I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone connected with the football club and the town of Chesham a very happy Christmas and thank you for your support over the past twelve months.
Yesterday’s 2-0 win over Dorchester Town left us heading into Christmas Day proudly sat on top of the Southern League Premier South, what a fantastic Christmas present that is. Although there are no prizes for being top at Christmas, it is still a fantastic achievement and adds to the feel-good factor around the club. If you had offered me this at the start of the season, I would have bitten your hand off.
As I reflect on the year, I am very proud of the twelve months we have just had. As I have said many times, we cannot judge everything just on what happens on the pitch, there are many factors that must come together to make the club successful. Last season we put in some excellent displays and pushed ourselves into a play-off spot, but just fell short on that heart-breaking night in Bracknell when we lost the semi-final in extra-time. Despite the result, the support for the team, both in terms of numbers and noise, was an absolute joy to see and filled us all with belief that as a club, we can compete in the league above.
In truth, would promotion at the end of last season been a little too soon for us? It is easy to say in hindsight, and we certainly would not have turned down the chance, but maybe the reality is that this season we are in a much stronger position both on and off the field and we may be benefiting from being in the Southern League still as we grow our off-field success to match what happens on the pitch.
Since that play-off defeat, we have established our game-changing relationship with Taskmaster, we have established a One Chesham community that has brought together the Ladies, the Youth and the Supporters Trust to work together towards common club goals, and the boardroom has been significantly enhanced with new Directors joining to bring fresh skills, ideas and contacts to the club.
And that is the most pleasing part of it all.
In truth, even at this level of the game, maybe even more so, success is often dictated by how much money you have to spend. Yes you can get excellent managers and coaches (which we have) that can achieve more with a lower budget than others can with a higher budget, but ultimately, without money you are not going to be competing in the top half of our league. Too often in non-league football that money, or a large chunk of it, comes from loans and donations from individuals that have a passion for the club and want to make a difference. That is fantastic and can create some amazing memories (look at ourselves back in the early 1990s), but that is not sustainable in the long term.
For many years now Chesham United have competed at this level primarily courtesy of generous donations from individuals. Often that is to maintain what we have, sometimes it has been to back an ambition for promotion. Yet at the same time, we have always known that the best way to compete at this level is to generate more income, increase gates on matchdays, increase sponsorship, bring more of the boys and girls that play for our teams on a Sunday into the fold of the club and make Chesham United a place people want to go to. With the Taskmaster partnership, the One Chesham project and a new strong board, we have taken huge strides over the past twelve months to achieve that.
And we all have a part to play. In addition to that structure, we need to keep increasing attendances and growing our volunteer base, because we cannot do it without these important parts of the equation. Please, keep bringing friends and family to games and keep spreading the word around town. An extra 100-200 people on our attendances has a huge impact on our financial ability to be a top step 3 non-league side, and hopefully even a competitive step 2 side in the future.
My big thank you for the year must go to the countless volunteers who make the club work. Most supporters will not realise how much goes on behind the scenes with maintain the stadium, cleaning changing rooms and toilets, stocking up on toilet rolls, manning the gates and office on matchdays, organising fixtures and transport, making teas and food for visiting officials and sponsors, banking our cash, paying our bills, negotiating bills with suppliers, advertising matches, updating the website, producing match reports, manning our social media, stewarding, producing matchday programmes, selling programmes, making cakes for the tea bar, opening the tea bar, organising players wages, producing our cashflow budget, selling advertising and sponsorship, liaising with our charity partners, organising social events and fundraisers…the list goes on. And the thing to note is that it need not be a big commitment of your time, many small tasks create the overall success and can be extremely rewarding. If you would like to be a part of our volunteers in 2024, please do get in touch, however large or small you think your contribution might be.
Thank you as always for your support, have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, and I look forward to seeing you at Beaconsfield on Boxing Day.
Peter Brown, Chairman
