The Crown Estate in line with our purpose and strategy'.