WREXHAM fans will be given a say in the running of the Second Division club if they can raise £50,000.
Former Lincoln City chairman John Reames (pictured above), who is set to take a hands-on role at the Racecourse following Thursday night's resignation of chairman Mark Guterman, said his departure marked an end to the secrecy with which the club's affairs had been handled.
"Today marks the relaunch of Wrexham FC," he said. "We cannot change what's happened but we will make sure in future that everything about the club relates to the fans.
"We need to change the perception that the club is being run by outsiders, which means bringing in fresh, local blood at board level and also giving the fans their say.
"If they can get organised and raise £50,000, they can nominate their representative to join the board. That can happen as quickly as it takes them to get organised.
"We need to get the fans on-side. The football club is in a poor financial state but what's guaranteed as a result of these changes is that all the debts will be taken care of so the club can move forward.
"You will find the new regime far more open and we will tell it as it is, when it is and why it is and further details will emerge after Monday's board meeting."
The long-term aim, he claimed, was to give the club back to the community, with local businessmen and supporters working together.
But delivering the bad news up front, he said painful changes lay ahead, including the prospect of cuts to manager Denis Smith's backroom staff, the possible sale of the club's Colliers Park training facility and other belt-tightening measures.
"The redevelopment has to go ahead," he stressed. "If there is no development here, there's no future for Wrexham.
"The club would be in administration today and I'm not sure whether anyone would want to take it out again."
Reames said the option favoured by Wrexham council and by Hamilton was to redevelop the stadium on the current site, retaining the Pryce Griffiths stand, constructing three new stands and rotating the pitch through 90º in order to release the maximum amount of land for commercial use.
The new stadium would have a capacity similar to the existing 15,000 limit and could be complete within three years.
"When that happens and the club's historic debts are written off as part of the exercise, Mr Hamilton will walk away but will leave Wrexham in a very positive situation," added Reames.
In the short-term Reames is determined to cut running costs.
He said some tough decisions were necessary and he refused to rule out the possibility of redundancies among manager Denis Smith's back-room team.
Brought in a couple of months ago to conduct a financial audit of the club, Reames concluded that cuts needed to be made but his recommendations were resisted by Guterman.
Now that the Cheshire-based property developer has departed the original blueprint is back on the table.
"There was no point in me coming back if my recommendations were not going to be pursued," said Reams.
"There are bound to be some changes, which I'm not going to spell out in detail just yet.
"I have to say that Colliers Park is one option we need to consider. That doesn't mean the club will no longer have a training facility, especially if we can find a partner for a deal that would be to the club's advantage."
Reames is also anxious to maximise the club's commercial earnings, including entertainment and the fund-raising Gold Bond scheme.
"In my opinion, Gold Bond is of non-league standard and we have got to make it a much more successful scheme," he said.
"One of the biggest problems we face is that non-football income here is as low as at any other club in the Football League and that's something we need to work on.
"We have to provide facilities for the fans, such as a supporters' club, which encourages them to come to the Racecourse other than on match-days and we want them to to feel it's their club in which they have a sense of ownership."
But Reames has no plans to axe the club's youth development policy or the School of Excellence, which is based at Colliers Park.
And if the training ground were sold it would almost certainly continue in its current use, with Wrexham probably hiring it out.
"It's a great facility and it needs to be kept as it is," he added. "It's a green-belt site so there's no prospect of any other use for the land."
Re-affirming his pledge to be open and honest in his dealings with the club's supporters, Reames said: "People will judge us by our actions. There has been too much cloak and dagger stuff in the past but that's where it now is."
