Abingdon Town Football Club
Donation protected
Good Evening.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the New Chairman of Abingdon Town Football Club.
You may have heard of many things happening at the club recently. My apologies for not issuing this statement sooner but urgent priorities both personal and club related have delayed it.
We know many people are eagerly awaiting this statement. Some who, like myself, my amazing team, and our players, are genuinely interested in the club, its future, and what we want to do to get it back on its feet. Some, sadly, who just want to know exactly what has happened and have zero interest in the club. We will not be delving into any rumors, or hearsay because of the latter.
On the 12th October 2018, our previous chairman resigned to focus on his career and personal life. I would like to thank him for his hard work and efforts made to build some amazing teams and improve the pitch.
As of 29th October 2018, myself and 2 other have taken the club over from the Landlords.
As a consequence, we lost our first team and many other players. Thankfully, we now rebuilt the team and, considering they have only been playing together for 3 weeks, they are doing a great job. I am sure we can finish off this season higher than we ever expected. Our new managers are doing an amazing job and share the same vision as the whole club. We are aiming to get our club up to Conference Level in the next 6 years. Before we can begin this journey, we have a few issues to sort out, which will be explained later.
Our Ladies team are doing phenomenally, currently unbeaten and have not conceded! These ladies all have focus, determination, and drive. My goal for next season is to have more than 1 Ladies/Girls team and to help then as far up the football ladder as possible.
All of our youth teams are doing well. We really have some talented young girls and boys, who, if they keep going as they are, will help us achieve our goal of Conference and beyond.
Sadly, with all the good, there is some bad. Due to the current position of the club, we have negligible financial resources. Funds are desperately needed for referees fees, training, ground care, and for desperate improvements to our facility. We have encountered a lot of FA fines due to unplayed games and some existing fouls from before we took over the club. The reality is, unless we can clear this debt we won't have a club come February 2019.
The club desperately needs a new kitchen as the current one has been deemed unsafe. We have ripped the old one out but need to find £7000 for the lease hire of a new one. This is one of the club's single biggest earners. Proceeds enable the club to open its doors; it also compliments player subscriptions so we can increase team numbers, lower costs to players, and improve facilities. We need new toilets throughout the building, and a new coat of paint through the bar areas.
We have been blessed with the free help of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, builders, tilers, players, and parents! All coming out in huge numbers to help us. But we are struggling, to afford the gear we need. While we have been pledged free toilets, paint, and wood, ultimately we need money.
On the weekend of the 8th and 9th of December, we hope to have a "Clean up Party". If you have driven past our grounds, you will see that they are in a bit of a state and, in places, unsafe for the public. We have already had offers of help but more will be required. Bacon and sausage sandwiches and unlimited tea and coffee are on offer for any helpers!
Our clubhouse is in desperate need of some TLC. Currently, it is not a place you want to go for a drink, let alone eat. We want to renovate and make it more inviting. We want to be able to take party bookings, have live music nights, games nights, and much more. We want the bar to be somewhere you can just come for a coffee and a bite to eat. Where you will feel welcome. With affordable prices on all our drinks, and food, you will be happy to come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our whole club, including our club house, will not only belong to me, the secretary, the players and the parents. It will be everyone's. The whole community is invited to come for drinks and games alike.
Once we open our new kitchen, it will be open 7 days a week, cooking fresh, healthy and good food for everyone. On our match days, we will offer healthy alternatives to players and spectators alike. We will offer breakfast 7 days a week, roasts every Sunday, and seasonal specials.
Every Christmas we will be feeding the elderly and homeless for free. If we could get our kitchen set up in time this year we would do it this Christmas. Again, this club is a community club. So why not open it for everyone?!
Once we get our club house and kitchen open, we will be able to re-rent our back training pitches. Due to non-payment, the landlord of this field has not allowed us use of it these past weeks, except for a single 1 off youth event. We soon hope to be back on these fields. These will be also used for tournaments for all teams, car boot sales, corporate use, and more.
We have a host of sponsorship packages and booking packages where you can hire a DJ, Bubble Football, training boot camp sessions, and much more. We can host corporate days for up to 150 people! We have some amazing banner and team sponsorship packages. There will be something for everyone at Abingdon Town FC.
To achieve our goals and to help us get back on track to where we should be, the club needs to raise the minimum of £20,000 as soon as possible. The allocation of this money will be transparent to everyone. No single person will control any of the money. With our new open doors policy, everything will be open to suggestions and viewings.
In the comments of this post there will be a link to a crowd funding website. We are grateful to anyone who can help us out.
I would like to thank you for your future help and support for the next year.
If anyone would ever like to talk, please don't hesitate to come into the club or send us a message on Facebook. Everyone here will be happy to answer any questions you have.
With thanks on behalf of all of our teams, players, managers, volunteers, and myself. Thank you for reading.
