Following a Board meeting of Newport Football Club Supporters Trust, local businessman Tony Wake has accepted an offer to become the new chairman of Newport Football Club following the recent resignation of former chair Stuart Ross.
Tony, who is a well-known active supporter of local community causes will take up his role immediately as the club’s Trust Board continue to look to appoint a vice-chairman to assist in the smooth running and future development of the club.
Mr Wake is also a director of South Coast Leisure which owns the freehold to St George’s Park where the club has been allowed to play while a search for a new more sustainable home has been pursued.
The appointment comes as the IW Council’s planning committee are due to meet in April to discuss the clubs new proposed ground adjacent the Racecourse at Binfield.
The plans by South Coast Leisure will provide the club with a new floodlit pitch, 150-seat main stand, bar and function room facilities and will also be fully accessible for disabled supporters. It is also hoped that the club will better serve a much wider community at the new location and help the football club itself to move up the non-league pyramid system.
Newport FC interim chairman and club secretary Pete Westhorpe said: “Tony knows the club and its ongoing challenges and is someone who has been very supportive in the past. More recently, he has worked with the club to bring forward an exciting plan that will move Newport FC, the Islands senior football club, into a purpose-built and sustainable new ground. From the assistance he has given us in the past we know he is the ideal chairman to take us through this transitional period and into a bright, new and exciting future.”
Tony said: “As a local man I know how important Newport FC is to the community and I am pleased to be working closely with the club and all stakeholders as we work to begin a new chapter in their history.”