National League side Tamworth have been taken over by American firm Dawn Group International, with founder Abdullah Ashraf speaking out on his aspirations for the Lambs moving forward.
Tamworth are one of the only non-full time teams in the division, with players such as Tom Tonks and Jas Singh occupying jobs outside of football that run alongside their schedules for the National League outfit.
Despite this, the Lambs have secured back-to-back top-half finishes in the National League and producing a memorable FA Cup display against Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur – all whilst competing with limited resources and training in comparison to their division counterparts.
However, the future has the potential to be promising for the Lambs, following confirmation of their takeover earlier this week.
Tamworth owner addresses the full-time transition
At present, Tamworth are the only side in the division that are yet to public an official retained/release list and recently revealed they haven’t been able to press ahead with transfer plans due to them awaiting clearance of the takeover going through.
This has now been confirmed, pathing the way for the Lambs to begin preparing for next season as well as focussing on the long-term targets that the new ownership group has for the club.
On Friday, chairman Abdullah Ashraf addressed supporters and the media via a conference, which was also streamed on YouTube where he revealed some of his plans for the football club moving into the 2026/27 campaign and beyond.
As mentioned, Tamworth are one of the other clubs in the division that aren’t a full-time side, but it appears as though plans to change this are ongoing. Ashraf stated…
“This is the stuff that everybody’s been asking about. What are you guys going to do with the club? And we’re very excited to announce a couple of initiatives that we’re going to be bringing in in the near future.
“One of them is transitioning the club to a full-time professional side. Now, this is something that won’t happen immediately but it’s one of the near priorities and something that we are looking about doing.”
With the part-time schedule suiting some footballers/staff and the constant uncertainties that a takeover can bring – the future of manager Andy Peaks is one of those factors that can fall under pressure – but the owners stance in regards to his manager has been addressed. Ashraf added…
“Scott and Andy Peaks are going to be working very hard on implementing (the full-time transition) and we really want to see this club transition into that full-time professional side.”
With Peaks at the epicentre of transitioning the club into a full-time side, it suggests that he remains safe in his role and isn’t likely to lose his position as manager, much to the delight of Tamworth supporters given his success with the Lambs since his arrival.
Stadium purchase?
At National League level, the majority of clubs (if not all) have their stadium’s owned by another company – whether it be another company in relation to the owners or the local council, but it appears that Ashraf has bigger plans for securing Tamworth’s future.
Currently, the Lamb Stadium is owned by Tamworth Council, however that may not be the case long-term. Speaking on the stadium, Ashraf revealed…
“One thing we would really like to happen is a long-term training facility in addition to the Lamb (stadium), taking some stress of the Lamb.
“With that in mind, we’re also looking pretty strongly in regards to the stadium and I’m excited to announce that we’re currently in conversations with Tamworth Council to be able to acquire the Lamb and that will be the first step in us putting in the infrastructure that we all want to see implemented into this amazing football club.”
By purchasing the stadium, it would give the football club increased revenue by avoiding the need to pay rent to the Council, whilst also allow them to host different events at the ground, which Tamworth would benefit financially from.
Similarly, the ambition from the ownership group would attract players to want to play for the club – knowing there is clear ambition throughout the side to not only become full-time, but to also seal promotion to the EFL for the first time in their history.
Evidently, these quotes from Ashraf are only words for now – meaning Tamworth fans shouldn’t necessarily get ahead of themselves at present until the words become actions. However, the ambition from the new owner is highly likely to be enough to get supporters onside quickly, allowing excitement to build ahead of pre-season next month.
