At the latest board meeting held on Saturday – prior to the win over Chesterfield – the Trust board agreed to donate five thousand pounds to the Fighting Chance Player Fund.
This is in addition to the £7,500 from the “Players Fund” from bucket collections that has also been donated to the Fighting Chance fund, with the consent of the fund's trustees.
This means, with the January transfer window about to open, the fund now has thirty thousand pounds to give to Scott Fitzgerald's team building a lift for the latter half of the season in an attempt to stave off relegation.
Trust Chairman Brian Burgess said, "The trust board is 100% behind the aims of the Appeal and we congratulate the trustees of the Bees United Players Fund and the Fighting Chance Appeal for the tremendous effort devoted to raising £25,000, which our donation increases to £30,000, to aid Scott's quest to maintain League One football at Griffin Park for next season. It is this kind of intervention at crucial times that demonstrates the strength and determination of Bees fans to see the club through to better times."
In order to assist cashflow at the Club, the Bees United Board has also agreed to waive its entitlement, under the terms of the £1 million interest free loan, to early repayment of £76,000 as a percentage of unbudgeted transfer income from the summer player sales.
2006 has been a year of mixed emotions for the Trust and the Club – at times momentous, exciting and difficult – and the board of Bees United wishes to express its thanks to all Brentford fans that have participated in the 'Back the Bees' campaign, contributed to the Bees United player fund bucket collections, the highly successful Fighting Chance appeal and not least the stalwarts that continue to support our efforts with regular standing order contributions and support for fundraising events.
We wish everyone connected with Brentford Football Club a very happy and successful New Year.
The Bees United Board