07/06/13
I believe we all seek the same thing and in this period of management change I would personally appreciate restraint and patience.
Steve Easterbrook
With the season now over I would like to share my thoughts with regard to last season and perhaps more importantly outline what we are hoping to achieve going forward.
In their first season and under the management of Mark Betts the reserve team finished a credible 8th place in the Hellenic Division 2 West. It was very much a stop start season as the weather played havoc with the fixtures leading to problems in maintaining a consistent team. Discussions within the club have however come to the conclusion that it would not be advantageous to run a reserve team next year. The club will review this position during the 2013/14 season and we may actually consider joining an U21 or U23 League in the future. The club believes that this will be more beneficial and offer better progress for our U18 and Academy squads.
The U18s finished 9th in a very strong Allied Counties Premier Division. Playing exciting passing football I do feel they were unlucky in a number of games where, they lost by either the odd goal or those dreaded last minute winners! The team included a number of players from the STFC Academy many of whom were only 16/17 years old. Management see only improvement for next season and everyone is looking forward to getting started!
As most people are aware last season saw the launch of the STFC Academy which offers 2 years full time education to 16/18 year olds. We all knew that this would be a challenge however I am pleased to report that the academy will finish with over 25 full time students and it should achieve an overall 95% success rate. It is important to remember that students are of various footballing abilities and the educational element of the course should enable students to pursue different sports/leisure related careers. Under Mark Betts leadership and management I must say that I have been very impressed with how the Academy has progressed. Getting these operations started and operating is never easy and together with Siobhan and the help of others I am confident we can continue to develop and grow this academy.
I think everyone by now understands my complete frustration with Slough Council and the progress of the Arbour Vale site. I personally have been on this now for over 6 years and the amount of time I have spent (or wasted!) is phenomenal. Last April (2012), I reported that bar a few minor issues the planning application should be submitted and having been informed by council ‘that was it’, I was very confident of that happening - infact I had started planning and making decisions based on the potential new ground. However as I am sure everyone is aware there have been number of well publicised issues and our return to Slough is yet again delayed. The council continues to support us; however to be honest at times I despair. I will continue as best I can to keep everyone posted as to where we are. At the moment Slough Council are waiting to hear from the Department for Education.
Back to football.
Reaching the first round of the FA Cup was hugely enjoyable for everyone and seeing over 1,700 Slough Town supporters at the Mansfield replay brought back distant memories of a large vocal crowd! This FA Cup run was definitely one of the highlights of the season and it of course provided the club with additional financial resources enabling us to proceed through the season with a larger squad and those ‘ever present constraints’ were, for once alleviated! This excellent FA cup run together with reaching the semi final of the Red Insure Cup did however lead to fixture congestion and unfortunately as we are all aware we missed the playoffs by one point! With the points tally and goals scored any other year it would have been enough, however no excuses as we definitely had a team capable of at least reaching the top 5.
By mutual agreement and following many discussions the club parted company with manager, Steve Bateman and assistant, Fred Cummings. Steve of course has been with us for over 4 seasons and has steered us from a relegation threatened team to potential promotion candidates. Steve and Fred will always be welcome back and both leave Slough with everyone’s best wishes.
We now enter the 2013/14 season with new joint first team managers. Confident, young and enthusiastic, Neil Baker and Jon Underwood believe in playing good attacking football and they appreciate and understand how to assemble winning teams. In the previous two seasons they have achieved play off positions and also reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup. Having already spent a lot of time with Jon and Neil I can see that they are focused, ambitious and confident.
I am personally very excited about next season and Jon and Neil’s focus is now to assemble a winning team - not just for this season but for seasons to follow. As Jon and Neil look to build this team it will inevitably lead to changes and some of these changes will see the departure of players who have served this club over many seasons. We must all be prepared for this and support Neil and Jon as they go through this process. Management will not have the benefit of the additional resources the FA Cup winnings brought last season, so they will have to make some very difficult decisions, and some, which supporters may not agree with. However I am personally more than confident that we will be competing at the right end of the table! So, please be prepared for change, get behind the new managers and for those players departing I thank them and wish them every success for the future.
Revenue generation for the club remains a top priority and as we go into the new season I would urge every supporter to join the 500 club (available here). I had expected more members to join last year so if you are not a member I urge you to join. I cannot emphasise enough, the HUGE difference each additional share makes to the running of the club (why not ask friends and family?). ANY help with the generation of funds is, as always, a priority.
We have two new additions to the management committee, Paul Lillywhite and Mark Curtis. Paul Lillywhite will be in charge of promoting the club and trying to raise monies from local businesses and Mark Curtis, who is a school colleague from many years ago, will serve as a committee member and his background is finance and business.
As we continue to try to push on and move the club forward I would like to thank everyone who volunteers and forgoes their time to help run this club. Without these people we would not have a club. Finally, whilst I appreciate we all sometimes get frustrated and that things could always be better, please appreciate that many people give up their valuable time to help progress the club. I believe we all seek the same thing and in this period of management change I would personally appreciate restraint and patience.
