When we were relegated last season we set ourselves the goal of seeking an immediate return to the Premier Division. Despite an encouraging opening game, we failed to build momentum and results to date have been, to say the least, disappointing.

We have some exciting plans for the future of the football club with a key objective to progress to higher levels of the football pyramid. However, it is clear performances need to improve to achieve this but I wanted to take a moment to share our thoughts on this with you because, although it may not be apparent, we have also spent many hours looking at the current issues on the pitch and have been considering strategies to overcome them.

Simon is trying to build a team around a nucleus of young players but it has proved very difficult to challenge teams with older heads who have had years of experience at this level. We have introduced some older players to bring a steadying influence, and that has resulted in a couple of decent performances, but as last weekend’s result showed, there is still a way to go.

It is in my view and only right that the board should defer on football matters to the manager appointed to run that side of things, and although Simon is aware of our concern, we continue to support and encourage him and his management team. I know he is constantly looking to develop his existing squad and also on the ‘look out’ for players who could add an extra dimension – we will support him in those efforts and closely monitor our progress in line with the expected improvements. A key enabler for our improvement is that we all stay together, remain positive and get behind the team!

Supporters will always have an opinion on the team – to which I fully accept they are entitled to. The support over the last couple of years has been tremendous and we want to build on that despite the current slow start to the season. In the end, this is your football club and we all know the pleasure it can bring when things go well. Rest assured, we want to bring back that feeling as quickly as possible and progress to fulfil our longer term aspirations.

All the best,

Kevin Newell
Chairman