A gentleman walked up to me after the last game of the season and shook my hand, the side he had come to watch had just won the league and amongst the jubilation he took time to come and chat to me and wish me all the best in our venture and told me what a bright future we have. This shows just what an impact the club is making at the moment as it strives to move forward. Park Road is buzzing again after a tough season.
The end of the season comes with a mix of relief and contemplation, the moment we uproot the posts and make way to our fellow Briggers, the cricket teams, thoughts already turn to the new season which seems a distance away but will creep up on us quickly.
It is always at this point of the season that we look back at those who have put their time and effort to the club for little reward, the way these people dedicate their lives to a club has been amazing and never fails to stagger me, it will always encourage me to fight on and do the very best I can at this club.
Without fail we must thank the First Team Manager Dave Mace who was dedicated right to the end of the season despite the disappointment of his coaches deciding to leave the club and persue other interests before the season end, the season was ended on a high with a great performance on the last game of the season. Our Reserves and 19s have had a turbulent season, the highlight of which was reaching the semi-final of the cup, it was a great achievement as was the 5th place finish with promotion only a sniff away, the 19s are in a transitional phase and their league positon was not a true picture of the way they conducted themselves. Thanks must be given to the coaches that drive these players to such a high degree Mark Joyce, Nick Haywood, Phil Jacobs & Simon Massey.
It is with great sadness that some long term faces won’t be around the club as much as the Lane family decided to call it a day after many years service to the club, their help has been invaluable over the years. A more recent addition to our staff has been Ray and Maureen Joyce who have done a great service with a mix of café running and pitch maintenance.
Also the former chairman John Cooper and his wife Christine have been servants to this club over the last 13 years, we hope they can sit back and enjoy football once again.
Young Derren and his father Shaun have helped out on many an occasion running the gate for us and of course, Charlie Wyatt, the club secretary who has been a mentor to me and a real servant to the club – a true gentleman.

Thanks also to my wife Kate, who despite Football not being at the top of her list, she has really got involved and supported me.

The thoughts now turn to the future and I am excited at the new junior set up with some superb young lads and lasses as young as 6 years old coming through, the development ethos is pushing through in everything we do, just to add to that is our new under 15s girls team which will be starting next season, I write this having watched the first session and I am very excited at how well they were working today.
There will be new schemes and many changes over the next few months such as changes to the ground set up and a fair amount of new schemes being put into place, keep an eye out over the summer for all we are doing.

Enjoy the break…..