As time ticked it on it became apparent that much of the local area was without power, I popped over to Top Notch to confirm that they were hearing the same story as us, and in fact they had been told two to three hours where we had received a slightly more optimistic message. With the original game against Evesham postponed just before our visitors set off, this re-arranged game saw them turn up to a The Meadow plunged into darkness.
In fairness to the referee we looked to have until 8.00-8.30pm to get power back into town and the floodlights on, though some officials from Evesham were less keen to delay the kick-off in anyway. At around 7.30pm the lights finally flicked on and we were able to get some football under way by 8.07pm (on my phone). The game itself was far from a classic, won by a solitary Steve Wales goals as we recorded our second consecutive 1-0 home win, following on the back of Saturday's superb win over Cambridge City - watched by a healthy 473 crowd.
These two wins continued our incredible home record that has seen us unbeaten since August, conceding just 6 goals in 17 home league games. Indeed, the website www.statto.com confirms that this is the best defensive record out of the top 10 leagues in the country (224 teams) and as goalkeeper Shane Gore was quick to point out in the press this week, yes, we do pay out clean sheet bonuses!
I've avoided making too many references to finances in recent scribblings, but it remains a very real issue and it is paramount that we remain focused on closing any potential gaps in the budget. If we can keep the crowds good (bring your friends!), get our fundraising events well-supported and continue to receive donations like we have of late, we will be ok, but we really do need all the help we can get and must remain focussed.
I mentioned previously that we are looking at setting up sub-committees for certain things. It's important to clarify that these need not involve yet more meetings, as long as somebody is in control and communicating, things can keep progressing. I'm particularly interested in getting the Fundraising committee up and running, it is surprising what a difference this could make, not only with the direct income generated, but because of the way it can get more people involved in the enjoyable side of running a football club.
Perhaps my biggest concern at this stage is our inability to have hosted a Sportsmans Dinner this season, potentially a fantastic money raiser, but equally it comes at a high risk because of the outlay; you need to be able to find an audience that is happy paying the ticket price and spending money on the night, whereas my predecessor mixes in those circles, I don't unfortunately, and having been the one who has organised the last couple and suffered the sleepless nights trying to get the figures to tally (not to mention dealing with the table plans, last minute pull outs etc etc) I was not prepared to run the risk or organising a loss-making event. That is not to say that I am adverse to somebody else taking on the challenge.
A Sportsmans Dinner is just one ingredient in the whole fundraising dish though, others are much more simple, they just require a bit of organisation, support and control. For example, you would not believe the difference it would make if we could:
- Increase Snowball entrants by 10 people per month for the next 3 months
- Explore every opportunity for selling our Grand National raffle tickets
- Organise one social event / fundraiser per month
- Ensure golden goal tickets are sold at every match
- Organise a weekly bonus ball
...Among any other ideas a small group could come up with. I do believe it is imperative that we get this off the ground, please, if you do fancy getting involved with helping out, don't just think it, let me know.
Those people that attended the Supporters' Trust meeting after the Board Meeting earlier in the month (the next one is at 8.30pm next Wednesday - 30th March) will know that we have been wanting to look at the matchday management and organisation of stewards. We have a fantastic scheme that enables us to have stewards at the ground and we wanted to up the professionalism on the way we worked with them. As a result we have now devised a pre-match document that lays out all the matchday information requirements including things like sponsors, visiting officials, expected away support, coaches coming, parking allowances and any other information that can help to make sure everybody knows what to expect on the day. What is more difficult to predict is the appearance of the young gang that have only appeared at the one game so far this season. However, this is a consideration when preparing the document and we have connections and a specific reference with the local police that will be used immediately if there are any signs of disturbances. We are basically talking zero tolerance, I for one am not prepared to put up again with the hassle that ruined a great evening when we defeated Leamington.
Last Saturday we managed to organise the Life Vice Presidents (LVPs) lunch that was previously cancelled when the original Evesham game was called off. I very much appreciate the effort made by the attendee's to get to the club for 1.00pm at such short notice from the invites going out. It's not just at our football club, but life in general; simple things like saying "thank you" are too easily overlooked. This was about saying "thank you" to people that have done a lot for the club over the years, the LVPs are in no way an exclusive group as I know there are many others that have and still do huge amounts for the club, and everyone is appreciated. The Life Vice Presidents have been around for many many years, recently they have been slowly forgotten, but I am keen to re-invigorate the concept and hope to see more gatherings like the one that took place before the Cambridge City game.
