Well the excitement of having a game not postponed last weekend quickly disappeared when we suffered a heavy defeat at Beaconsfield. Fifteen minutes into the match you would never have believed we were going to lose – dominating the match, a goal up and a penalty awarded…the penalty was missed and we went on to lose the game 5-2. On a day when the league leaders Weston-super-Mare were beaten by second-placed Truro City, it was a real opportunity to get ourselves in the thick of the title mix, but it was not to be. If football always went to plan it would be boring wouldn’t it?
However, we bounced back in style on Tuesday Night with a 5-1 win at Hartley Wintney, although I was a bit worried when we went 1-0 down after 18 minutes. The net result is that we are about par with where we were this last time week. Very much in the play-offs and on the coat tails of the two sides above us, with games against them still to come – exciting times.
Tomorrow (Saturday) we welcome Hendon to The Meadow with a 3.00pm kick-off. Don’t be fooled by their league position, it will be another tough encounter and your support world be most welcome. The squad is in good health and our recent additions have strengthened the team and confidence is high.
January was a very tough month for us as a club with postponed fixtures and the clubhouse closed, this has meant that we have had to keep a close eye on the finances, but we are determined to work harder to generate the income to make up for it and not compromise our promotion chances by weakening the squad. It does blow your mind when you look at what Chelsea were up to during the January transfer window spending a jaw-dropping £323 million on eight players – whilst all this was going on we were looking at the difference it would make if we could get another ten players sponsored in the matchday programme for £50 each! (Which you can do by the way – drop me an email at chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk if interested).
Tomorrow evening we host our Race Night in the clubhouse, a joint venture with the Ladies and Youth section. Hosted by our very own Alex Horne a fantastic night is in prospect, the event is a sell out so unfortunately if you do not have a ticket, you will have missed out on this one. For those of you lucky enough to be attending, please note that the tote for placing bets is cash only so please make sure you have cash on you to help the night run smoothly. We will have a card machine that will enable you to obtain cash as a last resort, but if you can make a rare visit to the cash point ahead of the event, I know the guys running the event would appreciate it very much.
I’d like to thank everyone that has made the Race Night event possible, with a special shout out to Lisa Walker from the Big Community Takeaway for cooking up the food and a thank you also to our neighbours at the cricket club for the loan of additional seating for the night. Thank you also to everyone who has bought a horse in advance of the event, all sixty-four of you, and a very big thank you to all our race sponsors – Terry Dyer, Coyle White Devine, The Tea Bar, Gasp, Your Chesham, Your Amersham, IDR, Image Link and Asprey Harris.
The event will also be attended by some of the first team management and players, let’s hope it is a night celebrating a victory earlier in the day! All proceeds will be split between the Ladies, Youth and our benevolent fund to help injured players with their recovery.
Talking of which, Rod Collins is truly inspirational – this week he started to ride a Bike as part of his fitness schedule and is so far advanced with his treatment that our Physio Matty is amazed at the speed of his progress and is very confident that we will see him in preseason in the summer!
I am delighted to say that tickets for our charity choir concert are now on sale. We are very privileged to have the legendary Treorchy Male Choir visiting Chesham to perform at St Mary’s Church on Saturday 17th June. For 130 years the Treorchy Male Choir has been recognised as one of the greatest choral ensembles of all time and has given Royal Command Performances, appeared alongside international entertainers and undertaken an enviable number of tours around the world. I have been privileged to witness them a number of times and believe me, you will be moved by their performance. We are restricted to 250 tickets, priced at £25 each with all proceeds going to our charity partner Bucks Mind. Tickets are available from our Online Ticket site, cheshamunited.co.uk/tickets/
I hope you enjoy reading these notes, my door is always open to listen to ideas and feedback. Recently we had a request from a disabled supporter who came to the ground and showed me how he could not go to many areas of the ground. We acted upon this and are currently awaiting a third quote so we can apply for a grant to get this work done and make the whole of our current ground more accessible for all.
Thank you for your support
Peter Brown, Chairman
