Plans are now fully in place for tomorrow’s huge event for the town, the Alex Horne Comedy Match, we have even received delivery of the sunny weather that we put an order in for weeks ago and has now arrived, just in the nick of time.
We have sold 3,000 tickets for the game tomorrow, so please arrive early to help ease any queues and to ensure everyone gets in the ground in time. We have some wonderful volunteers working on the day who will be able to help you with any queries, but please do be respectful if you do find yourself in a queue. Gates open at midday with The Chess Suite open as well as Mavericks bar and two other pop-up outlets around the ground to quench your first, and you can fill your bellies from either Bill’s Diner, Woody’s Pizza or The Popular Stand tea bar which will be selling a range of hot and cold refreshments.
There will also be loads of merchandise that you can pick up from scarves and hats to hoodies and our brand new 2024/25 replica shirts. We also have a special matchday programme on sale for £3, featuring all you need to know about the players on the pitch, the rules, the half-time entertainment and some great articles from different sections of our club. Please do come prepared to make some purchases and support the club as we prepare for our first ever season in the National League South, every penny we can raise is important to our planning so when buying from the club shop you are directly helping us continue the journey we are on.
Although the season might be over, the football conversations are far from over behind the scenes as we work with our managers to pull together a competitive squad for the league above. The managers are already in conversations with new signings and our retained list will hopefully be announced in the next few weeks. The plan is to have the squad very much in place ahead of pre-season, which will make it much easier for you to select a player’s kit to sponsor for the year ahead. At just £60 this is a great way for you to have your name alongside the players picture in the programme for the entire season. We started late on this last season and struggled to sell them all, but expectation is that they will sell out very quick next season – in fact we have already sold sponsorship of the entire management team including physio and kit man.
This week we also took delivery of the Southern League Champion of Champions shield from the Southern League. With a greater points per game ratio, we won this over and above the Central Division winners, Needham Market, and therefore will have our names eternally engraved on this huge piece of silverware, alongside other clubs you may have heard of such as Millwall, Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur. Anyone familiar with the history of Chesham United will know that we were one of the founder members of the Southern League back in 1894…130 years later we have finally won it!
In more recent history, many of us will look back fondly on the early 1990’s when we began to flirt with the idea of promotion up the pyramid and attract bigger crowds. That journey started when we won the Isthmian Division One in 1991, pipping Bromley to the title in an epic battle to the end. Last weekend that same Bromley got promoted the Football League. Huge congratulations to Bromley, but it is also another reminder of not just the magic of the pyramid structure, but the fact that clubs can progress beyond what at one stage may have been their natural level.
I mention this because as we progress up to National League South we should not be looking at going there to try and survive. We need to find out feet quickly definitely, but we should not see this as the pinnacle of our journey. Equally I am not saying we are going to do a Bromley, but we should not be afraid to be ambitious and will certainly not be resting on our laurels now that we have achieved promotion. These are exciting times for the club, we know we will not win as many games next season as this (probably), however, if we can maintain the excellent level of support that we received through the turnstiles at the end of this last season, we can create many more wonderful memories together. Ticket pricing and season tickets will be announced shortly, please do take up these offers and get behind the team.
Meanwhile, our women’s team finished their season off with another point on the road on Sunday. Their final game was a short trip to St Neots to take on the team in 7th place in the league, Cambridge United. Cambridge took the lead early on but with goals from Sasha Smith and Tash Smith (no relation!) we took a lead halfway through the second half. Cambridge netted again late on and an entertaining game finished 2-2. With the points shared Chesham finish the season in 9th with their place in the 4th tier of the women’s game secure for another season.
Thank you for your support and remember, if you are coming to the game tomorrow, please arrive early and please be prepared for an afternoon of belly laughs…I’ve seen the additional rules for the game, it is going to be utter madness!
Peter Brown, Chairman
