MIKE BURKE: Chairman’s notes from St Ives Town programme

The following was chairman Mike Burke’s programme notes from last Saturday’s match against St Ives Town (11th Decmeber)…

“Well that made a change, away matches! We are back now for the last home match before Christmas, so here’s wishing you and your families a very merry Christmas and I hope you get what you need even – if you don’t get what you want!

Since the last home match, we have held the fans forum, which was well attended. Gavin introduced himself and answered fans doubts and questions and set out his ambitions in moving the club forward. As he said, the first job was to make us hard to beat and, looking back at the stats, ‘goals against’ has significantly improved. Now, of course, he is looking at ‘goals for’ and moving us up the league. 

The forum offered the fans the opportunity to ask questions of the club too, and the plan is to have regular forums. It was stated that fans don’t always get information from the club or that they have questions unanswered; we cannot, of course, respond to speculation or questions on independent Facebook groups. We made a statement a few years ago, when there was a lot of misinformation on Facebook that some may have taken as facts, that any news would be posted first on our official website and social media, and if it wasn’t there, it may not be the truth, and that is still the place to find the official club information.  

The BSSS have three directors on the club board, but they stated at the forum that they will only ask questions to the board that come from their members. So, with this in mind, we have appointed Shep (Dave Sheppard) as ‘fans liaison’ (because everyone knows Shep!)

Any questions, ideas etc that you have in between forums can be put to him at any match and he will bring them to the board at the next board meeting. You can still ask myself or any other director of course.

I do also try and put information in this column that perhaps isn’t always ‘headline news’ but may be of interest to fans.

For example, although the council would not reduce our very high rent, they have agreed to give us £10k of our annual rent back to us as long as its all spent on agreed ground improvements only. The first things will be shutters on catering outlets (already in place) then a disabled shelter and toilet block, refurb of the first aid room and bar kitchen. 

Last night (Wednesday) the 2021 AGM took place, It was strange looking at minutes from the previous AGM held in October 2019. It was a different world, not just because of COVID and lockdowns but because we were buzzing, had just gained promotion via that exciting playoff and averaging 1000 fans a match. 

We need to get that going again – the ambition of the club is still to push for promotion. This season will be our first full (hopefully) season at this level and we need to lay the foundations now to push on next season. Lets hope today’s match brings us our first Christmas present that we want AND need!”

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