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Transcript of the Fans Forum held on Friday 8th August 2003 in the Social Club (page 2)

Q. Have you anyone in mind?

GN: Yes we have. We have two or three in mind. Alan's been working very hard over the summer talking to various players and I've been getting myself involved on the circuit. One of the criticisms of me is my experience and knowledge of the local level so I'm going to be working very hard going out most nights to watch players. Alan has a lot of knowledge at this level and he's been talking to players. However, they have been reluctant to come because of the uncertainty of the manager's position. Ideally I would like to bring someone in before the start of the season and we will be working to do that if at all possible. We are on the look out for forwards and have various people looking around for us. Neil or Ian could get injured in the first few weeks. They could even get injured tomorrow, God forbid, and we would be struggling.

Alan Titterton: The problem is - and I've spoken to two good players today, who'd love to come - money. They are after £100-plus but we haven't got that sort of money. If someone would give it me I could bring in a good player tomorrow. That is the problem. Gary and myself have got to see if we can get by for the first month and see how the lads do. If they don't do so well we will bring somebody in, but someone would have to go to make way for them. But if we start doing well and put another 150 on the gate it won't be a problem. It's all down to the support we get and the hard work the chairman is doing with sponsors. We haven't had a midfielder like Richard Denby since he left. That's been a problem area since I've been at the club.

GN: A position I forgot to mention is goalkeeper. Mark Sheils has done very well pre-season and he's buzzing. Brad Clarke is also doing well. When James Lindley left we discussed whether to bring in another experienced keeper but we decided against it so that the extra budget could be spread among the existing players. And, to be fair to them, the players who have stayed haven't held us to ransom and begged more money, which I'm very pleased about. What they wanted to see is if we had the right aims and visions for taking the club forward. To bring in an experienced keeper, who would have to spend some time on the bench, we would have needed to spend some serious money. We are aware that it's a risk. If Mark Sheils gets injured or suspended we will have to review that at the time. If Brad's doing well in the reserves and he keeps the form he's shown in the pre-season games he may get a chance.

Q. How big is the squad.

We have a squad of 19 first team players but there are a few players who are outside the squad that could easily get their chance such as John Branch along with Liam Hebberd and Nathan Tate. We can only take 16 with us every week so to start with, players aren't even going to get in the squad. So we will have to work hard to keep those players not chosen happy. I spoke to the players last night and explained it to them and they are all fully aware of that. Injuries, suspensions and work commitments will crop up as soon as we start the season so we will need every single member of that squad.

Q. How's the team morale?

We had a squad meeting last night at the Metro Hotel and I spoke to the players as a group and as individuals and they are all buzzing. Some of the established players who have been at the club for a few years say they haven't felt a buzz like it for some years. They know we've had to bring in some players not only to make it competitive for them but also to fulfil our ambitions as a club. I want to cover all angles because if we have a bad start to the campaign and are languishing in the bottom half of the table it will be bread and butter for the critics. So I'm going to work hard along side Alan, the chairman, the players and even you the supporters to take the club forward.

Q. Could you give us an update on Chris White's injury?

GN: Chris White is on the list of players at the club. He's not fit at the moment and he's been seeing the physio for treatment but I spoke to him recently and he's going to start warming up with us at some point and get involved at his own pace. He's had three operations, two on an ankle and one on his knee and he's hopeful to be back around October time. But I'm not counting any chickens and if we get him back by October then great. He could be the answer to the problem up front that we spoke about earlier. Just thinking, there is a player I've not mentioned and that's Carl Eagling. He's got the ability but he's not quite there yet. Carl will start in the reserves and it's up to him to show us what he can do.

Q. What about Micky Sandar?

GN: Micky was made reserve team captain last season and forward wise people can probably remember him playing for Brian Kenning. He was only 17 or 18 and as fast as anyone. He had a break from Gresley, came back and did very well for us last season and his attitude has been fantastic. He played in a new position for the reserves that was centre of midfield, which he made his own and it won him one of the player-of-the-year awards. He still scored 11 or 12 goals from midfield and he could be an option for us up front. We will have to give him a try up front for the reserves and see what he can do.

Q. Will the creation of the new Conference North and South affect Gresley Rovers?

ME: Yes it will. The various feeder leagues have been discussing over the last few years the best way forward and at each stage one of those feeder leagues have fallen out with another with regards to formulating an agreed way forward. It took, unfortunately, the Conference to break away this year and make a statement on how they wanted to move forward. Their proposal was for two feeder leagues which was one of the options that every single non-league club in this country voted on. Dr Martens League stated that this was their preferred option but statistically the FA deemed that the majority went for another option, which was to effectively maintain the status quo but with a little regional adjustment.

With the Conference issuing the statement they did, that made the debate a little more dynamic and we have a situation now that FA have changed their position and have now gone for a hybrid version of what was option C being to create a North and South feeder league in to the Conference. Those league will be formed from the Premier Leagues of the Unibond, Dr Martens and Rymans which will have in effect, a massive impact on all those structures because it takes away those Premier Leagues. Those leagues will then have to be re-formed. There is debate on how the Premier Leagues will be re-constituted after this season. We, as of yet, have heard nothing official on how they will be formed. It affects Gresley because potentially we could be allocated a slot in the new Dr Martens Premier. If not we will stay in our current league, which will become a more regional league structure and in that it will be Midland based so we won't be travelling down to the South West.

Q. The Chairman of Havant & Waterloo remarked in the non-league about clubs that are spending vast amounts because of the restructuring. What are your views?

ME: This is a personal comment but one also held by the vice chairman. We are concerned insomuch that the proposed possible changes will cause some clubs to throw money at their side this season with a view to attempting to get into either one of the conference feeder leagues or into one of the new premier leagues. If they've got a lot of money then fine because they can then sustain that and survive at a higher level or if they don't manage to achieve that higher level will have enough money to pay off whatever they've spent.

Gresley doesn't have the money to do that. As you know we are still suffering the effects of spending more money that we had. We are going to watch and observe carefully and consciously that we have to match expectation with resource. And while we are not going limit what we are going to try and achieve we are going to make sure that what we set or goals for we have the financial ability to match it up. The last thing we want to do is to undo the hard and painful work that we've achieved over the last three years. We will continue with that sustained long-term view.

There are clubs both in the Dr Martens Premier League and in our own who have huge debts but they survive because they have chairmen who can write the debts off. I don't have that resource and if I did I wouldn't because that's not the way to do it. We've seen it happen only recently where chairman have had enough. The clubs have not met the chairman's expectation and they pull out. And when that happens the clubs do not have a business foundation to continue without them and they struggle.

One such club has approached Gresley with a view to us going to them and telling them how to run a football club when you don't have a benefactor.

We must put in place a business foundation so that whoever is the chairman or sits on the board there is a sustained business stream. We haven't got it right and we still have got a hell of a lot to do. But we have made progress and we are not going to jeopardise that.