It has been another fantastic week at Chesham United, picking up six points from two league games and hosting a very successful Business Partners Evening on the back of the fantastic fireworks event earlier in the month.
Tuesday’s local business networking event was the first at the club for a number of years with hospitality in the boardroom ahead of the midweek league match against Walton Casuals. We had over twenty local businesses accept the invite and enjoy some excellent food and hospitality before being presented with an insight into what goes on at the club, a look back at the heritage and history of the club over the past 100+ years and a look at opportunities how the club can partner with more local businesses for a mutual benefit.
Most attendees seemed genuinely surprised at how much the club extends beyond the first team nowadays with over 800 players involved in the full set-up which includes minis, youth, ladies and girls – Representatives of all sections of the club were present at the Business Partners Evening, chatting with the local businesses in attendance and sharing their experiences. An enjoyable evening was had by all, made all the better by the 2-1 win that the team enjoyed on the pitch!
Sometimes it is only when you step back and explain to other businesses, that know nothing about us, exactly what we do, what we have done and what we are looking to achieve, that you realise what an important job it is being Chairman of Chesham United Football Club. There is so much heritage and community activity that evolves around the club, it makes us all very proud of our club and even more determined to build and stabilise its future.
We also took the opportunity to present to our guests some of the initiatives being planned for the new year which include a revamp of the Claret Club that will see companies able to join on a monthly subscription basis which will entitle them to advertising opportunities, discounts on sponsorship and tickets in addition to monthly prize draws that will help to promote their business. This is an exciting development that I believe will make it easier for us to work closer with more businesses in Chesham and the surrounding area.
We also re-introduced an idea that has been banded around previously, the Ten Generals. The concept is that we create an exclusive club membership that gives supporters with an interest in the running of the club an opportunity to get much greater insight into the finances and boardroom activity without having to commit their time as a director or management committee member. There will be other benefits available to our Ten Generals, and in return they will also provide the directors with feedback and help to ensure that we continue to be accountable and carry out best practice in running the business. Again, more details will follow in the new year.
Anyone wishing to find out more about the Business Partners Evening, or to be included on the next event, please email commercial@cheshamunited.co.uk.
Also within our calendar is an April Sportsman’s Dinner, we have the speaker and we have the catering, we just need to finalise the date with two options currently in discussion. As soon as we have those details, they will be announced across the usual media platforms.
On the pitch the league table is starting to have a very different look about it to what it did a few weeks ago as we start to look at the teams above us rather than worrying about those below us. With teams having played a very different number of games due to differing cup runs, it is difficult to get a true picture of what the table looks like, but one thing does seem very clear, and that is the fact that outside the top two or three sides who look nailed on for the top positions, the remaining play-off positions really are wide open.
The coming months will be very interesting as any clubs that have front loaded their budget with grants and loans from the covid-19 period will start to see their funds shrinking and difficult decisions will have to made as to whether to continue as they are or make the very difficult decision to cut the budget to keep control of the finances. It may be that all clubs have budgeted carefully and will be able to sustain where they are at, we certainly have managed our finances in that way, but with some of the stories you hear I will be very surprised if that is the case for everyone.
Also on the football front, I would like to wish all the best to our joint manager Michael Murray who has this week undergone a hip replacement, we all at the club wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him back in the dugout shortly.
You may notice when you come to a match on a Saturday and Tuesday all the rubbish has been cleared from the terraces and bins which happens every Monday morning, where I spend three hours alone clearing all the debris from the ground.
Now with winter months and the weather patterns that evolve at this time of year I am going to change to a Sunday Morning at 8.00am to do the cleaning up and if I had three other volunteers to help, it would mean it would be completed in 45 minutes. It would be hugely appreciated if any of our supporters could come along and help me please? We can start at 9am if it suits better, please drop me a line at chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk, it would really help me out.
Finally, a big shout out to the Ladies team that have made it through to the next round of the FA Cup with an excellent win over Cambridge United, I understand they are hopeful (I don’t want to tempt fate and say confident!) of winning their next round tie also which would then see them into the Third Round and in the hat with teams from the FA Women’s Championship.
Good luck to all sides representing Chesham United this weekend, from the minis and girls to the First XI travelling down to Poole on Saturday, together we make an excellent team.
Thank you as always for your support, it is appreciated.
Peter Brown, Chairman
