It has been a fantastic week of football for Chesham United with two very impressive wins in the league that have moved us up towards the middle of the table, hanging on to the coat tails of those above rather than being in the thick of the mix in the bottom third of the table.
An excellent 5-1 home win over Dorchester last weekend was followed up by an excellent 2-1 win at much fancied Salisbury on a very wet evening, that leaves us undefeated in the last four games and on excellent foundations to move forward with a trip to Weston-Super-Mare this weekend. Our team is very much in a transitional period, but we have seen over the past couple of weeks the potential of what is to come, exciting times.
For those of you that attended the Meet The Managers Evening this week you will have heard much about how the transition is going, the challenges faced over the season so far, why the management make some of the decisions they do and hopefully you will have left feeling as optimistic as I did about the direction the football team is heading. Both James and Michael spoke very open and honestly, shared their thoughts on the game and how it should be played, we are lucky to have them as manager of our club.
Away from the football side the challenges of simply having bodies to help around the club are becoming critical. Unfortunately Roger Payne is undergoing radio therapy treatment for cancer and is having to be very cautious about where he goes and what he does with his immunity system lower than normal.
Many of you will also have learned this week that our Gateman George Adams is currently in hospital at Stoke Mandeville having suffered a health scare, he is making a recovery and we are hopeful that he will be able to move back home, but there are a few requirements needed if anyone is able to help – He needs a washing-machine and some vinyl floor fitted, if you know anyone who might be able to help, please do get in touch.
My main goal over the coming weeks is to re-build a structure at the club that hopefully involves more people that can have an influence on the direction of the club and pro-actively help to turn some of the visions into reality as we move into a new era. We have almost completed an outline structure and the roles that we need to fill with helpers and responsibility takers, but there is a huge amount of blanks spaces where we need to fill in names. I believe this is an exciting and fulfilling opportunity. When I talk of taking responsibility that is not meant as a way of passing the buck to someone else, it is intended as meaning that, within reasons, there is an opportunity for a free reign to move areas of the club forward.
One of the first areas I am keen to get more support for is working with Ryan on the social media side, in particular we are looking for someone that would like to conduct interviews with players and the management as required – A great opportunity, particularly for a young person looking for some experience in media that will help future career prospects.
I am pleased to welcome one new volunteer to the club, helping to sell 50/50 draw tickets at home matches, so please be sure to bring along your £1 coins to the next game to be in with a chance to win the prize money. The draw will be made at half-time with all proceeds going towards maintaining the club, and in particular the football budget to help us to continue attracting the best local talent to our club.
Talking of local talent, unfortunately the academy game was called off this week as the pitch was totally sodden and the damage caused would have a lasting effect on the surface for the rest of the season. Aylesbury are at home this Saturday, 3.00pm kick-off and our Ladies are at home on Sunday for a 2.00pm kick-off, entrance is only £3 so please come along and support them, as we all know supporters noise encourages the players.
A final reminder about our Fireworks Spectacular on Friday 5th November. Once again, we will be pulling out all the stops to put on the very best of displays – We had the opportunity to cut costs or avoid price increases by cutting back the time and intensity of the show, but we did not want to do that. We have instead committed to maintaining the very best of performances and with our new outside bar helping to reduce the queues in the clubhouse and covered terrace around the ground to eliminate the worry of rain, it really is going to be a fantastic night. Click here for tickets: https://cheshamunitedfc.ktckts.com/brand/match-tickets
Thank you for your support.
Peter Brown, Chairman
