We have a big weekend ahead of us as the FA Cup gets underway with a trip to Burnham Ramblers from the Essex Senior League; a banana skin if ever I have seen one.
Last weekend we had an emphatic 5-0 win over Tiverton Town, a side I always considered as one we must be looking to finish above, but we brushed them aside with ease and held onto our position of second in the table. At the risk of sounding repetitive, amazing credit to the management team.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had a meeting with Andy and Jon ahead of the Tiverton game, along with Mike Warrick who looks after the Management Accounts of the club (we are very close to getting pictures, contact details and a bit of background for everyone involved in the management of the club onto the website - that's an important step to make sure everyone can put a face to who does what). These sort of meetings are planned each month to chat through the budget, the direction the team is going and to discuss the general state of the club and the implications of extra income achieved, or, shortfalls that may occur in any aspect of the club - attendances, sponsorship, fundraising, bar takings, loan repayments...if only it really was all just about football. As Mike Warrick will be the first to tell you, it is so pleasing that the management of the football team show a genuine interest in the whole club and not just the football side. In my experience, this is quite unique.
At this stage I should point out, it's not all glamorous in the boardroom. We also had to discuss the provision of breakfast for players at the club ahead of away games. Over the summer we were very scrooge-like when looking at the the cost of running the club and areas where we are spending money that, let's be frank, could be saved. We've agreed with Andy that we will do breakfast for certain games when all the players are meeting at the club to get on the coach (as opposed to some being picked up en route), but it cannot be assumed that this will be the norm and we will have to come up with some sort of rota for being able to knock up some scrambled egg, toast and beans on the occasional Saturday morning. Now I just need to find someone before the Stourbridge game to do breakfast! It could be argued that we shot ourselves in the foot by breaking the arrangement we had last season, but I felt that and other expenses paid out could not be sustained. Like I say, that may or may not come and bite us on the bum again later in the season.
The FA Cup on Saturday is important. Not just for the prize money (that is obviously very nice), but the FA Cup appeals to everyone, a good cup run will generate great enthusiasm around the town and make more and more people want to be a part of this club. Last year's cup defeat at Aylesbury took a while to erase from the memory, we had a great chance to progress and earn some serious money in the competition; but we blew it on the day. we missed out on what - off the top of my head - was about £7,500 prize money. Worse than that, it cost us more money than that as we picked up a fairly hefty fine from the FA for the number of bookings picked up on the day. We don't want a repeat of that thank you very much.
The confidence on the pitch is superb, players look like they are enjoying playing for the club and supporters seem to be enjoying watching. I am under no illusions that our time as a supporters' run club is still on its honeymoon and the positive comments on the terraces and the forums will just as quickly turn into negatives if/when things are not going so well. It's the reality of football, I just hope that we all remember how good the last 6 months have been and stick with the vision.
I refer to us as a supporters run club, that is what we are. We have people on the Board with a lot of experience in non-league football (not just at Chesham) and we are getting the support of others that are not named on the Board, but are still being very supportive of what we are trying to achieve and it is that unity - I believe - that will pull us through. The club is genuinely void of politics at the moment. I can think of no less than five ex-Chairman that are in regular contact with the existing Board offering advice and support. That alone makes me feel proud. I can only begin to imagine what might have happened if all our Chairman over the past fifteen years could have got together at any one time; bringing their own money, business sense, contacts, ambition and personalities to the table. So many times in the past I have used the phrase "I'd love to get everyone together in one room, bash their heads together and start all over again!" - without actually physically maiming anyone, I think we have come fairly close to achieving that sort of united ambition.
There is still hell of a lot to do at the club, it frightens me how time flies, the weeks just seem to pass. One of the other tasks I have on my list tonight is to go through the Board Meetings from the past two months to identify any areas where agreed actions may have fallen by the wayside. No fault of any individual, just the nature of so much to do and still relatively few people available to do it.
Tomorrow Night there is a Quiz Night at the club. They are never the most profitable of nights (compared to Race Nights), but they are great fun and well worth coming along to. Paul Campion puts a huge amount of effort into the questions and the organisation, it would be good to see as many people there as possible. Likewise on Saturday, I have a feeling our travelling support may well outweigh the home support - for that the club would like to thank everyone; wouldn't it be great if this year's cup run could re-invigorate the spirit of Weston-Super-Mare?
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