It is all too easy to get bogged down in the day to day hassles of the football club, asking yourself, why? Why do I bother? I was reminded of that at Saturday's lunch in the presence of LVPs that included John and Audrey Pearce - it was at Leyton Wingate in the FA Cup back in 1984 when they suggested to myself and Steve Barnes that we put ourselves forward as ball boys, sure enough for the replay at The Meadow we were ball boys...my first involvement; Dorothy Price - I will never forget how her late husband, Fred, used to be one of many that looked after me as a young lad at the away game, in particular I recall being engrossed in a FA Trophy match at Tamworth back in 1991, stood side by side, eyes fixed on the match, we both dropped our hands down onto the perimeter fence at the same time, one hand on top of the other, Fred looked at me, looked around, and then said "I hope nobody saw that"; Ron Lee also made his way to the game from Colchester. I first came across Ron when I was part of a supporters' club that was not seeing eye to eye with the club, Ron and others set up an alternative organisation entitled Friends of Chesham, this prompted a re-think of the way we all supported the club and led to the formation of the supporters' trust that is running the club today.
A busy week at the club started with a Quiz Night on the Friday, a good turn out from teams not made up of regular supporters was, hopefully, a further reflection on the way we have integrated with the community. It was well attended, and thoroughly enjoyable...I think I just managed to get away with arriving at the club for a couple of beers two hours before the start and still last the night as quizmaster using a roving mic - from the bar area!
Yet again, I haven't really touched on the football. The reality is that we have got ourselves well and truly in the promotion mix, it is looking increasingly like six of us scrapping for the five places that will qualify for the play-offs or be crowned league champions. The idea that Salisbury and Truro would run away and scrap it out for the title has been demolished in recent weeks as the gap has closed between the six clubs. Indeed we are now just one point behind Truro City, having closed the gap that was 22 points when we went down to Tiverton Town in the middle of January, just over two months ago. As things stand we are third in the table, but Hednesford Town are looking a good bet for sneaking through to win the league, they are on a phenomenal run of results and, on paper, have by far the easiest run-in to the end of the season.
Whichever club ends up finishing sixth will be absolutely gutted I'm sure, we need to make sure it is not us. Winning the league is not beyond us (never ever thought I'd be saying that this season, in March), but if we do go into the play-offs, nobody will fancy playing us. We have been in play-offs at the end of the season for the past two seasons, that experience will be invaluable if we go into these high pressure cup scenarios. Equally three years ago we missed out on the play-offs, in sixth place, on the last day of the season. We know how horrible that feels, and won't be looking to repeat that feeling.
So tight is the league, every game now is high pressure, and they don't get much tougher than going to Chippenham Town this Saturday. Chippenham are on a good run of form, but are probably just a little bit too out of it to gatecrash the promotion party this season, but it will be a tricky game. A bit further down the M4, across the bridge, England will be taking on Wales at 3.00pm in a Euro Qualifier. This game is bound to have an impact on the attendance at our game (I'm just glad we are away), so frustrating that they do this.
Finally, talking of players, our boys probably don't get enough praise for what they have achieved this season. I noticed that Shane Gore has been interviewed by The Bucks Examiner this week (apparently when the reporter stopped to ask if he could have a word, Shane replied "About xxxxing time!" after yet another clean sheet performance). I like to think we try to look after the players at Chesham, we don't pay the highest wages, but there are other things you can do to make sure the players are looked after and we do our best to do that, and in return we have a squad that dedicates a hell of a lot of time to our football club, works hard, creates very few hassles and is delivering on the field. I still despair sometimes when I listen to some of the comments from the terraces on a matchday, but I guess that is part and parcel of watching football.
I know I am getting away lightly as Chairman, because of the success on the field. I am immensely grateful for that, but still take just as much pride about what is happening off the field as I do on it. As somebody who absolutely loves the football club he supports, it is a quite an unbelievable feeling to be in a position to be chair of your club. It is a massive responsibility that scares the living daylights out of me on a daily basis, but I also believe that what we are trying to do is the right thing and I am very keen to get more and more people investing (both time and money!) in the model we have set out to take us to the next stage. It's easy to assume that everything is in hand, but we are always looking for more hands.
Let's take our fantastic support down to Chippenham on Saturday, you can watch highlights of Wales v England later in the evening.
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