Monday, 12th May 2008

Manager's Notes

19th April 2008
Gary Norton

Welcome to you all for this final home game of the season against Colwyn Bay. We welcome Gary Finlay and his team to the Moat Ground and hope they enjoy their short stay in South Derbyshire.

It has again been a rollercoaster of a year and indeed a whirlwind past week or so at the club. As you will all now be aware, Mark Evans decided to step down as club chairman and a new board of directors arrive at the club under the leadership of new Chairman Mark Harrison.

On the playing side, we are all sorry to see Mark leave a club that had become so dear to him but as he said, he felt he had taken the club off the pitch as far as he could and a new impetus was required to help get us back on our feet off the pitch. Tribute must be paid to the man who became famous for the phrase at Gresley of "live the dream".

Mark's dream was to take this club forward and up the non league pyramid however difficulties essentially caused by a lack of sponsorship and other income meant that fulfilling the dream was to prove more difficult than we could have hoped.

Players and supporters alike will remember Mark for his infectious personality and many of us grew very fond of our then leader. Many of us will I'm sure remain friends with Mark and I'm sure we will in time see him at the Moat Ground again cheering his beloved Rovers on.

We are now entering a new era. Mark Harrison and his new board have been here little over a week and already they are getting to grips with what is required to ensure that we can have the foundations to move the club forward - both on and off the pitch. The new board are still in the process of understanding the club's current financial situation and putting together a business plan to help us move forwards.

Commercial activity is central to this and Mark Harrison and some of his colleagues on the board are said to have lots of new business contacts in the locality and this could prove vital to us. Income from sponsorship is the lifeline of many non-league clubs and it seems that a lack of income on the commercial side during the last couple of years has been the main contributor to our current position.

Things are not going to be resolved overnight but it appears already that things are going in a positive direction. I have seen much activity in many quarters in the last 10 days and there seems to be a buzz back around the place.

A degree of patience is required to allow the new board time to sort things out. That does not mean that we are going to stand still on the playing side. We have been busy planning for next term even before the news of last week. On the pitch, we want to be able to create a team realistically capable of challenging for promotion - without being restricted from the off field financial problems that have affected the team over the last two seasons. Steve Hinks, Tony Hemming and I know what is required in terms of us being able to challenge the top clubs rather than compete at arms length as we have done in most games against the top clubs this time round.

Given suitable and more importantly, sustainable resources we can attract the calibre of players needed to give us a better chance of being in the mix. However, we have to be realistic in our goals and we wont be setting any targets until we have confirmation from the board on what the plans are regarding the club's playing budget for the new season.

Finally congratulations to Steve Gee and the youth team for getting to the Challenge Cup final at Burton Albion. With the final being held on a Thursday night (8th May) I hope that as many of you as possible will be there to cheer the team along to what we hope will be a cup success for the team. Best of luck lads.

Regards

Gaz

Previous "Manager's Notes"

Youth Team End With Cup Win

Midland Floodlit Youth League

Three More Sign

Next season's fixtures will be announced during the summer.

Ashfield In2Focus - Gresley Rovers sponsor