After the unexpected departure from Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club of former chairman Brian Seymour-Smith and his two colleagues Craig Cotterill and Paul Molesworth, the board of directors has been looking at the future management of the club.
Following an approach and extensive discussions, we are pleased to announce that Rod Brown and Richard Boorn will be joining the board with immediate effect and will occupy the positions of chairman and vice-chairman.
In addition, the club in future will be run by a four-person executive board with the remaining directors sitting on a subsidiary board.
The executive board will comprise the chairman, vice-chairman, David Stephens as the football secretary and Graham Scott who has been elected to represent members of the subsidiary board.
We believe that bringing in Rod and Richard with their considerable business and football knowledge will strengthen the management of the club and serve us well into the future.
We hope that everybody involved with Bromsgrove Sporting and the wider community will welcome Rod and Richard and support the efforts being made to have a strong and successful football club in Bromsgrove.
A fans’ forum will be held at the Victoria Ground in the Rouslers Bar at 7:30 pm on Thursday 14th December to introduce the new directors and to answer any questions from supporters.
Incoming Bromsgrove Sporting chairman Rod Brown commented:
“Following a period of mismanagement, the football club has begun to experience off-field financial difficulties, which put the club’s future at risk. This has recently led to three key board members leaving the club.
“The remaining members of the board have approached myself and Richard Boorn to consider taking on the positions of chairman and vice chairman respectively.
“We discussed it long and hard and we believe we can help put the club back into a more stable position – providing we set up an ‘Executive Board’, consisting of a team of four to lead the task ahead.
“The remaining two people are current club football secretary, the vastly experienced Dave Stephens, and an elected member from the subsidiary board to represent their comments and thoughts.
“Richard Boorn, as many of the fanbase will know, is a very successful local businessman and, importantly, a serious fan who is a strong advocate of the Bromsgrove Sporting Supporters Society and fans in general.
“I have been a local of Bromsgrove since 1991 and, like Richard, I am still active within my own business, but also have ties to football in the area.
“I’ve been thoroughly immersed in football all of my life; firstly as a player, before enjoying a successful non-league management career, with Midlands teams such as Redditch United, Stratford Town, Rugby Town, Stourport Swifts and, of course, Bromsgrove Rovers.
“Latterly, I was invited to join the board at Kidderminster Harriers, holding chairman and vice chairman roles over three years up to 2019. Here, I gained invaluable experience in the business of football.
“We have both looked very closely at the club; there is no doubt it is currently in a precarious position. However, we believe that with strong leadership and financial governance, we can, with the support of current board members, address and halt the situation the club finds itself in.
“We both feel very strongly that the town and the wider growing community deserve better. There has been a football club in Bromsgrove since 1885 – it’s a footballing town that has enjoyed many memorable highlights throughout many generations in its different guises, as ‘Rovers’ and ‘Sporting’.
“To continue making memories, we need the town and wider community to pull together, in order to leave a legacy of a sustainable football club for many generations to come.
“Richard and I are merely custodians, with no agenda than to create a business model with audit trails and transparency, whilst trying to entertain and hopefully have some success on the playing front.
“This will be no easy task and will require everyone involved within the club, the town and the community to pull together.
“We believe the club’s future requires the club to be better integrated and ingrained within the community. It must create a greater visible presence within the local area, work closer with its sponsors, the council and hopefully encourage more people to come and join the incredible volunteers that currently exist – or simply just come and give outstanding support from the terraces.
“We will endeavour to develop relationships with the youth footballing set-up, to complete the pathway for those who are taking their first steps into playing adult football.
“We will also strive to develop education programmes, whereby there will be no barriers to learning – no matter what gender, ability or race a person may be.
“All of this can hopefully be achieved over time. As long as we get a sustainable business model, Bromsgrove will have a football club for generations to come.
“Richard and I are excited to represent this amazing football club and we cannot wait to get started – time is well and truly of the essence!”
