Dear Member,
Another season is now well underway, the 1st team have made a tremendous start with 5 wins out of 5, however other results have been a little mixed but I have been assured by the team managers that will improve and I remain confident that this season will be a good one for all. As with all previous seasons, we all should have promotion as our aim and some silverware to celebrate come the end of the season.
Please try and make yourselves available for all games, keep in touch with the team managers and attend training where possible. The 1st team are really benefiting from regular training with the fitness really showing at the end of matches.
As I am sure you are all aware (and appreciate), the facilities available at the Lab are fantastic. It is your Committee’s role to ensure that they not only continue but that they can be improved. A lot of work and effort has been put into the pitches over the last couple of years, and we also still have plans to rebuild the existing changing rooms, providing an even better facility for all of the sports clubs affiliated to the club.
You will appreciate that it takes a lot of organisation behind the scenes to provide all that is necessary to allow your football to go ahead each week, and as always in life there is a price to pay! As a section of the NPL Sports Club we pay an annual fee to the main club for the use and up keep of the ground and facilities; namely the two excellent pitches which are amongst the best in our league(s). Our fee to the main committee this year will be almost £5000. This together with the cost of affiliation fees to leagues and county associations, kit and equipment for all five sides, you will appreciate that we spend a lot of money each year on these rather mundane things. This year we will have expenditure approaching £10,000 which we have to meet, this comes from the players by form of an annual membership fee and weekly subs – In summary, each player needs to contribute about £165 for the football club to approach breaking even.
We have not been as efficient as usual and haven’t collected the annual membership fees, therefore there is an urgent need to collect all of these as soon as possible. We have set the membership at £50 this season with £6 (per playing person) match fees payable for each and every game, or we are introducing an option to pay £150 up front which will cover the season (ie no match fees).
We are bound to pay the Main Committee by the end of October so we must have your subscriptions in now, your team manager will be responsible for collecting memberships and will be asking you for the contribution at the next game. Any player who does not pay within a reasonable time, without a reasonable explanation, will not be selected to play until his membership fee is paid. Any special cases of difficulty will always be considered, and anyone in such a position should approach me or their team manager in complete confidence and we will give careful consideration to you position.
I can’t express the urgency of getting the money in as soon as possible, and really its not a lot when you consider the facilities at the NPL.
Thanks for all of your support in advance.
Pat McLoughlin (NPL FC Chairman) |
