Wow, you take one weeks holiday (I know, in the football season, shouldn't do it, blah de blah...perhaps I should introduce you to the family?) and next thing you know we are 6 games into the season.
At the end of last weekend we left the kids at my In-Laws at Skegness last weekend. If you have kids yourself you will understand the hassle of trying to cater for their childcare during the six weeks school holidays. Having done our stint at Weymouth in July, the Calder family holiday part two involved a week in the Norfolk Broads followed by a weekend in Skegness where the kids would be left for another week. The Norfolk Broads are brilliant if you have never been. We stayed in an amazing cottage on a dyke that I had holidayed at as a child several times..the last time being some 27 years ago! If you want details, I’ll let you know, it’s just outside Wroxham...
...Ah, Wroxham; do you remember when we went there for a pre-season friendly? What a weekend that was. On this particular holiday we had a coffee by the water at the hotel we had stayed at with Steve and Jenny Chambers for the game. Back then we met at the hotel bar some point around Thursday lunchtime, and I don’t think we actually stopped drinking until we hired a boat out the day after the match – Sunday.
The other thing about being out in the middle of nowhere – we were staying a couple of miles from Wroxham – is the fact that I had no phone signal. Arrghhh! What an age we live in that I felt so distanced from the real world without my emails or phone signals. There was a corner of a field where I could just about get a signal. Standing here, just me and the turnips, I managed to get a signal to let me know that we had beaten Brackley Town 1-0. Magic. On Wednesday night it was pouring with rain. I was still prepared to head out into the pitch black late at night to stand in a field to collect the result, but fortunately was able to use a good old fashioned source of supply – Ceefax! I didn’t realise it still existed, but in all fairness it was pretty prompt at telling me we had drawn 0-0.
For the Banbury game I was sheltering from the rain under the pier at Skegness whilst the bracing winds did their best to dampen my spirits, but I was having none of it, not even the news of a 2-0 defeat could ruin a windy day on Skegness seafront – we had to lose sometime.
I don’t know if you are familiar with Skegness, it’s not somewhere that people from the south tend to go to for holidays (my In-laws originate from Leeds); it’s a traditional seaside resort – with a Northern slant. 8 doughnuts for £1 on the front, fish & chips for £2 – with an excellent funfair on the front, a not bad beach; but so tedious to get to. Getting to Boston is bad enough, but from there it is 20 miles of winding roads through turnip and sprout fields; you are guaranteed to get stuck behind at least three tractors and, in August, a couple of caravans...
...With this in mind I left Skegness at about 12.15pm on Monday for a 3.00pm kick-off at Bedford. Should be plenty of time...I thought. Extra caravans (I followed one for 90 minutes) and no end of articulated lorries ensured I crept my way towards Stamford/Peterborough, fully aware that the A1 had scuppered my plans by closing at the Black Cat roundabout just where we were going to join the road to Bedford...To cut a long story short, we trundled through Oundle and Rushden before heading down the A6 to arrive at Bedford Town FC just in time to see Danny Talbot converting the penalty that put us 2-0 ahead – what a journey.
The home side pulled one back for 2-1 before the break, but a solid second half saw us hold out for another win and a return to second in the league.
Since I last wrote I have been introduced to one of the serious responsibilities of being Chairman, discussing and agreeing budgets with the manager on a weekly basis. Being a supporters run club, it is all too easy to let the head rule and get carried away with the success, but it is fundamental that we live within our means. fortunately, in Andy Leese and Jon Meakes we have a management team that understands the finances and take the time to consider the bigger picture of the club overall, the effect of bigger gates and increased sponsorship - they don't just ask for more money. Over the summer we came up with a playing budget that was complicated in certain areas, particularly involving weekly bonuses which are not always easy to predict. Such an example is the fact that there is an addition to the bonus pot for every week we are in the top half of the table in addition to other goals scored and clean sheet related bonuses. The logic is simple, winning games, scoring goals, keeping clean sheets and being in the top half of the table is what the club should be all about and should be the factor that attracts more people to the game and increases our income, by having more of the budget bonus related should result in financial availability corrolating with financial commitment. If only the top professionals and the England team were paid in bonuses, might we see a bit more passion from them then? (I'm writing this literally 30 minutes prior to the England v Bulgaria game tonight).
I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Mike Warrick, Andy and Jon to discuss how the budget is falling into place so far and to share with them how we are managing the finances of the club on a weekly basis. It is important that they understand everything about the way the club is financed and our financial commitments, that way they can see that we will not let them down by being short to pay the wages in any particular week; and similarly, it is important that they understand why the budget is where it is and why. Without being sure of affording it, we can't just get carried away with the start to the season we have had and throw money aimlessly at a second successive promotion. It would be lovely, but it would have to be done on the current budget, or following a hugely successful FA Cup run (or the discovery of a wealthy benefactor!).
With summer holidays rattling to a close I'm hoping a sense of normality will return soon and we can sort some of the many things that are still on the list to be sorted out. Top of that list in my mind is clarifying the relationship between the Supporters' Trust organisation and the ownership of the club. In reality there is very little difference at the moment, but we need to officially make sure that is what supporters want. It is what I want, it should be what the community wants, but we shouldn't just assume that.
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