Joe Bailey
Chairman of Abingdon Town Football Club
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the New Chairman of Abingdon Town Football Club.
You may have heard of many things happening at the club recently. My apologies for not issuing this statement sooner but urgent priorities both personal and club related have delayed it.
We know many people are eagerly awaiting this statement. Some who, like myself, my amazing team, and our players, are genuinely interested in the club, its future, and what we want to do to get it back on its feet. Some, sadly, who just want to know exactly what has happened and have zero interest in the club. We will not be delving into any rumors, or hearsay because of the latter.
On the 12th October 2018, our previous chairman resigned to focus on his career and personal life. I would like to thank him for his hard work and efforts made to build some amazing teams and improve the pitch.
As of 29th October 2018, myself and 2 other have taken the club over from the Landlords.
As a consequence, we lost our first team and many other players. Thankfully, we now rebuilt the team and, considering they have only been playing together for 3 weeks, they are doing a great job. I am sure we can finish off this season higher than we ever expected. Our new managers are doing an amazing job and share the same vision as the whole club. We are aiming to get our club up to Conference Level in the next 6 years. Before we can begin this journey, we have a few issues to sort out, which will be explained later.
Our Ladies team are doing phenomenally, currently unbeaten and have not conceded! These ladies all have focus, determination, and drive. My goal for next season is to have more than 1 Ladies/Girls team and to help then as far up the football ladder as possible.
All of our youth teams are doing well. We really have some talented young girls and boys, who, if they keep going as they are, will help us achieve our goal of Conference and beyond.
Sadly, with all the good, there is some bad. Due to the current position of the club, we have negligible financial resources. Funds are desperately needed for referees fees, training, ground care, and for desperate improvements to our facility. We have encountered a lot of FA fines due to unplayed games and some existing fouls from before we took over the club. The reality is, unless we can clear this debt we won't have a club come February 2019.
The club desperately needs a new kitchen as the current one has been deemed unsafe. We have ripped the old one out but need to find £7000 for the lease hire of a new one. This is one of the club's single biggest earners. Proceeds enable the club to open its doors; it also compliments player subscriptions so we can increase team numbers, lower costs to players, and improve facilities. We need new toilets throughout the building, and a new coat of paint through the bar areas.
We have been blessed with the free help of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, builders, tilers, players, and parents! All coming out in huge numbers to help us. But we are struggling, to afford the gear we need. While we have been pledged free toilets, paint, and wood, ultimately we need money.
On the weekend of the 8th and 9th of December, we hope to have a "Clean up Party". If you have driven past our grounds, you will see that they are in a bit of a state and, in places, unsafe for the public. We have already had offers of help but more will be required. Bacon and sausage sandwiches and unlimited tea and coffee are on offer for any helpers!
Our clubhouse is in desperate need of some TLC. Currently, it is not a place you want to go for a drink, let alone eat. We want to renovate and make it more inviting. We want to be able to take party bookings, have live music nights, games nights, and much more. We want the bar to be somewhere you can just come for a coffee and a bite to eat. Where you will feel welcome. With affordable prices on all our drinks, and food, you will be happy to come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our whole club, including our club house, will not only belong to me, the secretary, the players and the parents. It will be everyone's. The whole community is invited to come for drinks and games alike.
Once we open our new kitchen, it will be open 7 days a week, cooking fresh, healthy and good food for everyone. On our match days, we will offer healthy alternatives to players and spectators alike. We will offer breakfast 7 days a week, roasts every Sunday, and seasonal specials.
Every Christmas we will be feeding the elderly and homeless for free. If we could get our kitchen set up in time this year we would do it this Christmas. Again, this club is a community club. So why not open it for everyone?!
Once we get our club house and kitchen open, we will be able to re-rent our back training pitches. Due to non-payment, the landlord of this field has not allowed us use of it these past weeks, except for a single 1 off youth event. We soon hope to be back on these fields. These will be also used for tournaments for all teams, car boot sales, corporate use, and more.
We have a host of sponsorship packages and booking packages where you can hire a DJ, Bubble Football, training boot camp sessions, and much more. We can host corporate days for up to 150 people! We have some amazing banner and team sponsorship packages. There will be something for everyone at Abingdon Town FC.
To achieve our goals and to help us get back on track to where we should be, the club needs to raise the minimum of £20,000 as soon as possible. The allocation of this money will be transparent to everyone. No single person will control any of the money. With our new open doors policy, everything will be open to suggestions and viewings.
In the comments of this post there will be a link to a crowd funding website. We are grateful to anyone who can help us out.
I would like to thank you for your future help and support for the next year.
If anyone would ever like to talk, please don't hesitate to come into the club or send us a message on Facebook. Everyone here will be happy to answer any questions you have.
With thanks on behalf of all of our teams, players, managers, volunteers, and myself. Thank you for reading.
Joe Bailey
Chairman of Abingdon Town Football Club
Organizer
Joe Bailey
Organizer