It has been a strange week getting used to not having live football to watch, although there is plenty of excitement still going on in the football league play-offs with Sheffield Wednesday’s remarkable comeback last night and, as much as it hurts me as an avid Watford supporter, what a potential story there is going on at Luton Town. Less than ten years on from playing non-league football they are one win away from the Premiership. Football is about dreams, and we should never have to stop dreaming.
The Premiership might be a step too far, but we are very much focused on looking to take Chesham United to the next level of the pyramid which will involve a lot of work both and off the field. One ex-Chairman of our club once told me that there is no such thing as stagnation. If you stop going forward, you start drifting backwards. My job is to keep the club moving forward and after seeing the fantastic scenes at The Meadow last weekend for the Alex Horne Comedy Football Match it highlighted the potential that exists.
The response to the event, from those that attended and across social media from the footballers and comedians that participated has been phenomenal, well and truly putting the town of Chesham on the map. The event has even been talked about on national radio with us being referred to as “the next Wrexham” on Virgin Radio! We are a long way off that as well, but National League South remains a realistic ambition and then once you get established there, who knows.
If you missed last weekend’s event you can catch up on what it meant to so many people by watching the Premier League Communities video made about the day which has today been shared on Twitter. Click here to view the video. It was a day when I was very proud to be Chairman of this great club.
It was not just the huge crowd last weekend, almost 3,000 people on the terraces, that made it special, but there was also that first glimmer of the unity within the club that we are working so hard to make a more common sight. To see a couple of our first team players mixing up with players from our Ladies team alongside all the comedians, and the smiles on their faces, they are fantastic moments to treasure. I think it is the first time, certainly for many years, that we have seen that level of interaction, and what a brilliant advert it was for the Ladies game with some exceptional footballing talent on show.
We are determined to build on the success of this event, we are already planning a date for a repeat next year, but the game also coincided with a first initial planning meeting this week for our One Chesham vision with representatives from the Ladies, Youth, Supporters’ Trust, the new Community Foundation (to be launched soon) and two Directors from the club to openly discussion the practicalities of working much closer as a club going forward,
I was not at this meeting, fellow Directors and I met earlier that day to plan the budget for next season, but then I wanted to be able to take a backseat from the One Club meeting and give others around the club to scope out the vision that they have for the club to ensure we get a wide demographic of views rather than just the wishes of the current Board, without any influence from the Chairman. The feedback I have heard from the initial meeting is very exciting and is exactly as I had hoped it would pan out. As expected, there are many hurdles to leap, differences to overcome and logistics to negotiate around, but the vision, passion and drive of everyone seems to be united in taking the club forward in a positive manner.
The plans are to continue this hard work throughout the summer, and I look forward to keeping you updated on that, any developments with the proposed ground move, pre-season friendlies, maintenance work parties, player signings and any other news from around the club over the coming weeks.
Next Saturday morning we will be having a work party at the club at 9am till noon, helping to get the ground in shape for the new season, if you can spare a couple of hours of your time it would be much appreciated. Bring along your brushes, buckets, shovels and tools and we will make a start on clearing, terrace sweeping and painting; it will also be a great opportunity to catch up with fellow supporters that you have not seen for a few weeks. I know it is very easy to just assume that someone else will do it, but it does not work like that. What is it they say? Many hands make light work, this is certainly a case of that – it would be great to see you there.
Have a great weekend,
Peter Brown, Chairman
