Tuesday, 14th October 2008

News Archive

23rd September 2006
Eastwood Town went top of the First Division on Tuesday evening when they came from behind to beat Gresley Rovers and they made it five wins on the bounce at the weekend when beating Kidsgrove Athletic.

They are two points clear of Buxton who are now the Division's only unbeaten team after Cammell Laird went down 3-1 at Bradford Park Avenue despite scoring first. That win puts Avenue up to third just ahead of Clitheroe who continued their fine start to the season with a win at Alsager Town. At the opposite end of the table Wakefield remain without a point in nine games after two home defeats in the week but Chorley took their first points of the campaign with a 2-0 success at Ossett Albion who had won six and drawn two of their previous eight league and cup games to once again confirm there are no easy games in this Division. Shepshed Dynamo sprinted away from the bottom end of the table with two away wins in the week whilst Warrington Town secured their second league victory at the expense of Stocksbridge and Gresley Rovers took their first away points with success at Bridlington Town.

Stammers Makes Clitheroe Job His Own

On the back of a good run of results since he became caretaker boss at Clitheroe former Burscough number two Chris Stammers has landed a contract that will see him at the Lancashire club until the end of the 2007/8 season. Having parted company with Burscough when their manager Derek Goulding left in May, Stammers had only just been appointed Assistant Manager to Mark Smitheringale at Clitheroe when the latter quit suddenly on the eve of the new campaign. At the time of being awarded the contract Stammers had guided Clitheroe in to the top three of the First Division. Club Secretary Colin Wilson said "The decision to award Chris a contract until the end of the 2007/8 season was an easy one to take based on results alone. However, we also recognised his great coaching ability, tactical awareness and his ability to get the best from our young players through his unique motivational skills. He also has great awareness of the northern youth football scene and has already put in place a scouting network that should unearth good young players for Clitheroe FC".

Villa Use Brigg Facilities To Good Effect

Aston Villa prepared for their Wednesday evening Carling Cup tie at Scunthorpe with an hour's training session at UniBond First Division club Brigg Town. Brigg Secretary John Martin said "It's not very often that around £100 million pounds worth of players are put through their paces at our Hawthorns home but Martin O'Neil was a gentleman remembering his first steps in to management came at non-league level. He and his players all signed autographs and presented Brigg with a signed Villa shirt".

Clitheroe Get Their Keeper Back

Having lost goalkeeper Peter Collinge pre-season when Bury signed him on a month's contract as cover for Northern Ireland 'keeper Alan Fettis, Clitheroe this week signed him back after Bury had sorted out their goalkeeping problems by taking Kaspar Schmeichel on loan from Manchester City. However Bury may now be turning back to the youngster as City refused to allow Schmeichel to become cup-tied in the Carling Cup and whilst standing in for him on Tuesday at Sheffield United Fettis broke his arm!

Lairds Offer Ground Hoppers Free Access

UniBond League highflying newcomers Cammell Laird are sending out an invitation to ground hoppers to put Laird's Birkenhead ground on their "been to" list for free. The initiative has come about by the growing number of football fans from far and wide who have been curious about the success of the club following their three successive promotions during which time Lairds have scored more than five hundred goals.

Club Secretary Paul McLoughlin said "We have had people this season coming from as far away as London and Essex to see what we are about and from the feedback we have received they all seem to have had a very enjoyable day out with us. We are now offering free tickets to our game against Bridlington Town on 30th September when people can apply for up to five tickets to maximise car sharing and we have also negotiated a discount at one of our sponsor's restaurants for anybody who wants to make a weekend of it and pop over to Liverpool for the evening".

McLoughlin also learned this week about the power of the internet. Having been ground graded by the Football Association a fortnight ago Lairds were aware that they were some 100 seats short of Conference North standard. McLoughlin had just started searching the internet for seating when within a minute his computer pinged with a message from League IT manager Alan Allcock informing all UniBond clubs that Lancaster City were offering "Seats free to a good home". Lancaster had a hundred of the seats they themselves had obtained from Leicester City left over and had contacted the UniBond League to see if any club might be interested. McLoughlin said "It was really spooky. I've heard of intelligent internet marketing but this takes the biscuit. With both Lancaster and Leicester playing in blue the seats were even the colour we needed!"

Chorley Release Goalscorers

Chorley this week released FA Trophy winner Peter Wright along with Adam Roscoe leaving themselves with just John Bluck who has found the net this season. Roscoe, who has joined Skelmersdale United, and the Mossley bound Wright had scored four of Chorley's five league and cup goals going in to today's game at Ossett Albion.

New Chorley manager Paul Lodge admitted that releasing Wright was a really tough decision. He said "Peter is a top drawer player with a proven goalscoring record and a wonderful attitude but because of our financial situation we can't afford to keep him. He had already taken a pay cut last season and we appreciate everything he has done for Chorley".

24 year old Wright joined the "Magpies" fourteen months ago and netted 22 times for them in his first season. He signed off by converting a penalty in his farewell appearance in his side's 2-1 defeat at Skelmersdale United on Tuesday evening.

Marketing Initiative

The Marketing Committee of the UniBond League, in association with Sports Marketing Network, has arranged a commercial / sales & marketing seminar for mainly, but not exclusively, UniBond clubs to be held at Witton Albion FC on Thursday 19th October 2006. The theme is "Grow your UniBond club - How to make your football club vibrant, visible and viable".

The UniBond League appreciates it is tougher than ever for clubs to survive and grow in an increasingly competitive and demanding market for time and finance from supporters, local businesses and the wider community. How clubs can increase gates, grow sponsorship revenue, improve the social standing of the club, increase media coverage, benefit from new technology, engage with the local community and introduce new streams of revenue including public funding will all be covered by expert marketing consultant Svend Elkjaer who will be providing literally dozens of proven ways that clubs can be become vibrant, visible and viable. There is no boring theory - just exciting, positive and proven action points drawn from best practice amongst sports clubs at all levels across the UK and abroad. Although the seminar is mainly for UniBond clubs there is a very limited number of places available for any other club who feel they could benefit from the acknowledged expert guidance of someone like Svend Elkjaer. Anyone from outside the League who is interested should contact the Committee's Chairman Mark Harris on 07850 072166.

This is another exciting initiative implemented by the Marketing arm of the UniBond League who, under the guidance of Mr Harris, has already implemented a kit deal for member clubs with the additional bonus of e-commerce for club sales of replica kits and club branded sports wear via the UniBond League On-Line store.

Model Supporter

Model Laura Livesey recently took time out from her hectic schedule to drop by Colwyn Bay's Llanelian Road to model the club's new kit and catch up on the latest news about her favourite team. Laura, who is from Old Colwyn will be in the Philippines shortly representing Wales in the Miss Earth contest.

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Rovers Make A Point On The Road

Willenhall Pre-Match News

At home to:
Willenhall Town (UniBond President's Cup 2nd Round)

This evening, 7.45pm

View previous encounters with Willenhall Town