Donald's Eastleigh FC investment reaches £10 million

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Quotes from Eastleigh chairman Stewart Donald who has invested £10 million in to the club:

“£10 million is £9.5 million more than I expected to spend after five years, but I would do it all over again," said Donald.

“If I had to put another £10 million in, I’d do it without hesitation to get us where we want to go.

“I love it and I’ve got to see it through now. If not, it will have all been wasted.

“People say it’s unsustainable, but £10 million has gone into the club with zero debt. It’s either been gifted or transferred into shares.

“All the debts the club had and the bank overdraft have gone.

“We’re now sat here with record revenues, potentially season-ticket sales of 1,500 for next season, a fan base in the top-ten of non-league – and all without a pound of debt. We’re probably financially safer than any football club at this level.

“We’ve built a proper football club too. Sometimes when a club grows, it can lose the feeling of togetherness and community, but I think we’ve made it stronger.

“Yes, we’ve struggled this season (on the pitch), but the whole club has grown with disability, ladies’ teams etc. and we’re grabbing more of the community.

“We’ll have a bank of around 40 staff just for Sherwoods and Brooks so, from a community perspective, we’re providing a lot of jobs.

“The original budget for the new building was £1.3 million but we went over for two reasons.

"To get planning permission we had quite stringent standards to build to which led to additional cost.

“Also, we went for a higher-end finish which will be beneficial in the long run with more visitors and more opportunities to hire it out.

“The upstairs was sold out on Saturday and looks like it may be for the entire new season.

“It doesn’t look like we’ve built it big enough!”

PHOTOS: 'I've spent £10m .... and I would do it all again!' - Take a look inside Eastleigh's new club house

THE completion of Eastleigh 's new state-of-the-art clubhouse complex has taken chairman Stewart Donald's investment in the club to a staggering £10 million. And the Oxfordshire-based businessman says he would willingly spend that sum all over again to get the Spitfires established in the Football League.

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