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Ten supporters came to the Meet The Managers Forum on Tuesday evening and Bernard and Jonno answered a great many questions on the club as a whole. Below is the ‘minutes’ of what happened.
The first question asked was about the selection of Tommy Allen for Saturday’s game against Atherton LR. The managers explained that they had five goalkeepers signed on (Damien, Luke, Tommy, Martin Campbell and a work-experience lad, Matt Ince from Accy Stanley) and it was time to give Tommy a game, to have a look at him. They knew what he could do as they have seen him on a couple of occasions and rate him as one of the best five keepers in the league, alongside Damien (Tommy actually proved his worth in the game against Abbey Hey with some excellent saves and a clean sheet). They heard the criticism of Tommy and were disappointed as it seemed that decisions had been made to criticise him because of his appearance rather than his performance which was unfair. Players play for the team if they are good enough and Tommy is, they explained. Of course, we have a superb goalkeeping coach in ‘Chappy’, who help our five keepers plus the young lad from the Under 18s.
We have had to make some big decisions about players, including releasing some lads from last year who came training in pre-season and also played this year but just weren’t part of our plans. Damien Keegan, Ian Hutchinson and Matty Morris left pre-season and Matty Ellis, Josh Hill and James Morley—good lads all of them—were just not a part of our plans. But the lads that we have got here all want to stay despite interest from other clubs. Phil Dean and Andy Sensale have both been approached to play elsewhere, sometimes for more money, but they want to stay and the same goes for Lee Connell, who is regularly being tapped up. But that is the great thing about this current squad, the great team spirit that is there and the fact that no player wants to leave as they have bought into what we are trying to achieve as a club.
Talk then moved towards the plans for the Unibond and secretary Malc Holt advised the ground does not currently meet the ground grading standard. The ground is slightly short lengthways at the top end of the ground and the gangways need to be at least one metre wide to allow wheelchairs to move. There is also a requirement for a safety audit from the police and also a floodlight safety certificate. We are currently looking at ideas for dugouts, which have to be on the same side of the ground. “The Riverside is quite a tight ground”, said Malc. “so we need to look at ways of increasing the size of the ground possibly.”
The talk then returned to the managers and their plans for the future and most of this appears on page two of the programme in the managers pre-match words, which follow now ....
We would like to thank the supporters who turned out at the “Meet The Managers” meeting on Tuesday night. I was a very good and productive meeting with plenty of ideas being thrown around and questions asked about the last few games and our plans for the future. But not only that but also ideas about raising money for the club and that is where you, the supporters, can really help us. We are hoping to organise a Race Night on Saturday 27 March, after the Newcastle Town league game and we obviously want as many supporters to come.
As we said in the meeting, we are not in this job for the short term. If we continue to do well, then we will stay with the club. This is our club. Both of us are Ramsbottom lads and nothing would make us prouder than to see the club progress and to see the club grow. This is not a stepping stone for us to look elsewhere. Even if we stay for 10 years, Jonno will only be 37 and Bernard 36 so there is a lot for us still to achieve.
Our hopes for the future is obviously to take us to the Unibond League and, who knows, maybe beyond. Just look at Fleetwood Town. Five years ago, we did the double over them in the North West Counties League and now, they are top of the Conference North and could well be within one step of the Football League. Why can’t we do that? Ramsbottom is a good town, with good people and good businesses and I am sure they will help us. Nothing would make us happier than to see the town buzzing with excitement as we climb the leagues and progress in national competitions. Of course, this will need a lot of work and a lot of money. Fleetwood have a millionaire backer which has helped them achieve their goals. With the right backing and supporter, there is no reason why Ramsbottom United cannot achieve this.
Your support so far this season has been incredible. I remember the game against Padiham when we scored our third goal, the cheering from the crowd felt like we were at home! It makes a massive difference to have great support and we will continue to try and please you with our work on the pitch.
What followed was a proactive chat about fundraising and the requirement to rekindle the “Ramsbottom United Supporters Association”, who will organise events to support the club. Obviously, we don’t have our own bar facility so we can’t generate money in that respect but ideas like a Curry Night, Race Night, Quiz Night, Golf Day, a BBQ on the ground in the summer and another Sportsman Dinner came to the fore. There is also the daily draw that the club are involved in—the Goldline. 50% of the money raised by Ramsbottom United supporters goes to the club so the more people involved, the more the club gets. See Chris Woolly for information and to join up. There was also some talk of our own 100 Club. It would be interesting to see what the remainder of the supporters think. Please let us know.
The final thing was the need to help on the ground on a Sunday morning after a game. If we could get a handful of people down, just for half hour to do a bit of divitting, that would help no end as Jack and Harry are not getting any younger!
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