07/07/14
All that’s left for me to say is enjoy the rest of summer and I look forward to seeing you soon for some Southern Premiership football!
Steve Easterbrook
Reflecting briefly on last season, I would just like to say that gaining promotion really was a fantastic achievement and one that we should all be very proud of.
This success was not brought about by any one individual thing - success was collective - however I do feel that decisions taken at the start of last season provided us with enough to achieve our ultimate goal of promotion. New management added a new impetus and brought a refreshing style of management and the relationship with MyFC brought in much needed revenue. This together with what we already had made the season what it was – bloody fantastic!
We now however must focus on the future.
I won’t repeat everything that has been said about the potential new ground. However I must say that on a personal note I am astounded at the processes and systems both government and council adopt. My background is in the private sector and to see the principles and procedures adopted is very worrying and upsetting. The wastage and repetition I have witnessed over the past 7 years is unbelievable. I emphasise these are my personal thoughts and I really do hope that the recent announcements from Slough Council are true and honest. Talk is cheap (and hey, probably wins votes) but it really is time for action now and hopefully with the recent announcements, things should be clearer soon (meetings are taking place next week). I just hope they don’t renege on everything that has been previously discussed and agreed – otherwise what was the point and why were we asked to do all the work - and will the club be recompensed for this work?
This season sees some changes to committee membership and to some extent the structure of the committee. Roy Merryweather will be standing down as General Manager and will become a ‘Life Member’ of the club. On behalf of the club I would like to thank Roy for everything he has done over many years; and I can vouch that many of those years would have been very difficult and testing! Of course Roy has a wealth of experience and I know we will be calling on him in the future and of course Roy will still be attending many games.
I am pleased to announce that Steve Chapman will be continuing with the programme, which incidentally won the divisional programme of the year – so well done to Steve (and Glen) and indeed everyone who helps make the programme such a good read! Also congratulations to club photographer Gary House as one of his wonderful ‘promotion celebrations photos’ has been nominated for the Non League Paper picture of the year.
I am also pleased to announce that Ian Lathey has agreed to join the committee and take on the role of Match Day Manager. This is an important role and as we look to move forwards, we really do need somebody to focus on match days and be able to plan ahead. To a large extent Ian was actually covering some of this last season, so I am delighted that he is on board.
Neil and John have started pre season training and I am personally very pleased that most of the players from last season will be starting this year with us. I’m a firm believer in creating environments within which people can develop and Jon and Neil adopt a similar style. All the players from last season more than proved themselves and as a team we progress to the next level. Football, whilst physical, is also psychological and I am confident that they can make the step up (Carpe Diem!).
Last season saw the introduction of many new initiatives, and together with new sponsors MyFC, we launched Rebels Radio – I'm surprised John’s not in Brazil! We have all also enjoyed the professional film highlights of many games courtesy of MyFC - what a shame Laurence wasn’t allowed to film the Play Off final! Also at different times during the year MyFC have raised much needed funds, indeed in many instances leading the initiative – thank you and the club is very grateful. I very much hope that this support will continue for the forthcoming season.
One area which is currently a real challenge is revenue generation. Having no home ground means that we are completely reliant on our Landlords who we also pay rent and other monies to. We do not generate any revenue through bar and food sales and of course we cannot hire out the ground or the facilities. Advertising revenue is also limited as we operate outside of Slough. This again shows what a fantastic achievement last year was.
The majority of teams within our league have similar or higher attendances than us and of course they benefit from all the revenue streams highlighted above. I have also noticed that many also run budget enhancing schemes throughout the season. I’d love to say that funding is not an issue, but it is and it is one I have to constantly address. I spent the whole of last summer and indeed the whole of this summer exploring and trying to raise funds for the club. With this in mind, the club will be launching and re-launching money raising schemes and I urge everyone to do what they can. Whilst success is not necessarily dependent on finances, there definitely is a correlation!
Last season the club also enjoyed some substantial ‘one off’ donations to help the club and again, without these we would not have achieved promotion. These donations can make the difference and if there are followers of the club who would like to help in this way please contact me at chairman@sloughtownfc.net. Any conversations are of course strictly confidential and last season these individuals know that they were a major part of and made history.
One thing I would like to say about gaining promotion is that whilst I won’t particularly miss travelling to some of the grounds on a wet and windy Tuesday night I will personally miss some of the opposition committee members and fans who I meet year in year out and who like ourselves dedicate themselves to their clubs – often in very, very trying conditions. I salute them all and wish each a good (and hopefully prosperous) season ahead.
Before signing off I would like to thank the fans, supporters, committee members, the Supporters' Trust and of course all the trusty volunteers. We are the backbone of the club and I personally know that many of us make many sacrifices for the club. Special mention to the web team who are always working around the clock trying to keep ahead of Twitter!
All that’s left for me to say is enjoy the rest of summer and I look forward to seeing you soon for some Southern Premiership football!
