View From The Boardroom

Vice chairman Matt Conridge shares his words on the activity all around the club so far this summer.

Eight weeks or so until the season starts. The squad is coming together nicely, clearly there is a focus on youth and more local players with a splash of experience chucked in and I’m excited to see how the lads step up. Talks continue with a few more and pre-season will be used to see a few others.

It’s always sad to see players leave and a number went this summer but that’s football. After two years of flirting very heavily with relegation it was time to try something different and that’s what the management team are trying to do. There is no doubt that this season is going to be extremely competitive, there is a lot of money being spent throughout the footballing pyramid at multiple levels and contracts that are both questionable in length and terms but that’s for other teams to honour. I do wonder though when I hear of the ‘I was paid £x by the club and £Y by the ****** in cash’ I guess that’s for the league and HMRC to deal with.

After a bumpy (pardon the pun) few weeks getting to grips with the pitch, we’ve made some progress. Still a lot of work to be done but it’s one of the top priorities within the club. Asa and Steve want to play a style of football which needs a decent surface, so we must do everything we can to give it to them.

The club have made some real strides behind the scenes. Our Women’s Team are now in place and I look forward to seeing them represent Tiverton Town in the coming weeks. Our Girls Under 16s have stepped up to become Under 18s, and our Boys Under 18s welcome Paul as their new manager who is keen to push them as high as they can go. We then have our Boys Under 16s step up from Twyford Spartans Under 15s. It’s going to be a busy season!

A huge thank you to Marc and Lisa Hodsdon who after many years of service to the Ability Counts set up have stood down from their positions and we welcome Peter and Sharon Parker-Brock who take over. Having Mike Ebdon join the board and help oversee all of this has been brilliant.

On the commercial side, Lee and the team are creating a number of new partnerships with local and national businesses at the same time as renewing existing ones. The aim here is to provide real benefits for businesses who partner with us, I don’t believe you will be disappointed if your business sponsors the club. Our new deal with VX3 is both a testament to how much they believe in what we are doing off of the pitch and what Asa and Steve are doing on it.

We are finally, very nearly in a position to announce a new lease on the Slee Blackwell Solicitors Stadium. This is significant because it unlocks our ability to move forward with a number of improvement projects and guarantees the clubs future for another 30 years.

And finally, there have been so many people working behind the scenes to move the club forward who all deserve a thank you, but I’ve got to highlight Viv and Deb, they both do so much that is seen by so few. Also a quick mention to the gents that look after our social media accounts and the website who have been excellent in keeping the good news flowing over the summer. Superstars.

Keep the faith, support the team. Onwards and upwards.

Matt.