iSTAT Committee wish to inform supporters of Athlone Town FC that they will no longer be operating the club shop, and they will no longer be operating  within any capacity within the club stadium.  These decsions were taken at an iSTAT Committeee meeting held on Monday 26th July.  The committee of Athlone Town FC were informed of these decisions at a meeting which took place on Tuseday 27th July.

The reasons for these decisions being taken are based on 4 key points.

1. iSTAT Committee strongly felt that they were being taken for granted by the club, and were being viewed as just another facet of the club committee itself.
2. iSTAT committee can no longer support the direction, or lack of direction, which the club is taking from a football point of view.
3. iSTAT committee feel that the recent treatment of certain players and coaching staff has been very unproffessional, and at times has been totally disrespectful to the individuals concerned.
4. iSTAT committee felt that our independence was being compromised, and that we were losing sight of our original plan.

While we are saddened that we  have had to take such action, we have have absolutely no regrets about it.  We could no longer stand by silently and participate within the club when we were clearly unhappy with a number of things happening.  iSTAT was originally founded with concrete aims and objectives, and the strong feeling was that we were losing sight of these.

At the end of the day we are fore-mostly a group of supporters, and while up to now we have maintained a dignified silence we felt enough was enough, and we had to take some action to represent ourselves.  As like the majority of supporters we have become disillusioned and dismayed at the current situation the club finds itself in.

We fully acknowledge that every person involved in the club is giving their absolute best, and putting in huge time and huge efforts, but it has to be accepted that current happenings can no longer be suffered.

The majority of supporters of the club now feel totally disenchanted, and I don’t believe it is wrong to say the supporters feel their views count for nothing at this stage.  Ultimately, as a supporters trust we fully align ourselves with the majority of supporters, and we feel that ceasing to operate within the club itself is an important step to show that we share the views of the majority of supporters.

Over recent times we have remained dignified and respectful in our dealings with the club committee, management and players, and hope that our efforts and support can never be questioned or undermined by anyone.

Most importantly, as a supporters trust we will be remaining fully active within the local community, and with the recent successes of our school blitz and our involvement in the John Gately Memorial Shield we believe that we have a strong role to play in promoting football in the local community.  Plans are currently underway to host a 16 team school blitz in September, and a number of iSTAT members will be undertaking Kick Start 1 and Kick Start 2 coaching courses with the intention of helping local schools with coaching.

Finally, on a personal note, I want to express my gratitude to other members of the iSTAT committee, memebers of iSTAT and all people who have assisted me over recent times, and the goodwill we have recieved from people has been a tremendous driving force.

John Tiernan Jnr

iSTAT Chairman

There will be live updates from tonights (20 July) friendly with Port Vale.  Micky Adams brings his squad over to Lissywoollen and should face stiff opposition from an Athlone Town team who drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough Last Night.  Click Here for the updates or use the menu at the top of the istat website.

There will be live updates available from ntonights Airtricity League Division 1 match between Longford Town and Athlone.  After a busy few days in the transfer market there could possibly be a couple of debutants in the Athlone Town Line Up.  Click here to view the updates or click on live updates on the menu above.

Skelly says he is staying put.

With the inevitable rumour mill in overdrive this time of year. iSTAT decided to contact fans favourite Austin Skelly to see what his plans are for the rest of the season and whether he would be moving on to pastures new. Austin took a minute away from his busy schedule and gave us the following statement, we are sure the Town fans will be delighted with what he had to say.

Austin Skelly is going nowhere, I love the fans and the club too much and will continue to fight for my place in the team for the remainder of the season.