At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s been another busy and challenging week at the Club. We are, however, starting to make real progress and beginning to move forwards.
Sadly, Richard Maxwell since has decided to sever all links with the Club following his short term as first team manager. The U23s will continue to be led by Rory Williams for the rest of the season and the U21s will continue to be managed by Howard Willmott. We place on record, once again, our grateful thanks to Richard for all his hard work during his time with the Club.
At the Board meeting on Wednesday evening, the first item on the agenda was the election of officers. Under the terms of the constitution, we are required to have a Chair, Treasurer, and Society Secretary. Following discussion, the following were appointed:
- Chair – Rob Usher
- Vice-Chair – Alex Raspin
- Treasurer – Mario Colabuono (co-opted)
- Society Secretary – Brett Abbott
Rob and Alex will be supported by Stacey Hawkins, who will remain as Club Secretary, until the end of the season when she has decided to step down from the Board. The role of Vice-Chair, whilst not required under the constitution, was felt by all Board members to be an important role and one that our Club needs. The Board can co-opt further members and there was a discussion around this. Once a decision has been made, we will, of course, let everyone know.
The Commercial working group are working hard to follow up on sponsorship leads and have re-written the Club’s commercial offering to reflect the remainder of the season. Following the loss of the main Club sponsor, replacing the lost income is a high priority area, so if anyone has any leads or knows of any company who might like to sponsor the Club, have an advertising board around the pitch, sponsor a match or player please do contact Alex. We are pleased to welcome Café Bangla as our match sponsors at the match against Alvechurch on Saturday and hope they enjoy their day with us.
Volunteer Tim Sams will be back in action on Saturday as our new Supporter Liaison Officer. Tim will be available just inside the turnstiles to guide away supporters to our facilities and he’ll also be happy to chat to you all about any ideas you may have to take our Club forward. He’ll also be happy to talk through any thoughts and concerns you may have. If there is anything he can’t answer at the time, he’ll bring your thoughts to the Board and one of us will come back to you. Welcome back Tim and thank you!
The search for a new manager is on-going. We received 19 applicants which have been reduced to a shortlist of 6. Interviews will take place over the coming days and all available Board members will be involved in them. A scoring system has been drawn up for each member to score the candidates during the interviews in the hope that a vote can be avoided. We will bring you news on the outcome as soon as we can. We are really grateful to Tom Lorraine for his time and advice and also we continue to thank Matt Vernon, Jordan Williams and Dean Snedker for their support in looking after first team affairs.
The FA tribunal to decide on compensation payable by Bugbrooke St. Michaels FC for Will Jones sat a few days ago and awarded the Club £1,000.00 with a further £250.00 and sell on clause payable should Bugbrooke St. Michaels FC ever place Will on a contract. We are grateful to Bugbrooke St. Michaels FC for their prompt payment of this and hope that Will can now move on and enjoy his football again.
Please remember that kick-off on Saturday is at 12:30 pm. Kick-off was moved by the Southern League to avoid a potential clash with England or Wales playing in the World Cup. We then return to Hayden Road on Tuesday evening for the visit of Tamworth FC before traveling to Needham Market FC on Saturday, 10th December. It’s an early 1:00 pm kick off at Bloomfields.
Finally, as always, we wish good luck to all our teams across the Club in their fixtures this weekend and thank you all for your continued support and commitment. If you’d like to get involved in any way or, wish to speak with a Board member, you can email us direct or speak to us on any matchday.
