15 August 2007

Chairman's Message for the 2007/08 Season

My note to the recent Annual General Meeting reported on our club’s achievements both on and off the pitch during the last year, of which there were many. This time it is my pleasure to look forward to the new season. It is always a time full of promise for every football club as every team starts with a clean sheet and plenty of hope and expectations.

Before I start on the ‘looking forward’ bit, one final piece of information, that relates to last season, will provide an important context for many of the Committee’s agreed actions for the coming season. It relates to our club’s financial position. You will all be aware that our club is being run on a tight budget that is diligently controlled by our Treasurer Graham Radford. Despite the best efforts of Graham and the rest of the Committee we did experience an operating loss last season. This loss occurred even before the recent, very unwelcome, theft of our goalposts.

As a result, it has unfortunately been necessary to increase the annual joining fee to £50 this season in order to balance our books. A healthy cash flow is also important for the club’s financial well being. I would therefore remind everyone that the deadline for paying your joining fee is the 13^th October 2007. After that date, a rigorous ‘no pay, no play’ policy will be employed. I would therefore urge all captains to ensure that their players pay their joining fee as soon as possible. The same applies of course for match fees that are due. Please pay these as soon as they are due and insist on receiving a receipt when paying them.

One way in which all of you can assist the club is to use our bar facilities to their full potential after matches! I’m sure that is one request that will not fall on too many deaf ears! One of the key reasons for our operating loss last year is the continuing steady decline in bar revenue over the years. Our club depends on an active and vibrant social life and we would wish to see all our players and their visiting guests make optimal use of our bar.

Now for looking forward to this season. You will all have seen the announcement that Ian Lewis will be the Senior Squad Manager. The Committee felt that with his record of the previous three seasons in charge of the 2s, Ian Lewis best represented what the Club was looking for in a manager following Keith Cave’s decision to step down, unanimously agreeing to appoint him as Senior Squad Manager, responsible for not only the management of the first team but also the overall responsibility for all player selection and matters relating to the Senior Squad (which consists of the combined 1s & 2s squads).

Ian has selected Dave Tilley and Chris Tilley as his 1s and 2s captains respectively.  There will not be a formal 2s' manager this season, although Chris will be assisted in the match running of the second team by both Dean Tomlinson and Martin Vincent. The Committee has also appointed Dave Tilley as the 2007/08 Club Captain, which is a significant honour for Dave and is one he is expected to take in his stride.

It is important to note that, with many of the senior players stepping-down from the 1s this season, there will be real opportunities for players to stake a claim for a place in our top side and for players in our other sides to join the Senior Squad. Attending Dave Jenvey’s regular training sessions each week will be a great aid in achieving that.

I know that Ian is very keen to be seen to be operating a fair selection policy based on ability and suitability and as far as he is concerned, all places are up for grabs as we go into the new season, with the slate wiped clean, the baggage of the past removed, and with every player in the Senior Squad knowing that the Committee will support him in the operating of a fair selection policy. This will see players, if called up to our top side, being given every opportunity to show what they can do. The flipside to this though is that we expect all players to play for the side that they are called up for, without exception. 

The first team squad this season will be by far and away the youngest in the SAL but will have a real chance of clinching promotion. Ian is relishing the opportunity to build a successful squad not just for the season ahead but indeed for many seasons to come. We wish him and our senior squad players every success, as we do of course all our senior sides this season.

A final point for the consideration of all. Carshalton Football Club prides itself on being a very friendly and sociable club. This extends to the behaviour of all of us both on and off the pitch. Last season, we failed to avoid Stage 1 of the AFA Disciplinary Code and as a result the club incurred an additional fine. Discipline remains a problem in some quarters and the Committee takes this issue very seriously. There is absolute no excuse for being booked for dissent and/or unsporting behaviour or worse, violent conduct. We want all our teams to project our club’s ethos on and off the pitch. Being competitive is of course perfectly ok and necessary in football but I would like to call on all skippers and Carshalton players to promote sporting behaviour during all forthcoming matches and avoid us reaching Stage 1 in the 2007/08 season.

Finally, on the youth side, we also have much to look forward to with a significant first for Carshalton FC in that we will be running an U-8 girls side this year. This is in addition to our boys U-9, U-10, U-11 and U-13 sides plus an external U-15 side which will be renting our pitches.

I hope the above shows that Carshalton Football Club continues to go from strength to strength and there is much to look forward to in the new season. As always, please support the club in as many ways as you can. Your help will be very welcome! Good luck to all our senior and junior teams for the 2007/2008 season!

Tony van Emst
Chairman
Carshalton Football Club