Interview with Stewart Donald

By Paul McNamara

Stewart Donald is fast approaching the second anniversary of his all-consuming involvement with Eastleigh Football Club. The on-going progress that has been achieved in that period is evident to anybody who has witnessed developments at the Silverlake Stadium since Donald arrived.

In November 2011, the Spitfires were in the midst of a cost cutting operation which had seen the departure of a number of key players, and a gutsy but predominantly inexperienced side was languishing in the wrong half of the Conference South table.

Fast forward to today and the picture is very different. An Eastleigh team that is blessed with a playing staff which is the envy of their league rivals and, one would imagine a fair number of clubs operating further up the ladder, sit proudly at the head of the early season standings. 

The club’s support is wholly appreciative of a man whose personal commitment and financial backing has made possible the seismic transformation to their fortunes. Most, however, will be entirely unaware of how lucky they are that Donald came to take control of the Spitfires – for his original intention when he decided to increase his football involvement was rather more modest than what actually transpired.

Moreover, everybody who holds the prosperity of Eastleigh FC close to their heart owes a small debt of gratitude to one of the finest footballer’s this country has ever produced, namely Glenn Hoddle – the man whose recent appointment to F.A. chairman Greg Dyke’s England commission received widespread acclaim.

Donald recalls the day when the initial step was taken towards his and the Spitfires’ existence becoming intertwined.

‘I was sat at home when I received a phone call, and was asked if I could make a meeting the following day with Glenn Hoddle. If you are a football fan and you have a chance to meet Glenn Hoddle you don’t say no. 

‘I had no idea at that time why he wanted to meet. We had a chat for a couple of hours and he had heard that I was about to make an offer for a football league club. Glenn wondered if there was potential to get involved. I made it clear at that stage that there was no likelihood of a deal, but I would be interested in exploring other football clubs if he thought he would like to work together on a project.

‘We could not find anything suitable, but Eastleigh FC had got a mention in passing as a potential target. Knowing the area, and having a business in the town, (Bridle Insurance) I met three of the then current shareholders of the club with a view to giving the club a little sponsorship money.

‘However, on meeting them, it was apparent from Paul Murray (then Spitfires chairman) that they would like to take more of a backseat, and having enjoyed being the main sponsor at Oxford United and thoroughly enjoyed the contact I had with the then chairman, Kelvin Thomas, and manager, Chris Wilder, I thought -‘why not have a go?’ 

The Bridle takeover was confirmed in February of the following year, but in the meantime Donald had, by providing his manager Ian Baird with notable backing in the transfer market, declared a conspicuous intention to change his new club’s ethos into one where progression up the football pyramid was a priority.

Dave Malone, Eastleigh’s erstwhile managing director, who was an active participant in the club’s change of hands before standing down in the wake of the deal’s completion, stated at the time of the deal that Bridle had a five-year plan to ‘get the ground up to League standard, and us into the Football League’.

It is not a statement that Donald recalls ever making, but it is nevertheless a fair reflection of the hopes that the owner possesses for the club that has become such a factor in his life.

‘I am aware of that stated aim, although I don’t recall that comment being made by myself. Having said that, I have not become involved with the club just to let it tread water.

‘I am extremely ambitious for the club to improve, progress, and be successful. Should we be aiming for league football? Well we need to reach the Conference National first, which is no mean achievement in itself, but yes we should be aiming for league football and of course the ground does not meet the requirements (to host football at that level). I am trying to gear the club up, with my fellow directors, to be in a position to achieve these things and it is very much a target we have’. 

In Donald’s view, his and his directors’ purchase of the club’s Ten Acres home earlier this year from former owners ‘Ten Acres Holdings’ was imperative for those stated, heady aspirations to be met.

‘It was vital that the stadium was purchased. Developing the ground is essential, and we had to acquire the ground for this to make sense. Now, we have finally managed to do that. It was more frustrating than any other deal I have been involved in, but now we can apply to make the necessary improvements and they will happen’. 