Have a great summer and see you next season.
Steve Easterbrook - Chairman
In their first season and under the management of Mark Betts the reserve team finished a credible 8th place in the Hellenic Division 2 West. It was very much a stop start season as the weather played havoc with the fixtures leading to problems in maintaining a consistent team. Discussions within the club have however come to the conclusion that it would not be advantageous to run a reserve team next year. The club will review this position during the 2013/14 season and we may actually consider joining an U21 or U23 League in the future. The club believes that this will be more beneficial and offer better progress for our U18 and Academy squads.
The U18s finished 9th in a very strong Allied Counties Premier Division. Playing exciting passing football I do feel they were unlucky in a number of games where, they lost by either the odd goal or those dreaded last minute winners! The team included a number of players from the STFC Academy many of whom were only 16/17 years old. Management see only improvement for next season and everyone is looking forward to getting started!
As most people are aware last season saw the launch of the STFC Academy which offers 2 years full time education to 16/18 year olds. We all knew that this would be a challenge however I am pleased to report that the academy will finish with over 25 full time students and it should achieve an overall 95% success rate. It is important to remember that students are of various footballing abilities and the educational element of the course should enable students to pursue different sports/leisure related careers. Under Mark Betts leadership and management I must say that I have been very impressed with how the Academy has progressed. Getting these operations started and operating is never easy and together with Siobhan and the help of others I am confident we can continue to develop and grow this academy.
I think everyone by now understands my complete frustration with Slough Council and the progress of the Arbour Vale site. I personally have been on this now for over 6 years and the amount of time I have spent (or wasted!) is phenomenal. Last April (2012), I reported that bar a few minor issues the planning application should be submitted and having been informed by council ‘that was it’, I was very confident of that happening - infact I had started planning and making decisions based on the potential new ground. However as I am sure everyone is aware there have been number of well publicised issues and our return to Slough is yet again delayed. The council continues to support us; however to be honest at times I despair. I will continue as best I can to keep everyone posted as to where we are. At the moment Slough Council are waiting to hear from the Department for Education.
Back to football.
Reaching the first round of the FA Cup was hugely enjoyable for everyone and seeing over 1,700 Slough Town supporters at the Mansfield replay brought back distant memories of a large vocal crowd! This FA Cup run was definitely one of the highlights of the season and it of course provided the club with additional financial resources enabling us to proceed through the season with a larger squad and those ‘ever present constraints’ were, for once alleviated! This excellent FA cup run together with reaching the semi final of the Red Insure Cup did however lead to fixture congestion and unfortunately as we are all aware we missed the playoffs by one point! With the points tally and goals scored any other year it would have been enough, however no excuses as we definitely had a team capable of at least reaching the top 5.
By mutual agreement and following many discussions the club parted company with manager, Steve Bateman and assistant, Fred Cummings. Steve of course has been with us for over 4 seasons and has steered us from a relegation threatened team to potential promotion candidates. Steve and Fred will always be welcome back and both leave Slough with everyone’s best wishes.
We now enter the 2013/14 season with new joint first team managers. Confident, young and enthusiastic, Neil Baker and Jon Underwood believe in playing good attacking football and they appreciate and understand how to assemble winning teams. In the previous two seasons they have achieved play off positions and also reached the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup. Having already spent a lot of time with Jon and Neil I can see that they are focused, ambitious and confident.
I am personally very excited about next season and Jon and Neil’s focus is now to assemble a winning team - not just for this season but for seasons to follow. As Jon and Neil look to build this team it will inevitably lead to changes and some of these changes will see the departure of players who have served this club over many seasons. We must all be prepared for this and support Neil and Jon as they go through this process. Management will not have the benefit of the additional resources the FA Cup winnings brought last season, so they will have to make some very difficult decisions, and some, which supporters may not agree with. However I am personally more than confident that we will be competing at the right end of the table! So, please be prepared for change, get behind the new managers and for those players departing I thank them and wish them every success for the future.
Revenue generation for the club remains a top priority and as we go into the new season I would urge every supporter to join the 500 club (available here). I had expected more members to join last year so if you are not a member I urge you to join. I cannot emphasise enough, the HUGE difference each additional share makes to the running of the club (why not ask friends and family?). ANY help with the generation of funds is, as always, a priority.
We have two new additions to the management committee, Paul Lillywhite and Mark Curtis. Paul Lillywhite will be in charge of promoting the club and trying to raise monies from local businesses and Mark Curtis, who is a school colleague from many years ago, will serve as a committee member and his background is finance and business.
As we continue to try to push on and move the club forward I would like to thank everyone who volunteers and forgoes their time to help run this club. Without these people we would not have a club. Finally, whilst I appreciate we all sometimes get frustrated and that things could always be better, please appreciate that many people give up their valuable time to help progress the club. I believe we all seek the same thing and in this period of management change I would personally appreciate restraint and patience.
Have a great summer and see you next season.
Steve Easterbrook - Chairman
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