TWELFTH MAN FUND

By Simon4/5/2019 14:25Sat May 4 14:25:45 2019

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A week is a long time in football. This time last week, we were waiting nervously to see if we could manage the win that would guarantee our survival in Step 3 football.

A week later, we can relax, safe in the knowledge that we’ll be playing Step 3 football next season with Jimmy Gray and Mark Boyce at the helm. A couple of planning meetings have been held to discuss pre-season and recruitment matters. It’s been a hectic and productive week, tempered by the difficult decision to disband the under-23s.

The next 8 weeks are going to be crucial. Preparations for the pre-season programme of matches have already commenced and will be finalised once Daz has drawn breath. We’ll share dates of pre-season and League and cup fixtures as soon as they have been finalised.

Jimmy will be working hard throughout the summer to retain the players he wants to retain and to recruit the players he wants to recruit. Again, we’ll confirm player registrations once they have been registered. Jimmy’s ability to attract and retain players will as usual depend, in no small part, on the budget that he has available to him.

As things currently stand, the budget that we are able to offer Jimmy for next season is a little lower than the budget that he worked with last season and that’s why I’m posting on this group now to launch the TWELFTH MAN FUND for the 2019/20 season rather than wait until a bit later in the close season.

Last year, our TWELFTH MEN (and WOMEN) contributed around £24,000 to the club. This figure comprised the monthly donations that some supporters have been paying ever since the Trust was formed back in 2006 as well as monthly and one-off donations that were made in response to last year’s appeal for support for the TWELFTH MAN FUND.

This season, I’m setting us a target of £16,000 of one-off and new/increased monthly donations. As with last year, every penny paid into the TWELFTH MAN FUND will go directly to the playing budget. If we can achieve or even exceed that target, then I’m hopeful that we can look forward to the new season with optimism.

I’ll post on here regularly to let you know how we’re doing against that target.

Please do what you can to support the club – if you’d like to make a pledge or would like more information, please post a reply here or send an email to simon.hendon@btinternet.com

Thanks in advance for your support.