Board meeting December 2012

1. Apologies Steven Howarth, Rob Woods, Tony Lakey, Anthony Peel
2. Minutes of last meeting - approved
3. Matters arising - none
4. Secretaries report - current squad (39), of those 19 are regular attendees. Players need 3 matches under their belt for cup eligibility, those needing 1 are, Steve Howarth, Tony Woods, Carl Clark. Those needing 2 are, KT, Marc Moon, Steve and Dave Mac and Mark Randell. Current disciplinary record this year should be commended as we only have 9 yellow cards this bodes well for the end of the season as prizes/sponsorship is handed out in relation to this (keep up the good work). Signings this months re all confirmed (Mac brothers and Adam Scope). Club fines owed to the league £10 for missing off goalscorers, club fines owed to FA £20 cautions. I have arranged an appointment to see Richard Salvin of the Oxford Centre in the new year to discuss any issues (ours/theirs) that have arisen since the start of the season and to put to him the clubs plans for the future (pitch surround/floodlights), I am expecting this to become a further meeting which included North Tynside council as I will need to discuss a long term pitch lease before the floodlight people will get involved. I have been back in contact with Swalwell regarding the resigning of Martin Dixon, their manager Gary Wood has asked us to hold off on this request until he has had a chance to speak to Martin as he does not want him to leave, I have agreed out of curtesy as it will ot affect us in the coming week due to the winter break, as a club I recommend we give until 27th Dec which give me more than 7 days to conclude a transfer before our first game in the new year. On a personal note I wish to thank the board for their support while I was juggling secretary/assistant manager and occasionally being part of the playing staff and to enter into the clubs records that I wish to resign from the post of assistant manager, retire from football and concentrate on being the best secretary I can for Longbenton FC. The board collectively agree with the report, and thank Paul for his efforts as assistant and his playing time. I have contacted the Tynside amateur league with reference to collating our club playing stats.
5. Managers report - Review of the 1st half of the season.
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7. After a poor start to the season, which can be attributed to the team with the new players gelling and learning each others style of play. From the thumping we took at Blythe which was a disappointment. We have come back very strong and put in some top class performances, cramlington 9-0 and other results that we have come away with too. We had a little bad patch in the last month or so, but got out of that with a 5-0 win at Howdon to progress to the semi finals of the cup.
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9. Last game against birtley was annoying as it seems when we really need our top players against the top team, they seem to be missing, with 9 players missing, some with genuine reason injuries, work due to league cock up and then some which I find hard to swallow and as soon as ample or better players are available they will be replaced if necessary, to lose 3-0 when we had that many players missing shows that with a full team there is not a team in this league we can't beat.
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11. New signings
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13. Clarky although he was signed at the beginning off the season is not a new signing as such but played his 1 st league game against wideopen and was phenomenal and I can see him really putting shorty and browny under a lot of pressure to perform.
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15. Adam scope, if he can reproduce form of previous years , this guy will be a great player for us and I think a good influence on the likes of peely and ginge who sometimes need that experience beside them.
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17. Aussie wingback... Let's wait and see...
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19. New players this season have settles in well and there has been no disruption in the squad harmony so that is a great plus. This is echoed by the supporters we have saying the team spirit is so good and then you have the relatives of our players saying they love playing for longbenton FC, this makes me happy as I want people to enjoy their football.
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21. Team moving up to the next level. Since the Carlisle game we have changed our philosophy on how we need to play the game and try and use the same approach that Carlisle had done. This has worked wonders, the players we have responded really well to this and some of the football we play is a joy to behold and there are teams that can't touch us when they play us. Games that are a great example of this is the walker central cup game, where at 3-0 down we should of been dead and buried, however our never say die attitude, a but like man utd of old got us back to 3-3 and then 4-4 in extra time and very unlucky not to progress, but again a great experience for the lads.
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23. The wideopen game another great example of this, 4-0 down to 4-4 is a great effort. But the out of all the thing positive the worrying thing is the performance of our defenders in these games and at times the midfield not doing enough to help them. This has and will be worked on further.the return of the MacLaine brothers should give the defenders the competition that the other players have too.
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25. In the next half of the season starting with jan we have a friendly to rid of the rust from Xmas to try and get us starting on a roll against swalwell, we want a good convincing result against these to give us confidence against Blyth in the semi final... A game that I expect us to win, as I want another final....
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27. Finally if we play to our capability and pick up points in some of the crucial games with the teams around us I am confident we can still gain promotion. I have not seen anything from other teams that should give us anything to be worried about.
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29. I look forward to 2013 and hope this will be a good year for lbfc.
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31. P.s sponsor... May have an opportunity for a good sponsor... A one that may be able to give us a good amount of cash.....
32. chairman thanks KT for his work this season and agrees we should continue this into the new year and hopefully gain a cup and promotion.
33. Treasurers report - report can be obtained via the league website, this will include a breakdown of the clubs finances. From a financial point of view we need to keep on top of the predictor sheets (£5 per player) to maintain the day to day running of the club, players are happy to use this format rather than paying subs as it gives them the opportunity to win. There are currently no players with sanction to refrain from playing the predictor however the Chairman does cover some players.
34. Race night/club funding - The race night was a huge success 60 people attended £566 was raised for the club. The chairman would like to that all those involved in the running of the event and all those who attended to support the club. Made contact with brough park for fund raising, the club have been offered ticket which we can sell at face value and retain the funds, to be followed up in the new year by PC, potentially this could be coincided with presentation night. The club has learned a lot about creating a fundraising event.
35. Training - the club would like to source a 3G pitch for training as heaton manor seems to be called off to easily when the weather turns and it has affected the teams performance fitness wise, need to check with complete soccer and Kenton school as we wish to retain Wednesday as training night. The club is pushing KT and SH to progress with their coaching badges.
36. Squad - new additions have will make a big impact to the squad, Adam Scope (midfield) Carl Clark (centre forward) the club is beginning to attract the next step of player, the return of Dave and Steve Mac increases the defensive depth within the club. The forwards are collectively finding the net with 30 goals between the 4 of them. Several players are on the way back from injury, Peter Webster, Richard Charlton, Jamie Melvin, Phil Sharp and all are potential first team players.
37. The Oxford centre/home pitch - meeting to be held on the 5th January 11am with Richard Salvin to discuss the future of the club including a long lease, pitch surround, flood lights and use of the cafe for players and supporters.
38. Player feedback - chairman would like to thank MR and RW for their work on the board as player reps. The players are fully connected with the club the majority are registered with the website and all seem to comment on the clubs Facebook page, one or two players are filtering onto the twitter site and are connected to the clubs twitter page.
39. Any other business - check with league regarding payments if the club needs to change pitch venue to 3g
40. Close/date of next meeting- sunday February 24th