Fantastic news to open this week’s notes with, to cap a quite superb week of football, I am delighted to announce that our management duo of James Duncan and Michael Murray last night agreed to a contract extension that will keep them at the club until the end of the 2022/23 season, with an option to extend that for another year.
This is simply brilliant news as it gives us all the stability to focus our attention on our goal of getting Chesham United promoted to the National League South. As a Board we are very excited about the prospect of what James and Michael can achieve and we look forward to working with them to build a club, not just a team, that we can all be proud of.
Continuing the theme of good news, we are now just £1,200 away from raising the total required for the new electronic scoreboard. A big thank you to everyone that has contributed so far, and I know that some of the guys are organising a raffle at the live screening of the England v Ukraine game in The Chess Suite on Saturday night to raise further funds towards the purchase. The Chess Suite is a sell-out for this game, but if you do have a table booked remember to bring along some cash to partake in the raffle, prizes include a season ticket for next season. As I say, this live screening is a sell-out, but there is a reserve list available in case of cancellations, please contact Tanya at bar.manager@cheshamunited.co.uk
As a reminder, even if you are not in a financial position to help, it would be hugely appreciated if everyone reading this could help by sharing the GoFundMe page on your own social media and/or with your friends and family. The link to the page can be found here: https://gofund.me/b0a8cfe5 – Thank you with your support in this.
We are now just a week away from our first pre-season friendly against Wycombe Wanderers on Friday 9th July, 7.30pm kick-off which means that it is really important that we are able to get some volunteers along THIS SATURDAY at 9.30am to help with the final clearing of weeds from the terraces, so please also bring along a broom, a trowel and a bucket if you have them. Additionally, it would be great if anyone was able to come along with a 6-foot long handled small chainsaw to cut some branches down in the Meadow End corner of the ground. Volunteers will also be treated to a very special performance by Chess Valley Male Voice Choir from 10.30am to 11.30am as they are rehearsing Saturday morning in the main stand. There last song is the Hymn “Gwahoddiad”, meaning Invitation in English, that will get certainly get your attention.
Ray, our Site Manager, has been at the club all week getting the facilities well prepared for next week’s game: Drains cleared, windows rubbed down and undercoated, the 3 sides of the bar cellar have been wire-brushed down, undercoated and top coated in battleship grey which certainly smartens the appearance of the club from the outside. Well done Ray, a big thank you – We just need the final push tomorrow, hopefully with plenty of volunteers.
On the playing side the management are continuing to build their squad for the forthcoming season and keeping them fit and healthy will be a key part of our success. We are delighted that our physio will be returning to the club, but that will only be for the start of the season before heading off to university. Therefore, if there is anyone out there, or if you know of anyone, that would be interested in fulfilling the physio role, please do contact me as soon as possible, chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk,
The long wait for live football at The Meadow is nearly over, our first since December last year, please remember that we do have a restricted capacity for games (1,500, but still restricted) and we will be maintaining track & trace at matches. To help speed up this process, tickets are available to order online in advance for the Wycombe and Watford games, plus also the Sellebrity soccer match. The advantage of ordering your tickets online is that your ticket can also act as your track & trace, saving time at the turnstiles. Tickets are available to order from here: Match Ticket Portal.
All of that and I have not even mentioned the England v Germany match in midweek – Football’s Coming Home…Well, it is next Friday at least when Chesham United welcome Wycombe Wanderers to The Meadow, I can’t wait to see you all there.
