Dan Levy tells us about the Manor Farm Project

When Stockport County Supporters Trust bought the club 3 years ago, our main emotion was one of elation.  We were -and still are - determined to be the best run and most responsible club off the field, and successful on it.  But we also knew that we were buying an organisation that had been very badly run for a great many years.  Even so, the number of skeletons lurking in the cupboard at County has still been a shock.  Just when one skeleton has been properly buried (like the repayment of the loans to the directors who came with the club when it was bought) when there’s a rattling in the background and something else comes wafting out into the open shaking its chains and making whooooo noises.

Unfortunately, Jim Gannon isn’t the only ghost at the club at the moment.

There is a very big ghost rattling around at the moment, at County’s training ground, and we need County’s fans to see it off.  In short, the landlord of Manor Farm has threatened the club with eviction if we don’t make good the damage to the buidings there which has happened over a number of years,

Manor Farm in Timperley is home of manager Jim Gannon's day-to-day office, where he eyes up opposition, works on tactics and generally plots County's future successes. It's also the home to nine youth teams, the U21 Development Squad and of course the First Team.
The playing facilities are second to none with a number of well kept pitches for the teams to use as their daily place of work.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the buildings at Manor Farm.
Due to the age of the buildings, weathering and vandalism, the main 'stable' block and on-site house have fallen into aunacceptable state requiring extensive repairs. Our landlord has charged us with the repairs and work that needs to be done to bring the site back to an acceptable standard by 9th January 2009 -  otherwise Jim, Peter and the twelve Stockport County teams face eviction!

The work that needs to be carried out includes:

• Roof repairs
• New Windows & Doors
• New electrics
• New facias, barge boards and soffits
• New gutterings and down pipes
• Internal boarding out and plastering
• Mortar Pointing
• General tidy up of gardens and surroundings

The Stockport County Trust have taken on this project to get the Stockport County teams place of work back up to a standard that make footballers at any level envious......
.........and we need your help to do it!

The first requirement is money! We need to pay for labour and materials to carry out the work which is estimated to be around £200,000. We are putting in place a number of initiatives to help raise funds for the work that is needed, but we would really like you to play your part and make a donation or set up a standing order to donate on a regular basis:

But we are also sure that within the club’s great supporter community there are roofers, builders, plasterers, electricians etc that can help us achieve our goal as well as people that can help us source materials at trade prices - or lower!

The skills we require include:

• Roofers
• Builders
• Electricians
• Plumbers
• Plasterers
• Joiners
• General DIY

We are also looking for help sourcing materials and equipment at as low cost (or free) as possible.

Please visit the Manor Farm mini site at www.stockportcountytrust.com/manorfarm