With our pre-season fixtures now finished and our first home league game of the season coming up this Saturday, I wish to provide the following update on various areas of the club.
Our season ticket sales have been stronger than we projected and we have only seen a very minimal reduction in these compared to last years sales. I would like to personally thank all of you who have purchased one and look forward to seeing you on Saturday. Season ticket details can be found here for anyone who still wishes to purchase one.
On Saturday we welcome Marine FC to Nethermoor and look forward to seeing their staff and supporters who we have met many times before in the Northern Premier League. Tickets can be purchased here.
We then go on to our first ever visit to Morpeth Town, followed by Nantwich Town who we haven’t played in the league for 13 years. I’m sure our away support will be fantastic as always and should any of you wish to book onto the Supporters’ Club travel, the details are here.
Squad and Management
As I’m sure you’re all aware, there has been a vast turnover in our squad of the summer with only John Johnston, Lewis Hey, Adam Haw, Andy Kellett and Ethan Cartwright remaining with us from last season. I am however excited by the additions the new management team have managed to recruit and if some of the preseason performances are anything to go by, we may have found a few gems.
Talking of the management team, I’m sure they will be glad to get their teeth into competitive action now! They’ve had a tough summer having to find a new training ground, new physio, bringing in a goalkeeper coach and first team coach, all alongside recruiting their new squad so they may find it refreshing to get their teeth into competitive games!
Ground Developments
As you may have seen, we were granted planning permission to heighten the ground’s perimeter fencing which will vastly improve the security of the ground, we hope to place the order for this in the next few weeks once we have an answer on potential grant funding. We have also met several floodlighting contractors recently as we look towards converting our current lights to LED units, which should cut our electricity consumption significantly.
A group of supporters have also launched the “Raise the Roof” campaign which has seen some very generous donations so far, if anyone has any ideas on how to support this campaign then James Broome can be contacted on raisetheroofgafc@gmail.com.
In regards to the proposed pitch conversion to a 3G surface, we’re currently finalising our planning application in conjunction with our architects and hope to have this sent in within the next couple of months. Our online booking system is also in development so we are ready to take enquiries and bookings as soon as planning is approved.
Guiseley Academy and Centres of Excellence
Our youth teams are all now back in training following a well earned rest over the summer. The Academy’s first competitive fixture is on Wednesday 17th August in the FA Youth Cup, away at Bradford (Park Avenue). It would be great to see as many of you there as possible to support our Young Lions and maybe spot the next Jacob Brown, Jake Young or Josh Stones!
Guiseley Community Foundation
Guiseley AFC’s not-for-profit charitable partners, Guiseley Community Foundation, continues to do excellent work throughout Aireborough.
It runs ecological and intergenerational projects and delivers early years and primary coaching programmes in local schools. The Foundation has also been running Soccer Camps for both boys and girls, along with a Healthy Holiday programme throughout August. These provide a mixture of exercise, arts and crafts activities, and nutritious meals to families throughout Guiseley and Yeadon during the summer school holidays.
The Foundation has also been awarded funding to partner St. Giles Trust to undertake a Violence Reduction Unit programme, which examines and combats the effects and impact of knife crime, gang culture and ‘County Lines’ drug distribution networks.
The Foundation is exclusively reliant on external funding so all donations to its efforts are gratefully received.
Supporters
We are aware that on several occasions last season that the behaviour of a small section of supporters overstepped the mark and this subsequently led to investigations by the Football Association into events at a couple of fixtures. This could ultimately lead to fines and further action being taken against the club which would be hugely detrimental.
Whilst the vocal backing of the players and management is fantastic to hear and I know they appreciate it, I must stress that there are limits to what can be said/sung and this needs to be kept in check going forwards. The stewards have been informed to police this more tightly and should there be further escalations we are prepared to take action against the perpetrators.
Volunteers
Finally a huge thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers for their continued support and help over the summer months. Whether it be our media team for ensuring we have a regular output on our social media feeds, or our ground staff and match day volunteers who have worked tirelessly in the summer heat!
We could not operate as a club without your hours of dedication every week and I cannot thank you enough for this. If anyone would like to join our volunteers please contact Trudi Hannaford on trudi.miller@guiseleyafc.co.uk or James Pickles on james.pickles@guiseleyafc.co.uk.
Gary