The lengthy period that was required to secure the deeds on his club’s home is being matched in patience testing qualities by myriad procedures that must be complied with before the ground revamp can commence. It is the less glamorous side of the work towards the overall grand plan but Donald remains, above anything else, a football fan – albeit one who can’t relax when it’s the turn of the players to do their bit on the pitch.

‘I feel nervous and tense, and am rarely relaxed. I kick every ball, make every challenge. I am a fan the same as everyone else. I have had plenty of journeys home to Oxfordshire after both home and away games thinking, ‘what a great result, I am loving this’.

‘I have also had some at the other end of the spectrum where I think, ‘what a fool, this was an awful defeat and why do I waste my time, money and effort on such a silly game’. However, when I have calmed down from a defeat, or forgotten the last win, I then refocus on achieving the goals we have set to achieve at the club. I focus on the next challenge, whether it’s Sutton, Dorchester, terracing or the bar staff’.

Donald’s control over what he watches during the course of 90 stomach churning minutes only extends as far as his placing the team’s control in the exceptionally capable hands of Richard Hill. Before Hill’s appointment in September 2012, though, the owner had to dispense with the Spitfires boss of close to five years, Ian Baird. It was a process that Donald confesses provided him with the only ‘serious negative’ of his time, to date, at the Silverlake.

Together with Baird’s successor, Donald has overseen the recruitment of a series of stellar footballers, and has ensured that every measure is taken to give his side the best possible chance of success. The implementation of a discernibly professional environment at Eastleigh is epitomised by the day time training regime which allows Hill additional quality time to work with his men, and was a key attraction for many of the high-end captures. Donald clearly values his present manager’s wisdom and ‘huge influence’ over the club.

‘He chooses the players, he signs them, coaches them and they are a reflection of him as well as the club. The results speak for themselves. It is a football club and he is the manager, and we follow his direction and his vision within the boundaries that the board set’.

Prior to his immersion in everything Eastleigh, Donald’s football experiences were no different to those of the people who loyally follow the Spitfires every week.

‘I was a season ticket holder for almost 30 years, and subsequently a sponsor, at Oxford United. I have been involved with the team I used to play for in Oxfordshire, and who remain very close to my heart, North Leigh. They play in the Southern League, Division One South & West – two divisions below Eastleigh’. 

The supporters he has encountered at the Silverlake have certainly made a positive impression on the 38 year-old. In fact, Donald says that their collective enthusiasm, along with the enormous amount of work involved in running the club – ‘about half of my working week is spent on Eastleigh, and it’s a long working week’ - have been the most striking elements of his embryonic ownership.

‘The passion of the supporters and the strength of feeling they have for the club has made a huge impact on me and been a real surprise’. 

Nevertheless, Donald’s tireless effort to entice more fans through the turnstiles is yet to have the desired effect – although there has been a slight upturn in home attendance figures this term.

‘The product is good and improving, and it is a huge catchment area. Having said that, football is expensive at all levels and we need to work hard to make it as affordable as possible for people to attend when the economy is the way it is.

‘We do not help ourselves by continually being knocked out of cup competitions in the early stages when that would help raise the profile of the club. We will hopefully put that right in the FA Trophy this year and it is a work in progress’. 

Increasing Eastleigh’s supporter base is just one of the many challenges that will test a man who is determined, in his incarnation as ‘football club owner’, to match his prodigious accomplishments in the business world. It is rather handy, therefore, that Donald cites ‘the challenge of having set a target to take Eastleigh FC to a certain level, both on and off the pitch, and seeing whether we can achieve this’ as the most exciting aspect of the task he has undertaken.

The owner acknowledges the esteem in which he holds the fans, players, and directors of Eastleigh, describing all as being ‘a credit to the club’.

The respect is mutual, and any time spent at the club reveals a tight-knit group, all working together in pursuit of an exhilarating future. A future that was inconceivable until two years ago when a telephone rang in Stewart Donald’s Witney home.