Behind The Scenes
A look at what is happening behind the scenes at Long Eaton United FC on and off the pitch.
Three years ago the Club’s Management formulated plans to significantly enhance all aspects of Long Eaton United Football Club.
Those plans involved the integration of all areas of the Club including our Youth, Ladies & Senior Sections.
Underpinning all of our ambitions for the Club was the significant improvement of the Facilities at Grange Park for all associated with the Club - without Facilities to be proud of it would have been impossible to improve our commercial prospects and create a stable financial platform.
Working closely with the Derbyshire FA we achieved FA Charter Standard Community Club status - which, as well as helping us create a Youth Section second to non in the Region, has also enabled us to work with Sport England, the Football Foundation and the Premier League and FA Facilities Fund to secure significant grant funding.
Over the period we have relaid our Astro Courts, reclaimed waste land to create a superb new full size pitch, completely refurbished our Clubhouse and made significant improvements to the main Stadium. At the same time we have purchased our own maintenance equipment so the Club is now totally self sufficient.
With further planned work to our Car park and pitches over the summer, a combination of Board funding, Grant income and Sponsor support will have resulted in £500,000 of investment in our Facilities.
Our improved facilities have enabled us to create successful sides at many levels with our Ladies close to being crowned League Champions and achieving FA Womens Premier League status for the first time in our history as well as being in 2 Cup Finals - the first of which is this Sunday in the DFA County Cup Final against Derby County.
From the outset, our plans have included establishing a Mens Senior side capable of competing for a place in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. We were clear though that we needed facilities at least equal to if not better than Clubs competing at that level. We now have the facilities we planned for and the Ground grading for promotion.
Having secured the Facilities we were also clear that we wanted to appoint a Senior Section management team that shared our “One Club” ethos and who have experience of and access to players from the League we have the ambition to join.
We feel that our new Senior Section management team tick those boxes and we are working closely with them to build a playing squad and support that gives us a genuine chance of achieving our ambitions. We have already secured a fantastic set of pre-season friendlies which we hope will create real excitement for all involved at the Club in its 60th Anniversary Year.
Whilst success on the pitch can never be guaranteed, “Behind the Scenes” we are confident that Long Eaton United Football Club is in excellent shape and the further initiatives we have planned for the next 3 years will ensure the Club continues to excel.
Finally it would be remiss of us not to recognise the fantastic work done by Shaun Rickford, Adam Barber and their support team during the season. It is never easy to take over the reins of a First Team mid-season but Shaun and Adam have conducted themselves admirably and have been a credit to themselves and the Club. We are sure that they will have a big part to play in the Clubs future.
Nick Dargan