Win or lose we are the Rebels - Up the Rebels!!!!!
Steve Easterbrook
This success was not brought about by any one individual thing - success was collective - however I do feel that decisions taken at the start of last season provided us with enough to achieve our ultimate goal of promotion. New management added a new impetus and brought a refreshing style of management and the relationship with MyFC brought in much needed revenue. This together with what we already had made the season what it was – bloody fantastic!
We now however must focus on the future.
I won’t repeat everything that has been said about the potential new ground. However I must say that on a personal note I am astounded at the processes and systems both government and council adopt. My background is in the private sector and to see the principles and procedures adopted is very worrying and upsetting. The wastage and repetition I have witnessed over the past 7 years is unbelievable. I emphasise these are my personal thoughts and I really do hope that the recent announcements from Slough Council are true and honest. Talk is cheap (and hey, probably wins votes) but it really is time for action now and hopefully with the recent announcements, things should be clearer soon (meetings are taking place next week). I just hope they don’t renege on everything that has been previously discussed and agreed – otherwise what was the point and why were we asked to do all the work - and will the club be recompensed for this work?
This season sees some changes to committee membership and to some extent the structure of the committee. Roy Merryweather will be standing down as General Manager and will become a ‘Life Member’ of the club. On behalf of the club I would like to thank Roy for everything he has done over many years; and I can vouch that many of those years would have been very difficult and testing! Of course Roy has a wealth of experience and I know we will be calling on him in the future and of course Roy will still be attending many games.
I am pleased to announce that Steve Chapman will be continuing with the programme, which incidentally won the divisional programme of the year – so well done to Steve (and Glen) and indeed everyone who helps make the programme such a good read! Also congratulations to club photographer Gary House as one of his wonderful ‘promotion celebrations photos’ has been nominated for the Non League Paper picture of the year.
I am also pleased to announce that Ian Lathey has agreed to join the committee and take on the role of Match Day Manager. This is an important role and as we look to move forwards, we really do need somebody to focus on match days and be able to plan ahead. To a large extent Ian was actually covering some of this last season, so I am delighted that he is on board.
Neil and John have started pre season training and I am personally very pleased that most of the players from last season will be starting this year with us. I’m a firm believer in creating environments within which people can develop and Jon and Neil adopt a similar style. All the players from last season more than proved themselves and as a team we progress to the next level. Football, whilst physical, is also psychological and I am confident that they can make the step up (Carpe Diem!).
Last season saw the introduction of many new initiatives, and together with new sponsors MyFC, we launched Rebels Radio – I'm surprised John’s not in Brazil! We have all also enjoyed the professional film highlights of many games courtesy of MyFC - what a shame Laurence wasn’t allowed to film the Play Off final! Also at different times during the year MyFC have raised much needed funds, indeed in many instances leading the initiative – thank you and the club is very grateful. I very much hope that this support will continue for the forthcoming season.
One area which is currently a real challenge is revenue generation. Having no home ground means that we are completely reliant on our Landlords who we also pay rent and other monies to. We do not generate any revenue through bar and food sales and of course we cannot hire out the ground or the facilities. Advertising revenue is also limited as we operate outside of Slough. This again shows what a fantastic achievement last year was.
The majority of teams within our league have similar or higher attendances than us and of course they benefit from all the revenue streams highlighted above. I have also noticed that many also run budget enhancing schemes throughout the season. I’d love to say that funding is not an issue, but it is and it is one I have to constantly address. I spent the whole of last summer and indeed the whole of this summer exploring and trying to raise funds for the club. With this in mind, the club will be launching and re-launching money raising schemes and I urge everyone to do what they can. Whilst success is not necessarily dependent on finances, there definitely is a correlation!
Last season the club also enjoyed some substantial ‘one off’ donations to help the club and again, without these we would not have achieved promotion. These donations can make the difference and if there are followers of the club who would like to help in this way please contact me at chairman@sloughtownfc.net. Any conversations are of course strictly confidential and last season these individuals know that they were a major part of and made history.
One thing I would like to say about gaining promotion is that whilst I won’t particularly miss travelling to some of the grounds on a wet and windy Tuesday night I will personally miss some of the opposition committee members and fans who I meet year in year out and who like ourselves dedicate themselves to their clubs – often in very, very trying conditions. I salute them all and wish each a good (and hopefully prosperous) season ahead.
Before signing off I would like to thank the fans, supporters, committee members, the Supporters' Trust and of course all the trusty volunteers. We are the backbone of the club and I personally know that many of us make many sacrifices for the club. Special mention to the web team who are always working around the clock trying to keep ahead of Twitter!
All that’s left for me to say is enjoy the rest of summer and I look forward to seeing you soon for some Southern Premiership football!
Win or lose we are the Rebels - Up the Rebels!!!!!
Steve Easterbrook
Copyright 2024 Slough Town F.C. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.sloughtownfc.net as the source.