GazzaBTFC Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Club members, supporters and club officals all heard Steve Kent, Billericay Town chairman, speak positivley about last season and the way forward for the future of the club in coming seasons. Steve opened the meeting by confirming that "it was his ambition for the club to grow both off and on the pitch. Our off field activities are as important as our performance on the pitch. If we have good off field facilities, good fund raising and income, then we can re invest these funds in both our ground and our team". He continued to confirm that it ws his belief that the "club belongs to the supporters because if no one comes through the turnstiles on a match day, this club ceases to exist. Billericay Town Foootball club is a part of the Billericay community, it is a part of it's history and provides quality entertainment to the community year in and year out". Steve did stress that "we need to bring in new blood into the club and continue to grow as a community within the community. With this new blood, we must push for an ever improving facilities and stadium which will allow us to have an ever improving football team". On the immediate future Steve said that he has "introduced some changes in the general running of the club and set out some goals". These I have typed as bullet points 1) A change to our Memorandum and Articles. To become a non profit making organisation to help with grants and subsidies. 2) To raise funds and income - To enable the club to stand on it's own financially. Steve strengthend his point by saying "If I put on my supporters cap for a moment and forget that I am chairman, I would be worried that we're reliant on a single benefactor, one person. It isn't a healthy position for a football club to be in. We need more people that will be willing to invest and it needs it's own income streem." On Club Membership 1) Club Membership will be two tier. This will take on the form of full membership and and affiliated membership. 2) It will be sponsored by Brentwood Sports (who are part of the Harpers chain). 3) Full members will be entitled to all the benefits available. these will include reduced entry, reduced prices on many of our future functions, club shop discounts, newsletter and 10% off all goods from Brentwood Sports and other shops in the Harpers chain of stores. 4) The cost of full membership will be the same as last season - £10 5) Affiliated members will be entitled to 10% off all goods from Brentwood Sports and other shops in the Harpers chain of stores BUT none of the club benefits. 6) Cost of affiliated membership will be £4 Supporters Association 1) The supporters club association will now be linked closer to the club 2) Hold monthly meetings at the club - At each monthly meeting arrangements for the coming games will be discussed i.e. Who is available to help with selling 50/50 tickets. Social functions - planned and future. Club promotion, sponsors. 3) Produce minutes for all to read 4) Include members who are involved in the day to day running of the club 5) Improve it's communication between the club and the supporters Out of this it is hoped that two people will step up and offer their services as a Social Secretary and a Public Relations person. Steve mentioned at this point that the Injury Time on Wedensday nights is the first step in the right direction and thought it would be a great fundraiser, bringing the club to a wider audience. Ground Fundraisers. All money raised within the ground to go to the club. Steve mentioned that the BTSA raised £3,000 last season but thought that the club and supporters could do better in the coming season and raised the target to £12,000. All proceeds raised by the new initiatives will be shown every week in the saturday match day program so that everyone can see what has been raised. This will help keep us all focused on the £12,000 target. Introduction of quality clothing range with the Billericay / England branding. Newsletter To inform the full members of travel arrangements for away games, information on social functions, player news and fund raising news. It will also include up to date news for all the teams affiliated with Billericay Town Football Club. It is hoped that this will be a great way of stimulating and promoting the community spirit within the club. Youth Set Up The youth set up for the coming season will include under 10's to under 18's and be known as "Billericay Colts". Steve went on to say that "My aim is to grow the club as a whole. We are not just a man's club competing in the Ryman Premier League but a community club for the towm of Billericay and this applies to the Ryman team, youth section and the Ladies team". Social Functions Social Functions to be held at the club during the season (and after) from dinner caberets to social gatherings. The idea is to raise the profile of the club outside of the football. Some ideas include an elvis Theme dinner and dance, a gentlemens evening wih "Razor" Ruddock as guest speaker, casino night...news as to when these functions will take place will be published in the program, newsletter, the web site and this forum. Support Steve continued to praise the efforts of the last season by saying that "we have done every well with increasing our support last season but we need to keep going. Again, I have a target...an average gate of 1,000. This would increase our income by £50,000 per season and that is the kind of revenue we require to keep climbing the Non League ladder". Well those are the bullet points of the first section of Steve's speech. I could type all night but there is quite a lot there to digest so I will type out part two and three tomorrow morning to give you all a chance to take all this in. My own thoughts are, Steve spoke very well and even though he stressed that this doesn't get achived over night, "small steps" were his words, I believe that if we all pull togther we can do more and make this club not just a good club but a great club. Part two coming up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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