On the eve of the UCL Premier Division North campaign restarting for the Men’s First Team; with the inaugural season for the Women’s First Team in the FA Women’s National League Division One Midlands pending; with the club set to have a total of 38 affiliated teams wearing the White of United in 24/25 season from U6’s to Walking Football; and following our recent football club AGM, all at Lincoln Utd are excited to confirm some recent changes at the club.

Firstly, all of the Board at Lincoln Utd Football Club wish to sincerely thank and congratulate all members, staff, coaches, players and volunteers who have stepped down or moved on during the off-season from their various roles at the club. It is true to say that there is a tremendous amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of a non-league community football club with 30+ teams, that really can’t be estimated and understood, unless you actually get involved in some capacity. Without the many individuals in a variety of roles and capacities, who are willing and able to ‘take responsibility’ for all of the work and administration of their respective sections of the club, there would be complete chaos, so thank you to those that are stepping down and equally to those that will continue to serve the club in to 24/25 season.

Most notably, we thank outgoing Chair, Allen Crombie; outgoing Treasurer, Nicole Angel; outgoing Director of Women’s Football, Rick-Brock-Taylor (although not for long); outgoing Communications Director, Charlie Fytche; outgoing Commercial Director, Tom Stansfield; and outgoing Men’s and Women’s First Team Manager, Chris Funnell. It is hugely encouraging though, that while stepping away from former roles, that all of these fantastic servants and supporters of the Whites will continue to be connected with the club and we will absolutely see them down at the Sun Hat Villas and Resorts Stadium over the coming season, offering their support in other ways.

A shuffle in the Boardroom necessary then, that has seen the following changes confirmed at the recent AGM. We are delighted to welcome David Armour, of Agent Armour Accounts Ltd, to the football club, and to the Board, as Treasurer. We know that our club finances will continue to be in good hands with the introduction of Dave’s knowledge and experience, and it’s great to be able to utilise local business links like this to benefit our football club further. For any local accounting needs, please check out Agent Armour Accounts Limited.

We are delighted that, while Rick Brock-Taylor has stepped away from his former role as Director of Women’s Football, where he was instrumental in the treble winning season in 23/24 and the years leading up to it, that he remains on the Board in a new role, as Director of Matchday Operations. If you’ve ever seen Rick at the Sun Hat Villas Stadium on a Saturday or Sunday, you’ll all know that he runs a tight ship, and you’ll have seen the professionalism that he delivers to the matchday experience for everyone.

With Rick stepping away from the Women’s side of the club, we are hugely excited about the appointment of Kieran Gilberthorpe as the Director of Women’s Football. Kieran was known to us as a first class coach within our junior ranks, and having just graduated with a first-class honours degree in Sports Coaching, Education and Development, and having gained experience coaching overseas previously, we can’t wait to see Kieran’s influence on the Girls and Women’s pathway at the club over the coming season(s).

We also celebrate the appointment of Darren Lobb to Commercial Director, having joined the Board midway through 23/24 season. An avid Lincoln Utd supporter having supported junior footballers through the ranks in previous years, now doing fantastic and profitable work for the club with existing and new sponsors alike. For any potential sponsorship opportunities, please do not hesitate to contact Darren at darren.lobb@lincolnunitedfc.com and he’d be only too happy to tailor a sponsorship package to suit your wishes.

With Charlie Fytche recently stepping away from his Director of Communications role, we welcome Zack Leader and his small team of young media associates to the club, who will continue the great work of Charlie previously and bring a dynamic and full coverage approach of all of our footballing exploits across the club. Zack brings a wealth of experience from his full-time role as Media, Marketing and Events Officer at Lincolnshire FA. While currently no longer a Board-level position, Zack will be instrumental in high-levels of communication and social media reach at the club to drive local, and not so local, interest in the Whites.

The Chair position has been taken up by Stu Reddington who will initially juggle the role alongside the Club Secretary role he has held over the 23/24 season. With huge Allen Crombie-sized shoes to fill, Stu is keen for the continued support of all club members, staff, and volunteers to continue to play their hugely valuable roles, and places this as the key to the club’s success moving forwards. “Lots of people, invested in our football club, pulling in the same direction, doing as much, or as little, as they can, and communicated with properly”, will take us a long way, commented Stuart.

Alongside all of the changes, we are keen to identify that stability remains at Board-level with the following members committing to their greatly important roles in 24/25, namely, Sam Wilkinson, as Vice Chair; David Frecklington, as Director of Men’s Football; Gemma Bell, as Director of Women’s Football; Glen Merryweather, as Director; Chris Hough, as Director; Paul Marsh, as Ground Manager; Steve Walker, as Chair of the Supporters Trust; Brendan McDaid, as Business Advisor to the Board; and Jonty Hawley, as Business Advisor to the Board.

You’ll naturally already have learned of changes away from Board-level, and probably more importantly, on and around the pitch and dug out, so we warmly welcome our new management teams and players respectively at all levels.

Lincoln Utd were delighted to announce the appointment of Scott Hellewell, Paul Grimes and Jon Taylor as their Men’s first team management team for the 24/25 season; and equally to Ricky Pledger as the Women’s first team manager during the off-season. Couple these appointments with the further appointment of Steve Donner as Men’s Development Team manager, it really has been almost a complete overhaul of the staff involved with our adult-teams. Thank heavens for Kev Rose, remaining as our Women’s Development Team manager, for some stability! They have all been really busy through pre-season preparing their squads for the start of their respective campaigns and we urge you, the supporters, to turn out to give them as much support as possible through this, the 24/25 season. Season tickets are still being offered at early bird prices for a further 24-hours, so don’t hesitate, please get in touch with a club official as soon as you can to take advantage of these discounted prices.

Finally, while this press release has identified a number of changes at the club, there is lots to be exited about and our ambitions are clear, to be the most sought after and respected community club in the city across all of our pathways; to be promoted back to Step 4 with our Men’s first team; and to maintain our Step 4 status with our Women’s first team.

Up the Whites, and let’s see you all down at the Sun Hat Villas and Resorts Stadium as soon as possible!